Editor's Note: The following is reprinted with permission of the Council on Foreign Relations.
By Jayshree Bajoria, CFR.org
The famine declared in five areas in southern Somalia is expected to spread across all regions of the south in the coming four to six weeks, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The UN estimates twenty-nine thousand children under the age of five have died in southern Somalia and 3.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across the country.
Rashid Abdi, a Nairobi-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, calls the crisis in Somalia "a collective failure of the international community," which failed to act on early warnings of a crisis, or to invest in sustainable agriculture to make local communities self-sufficient. Additionally, al-Shabaab, an Islamic militant group which controls most of southern Somalia, had banned several international aid groups from the region in 2009.
Though they lifted the ban last month (al-Jazeera), restrictions remain. The priority now, Abdi says, is to reach people trapped inside al-Shabaab-controlled territory, and "if that means negotiating with al-Shabaab, so be it."
What is the scale of Somalia's humanitarian crisis, and how do you see it evolving?
Rashid Abdi: The scale of the crisis is unprecedented in many ways. The closest example you have is the 1984 famine in Ethiopia. Because the population of Somalia is not that big, the numbers of people who have died are less, but there's no denying the fact that you have a huge humanitarian crisis in southern Somalia and you have tens of thousands of people who have died, mostly children. Now the famine has spread to regions that used to be the bread basket of Somalia, especially the Juba valley. The whole of south and central Somalia is now in the midst of this famine.
Do you fear this humanitarian crisis will spread beyond Somalia, beyond the Horn of Africa?
This famine is the outcome of many factors. One of them, of course, is ecological, environmental, and climatic. There hasn't been any significant rain for the last four years, so the wells have dried up. You have deforestation in southern Somalia, especially involving charcoal traders. You have poor land use and overgrazing. So environmental factors contribute to it. And this goes beyond Somalia–it extends to the whole Ogaden region of Ethiopia and northeastern Kenya. But in Kenya, and in Ethiopia especially, you have a more robust system of coping with disasters. You have a professional disaster management authority, and both these countries have learned how to cope with this crisis.
In southern Somalia, you don't have a government; you don't have a sense of any authority, except for al-Shabaab. So there has been a neglect of efforts to alleviate this kind of situation, and al-Shabaab has little experience in this aspect as well. So these regions are all closely tied together, and many of these so-called environmental factors are also close together. So in many ways, you can talk of a regional crisis, but at the moment the epicenter is Somalia.
What are the main problems in getting aid to the people in Somalia?
South-central Somalia is controlled by al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab is paranoid about international NGOs and a year ago, they banned aid agencies from helping people in that region. A lot of the crisis is attributable to the fact that many people whose situation was very vulnerable did not get adequate help in time. That is why you see this crisis has reached this level.
Al-Shabaab appears to have recently backtracked on that ban, but it's very difficult to tell who is in charge in al-Shabaab and very difficult to know their real motive. But you have flights going into Baidoa, which is controlled by al-Shabaab, and you have reports of aid agencies now reaching al-Shabaab-controlled territory in southern Somalia. This is a good step, but al-Shabaab has not opened all the humanitarian corridors in southern Somalia. There are still restrictions in place.
There are many other practical and logistical problems in delivering aid. You have only one port that is open to aid agencies, which is Mogadishu. Kismayo is not open because it is controlled by al-Shabaab. But you are talking of port facilities that are completely run aground; there is no machinery in place, and you have infrastructure that has not been rehabilitated in the last twenty years. You have checkpoints by militias extorting money. So the practicalities of delivery are enormously challenging in Somalia.
How do you interpret al-Shabaab's decision to leave Mogadishu (BBC) and how will it affect aid delivery?
We should be cautious in saying, "al-Shabaab did this; al-Shabaab said that." There's no longer one al-Shabaab; you are talking of many al-Shabaabs. There was a faction that announced that "we are pulling out of Mogadishu." But the reports in the last two days clearly indicate that there are pockets of al-Shabaab presence in Mogadishu, and they have been conducting attacks against the AU peacekeeping forces. So, the picture is much more complicated.
Has the famine weakened al-Shabaab in any way?
Al-Shabaab has been enormously weakened by this crisis. Many are blaming al-Shabaab for catalyzing the [crisis] by locking out aid agencies. Al-Shabaab has been under enormous pressure from clan leaders in the region to act fast, but they have been dragging their feet, and when they reacted it was probably too late. Tens of thousands of children have already died. Tens of thousands of people have fled as refugees to eastern Kenya and southeastern Ethiopia. Many in Somalia, even those who initially supported al-Shabaab, are now blaming them and seeing them as culpable in this crisis.
Does this present an opportunity to stabilize the country?
If al-Shabaab was a cohesive organization and it was serious about averting humanitarian crisis in southern Somalia, then there would have been an opportunity. The problem is that you have a string of factions of al-Shabaab; you don't know who speaks for al-Shabaab. Even engaging them on the question of provisions of humanitarian supplies to the vulnerable populations in southern Somalia is no longer credible, because you don't know how senior or powerful that interlocutor is. Unless we know the power configurations within al-Shabaab, unless we know who calls the shots and who is in charge, it will be difficult for this crisis to have a peace dividend.
Potentially there is an opportunity that you may cut a deal with one faction or another. But what if you have a faction that doesn't like it, that creates its own challenges. As long as al-Shabaab is fragmented and deeply divided as a group, the possibilities of engagement for a positive result are very remote. Many had hoped that engaging al-Shabaab on humanitarian corridors and a ceasefire for a brief period [would] kick-start a positive dynamic. But I don't think we are there.
Do you think the international community is doing enough to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Somalia and the rest of the Horn? And what more can they do?
This is a failure of the whole international system of aid delivery. We had excellent analysis coming out of Somalia on a potential food crisis. We had all the early-warning systems many months ago, but perhaps everyone thought, "Things will not be that bad." This is a collective failure of the international community.
What should be the main priorities of the international community in the short term?
Reach those people who are desperately in need, especially those who are trapped inside al-Shabaab-controlled territory in southern Somalia. Every effort must be made to reach out to those people. If that means negotiating with al-Shabaab, so be it. It is actually more moral to engage al-Shabaab in that than anything else, to save millions of lives.
Beyond emergency aid, what would be your policy recommendations for the international community to prevent such crises in the future?
We need to learn from this crisis that there are many factors that contributed to it. One is conflict. And conflict resolution should be essential. The epicenter of this famine is southern Somalia, which traditionally used to be the bread basket of the country. So the question to ask is, "Why are we in this state?" And it's clear it is because the [international community has] not made the investment that needs to be made in those [famine-affected] communities in how to [improve] agriculture, how to build their coping mechanisms. We need to help those communities become self-sufficient because they are capable of it.
We don't act until the crisis is in full bloom and then we throw bags of wheat. That is not how to deal with crisis. We need to help communities to fend for themselves, to help themselves, to rebuild their traditional methods of coping. Somalia has had many severe droughts in the past, but why has this drought turned into a famine? There are reasons for it, and those are the lessons we need to learn. And we need to act fast when we get evidence that things are really serious.
So are you asking the international community to invest in agriculture?
Absolutely, and not only in agriculture. People have various methods of coping. For example, the Juba Valley and the Shebelle region are drained by two huge rivers: the Shebelle River and the Juba River. They drain massive volumes of water into the Indian Ocean. So if we build methods of water conservation in those parts, we will have enough water for human use, for livestock use, and for agriculture as well. And these systems used to exist. It's just that now there isn't any government.
We also need to criminalize and punish those who are involved in the charcoal trade, because they are contributing to this crisis. Much of southern Somalia has now turned into a lunar landscape because of the [deforestation] work of criminal mafia groups who are involved in the charcoal trade. We should criminalize the buying of Somali charcoal too, tightening the screws both on the supply end and on the demand end.
What are the implications of large-scale displacements of Somalis who are fleeing to Kenya and Ethiopia, countries also facing some level of drought?
Somalis' displacement will continue until there is a resolution of the crisis, a resolution of the political conflict and that appears far away because of what's going on in south Somalia. When we talk about the drought in northeastern Kenya and Ethiopia, these are places where despite a lot of hardships, you have governments in place, you have administrations that are in place, and they have better coping methods.
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You call deforestation and overgrazing 'environmental' issues.. Like they just happened, despite the efforts of somalis. And it's the international communities' fault for not being able to get aid there fast enough?
Any country could let this happen. Only the somalis do, because they are accustomed to begging at the world's table. When do we cut these people off and let them sink or swim?
Initially, i thought – let em be pirates. It at *least* shows initiative and desire for more. Then i hear the pirates blow the money on drugs.
We have deserts in america, we don't live in them.
An "international Crisis Group, calls the crisis in Somalia "a collective failure of the international community,"
Regional aid groups have regional priorities and bemoan the international community. There are many areas in the world who are in deep humanitarian crisis. However tragic the situation there is, Somalia is not alone!
Africa is a place that many believe if you save someone's life you are responsible for them until the day they die. How many do YOU want to take home with you? There is a REASON for the signs "DO NOT FEED THE PIGEONS"!
