I was just a few moments ago thinking about Shawcross, prompted by the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. After "Sideshow" Shawcross wrote a book called "The Quality of Mercy", which detailed the international relief effort on the Thai Cambodian border, and in Cambodia, following the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in 1979 continuing well into the 1980s. I had occasion to visit both Cambodia and the border area as these efforts were winding down a few times in 1991, and 1992, by which time various NGOs and the UN had developed a semi-permanent infrastructure, so I was quite interested in what had gone on before.
The efforts were a huge mess both which at their best stumbled along in a generally forward direction, but with extreme inefficiency, and lots of graft, corruption, obstinance, venality, naivete, and misunderstanding by a dozen or more interest groups -- including the USA, Thailand, the Khmer Rouge, the Vietnamese, and a host of international relief organizations -- all with different agendas.
Shawcross's book is probably the definitive work on this relief effort,, and does a good job of capturing the chaos and cross-purposes inherent in international relief efforts, or any relief efforts, including the Katrina effort. Much as some would like to think that everyone involved in this sort of effort has the same goals and interests, that is never the case.
My take on Shawcross was similar to that described in the posted article -- a guy who I intially thought was a lefty, who was actually interested in reporting what is going on, in an evenhanded way, without trying to cram it into a leftist view of history.
The efforts were a huge mess both which at their best stumbled along in a generally forward direction, but with extreme inefficiency, and lots of graft, corruption, obstinance, venality, naivete, and misunderstanding by a dozen or more interest groups -- including the USA, Thailand, the Khmer Rouge, the Vietnamese, and a host of international relief organizations -- all with different agendas.
I'm SHOCKED!
"a guy who I intially thought was a lefty, who was actually interested in reporting what is going on, in an evenhanded way, without trying to cram it into a leftist view of history."
Radical Concept Alert!
The entire article is in the Sept issue of the American Spectator. Well worth the time and money to buy.
I very much have the impression of David Horowitz, someone who had "second thoughts" about the Left.
I will be investigating Shawcross and reading his work. It sounds well thought out.