Free Republic

China rises and rises, yet still gets foreign aid BEIJING — China spent tens of billions of dollars on a dazzling 2008 Olympics. It has sent astronauts into space. It recently became the world's second largest economy. Yet it gets more than $2.5 billion a year in foreign government aid — and taxpayers and lawmakers in donor countries are increasingly asking why. With the global economic slowdown crimping government budgets, many countries are finding such generosity politically and economically untenable. China says it's still a developing country in need of aid, while some critics argue that the money should go...

2:19pm UK, Wednesday September 22, 2010 Robert Nisbet, US correspondent Nick Clegg has defended the government's commitment to pouring millions into international aid, while cutting budgets and services back home. The deputy Prime Minister is in New York attending a three-day summit at the United Nations to assess whether the Millennium Development Goals are still on target. Leaders from 192 countries set eight ambitious goals, including eradicating hunger and poverty, reducing child mortality rates and promoting gender equality. They also agreed goals on maternal health and creating a global partnership for development by 2015. Mr Clegg will confirm in a...

Development aid to Africa has been flowing for decades, but the results have been paltry. Instead, recipients have merely become dependent and initiative has been snuffed out. It is time to reform the system. Development aid to Africa is a blessing for all those directly involved -- both on the giving end and on the receiving end. Functionaries on the donor side, at least those abroad, earn good money. Many of those on the receiving end, for their part, know how to organize things in such a way that their own personal interests don't get short shrift. There is no...

BEIRUT — Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr Wednesday said he would reject any American military assistance to the Lebanese army if it comes with conditions that the weapons not be used against Israel. Murr was commenting on the decision by a US congressman to suspend $100 million of military aid to Lebanon over concerns the weapons could be turned on Israel and that Hezbollah may have influence over the Lebanese army. He stated that those who want to help the Lebanese army but place conditions on how their funds or weapons are used, should keep the money. The defense minister's...

Lebanese politicians reacted angrily Saturday to what they alleged was “a campaign to prevent the army from being properly equipped.” They appeared to be referring to calls from Israel to restrict the sale of advanced weapons to the Lebanese army, and to fears that the United States may reduce military funding. "The cabinet will draw up a plan to equip the army with all the weaponry it needs, and without taking the attitude of certain countries into account,” said Lebanese President Michel Suleiman. A statement from Suleiman's office said he would turn to “neighboring and friendly states” to obtain “all...

Washington - A Florida congressman is seeking an investigation into whether American equipment was used by Lebanese forces who fired on Israel last week or if the soldiers had received US-funded training. Democrat Rep. Ron Klein, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, requested the investigation in a letter sent to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday. (Snip) “In addition, if the Lebanese government had authorized this attack, I would be very concerned about continuing to provide military support to Lebanon,” Klein wrote.

Concerned that too many students are using federal grants to attend the “wrong kind of schools,” the US Department of Education is weighing new rules that would restrict grant money from being used to pay for schooling provided at for-profit institutions. For-profit schools provide training in fields like information technology, health care, criminal justice, and automotive repair. Enrollment at these for-profit schools has increased by 20% since the recession knocked so many out of their jobs. “Increasing enrollment in these private for-profit schools is not what the President had in mind when he expanded the grant program last year,” said...

The administration launched a $17 million program to fight rape in Congo—but is it effective? Dana Goldstein follows the money—and asks if Hillary Clinton’s rhetoric matches reality. Plus: See our entire Congo package on Giving Beast. Less than a year ago, Hillary Clinton became the first U.S. secretary of state to visit war-torn regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo—site of the deadliest conflict on the planet since World War II. The trip sparked hope that maybe, finally, the world would take action to stop the fighting, which has been characterized by a brutal and indiscriminate campaign of rape against...