People who buy the hummingbird feeders at the hardware store "enjoy the show" until they tire of the time and expense of maintaining them. When the "free lunch" ceases, the additional hummingbirds that other food sources available cannot sustain die. That's nature's way of population control.
why are we responsible for this people, after all they are to blame for what is happening there, first of all, lets teach them to sue birth control and that will take care of the over population. Why have more children when they hardly have to ear, also lets teach this people to grow their own vegetables and not to expect the world to feed them. Just my opinion.
and why are we responsible for this people, after all they are to blame for what is happening there, first of all, lets teach them to use birth control and that will take care of the over population. Why have more children when they hardly have to eat, also lets teach this people to grow their own vegetables and not to expect the world to feed them. Just my opinion.
cnn. the world failed somalia? wrong. the militant islamic leaders failed their country. they rather oppress the people and cram islam down their throats then open the country to international aid and freeedom of religion.
by the way i am replying because i cant post for some reason
From the book, "Awakening Hippocrates" by Dr. Edward O' Neil, published in 2006 by the American Medical Association, and unanimously praised by figures such as Rhena Schweitzer Miller (Albert Schweitzer's daughter), Tracy Kidder (Publitzer winnder), Robert Sparks (President Emeritus of Kellogg Foundation), Jim Yong Kim (Chief of Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities of Harvard Medical School), as well as from others. Here are the excerpts:
[…Other world regions have received US aid when their strategic importance warranted it… In Somalia, US food shipments flooded area markets, ruining the livelihoods of areas farmers. Up to two thirds of shipments in some areas were stolen and then sold on the black market purchase arms, furthering the conflict… Former Somali minister of the interior, Abdirahman Osman Raghe, said, “Food aid… had turned Somalia from a self-sufficient exporter of food to an aid-dependent kleptocracy” (169) ] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100).
[…Other countries have also suffered from infusions of US foreign aid. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala received substantial US aid when perceived communist threats and real throats to US business interests surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s (Chomsky 1993, 29). Much of this infusion armed authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed the poorest members of Latin American societies (9). Saudi Arabia has long received substantial US aid in return for maintaining peace with Israel and keeping oil prices down…] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100)
[ ….Strategic considerations of foreign aid through the years help to explain why thugs like Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya, Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran, and the Duviliers of Haiti amassed personal fortunes. The US government and its allies have turned a blind eye to even the worst human rights’ abuses as long as strategic and economic objectives were met. In some cases, US aid has directly armed and trained the military forces that have carried out some of the worst atrocities of the modern era, particularly in Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s. Lars Schoultz of the University of North Carolina found a direct correlation between US foreign aid and human rights abuses. He concluded that US aid “has tended to flow to Latin American governments which torture their citizens… to the hemisphere’s relatively egregious violators of fundamental human rights” (Chomsky 1993, 120) ] (from the same book, forgot the page...)
[In 1997, UN calculated that for a total of $40 billion per year rich countries could cover the following for ALL the world's people: basic healthcare and nutrition -$13 billion; water and sanitation --$9 billion; basic education --$6 billion; and reproductive health for women --$12 billion (United Nations Development Program (UNDP) 1998, 37)] (Awakening Hippocrates p48).
$40 billion from the collective industrialized countries to finish off world's poverty. Go figure. What the hell happened? Well. Spend $23 dollars. It is the best you will spend in your entire life. Buy that book. Read it. Then come back. Post here.
This is taken from 3 pages. Imagine. The book cost $23 dollars and has 450 such pages. Please read that, and see if you can argue with something like that.
About that book from Mr. Ed O' Neill posted just above...
Going by the citations you have, of course there's a correlation to food aid going to nations that have brutal dictators that commit human rights abuses; those nations that don't suffer under such oppression are typically more likely to thrive and not require the assistance of humanitarian aid in the first place. The alternative is to let the people starve and suffer even worse We don't just say "screw those North Korean people" just because their rulers are so insane.
It's also pretty laughable that he's claiming food aid to these nations is destroying farmers livelyhoods considering the only reason we're giving them food in the first place is because they need it and do not have the food resources to feed everyone in the first place. If US food aid makes it so hard to compete, farmers should shift to more in demand crops and adapt, or do something else to help boost that economy while they're being built up by outside forces. The U.S. gives them free crap to help save lives yet people still manage to complain.
fuk somalia...let them go already
wrong, the world tried to help somalia once. the somalian people killed those trying to help and then celebrated it. enjoy not having food.
BINGO! Any neighborhood that starts shooting at the pizza guy doesn't get deliveries anymore.
Is your understanding of this region solely based on the movie "Black Hawk Down" – sad!
My understanding comes from being alive at the time we last tried to help. The U.S. military came under fire from the moment they arrived with food until we left. The Marines had to take the beach so we could even land.
A good friend of mine was shot in both legs in Mogadishu in '93. I talked to him last night. He was eating pizza and complaining about needing to lose a few pounds. We laughed. Life is good.
Get owned Guest or better yet take a history class
I guess you guys didn't read the article quoting one of the poor bas***ds who was in the "Black Hawk Down" and he said he would not hesitate to fly another mercy mission there, thus proving (as if there was a need) that he's still a bigger man than y'all . . .
I had a contractor with me in Africa who was with the Rangers in Somalia. Other than disliking large groups being around us and the bubble gum kids following us ("sure he's ten, but I'm worried about his brothers up the block waiting for us"), he didn't seem to hold any ill will towards the people we were there help. And this included both national Somalis and tribal Somalis.
Even my father, who was shot at by Koreans, had no problem with me marrying a Korean woman. After almost 2 decades you have to re-examine things.
I saw that article, Ian. I can't subscribe to the philosophy that we have to kill them in order to save them because that is the current situation. When they're willing to stop trying to kill those trying to help them, I'm all for helping them.
Well Said... Remember Black Hawk Down. 1 good innocent life is not worth a thousand starving terrorist. A good terrorist is a dead terrorist, I may add. So go kill your 100 thousand terrorist first before we send a single person to help you.
– quote –
We have deserts in america, we don't live in them.
– end quote –
We have cities in the deserts that bring water from rivers and reservoirs.
Phoenix, Las Vegas, Tucson, Albquerque, etc...
The biggest difference is we don't have people shooting the tires out from under our transport vehicles after assassinating the driver and stealing the contents.
The problem is, it's anarchy in the fullest sense over there now. If a soldier is hit in a fire fight, he'd be stripped of resources as soon as he hit the ground. I have a better idea, migrate.
Why bother giving facts when it is so obvious, I don't think that is the issue here, rather just people quenching their thirst for hate.
I agree 100%!! I keep waiting for someone to colonize the moon and then ask for aid because they can not sustain life!
And if and when this were to happen, some bleeding heart would be standing on the corner yelling out for us to help them!
Dont they have u-haul rentals there?? Good business to start. Keep the food for OUR own starving American kids
The famine is an act of God. The effect is worse because the people, supposedly fighting in the name of God, are biting off the hand that feeds them. Let God judge them all if even acts of mercy are punished severely!
"let them sink or swim" you are talking about starving children. it isn't a bank bailout, it's human lives. i can't imagine being that callous.
There are other places with starving children where the people who distribute aid will not be attacked by the indigenous inhabitants. Help them. F^#K Somalia.
I agree, paul. These children deserve all our best efforts.
However, though much of this animosity is due to the racist and genocidal etc, I think much is from utter outrage and frustration at the SELF-SERVING aid orgs. (read 'Lords of Poverty, Billions at stake, they do Not want hunger to go away), political, religious and entertainment leaders, and media (Is CNN getting a kick back for every donation they bring in?! They've covered this like one long info-mercial. (half info at that) -who are using this nightmare to manipulate open our wallets.
-and once again, NO MENTION of BIRTH CONTROL.
I am being asked to fund the next famine, not help these suffering children, and I am appalled.
15 years ago the west went to Somalia to help feed the people, we were not welcome, now the same children that we did help have growen up and have 4-5 children of their own. Their (ahem) leaders will not let aid into the hardest hit areas and the problem keeps growing. Stop throwing money down the pit. Let Somalis help somalis. Put the guns down and start fixing your own country,
F- Somalia, and the ass-– who "blame everyone but them." I'm sick of these idiot bleeding=hearts and theirwhining. Go ahead, feed these creatures. They'll keep breeding at a rate of 14-16 per 1000 and next time, you'll have TWICE as many starving. Let nature take its course.
Richard, you are correct and the man!!!!!! Off with their stinkin criminal skulls!!!!
"Nature?" Don't you realize that this part of the world has been victim to colonization, which is a main contributing factor to why they don't have a stable sustainable government?
It's as if yall never learned anything about history and the legacy of colonization. Don't ignore the past, it shapes the present.
Sounds like another Haiti to me...Time to let them go...ALL of them
Somalia? I thought the NBA was on strike. Is he a prediicted 1st rounder?
Was that supposed to be a racial joke?
Pathetic, Dave.
Just so we are clear, no one or country is obligated to provide aid. These people need to learn to only breed offspring they can actually provide for themselves. In these cases, providing aid only increases the number of people wallowing up to the aid trough for more hand outs. The USA should never borrow money to give it away when there are so many pressing problems here that need immediate resources. If that is handled and we then have extra, only then should we provide aid. We already provide more aid internationally than any other country in the world by far relative to any possible measure. Time for other countries to step up to the plate in a much bigger way. If that is too harsh for some people, go pound sand.
One word: Texas. Two more: Drinking urine. Three more: You were saying?
Im going to enjoy my steak tonight.
And my family is going for oysters tonight. Somalians are not going to spoil my dinner at all.
The permament soultion to East Africa drought and starvation is quite simple. After the famine do what they did in Barain. Spend International Money On Desalanation planets in Kenya, Eretria, and Somalia so they will have a constant supply of fresh water. a billon dollar today might save millions and millions of people and money down the road. Besides it might give some of unemployed Engineers a job! Desalanation planets would provide constant water for crops.
From the book, "Awakening Hippocrates" by Dr. Edward O' Neil, published in 2006 by the American Medical Association, and unanimously praised by figures such as Rhena Schweitzer Miller (Albert Schweitzer's daughter), Tracy Kidder (Publitzer winnder), Robert Sparks (President Emeritus of Kellogg Foundation), Jim Yong Kim (Chief of Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities of Harvard Medical School), as well as from others. Here are the excerpts:
[…Other world regions have received US aid when their strategic importance warranted it… In Somalia, US food shipments flooded area markets, ruining the livelihoods of areas farmers. Up to two thirds of shipments in some areas were stolen and then sold on the black market purchase arms, furthering the conflict… Former Somali minister of the interior, Abdirahman Osman Raghe, said, “Food aid… had turned Somalia from a self-sufficient exporter of food to an aid-dependent kleptocracy” (169) ] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100).
[…Other countries have also suffered from infusions of US foreign aid. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala received substantial US aid when perceived communist threats and real throats to US business interests surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s (Chomsky 1993, 29). Much of this infusion armed authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed the poorest members of Latin American societies (9). Saudi Arabia has long received substantial US aid in return for maintaining peace with Israel and keeping oil prices down…] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100)
[ ….Strategic considerations of foreign aid through the years help to explain why thugs like Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya, Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran, and the Duviliers of Haiti amassed personal fortunes. The US government and its allies have turned a blind eye to even the worst human rights’ abuses as long as strategic and economic objectives were met. In some cases, US aid has directly armed and trained the military forces that have carried out some of the worst atrocities of the modern era, particularly in Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s. Lars Schoultz of the University of North Carolina found a direct correlation between US foreign aid and human rights abuses. He concluded that US aid “has tended to flow to Latin American governments which torture their citizens… to the hemisphere’s relatively egregious violators of fundamental human rights” (Chomsky 1993, 120) ] (from the same book, forgot the page...)
[In 1997, UN calculated that for a total of $40 billion per year rich countries could cover the following for ALL the world's people: basic healthcare and nutrition -$13 billion; water and sanitation --$9 billion; basic education --$6 billion; and reproductive health for women --$12 billion (United Nations Development Program (UNDP) 1998, 37)] (Awakening Hippocrates p48).
This is taken from 3 pages. Imagine. The book cost $23 dollars and has 450 such pages. Please read that, and see if you can argue with something like that.
So you are putting blame on aid suppliers and not on distributors and local leaders?! Wow! You are living in heck of a screwed up fairy world. Open your eyes now!
Hey , lets all do our part to help . I just sent a package of pbj sandwiches to a p.o. box in the capitol city . You're welcome .
HOW CAN YOU BE IGNORENT IN THIS TIME OF AGE WE ARE GOING TO OTHER COUNTEREIS THAT DO NOT NEED US BUT SOMALIA NEED THE HELP OF INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION.
These people had farms, livestock, villages, crops, ways to feed their families. Then they were hit with war and drought. All that matters is this: each of us must decide how we will respond. We can act as the best of humanity, or as something far less. As for me, they are no different that my own children. In a very real sense, they belong to all of us.
Follow your highest value.
"Then they were hit with war and drought. " See here is the problem. Exemplified. *THEY* have not stepped up tot he plate to fix the problems. THEY have killed those who came to help them. THEY have run from their problems rather than band together to fix them. THEY keep breeding unabated despite allllll their problem. 'gotta say Tracy, if you and your kids do that I'd feel the exact same way about you and them; Let them stand on their own, or fall flat on the faces.
"They" don't have a stable government to fall back on. I can almost guarantee that those who are starving and dying are not part of the criminal group. Did you even read the article? All-Shabaab is preventing those in need from getting access to aid. "They" are not all a part of this organization. How can anyone organize against al-Shabaab when they can't even keep themselves fed? "They" NEED aid before the idea of sustaining themselves can even be considered.
Ah Tracy stop it, your bringing a tear to my one good eyeball. NOT!!!!!! Screw those Criminals!!!!!
Your ideas of what is best for humanity and "higher values" are subjective at best.
Human independence, now there's the higher value. Let them learn to live, because god willing they haven't yet
This part of the world has been on the receiving end for over 35 years that I can recall. And its population has increased considerably, largely due to the availability of food aid from the U.S. More mouths means more stressors on the land which could not support their 1970s population. We should defer aid until credible birth control measures are in place to lesser the population burden.
To Dave, there is a credible birth control in place in Somalia. It's called "kill thy neighbor". Fundamentalist Islam seems to hate women, so they're the first to die in any conflict.
The tragedy here is that the Communists should have been in control of this region as they were in Ethiopia 20 years ago. But that cursed George H.W.Bush had to get rid of them in Ethiopia through the covert actions of the C.I.A. back in 1991. This is another result of U.S. intervention around the world which needs to end as soon as possible!!!
@Joseph McCarthy: So apparently it would have been better if it was Soviet occupied at the time of Soviet collapse?
Eh, I guess it worked for Afghanistan, right?
been there, done that. call China up and ask for aid, see how well that goes.
Bewst response. How about Russia? Whoops, they are the ones arming both sides.
Is it against their religion to practice birth control?
Most of the countries in Africa have high birthrates. It is probably more a matter of custom than religion.
What you call 'customs' I call lack of discipline. I think I'll make it my family's custom to rob anyone they can get their hands on. Can I get your sympathy too?
No problem. That means that this starvation is also a custom there...nature's way of managing man's burden on limited resources.
I have little empathy for an individual who brings children into this world who they cannot afford.
Please tell that to all of the parents in the US who get $5000 to $7000 per child each year in taxes – the US government should not be paying to support children of these dead beat parents. If want a child YOU support them not the state if you can afford then don't have kids – I am sick of paying for somebody's kids through taxes that are supposed to be used on road repair and rescue services.
What if it is by force and violence, as is common in Somalia?
No. Somalia failed Somalia. Initiative must begin at home otherwise no amount of aid will lead to any lasting change or benefit. It was Somalians that allowed (and are still allowing) other Somalians to die of starvation and other atrocities. The world community - not just the US - can and should assist as much as possible, but it's not the failure of the world community that is causing this crisis. Place the blame where it belongs. On Somalia! They may not have caused the drought leading to the famine, but their handling of the situation is deplorable.
BTW, a similar argument can be made for the tragedy going on in Haiti as well and their response to the devastating earthquake in January 2010.
Good people of the world tried to help. All we got for it was Blackhawk down. The people have to want to help themselves or at least realize they are the problem.
Somalia wants lawlessness and this is what they get – When you have Muslim terrorists running the country what do you expect. They turn away aid until they realize they are all going to die if they don't accept it. Why would the US even consider helping them – Somalia is an enemy of the US and will be for as long as Muslim terrorists run the country. If we help them out they will only turn on us the first chance they get. US please don't be such a SUCKER – let these Muslims terrorists starve
Wow, I guess this is from our "Christian" nation, there is enough money and jewels in the Vatican to feed the world 10 times over, where is the ?Catholic Church in this conversation. I can not believe the hate on this post, children are starving to death, is this the America you choose to be? Let them starve??? Holy crap this place really has gone to the devil!!
Not wanting to help people who are beyond help is not hate. It is more likely bloggers feel bad about Somalia, but knowing the facts of what brought Somalia to its current state makes them type callous statements. Like mine.
This has nothing to due with being a good Christian – tell me how or why it would be a good decision to feed and medicate the poor Somalia terrorists. I think if you are for feeding and medicating them you must be pro-terrorism. Stormbrew I now consider you a colonel in the Taliban.
You got it wrong. It is Somalia that has gone to the devil. Some of us are determined to not let that happen here!
If you don't like it Storm butt, then hit the road, you toad!!!!!!!
There is a large amount of racism and hate in these comments and it makes me sick.
Lets get something straight, I help me and mine and that don't include you 'less I reckon it does. I help Americans, no matter what our differences. I help my friends. I don't help those who aren't brave enough to stand on their own. If that makes me a bad person, that's your uninformed and unintelligent bloody heart opinion.
The world helped the Taliban by giving them aid to build a soccer stadium... The taliban used that aid to build a public execution square. After that we asked them to build a soccer stadium... they said if we gave them more, they would build another execution square... The somali's have given no indication that they are any different.
I would love nothing more than to have Somali kids grow up and be our friends... I will not help them grow up to be my enemy. And that is how the world comes down. Friend or foe... Foe don't want no help, Foe don't get no help.
Wrong! Somalia's government failed Somalia. The US and other countries have been helping them for years.
Obama just gave them $105 Million dollars. What is he doing for Texas? Texans are now recycling their
urine for drinking because of the severity of the drought!
Good one!
@EBF: Natural droughts are not something the united states government can click it's heels together and create a water source for.