At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, there were almost five hours of public comment on the resolution condemning Israel for raiding a flotilla headed for Gaza. The speakers seemed about evenly split between the pro-Palestine and pro-Israel factions. Aside from a few outbursts (one from Supervisor Chris Daly) and some errant clapping, the meeting was remarkably civil. Did I mention it was a billion hours long? It was. Ultimately, the resolution was “referred to committee” by Supervisor Bevan Dufty. If board President David Chiu refers the resolution to the City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee (on which Dufty sits), it...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - Obama announces additional $400 million in aid to Gaza; Abbas says aid is 'positive sign'</p>

Sang to the tune of "We Are The World".... There comes a time When we need to make a show For the world, the Web and CNN There's no people dying, so the best that we can do Is create the greatest bluff of all We must go on pretending day by day That in Gaza, there's crisis, hunger and plague Coz the billion bucks in aid won't buy their basic needs Like some cheese and missiles for the kids

Dear Crazy People, We’ve been given to understand that you intend to stage another media stunt, wherein you’re again going to float some empty ships – they may be full this time, they were mostly empty last time – in the general direction of the Gaza Strip. Your hope is apparently that your cameramen will capture the Israeli reaction and edit it into an overreaction or, failing that, simply reprint your feverish fantasies with slack-jawed credulity. Again. Our problem isn’t so much that your goal involves obfuscating the millions of tons of food and aid we’ve delivered to Gaza civilians,...

Knives, slingshots and night vision goggles indicate activists had less-than-peaceful goals. The array of equipment found on board the ships that made up the Gaza aid flotilla was as divergent as the flotilla’s stated aims. On the one hand there was medical equipment aimed to help ease the suffering of Gaza’s sick and handicapped, and on the other there were knives, slingshots and night vision goggles, which indicate hostile goals. Israeli military officials have said that the amount of goods found on the ships are a drop in the sea compared to the amount of goods that regularly pass into...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE TAJI — U.S. Soldiers here recently conducted a two-dimensional operation; handing out food and clothing to local residents near this base while also gathering information about area security. Sgt. Chelsie Kirkland, an intelligence analyst with Regimental Troop Squadron, 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) and a Murfreesboro, Tenn., native, passes out donated shoes to an Iraqi boy during a humanitarian and intelligence gathering mission in Taji, Iraq, May 25, 2010. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael Carden.The operation was organized and overseen by Master Sgt. Melvin Brown, an Iraqi Army liaison with Regimental Troop Squadron,...

Israeli security forces have found weapons, including Molotov cocktails and detonators, aboard the Turkish-flagged merchant vessel Mavi Marmara, which was part of a convoy that attempted to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

Honolulu peace activist Ann Wright was one of about 700 people taken into custody by Israeli defense forces after a raid on a flotilla of boats carrying aid to Gaza that left nine people dead, friends of Wright's confirmed. Kyle Kajihiro of the American Friends Service Committee, and Arnie Kotler, publisher of a book on Gaza by Wright, said they recognized her in a video of the detainees being led into detention in Ashdod. The video was posted on YouTube and several Israeli newspaper sites.

Much of the equipment and supplies aboard the “humanitarian” ships for Gaza has been checked and found to be worthless. The cargo was taken off the boats at the Ashdod port and checked there, in accordance with the Israeli embargo on Gaza. The embargo is an acceptable measure taken between entities that are in a state of armed conflict, as are Israel and Hamas-run Gaza.

It was exactly the kind of coverage that pro-Palestinian activists behind the Gaza aid flotilla were aiming for: "Deaths as Israeli forces storm Gaza aid ship." Associated Press, BBC, Fox News, CNN and countless other media outlets across the world and even in Israel, carried such headlines, reporting the ensuing diplomatic crisis and worldwide condemnation that quickly followed. Not surprisingly, this typical knee-jerk reaction by the media and international community to such Mideast confrontations, failed to report the outside circumstances that lead to the unfolding events at sea.

May 26, 2010 After $1 trillion in aid, African countries are still worse off Johathan Clayton: commentary Most Africans are poorer today than they were 50 years ago. This may not prove that aid does not work, but it poses some very difficult questions: why is it that a continent that has attracted about $1 trillion in assistance is much worse off than at independence about 50 years ago? Then, countries such as Sierra Leone and Ghana had GDPs the same size or even larger than South Korea or Vietnam. Why is it that an idea that seemed so right,...

The Swedish government has sacked the director-general of the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), Anders Nordström, and announced a major overhaul of the sternly criticised public authority. Development aid minister Gunilla Carlsson on Thursday announced a reorganisation of Sida and appointed Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, former head of Save the Children Sweden, to lead the agency in the interim. "I am very happy that we have been able to recruit Charlotte Petri Gornitzka as interim general-director," Gunilla Carlsson said in a press conference on Thursday. The leadership of Sida will be soon be further strengthened by the appointment of Bo Netz,...