Unless you mean a government initiative to send a bunch of Sparklett water bottles to Texas...
They don't really recycle urine to drink in Texas. It's just their crappy Lone Star beer they are drinking. Hey, wait a minute... what IS in that stuff anyway?
>Obama just gave them $105 Million dollars. What is he doing for Texas? Texans are now recycling their
urine for drinking because of the severity of the drought!
He gave them money to be used to build a reclamation plant that turns urine back into drinkable water.
To EBF, your right, 105 million $$$$ that we do not have, tax the rich?? right, it is easyer to pick the working man or womans pocket and give it away.
I know one thing: the Somali problems wereaggravated in the political halls of Washington! When the Black Hawk went down, it wasn't the time to run! But America did run! Why? Because of the dirty political gridlock between Republicans and Democrats! I recall begging President Clinton not to withdraw from Somalia. So did the UN Representative, Boutros, Boutros Galli. But someone by the name Bob Dole had a personal feud with Boutros. The latter was overruled, and so was I. He was removed from the picture.The blood of brave 19 Marines was spilled for nothing! We could have made Somalia into an African paradise, with the desalinization plants I was proposing. It was an ideal base to protect the Middle East and Israel. The moral is: We need to create a one-party system, where all Americans speak with one voice, not double voice that splits and ruins us all! Not to speak about the hunger that we perpetuate in the world!
Somalia- take care of your own people. And if your country has too high of a population to feed....STOP BREEDING! Survival of the fittest...witness it in Somalia!
screw it we tried helping them before.......they just shot at the foreigners.....
Somalia failed Somalia.
Exactly.
I'm sorry but I beg to differ. We tried to help Somalia before. Somalia has no one to blame but the so called Islamic idiots who continue to terrorize and hold the country hostage.
Oh, so that is our new tactic, let the hostages die?? hey, that should save us some money? cause money is the main thing, right??? huh David, you a good Christian David?? really, Jesus would act like you are right now??
What you keep ignoring is the fact that the Somalians do NOT want to be saved. Less Somalians now means less pirates later.
Stormbrew, God answers all prayers, just somtimes the answer is no,
The world failed Somalia? How about Somalia failed Somalia?
From the book, "Awakening Hippocrates" by Dr. Edward O' Neil, published in 2006 by the American Medical Association, and unanimously praised by figures such as Rhena Schweitzer Miller (Albert Schweitzer's daughter), Tracy Kidder (Publitzer winnder), Robert Sparks (President Emeritus of Kellogg Foundation), Jim Yong Kim (Chief of Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities of Harvard Medical School) and from other figures. Some excerpts:
[…Other world regions have received US aid when their strategic importance warranted it… In Somalia, US food shipments flooded area markets, ruining the livelihoods of areas farmers. Up to two thirds of shipments in some areas were stolen and then sold on the black market purchase arms, furthering the conflict… Former Somali minister of the interior, Abdirahman Osman Raghe, said, “Food aid… had turned Somalia from a self-sufficient exporter of food to an aid-dependent kleptocracy” (169) ] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100).
[…Other countries have also suffered from infusions of US foreign aid. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala received substantial US aid when perceived communist threats and real throats to US business interests surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s (Chomsky 1993, 29). Much of this infusion armed authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed the poorest members of Latin American societies (9). Saudi Arabia has long received substantial US aid in return for maintaining peace with Israel and keeping oil prices down…] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100)
[…The adjustment loans to receiving countries include three components: privatization, liberalization, and deregulation (Kim et al 2000, 22). Privatization means that state-controlled firms or services, including health care and education, were sold off or taken over by NGOs or for-profit firms that often added user fees... These policies have translated into literal assault on the poor… To the creditor nations, however, structural adjustment has been a remarkable success –the loans are being repaid (Kim et al 2000, 11). Between 1983 and 1989, poor countries paid $242 billion more to their creditors than they received in new loans. As of June 2005, Nigeria spends $1.7 billion per year on debt service payments, an amount that is five times larger than it spends on education, and 13 times larger than it spends on health (Kar and Watkins 2005). (Awakening Hippocrates, p130)
Please go spend $23. The book was published in 2006, and pretty much wrecked a revolution inside health care profession, international care, and universities humanities curriculum. 20 years in the making, the book revolutionized our view of our foreign policy, and the hypocrisy of "aid". Come back after you read that book.. jeez. It is 2011
Gosh. When will people get it? Read the book and fast forward a couple years. It is 08-12-2011. This is after 2006.
Who cares about Somalia!!!!
As I read the posts here – it is easy to see that most of us agree that the US should say screw Somalia and worry about Texas instead – So US government get off your fat a$$es and HELP Texas out – not Somalia, not Haiti, but the AMERICAN state of Texas
You mean the TX where Rick Perry is Gov? Did he mention the drought at the gigantic prayer circle? Why isn't he more focused on his own people, I guess you could say, Texas failed Texas, I guess this is just some more survival of the fittest huh? Or should we say TX is the biggest and best at everything, why can't they take care of this themselves. Maybe Texans should live where there is water, or stop having any children who could get thirsty! Would we then go as far as to say "screw Texas"???? God this Christian thing is just so tired... you have failed as Christians
SB, What do you know about being a christian?
Earth to stormbrew, Texas is part of the US. Somalia is a foreign, enemy country.
Somalis don't pay US taxes. Not that Texans have failed Texans, anyway. There is a drought, but nobody is in jeopardy, and people are building water reclamation facilities to deal with it. Stark contrast to Somalia.
Stormbrew – America stands together – as Americans we will protect and take care of each other. It is not our responsibility to feed the world – it is our responsibility to take care of American citizens. Last time I checked they are many starving families inside the US – so until we take care of them – the rest of the world is just going to have to go hungry
Strombrew, just curious, how much have you sent to help the poor in Somalia, or anywhere else for that matter?
Stormbrew, guy your worring me. I don't understand the Texas Rick Perry comparison to Somalia. Did you graduate High School??? What the hell are you talking about. Look, just don't reproduce and the world will be a much better place to live.
Also Texas is taking care of themselves thier building a water plant as you read this. This is why i love the internet so R-words like you can post things and get humilated
Hold up! I am from texas, living and this drought and screw you very much we are not begging for help. I watered my yard yesterday and filled my pool. You cannot compare us to those somalians. We are americans and would not shoot people coming to our aid and drag them down the street while their bodies were on fire. You are a ignorant bleeding heart liberal ! Let those people figure it out on their own. They are ungrateful and need to lay in the bed that they have made. If they are starving and spitting out babies they cannot feed it is none of our business! Let them figure it out on their own, i am tired of my money going to somalian and haitians! We rebuilt after our devastation, we push ourselves to overcome daily. Why cant they? I am trying to feed my own kids without having to worry about people in other countries. I dont care anymore! I want americans taken care for once!
We, the US, are more involved in this famine than we know, in that we have purposefully increased tensions and violence. I suggest each of us who cares about justice read the new, insightful book: The Tenth Parallel.
To Sher0044, I was going to post something, when I read your post you brought it down to brass tacks, God bless you and the great state of Texas. I was not born in Texas but I got here as fast as I could.
screw them !!!!
The world did not fail Somalia. Somalia failed itself. Place the blame where it is due.
AMEN!!!!!!!! Somalians are to blame for their own problems. Lets stop babyseatting other and lets take care of the people here who do not have a job and no money to buy food.
Ahhhh. No. It's not the world's responsibility to help Somolia. Thugs, pirates and tribal warfare. Not another US penny.
Every time we provide food or money to these countries, we throw their economic and ecosystem out of balance. Children dying. Sorry. If a region can't support it's population and that population has not established a stable government or system that sustain a resource or service to trade or barter for what they need; then that society needs to wither on the vine.
No more. We have to spend our money here at home.
See every body, Tank agrees, we should just let the folks in Texas die of thirst, they should have lived in a place with water, right? the Down Right Reverend Tank has spoken...just like most of you all on this blog...money is most important! screw dying babies, right Tank???
Right, STUPID!!!!!
Excerpt from "Origin of the species"
As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected.
Therefore, allow nature to take its course.
Oh Pietro, nature has no conscious or deliberative capabilities, it simple goes about its systematic renewal. We, as humans are evolved and now have the gift of discernment, at least those of us who have evolved to modern human beings. I think discerning human beings would chose to make certain adaptations to the environment to assist other human beings, maybe nature skipped over this mutation with your lineage?? I would have wonder, back on the Beagle everyone!!
High five
"The world failed Somalia? I don't buy that for a second. Somalia failed Somalia; they refused, over decades, to invest in themselves. They refused to learn from the thousands of aid agencies that have always been there. They have squandered any chance they have, thru political corruption, greed, and lack of long-term thinking for the betterment of their own country. The rest of the world is not responsible to make Somalia work, when most of the Somali's don't want it to work, or cannot find a way. The internal problems of Somalia are their problems, not ours.
You want to help them, continue to throw money at them and watch it be totally wasted in corruption? Go ahead. But don't you dare say it is "The worlds fault." Not now, not ever. It is their own destiny they have control of-let them do something with it other than drugs, piracy, corruption and anti-foreigner sentiment.
I was in Somalia for United Shield in 95. Nothing has changed. At least Clinton had the guts to say "We tried to help, you guys obviously don't want it. We're leaving." I wish we had a president that had the stones to say that in the oval office now about Afghanistan.
I understand the need to project ourselves beyond our borders as a Nation of goodwill and peace but why don't we try leading by example? We have enough problems within our own borders, society and government. Don't you think we should figure out those before telling others how they should live? Don't confuse this approach with isolationism. If we're attacked, we should pound the enemy into oblivion and move on with a warning... "We want to be friends and have everyone get along. We want to help. But harm our citizens and we'll wipe you off the map."
And BTW for any of you "Less Government" Tea Partiers. Take a good look at countries like Somalia around the world with "Less Government" and see how THEY are doing. I've been around the world and seen more attrocities than I care to describe here at the hands of the strong preying on the weak. Government's job is to prevent that from happening when our people fail to act responsibly or in a socially acceptable manner. Just in our country the smart, rich and powerful are preying on the weak, poor and stupid.
Sigh. There's a world of difference between "small" government in the developed world and no government in the undeveloped world.
Advocating smaller government is a far cry from advocating Somali like non-government. Oh and one other thing, a Tea Party member will not kill you if you offer to help them. Are you better off now than you were in Jan. 2007? Democrats controlled the government from Jan. 2007 – Jan. 2011. $8 trillion deficit in 2008, $14 trillion deficit in 2011. $6 trillion more deficit in three years. Way to go big govenrment!
You can't be that daft. Rather than ask who controlled Congress, ask why the debt. Expedition Iraq cost how much? DHS cost how much? Un-funded Medicaid changes, where Bush specifically disallowed the worlds largest drug purchaser (Medicaid) from negotiating price, how much? No Child Left Behind, the un-funded abject failure cost how much? I get an extra $600 refund/yr thanks to Bush. It does nothing for me, but where could those funds be used? Bush's TARP is over twice the bailouts of the current administration.
How can you so conveniently ignore reality?
TY Navy Vet, for both your service and comments.
"The world failed Somalia"??? Give me a break. Somalia is in this pickle because men and women there choose to reproduce irresponsibly–given the limited resources available.
The tragedy is too great for stupid punditry like this article.
Wow! There is a serious absence of compassion and humanity in these posts. How can anyone not look at the faces of the children who are malnourished, starving and dying from malnutrition and disease and not feel anything? Pointing fingers and blaming people does not solve the problem here.
Yes, a lot of what has happened here is related to Al-Shabbab terrorizing and controlling it's own people. A lot also has to do with the environmental conditions (those of us in Texas are understanding what a drought can actually do to an area and we have only had it for a few months) and the fact that few places in Africa have had the resources and opportunities of the west and few have been free from colonization by European countries over the last 150 years. Europe colonized and exploited many of the areas of Africa leaving them like they left the Indian subcontinent – worse off. India was able to recover because it has not had the problems of drought, famine and self-serving dictators like Africa has.
The majority of the population here has always been at the mercy of the few in power. Unfortunately in these situations it is always the average person who suffers. These are the ones suffering now. The ones who are just trying to do what so many in the US are doing – provide for their families. Unfortuantely, environmental conditions and politics keeps them from being able to do that.
And a lack of compassion and humanity.
To solve problems, one needs to identify the root cause. Any action not addressing the root cause is a bandaid that may offer temporary relief but merely conceals the real problem. The root cause is that there are too many people for the region.
If you feel long-term compassion instead of wanting short-term symptomatic relief, pass out condoms with food and resolve to avoid aid policies that enable hundreds of thousands of starving children to survive only to grow up and produce millions. Where is the evidence that any of our policies have actually reduced starvation in the world?
Its easy Cryst, we don't want any more holes shot into our rear ends because we are the world's feeding store, NOT!!!!!!!
You yearn for justice and compassion? This is an area where if you save someone's life they are your responsibility until the day they die. How many will you invite home to live with you? Do what you will, but don't lay a guilt trip on other responsible citizens of the world.
Finally a comment from a person with some sanity. Thank you for the well written comment.
Well said!
It is very difficult to keep in perspective the fact that the miserable, hating, angry, self absorbed, spoiled and self righteous people who post the sick and distrubing outflow of their hearts and minds on sites like these, are not the majority. At least I hope they are not. Who can look at a starving child and say, "you did this to yourself" or "I have more important things to worry about, like whether or not I can retire on time and whether to order off the dollar menu or the regular menu." Each of us should do what we can to help. It starts one person and a time. In the end we will all be accountable. Ignore the sickos and remember what really matters.
Amen Christina, "what so ever you do to the least of mine" money and greed rule everything right now, and we have lost our way! Tear down your churches, sell your fine clothes and melt down your gold and sell your jewelry, feed the children of the earth first, see that they are happy and safe first! tho you may have money, you have nothing without them except the anticipation of your own meaningless and lonely demise
From your writing, I believe you are mentally ill. Seek help as soon as possible.
So, tell us what you're doing in addition to emoting?? And if you're sending money for food, I'd suggest you're just adding to the problem. The survivors will reproduce and there will be yet more starving children in a decade or so.
You feel compassion? Then do something EFFECTIVE to reduce this suffering.
"Who can look at a starving child and say, "you did this to yourself"...? The same people who are too lazy to have their pets neutered and so take their repeat litters to the SPCA.
There are irresponsible people everywhere, and that includes the Somalis.
Christina, get a grip and a life. Do you have any idea what these "Animals" would do to you if you landed on their beach with food packages for the starving??? Of course you do not, so just shut your pie hole and let the games begin!!!
Fareed is a guy who grew in a privileged family in India and had the resources and political connections to get in Yale and land a 6 figure job. It's easy to be idealistic when you never had to struggle yourself. Guess what Fareed, most common people could care less about Somalia, especially after the black hawk down incident. Us common folks have problems of our own and this country is in massive debt.
These people are 100% responsible for themselves. The USA is not the worlds police and we are not their welfare program either.
Actually, the USA is the world's police. Our foreign policy does not fail to dictate to other countries what they should or should not do within their own countries. We have our own self-serving interests in many countries whether it be oil or stabilizing a US friendly dictator. When it comes to fulfilling our own interests, we have no problem telling others what to do.
So, Jangocat, we do have a responsibility to the world.
I respectfully disagree.
In large part for our efforts and advise in good faith, the rest of the world tells the U.S. to take a flying leap. That removes us from being "on the hook" for what then happens. You can lead people to knowledge but you can't make them think!
If it was you in Somaila, and your children starving, you would want some help. Wouldn't you? I don't need to wait for the rest of the world, I donated $100 today myself.
For those who say, "Screw the starving children" You have made your choice about who you choose to be today. And that id good. Now go live your truth. However, do not be surprised if your life is not everything you want it to be.
And for you to use GOD as your screen name shows how much of a moron you are. Somalia deserves its fate, let nature take its course.
While the world may be able to do more, this is not our fault. The ban on aid was only recently lifted. Air drops are rather inefficient in their ability to deliver aid to the needy. Are you suggesting that we should have repeated history and sent in soldiers to help out before the ban was lifted? How many families would be happy knowing their loved one was killed by people who rejected their help? Also, Overgrazing and deforestation is not something you blame on the environment. It means that the Somalis destroyed the areas and are now paying for it. The situation might be tragic, but to put blame on the world and not on the Somalis themselves is wrong.
From the book, "Awakening Hippocrates" by Dr. Edward O' Neil, published in 2006 by the American Medical Association, and unanimously praised by figures such as Rhena Schweitzer Miller (Albert Schweitzer's daughter), Tracy Kidder (Publitzer winnder), Robert Sparks (President Emeritus of Kellogg Foundation), Jim Yong Kim (Chief of Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities of Harvard Medical School) and from other figures. Some excerpts:
[…Other world regions have received US aid when their strategic importance warranted it… In Somalia, US food shipments flooded area markets, ruining the livelihoods of areas farmers. Up to two thirds of shipments in some areas were stolen and then sold on the black market purchase arms, furthering the conflict… Former Somali minister of the interior, Abdirahman Osman Raghe, said, “Food aid… had turned Somalia from a self-sufficient exporter of food to an aid-dependent kleptocracy” (169) ] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100).
[…Other countries have also suffered from infusions of US foreign aid. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala received substantial US aid when perceived communist threats and real throats to US business interests surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s (Chomsky 1993, 29). Much of this infusion armed authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed the poorest members of Latin American societies (9). Saudi Arabia has long received substantial US aid in return for maintaining peace with Israel and keeping oil prices down…] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100)
[…The adjustment loans to receiving countries include three components: privatization, liberalization, and deregulation (Kim et al 2000, 22). Privatization means that state-controlled firms or services, including health care and education, were sold off or taken over by NGOs or for-profit firms that often added user fees... These policies have translated into literal assault on the poor… To the creditor nations, however, structural adjustment has been a remarkable success –the loans are being repaid (Kim et al 2000, 11). Between 1983 and 1989, poor countries paid $242 billion more to their creditors than they received in new loans. As of June 2005, Nigeria spends $1.7 billion per year on debt service payments, an amount that is five times larger than it spends on education, and 13 times larger than it spends on health (Kar and Watkins 2005). (Awakening Hippocrates, p130)
Please go spend $23. The book was published in 2006, and pretty much wrecked a revolution inside health care profession, international care, and universities humanities curriculum. 20 years in the making, the book revolutionized our view of our foreign policy, and the hypocrisy of "aid". Come back after you read that book.. jeez. It is 2011. Also, the book 's massive data pretty much argue that everyone benefiting is well, "involved" (or less politely, morally obliged).
Gosh. When will people get it? Read the book and fast forward a couple years. It is 08-12-2011. This is after 2006.
I think the aid they need is birth contol
From the book, "Awakening Hippocrates" by Dr. Edward O' Neil, published in 2006 by the American Medical Association, and unanimously praised by figures such as Rhena Schweitzer Miller (Albert Schweitzer's daughter), Tracy Kidder (Publitzer winnder), Robert Sparks (President Emeritus of Kellogg Foundation), Jim Yong Kim (Chief of Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities of Harvard Medical School) and from other figures. Some excerpts:
[…Other world regions have received US aid when their strategic importance warranted it… In Somalia, US food shipments flooded area markets, ruining the livelihoods of areas farmers. Up to two thirds of shipments in some areas were stolen and then sold on the black market purchase arms, furthering the conflict… Former Somali minister of the interior, Abdirahman Osman Raghe, said, “Food aid… had turned Somalia from a self-sufficient exporter of food to an aid-dependent kleptocracy” (169) ] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100).
[…Other countries have also suffered from infusions of US foreign aid. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala received substantial US aid when perceived communist threats and real throats to US business interests surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s (Chomsky 1993, 29). Much of this infusion armed authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed the poorest members of Latin American societies (9). Saudi Arabia has long received substantial US aid in return for maintaining peace with Israel and keeping oil prices down…] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100)
[…The adjustment loans to receiving countries include three components: privatization, liberalization, and deregulation (Kim et al 2000, 22). Privatization means that state-controlled firms or services, including health care and education, were sold off or taken over by NGOs or for-profit firms that often added user fees... These policies have translated into literal assault on the poor… To the creditor nations, however, structural adjustment has been a remarkable success –the loans are being repaid (Kim et al 2000, 11). Between 1983 and 1989, poor countries paid $242 billion more to their creditors than they received in new loans. As of June 2005, Nigeria spends $1.7 billion per year on debt service payments, an amount that is five times larger than it spends on education, and 13 times larger than it spends on health (Kar and Watkins 2005). (Awakening Hippocrates, p130)
Please go spend $23. The book was published in 2006, and pretty much wrecked a revolution inside health care profession, international care, and universities humanities curriculum. 20 years in the making, the book revolutionized our view of our foreign policy, and the hypocrisy of "aid". Come back after you read that book.. jeez. It is 2011
May I remind this "Christian" nation: "For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required." - Luke 12:48.
Fine. The world failed. So, who should have killed al-Shabaab in order to help/not fail?
You know, I truly truly truly feel sympathy for them. However, I truly truly truly have enough problems and things to think about on my plate that I don't need a stupid article to make me feel bad on top of it all. Most people don't need more negativity in their lives, they need positivity. Why not report on all the good that has been done in these regions because of the world? Because, we all know that no matter how much the world would have done it would not have been enough to please everyone.
Thanks to all the smart intelligent folks for enlightening us on how it's not our fault and how we tried to help 20 years ago. Meanwhile children are starving to death by the minute-so all your intelligence is worthless. If everyone would just shut the hell up and give $10 to the cause we could make a major impact on this crisis!
Starvation is just a symptom of their crisis. $10 delays one of the side affects of their problems, and does nothing to fix what's broken. You could sell everything you own, and give a few Somali families every dime you have. It would delay their starvation for a few years, until those same Somali families will be twice as large and still unwilling and/or unable to care for themselves.
Aren't there a lot of groups currently protesting genetically modified that could help these people?
I'm sick of the media using every chance it can possibly get to demonize the hard-working, good people of America. Tell ya what CNN, you and your global corporatist buddies that HAVE ALL THE MONEY need to get off your ungrateful, unhelpful greedy a$$es and save Somalia. While your at it, give them a lifetime supply of birth control.
Somalia failed Somalia, just as Chad fails Chad, Eritrea fails Eritrea, etc. It's a colossal human tragedy that throughout the African continent people are terrorized by armed gangs (many of them coerced children) and/or governments run by greedy, megalomaniac sociopaths. Foreign aid is mainly gobbled up by them, or it is refused, the aid workers themselves sometimes attacked/killed. All that has been done for decades re education in food production, birth control, hygiene - seems to have borne little fruit. In the meantime, we should feed them (if we can). But a real solution is does not exist - and this will happen again. And again. . . .
The world did not fail Somalia, a subset of Somalians failed Somalia. On the other hand, a great opportunity for a successful muslim country (Turkey?) or a rich muslim country (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait?) to get off of the sidelines and actually try to do something useful for fellow muslims. No child should suffer such a fate, but there are limits to what the West can do if no-one else helps.
Exactly right! What are the Arab nations - who cry so loud over the Palestinian issue - doing to help their starving brethren? Why aren't they the first ones being looked to to provide aid? And where are the Chinese? The Russians?
From the book, "Awakening Hippocrates" by Dr. Edward O' Neil, published in 2006 by the American Medical Association, and unanimously praised by figures such as Rhena Schweitzer Miller (Albert Schweitzer's daughter), Tracy Kidder (Publitzer winnder), Robert Sparks (President Emeritus of Kellogg Foundation), Jim Yong Kim (Chief of Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities of Harvard Medical School) and from other figures. Some excerpts:
[…Other world regions have received US aid when their strategic importance warranted it… In Somalia, US food shipments flooded area markets, ruining the livelihoods of areas farmers. Up to two thirds of shipments in some areas were stolen and then sold on the black market purchase arms, furthering the conflict… Former Somali minister of the interior, Abdirahman Osman Raghe, said, “Food aid… had turned Somalia from a self-sufficient exporter of food to an aid-dependent kleptocracy” (169) ] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100).
[…Other countries have also suffered from infusions of US foreign aid. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala received substantial US aid when perceived communist threats and real throats to US business interests surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s (Chomsky 1993, 29). Much of this infusion armed authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed the poorest members of Latin American societies (9). Saudi Arabia has long received substantial US aid in return for maintaining peace with Israel and keeping oil prices down…] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100)
[…The adjustment loans to receiving countries include three components: privatization, liberalization, and deregulation (Kim et al 2000, 22). Privatization means that state-controlled firms or services, including health care and education, were sold off or taken over by NGOs or for-profit firms that often added user fees... These policies have translated into literal assault on the poor… To the creditor nations, however, structural adjustment has been a remarkable success –the loans are being repaid (Kim et al 2000, 11). Between 1983 and 1989, poor countries paid $242 billion more to their creditors than they received in new loans. As of June 2005, Nigeria spends $1.7 billion per year on debt service payments, an amount that is five times larger than it spends on education, and 13 times larger than it spends on health (Kar and Watkins 2005). (Awakening Hippocrates, p130)
Please go spend $23. The book was published in 2006, and pretty much wrecked a revolution inside health care profession, international care, and universities humanities curriculum. 20 years in the making, the book revolutionized our view of our foreign policy, and the hypocrisy of "aid". Come back after you read that book.. jeez. It is 2011. Also, the book 's massive data pretty much argue that everyone benefiting is well, "involved" (or less politely, morally obliged).
Gosh. When will people get it? Read the book and fast forward a couple years. It is 08-12-2011. This is after 2006. Look below or search the comments for more excerpts. Decide if $23 is a good investment in some accessible Harvard Med School's 20+ years work.
Somalia: Don't sit idly by as your people starve and criticize non-action from the world community before you have proven a desire for regime/policy change. Do what other repressed nations before you have done, and enable change from the inside out.
From the book, "Awakening Hippocrates" by Dr. Edward O' Neil, published in 2006 by the American Medical Association, and unanimously praised by figures such as Rhena Schweitzer Miller (Albert Schweitzer's daughter), Tracy Kidder (Publitzer winnder), Robert Sparks (President Emeritus of Kellogg Foundation), Jim Yong Kim (Chief of Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities of Harvard Medical School) and from other figures. Some excerpts:
…Other world regions have received US aid when their strategic importance warranted it… In Somalia, US food shipments flooded area markets, ruining the livelihoods of areas farmers. Up to two thirds of shipments in some areas were stolen and then sold on the black market purchase arms, furthering the conflict… Former Somali minister of the interior, Abdirahman Osman Raghe, said, “Food aid… had turned Somalia from a self-sufficient exporter of food to an aid-dependent kleptocracy” (169) ] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100).
[…Other countries have also suffered from infusions of US foreign aid. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala received substantial US aid when perceived communist threats and real throats to US business interests surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s (Chomsky 1993, 29). Much of this infusion armed authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed the poorest members of Latin American societies (9). Saudi Arabia has long received substantial US aid in return for maintaining peace with Israel and keeping oil prices down…] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100)
[…The adjustment loans to receiving countries include three components: privatization, liberalization, and deregulation (Kim et al 2000, 22). Privatization means that state-controlled firms or services, including health care and education, were sold off or taken over by NGOs or for-profit firms that often added user fees... These policies have translated into literal assault on the poor… To the creditor nations, however, structural adjustment has been a remarkable success –the loans are being repaid (Kim et al 2000, 11). Between 1983 and 1989, poor countries paid $242 billion more to their creditors than they received in new loans. As of June 2005, Nigeria spends $1.7 billion per year on debt service payments, an amount that is five times larger than it spends on education, and 13 times larger than it spends on health (Kar and Watkins 2005). (Awakening Hippocrates, p130)
Please go spend $23. The book was published in 2006, and pretty much wrecked a revolution inside health care profession and universities curriculum. It revolutionized our view of our foreign policy, and the hypocrisy of "aid". Come back after you read that book.. jeez. It is 2011.
This is a horrible crisis. What is sad is that because of the Islamists, aid cannot get to the people that need it. Somalia is a lawless country . I feel bad for the people , but unless someone knows hopw to get rid of the islamists it is hopeless.
I am sorry but I refuse to allow myself to feel guilty about this. How long have we been sending aid to this region? They still hate our guts. The entire city of Mogadishu rose up to run out American troops trying to provide some sense of security for them. They pirate, steal, kill, kidnap and whatever else they can think of. I know they are desperate but they have had opportunities to turn it around and chose not to. It is terrible for the children but we can't even help them because of the Muslims fighting with international aid organizations. We did not fail them, they have failed themselves.
Stop reproducing and the level of child starvation will taper off. The Somali people need to organize, like every other oppressed group who has sought freedom, before they can beg for firepower.
Have you ever tried to organize a group of people–let alone think clearly about anything other than food–while suffering from malnutrition and having not eaten anything substantial in the last few days? Yeah, I highly doubt that. Also, do you know what kind of status women hold in this part of the world? Pretty sure that if a man forces himself on you, there's no saying no, or "at least use a condom!" Please.
What extensive personal experience do you have in this area? None? Just a USA basher? You'll accuse us of trying to "colonize" when we do send aid. What do you suggest, oh dim one?
You can't help a country like somalia by tossing money at it. This place has huge complicated issues. Pirates, terrorists, no government to speak of. To top it off we have a bad track record there. I know people who was in the battle of mogadishu (and who cares how you spell it.) WHERE ARE THE AFRICAN LEADERS? I'm not sending one dime outside of America right now. (Call me what you want just don't call me collect) I will dontate to my fellow fallen soldiers instead.
If every American had a much common sense as you by donating inside the country instead of donating outside the country we would be much better off.
You said precisely what many of us are thinking. Good for you! I'm glad someone has the common sense to see things as they really are.
I agree with you completely. I have and will continue to give to AMERICAN hungry children, to the AMERICAN homeless. Somalia is the enemy. They have the nasty habit of killing Americans. As far as I am concerned, let them all starve.
No disrespect, but I believe that you meant"'your fallen fellow soldiers."
TY for your service.
I actually deeply wish to help these innocent, desperate children, but this is not possible. (-and this is not misplaced loyalties, these are starving children, for god's sake, it would be unAmerican not to care.)
However, this is not possible. They are being used as pawns to open our wallets. I am appalled.
-and NO MENTION HERE of BIRTH CONTROL, -not from Bono, Gupta, First, this guy Abdul etc etc,
so I am essentially being asked to fund the next famine.
I am appalled.
People who give aid are targeted and killed. The aid that does manage to enter the country is seized by warlords and used as a means of extortion. These are the facts.
How has the world failed? Is it because the United States hasn't killed off al-Shabaab? You can't force a country to save itself.
Idiot liberal "journalists". It's always somebody else fault, isn't it? The people of Horn of Africa region breed like rabbits and then they all starve because the land cannot support the load. Why is that anybody's fault other than the people themselves?
Pretty sure America has the comfy status it does today due to exploiting people in this part of the world. We are somewhat to blame for the effect that colonization and slavery has had in Somalia, it's part of the reason why they can't sustain themselves today. It's selfish conservatives that seem to be the first to ignore history.
Anon-
When did the US try to colonize Somalia? It seems that a location would have to have a resource to exploit before it would be worth it to colonize... If you asked 1000 Americans if they would want to "be in Somalia" you would get 1000 "no's." The last Western Power to try to colonize Somalia was Italy. After WWI. Like 80 years ago. And that was NOT the USA, friend-o.
No one failed Somalia like the Somalis themselves. It's time to stop the pity party and for Somalis to realize that their culture's ways are not working for them, i.e. overbreeding.
There are several who were brought here to the United States. They don't work and they haven't incorporated with the rest of the citizens. If they don't listen to advice nor learn by example, then they have to solve this problem themselves. The world can only do so much. Better to help those who will use it to better themselves, i.e. tornado victims, hurricane victims,, etc. right here in the United States.
A jihad on you!
Greed and selfishness are rich nations' evil. Stupidity, laziness and blame-games are poor nations' evil.
From the book, "Awakening Hippocrates" by Dr. Edward O' Neil, published in 2006 by the American Medical Association, and unanimously praised by figures such as Rhena Schweitzer Miller (Albert Schweitzer's daughter), Tracy Kidder (Publitzer winnder), Robert Sparks (President Emeritus of Kellogg Foundation), Jim Yong Kim (Chief of Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities of Harvard Medical School) and from other figures. Some excerpts:
[…Other world regions have received US aid when their strategic importance warranted it… In Somalia, US food shipments flooded area markets, ruining the livelihoods of areas farmers. Up to two thirds of shipments in some areas were stolen and then sold on the black market purchase arms, furthering the conflict… Former Somali minister of the interior, Abdirahman Osman Raghe, said, “Food aid… had turned Somalia from a self-sufficient exporter of food to an aid-dependent kleptocracy” (169) ] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100).
[…Other countries have also suffered from infusions of US foreign aid. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala received substantial US aid when perceived communist threats and real throats to US business interests surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s (Chomsky 1993, 29). Much of this infusion armed authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed the poorest members of Latin American societies (9). Saudi Arabia has long received substantial US aid in return for maintaining peace with Israel and keeping oil prices down…] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100)
[…The adjustment loans to receiving countries include three components: privatization, liberalization, and deregulation (Kim et al 2000, 22). Privatization means that state-controlled firms or services, including health care and education, were sold off or taken over by NGOs or for-profit firms that often added user fees... These policies have translated into literal assault on the poor… To the creditor nations, however, structural adjustment has been a remarkable success –the loans are being repaid (Kim et al 2000, 11). Between 1983 and 1989, poor countries paid $242 billion more to their creditors than they received in new loans. As of June 2005, Nigeria spends $1.7 billion per year on debt service payments, an amount that is five times larger than it spends on education, and 13 times larger than it spends on health (Kar and Watkins 2005). (Awakening Hippocrates, p130)
Please go spend $23. The book was published in 2006, and pretty much wrecked a revolution inside health care profession, international care, and universities humanities curriculum. 20 years in the making, the book revolutionized our view of our foreign policy, and the hypocrisy of "aid". Come back after you read that book.. jeez. It is 2011. Also, the book 's massive data pretty much argue that everyone benefiting is well, "involved" (or less politely, morally obliged).
Gosh. When will people get it? Read the book and fast forward a couple years. It is 08-12-2011. This is after 2006. Look below or search the comments for more excerpts. Decide if $23 is a good investment in this book. It was the talk of the schools in 2006. Look where we are still in 2011. On CNN no less.
At least the birds and worms are eating.
Weapons and amunition cost money,as do the planes recently purchased for the Somali air force.
You dont even need to look at how they act in thier own country,just look at how they act in ours.
Im not saying"let them starve",just give them a sandwich for every bullet they turn it.
The "people in charge" of places like Somalia don't WANT an end to the suffering. It is their "sales pitch" to the developed nations for aid, which is then pilfered and used to further their own agenda. At the end of the day those who survive who would not otherwise have done so still hate the U.S. and would destroy us if they had the ability.
Food and/or money is NOT the answer.
Poor countries around the world should copy rich countries and do what they do to get rich themselves: democracy, free enterprise, the rule of law, and private property rights – with limited government borrowing. Simple.
Oh and colonization, totally
Anon-
You seem to be stuck on this one word – "colonialization." What would you use to describe what Al-Shabaab is doing when they move into an area, chase out or murder the local population, and then keep all of the available resources for themselves? Time Share?
Sorry that the children are starving - I suggest that the Somali pirates who have stolen millions of money from the nations of the world, let them feed their own starving kids. Don't preach to me about feeding the world. Screw Somalia, nothing but a worthless lawless society. I can't think of ONE, not ONE Christian country whose people are starving - seems to me that the Muslim nations are the ones starving. Haiti is another example. Too stupid to learn and help themselves. I'd rather save the life of a dog at the animal shelter than to save the life of a Somalian. Let their fellow terrorist muslims help them. Better yet - let them pray to their muslim god for help.
Rose Marie, not that I agree with helping Somalia, but Haiti is not an Islamic nation. It is a overwhelmingly Christian nation. Perhaps you mean black, not islamic?
Source Wolframalpha http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=religion+haiti
I disagree that Haiti is "overwhelmingly Christian". That is not true. Haiti was officially dedicated to Satan in 1791, and re-dedicated to Satan at the 200 year anniversary in 1991 by President Aristide. Haiti is the poorest state in the Western hemisphere. The MAJORITY of the Haitian population are ACTIVELY involved in Voodoo. Haiti is a nation entrenched in occultism and certainly NOT a Christian nation. And that is exactly why it is dirt poor and their people are dying. The Haitians are another group of ignorant stupid humans who refuse to help themselves and constantly have their hands out looking for whatever is free. Screw them also.
acording to the CIA factbook:
Roman Catholic 80%, Protestant 16% (Baptist 10%, Pentecostal 4%, Adventist 1%, other 1%), none 1%, other 3%
note: roughly half of the population practices voodoo
What are your sources to support these claims? I do not accept the voices in your head as data.
Wow, Rose Marie. You are a piece of work. So, starvation comes from not being a Christian? As a Christian, I must say that your assumption is offensive. Were the Irish not Christian enough when they endured the great famine of the 19th century? I think you need to read that Good Book again.
I agree 100% – I would give up my dinner to feed a hungry domesticated animal any day of the week – I would not even give my scraps to Muslims terrorists even if they are starving
OMG! You have GOT to go back and read the Bible again. I think you missed a few things...
The international community owes Somalia because...?
To repay them for all of that... you know... uh... stuff... they do for the rest of the world. Where would we be without Somalia? Appreciate their contributions, man.
The lasting effects of colonization throughout Africa
From the book, "Awakening Hippocrates" by Dr. Edward O' Neil, published in 2006 by the American Medical Association, and unanimously praised by figures such as Rhena Schweitzer Miller (Albert Schweitzer's daughter), Tracy Kidder (Publitzer winnder), Robert Sparks (President Emeritus of Kellogg Foundation), Jim Yong Kim (Chief of Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities of Harvard Medical School) and from other figures. Some excerpts:
[…Other world regions have received US aid when their strategic importance warranted it… In Somalia, US food shipments flooded area markets, ruining the livelihoods of areas farmers. Up to two thirds of shipments in some areas were stolen and then sold on the black market purchase arms, furthering the conflict… Former Somali minister of the interior, Abdirahman Osman Raghe, said, “Food aid… had turned Somalia from a self-sufficient exporter of food to an aid-dependent kleptocracy” (169) ] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100).
[…Other countries have also suffered from infusions of US foreign aid. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala received substantial US aid when perceived communist threats and real throats to US business interests surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s (Chomsky 1993, 29). Much of this infusion armed authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed the poorest members of Latin American societies (9). Saudi Arabia has long received substantial US aid in return for maintaining peace with Israel and keeping oil prices down…] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100)
[…The adjustment loans to receiving countries include three components: privatization, liberalization, and deregulation (Kim et al 2000, 22). Privatization means that state-controlled firms or services, including health care and education, were sold off or taken over by NGOs or for-profit firms that often added user fees... These policies have translated into literal assault on the poor… To the creditor nations, however, structural adjustment has been a remarkable success –the loans are being repaid (Kim et al 2000, 11). Between 1983 and 1989, poor countries paid $242 billion more to their creditors than they received in new loans. As of June 2005, Nigeria spends $1.7 billion per year on debt service payments, an amount that is five times larger than it spends on education, and 13 times larger than it spends on health (Kar and Watkins 2005). (Awakening Hippocrates, p130)
Please go spend $23. The book was published in 2006, and pretty much wrecked a revolution inside health care profession, international care, and universities humanities curriculum. 20 years in the making, the book revolutionized our view of our foreign policy, and the hypocrisy of "aid". Come back after you read that book.. jeez. It is 2011. Also, the book 's massive data pretty much argue that everyone benefiting is well, "involved" (or less politely, morally obliged).
The leaders of Somalia failed Somalia. Plain and simple.
UN failing history in Africa is 100%, in Sierra leone, Chad, Rwanda, Sudan, Ivory coast and Somalia
how many time Africa has gone through this famine death for the last 20 years, what causing this the answer, number one cause is civil wars, why civil wars exists more and keep burning in Africa, the answer is greed to have the natural resources for group that share religion , race or faith and pan others from it, in sierra leone its diamond, South Sudan oil, Somalia its uranium, copper and oil
is UN doing its job, so far I think UN is part of the problem in Africa normally they come late with small numbers only watching civil wars escalate and in second stage they take side third stage thy leave the country to war lords resulting in expanding civil war zones regional power involved, genocides, famine etc
UN need to change its post WW2 policy, they need new policies that give them more power to end any kind of civil war, they need policy that can give them power to create , occupy and manage governments, they need to find different policy of voting and end the veto system , they need to have their own army from all nations with UN command only.
now saved the most important to the last, New UN should have its own controlled nuclear for retaliation
it my sound crazy but the world needs to form a new UN that different from the one set up post WW2 less
How dare anyone say the world failed Somalia, SOMALIA FAILED SOMALIA. I believe we would be doing this planet a huge favor if we just nuke that POS Country. Nothing in it is worth poop. I no longer care about their children who will grow up to be like their worthless parents, killers and pirates. Sorry but the world has had enough of Somalia and Haiti like poopholes. Them starving to death is part of Nature and Survival of the Fittest.
For pennies a day you too can support militarization in Somalia. These starving children make wonderful human shields. Please don't let their lives go to waste. A huddled child is of no use, a healthy child however can take several bullets before they reach a soldier. For just a dollar a day, the price of a small coffee, you can purchase several magazines of bullets. Don't let the in-bred bobble-heads wither away. Please, continue to support a warring nation. Give generously today and sponsor a warlord. We'll send you a picture and correspondence from your warlord. See how many women he's violated that day or how your contribution has trained him to plant a roadside bomb.
Sally, this is the best post on this site, I am laughing my testicles off, crap left one just dropped off. Man I hate when that happens. Sally, will you marry me, minus my left testicle.
Well said!
As sad as this story is, it is not the world responsibility to ensure the stability of a sovereign nation; and even though they don't have much of a government, they are a sovereign nation. If they have enough of a government to help ensure that aid workers are not targets of those who would steal for themselves, and that the food would be fairly distributed that one thing. However there is not enough law and order for any NGO to safely and fairly distribute food. We can try drops into villages in the effected areas, but that won't guarantee that the terrorist groups would get there first, or just steal it from those who need it. Its up to the Somalis to take a stand against those who would allow them to starve because of some ideologic BS. Maybe its time to train the Somali diaspora to reclaim their country and establish a truly representational government.
From the book, "Awakening Hippocrates" by Dr. Edward O' Neil, published in 2006 by the American Medical Association, and unanimously praised by figures such as Rhena Schweitzer Miller (Albert Schweitzer's daughter), Tracy Kidder (Publitzer winnder), Robert Sparks (President Emeritus of Kellogg Foundation), Jim Yong Kim (Chief of Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities of Harvard Medical School) and from other figures. Some excerpts:
[…Other world regions have received US aid when their strategic importance warranted it… In Somalia, US food shipments flooded area markets, ruining the livelihoods of areas farmers. Up to two thirds of shipments in some areas were stolen and then sold on the black market purchase arms, furthering the conflict… Former Somali minister of the interior, Abdirahman Osman Raghe, said, “Food aid… had turned Somalia from a self-sufficient exporter of food to an aid-dependent kleptocracy” (169) ] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100).
[…Other countries have also suffered from infusions of US foreign aid. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala received substantial US aid when perceived communist threats and real throats to US business interests surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s (Chomsky 1993, 29). Much of this infusion armed authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed the poorest members of Latin American societies (9). Saudi Arabia has long received substantial US aid in return for maintaining peace with Israel and keeping oil prices down…] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100)
[…The adjustment loans to receiving countries include three components: privatization, liberalization, and deregulation (Kim et al 2000, 22). Privatization means that state-controlled firms or services, including health care and education, were sold off or taken over by NGOs or for-profit firms that often added user fees... These policies have translated into literal assault on the poor… To the creditor nations, however, structural adjustment has been a remarkable success –the loans are being repaid (Kim et al 2000, 11). Between 1983 and 1989, poor countries paid $242 billion more to their creditors than they received in new loans. As of June 2005, Nigeria spends $1.7 billion per year on debt service payments, an amount that is five times larger than it spends on education, and 13 times larger than it spends on health (Kar and Watkins 2005). (Awakening Hippocrates, p130)
The $23 book was published in 2006. Go figure...
i recently read that ignorance is a requisite for enlightenment.
I guess the upside of many of the comments here, is that folks can look forward to being enlightened at some point.
Nunti Sunya. . .
This nation is a nation filled with ignorance, disease and over population. Billions and billions of dollars have been poured into this country for many, many years and NOTHING HAS CHANGED! It is NOT the "world's failure." The entire world is NOT responsible for the ignorance found in Somalia! GIVE YOUR PEOPLE BIRTH CONTROL SO THEY WILL STOP HAVING STARVING CHILDREN WHO STARVE TO DEATH BEFORE THEY ARE TWO YEARS OLD!!! STOP BLAMING THE WORLD FOR THEIR OVER POPULATION! MAKE IT MANDATORY FOR STERILIZATION IMMEDIATELY!!! What kind of intelligence dictates that starving women becoming pregnant and giving birth to starving babies should keep having more babies?????? Think about it...........
you do not see the women and children fighting, you only see them starving. what is wrong with people who seem to take joy or spite in anothers suffering? here we have men?, fighting in the name of god. i don't think he wants us to be killing in his name. do you really think god has a favorite country, religion or team or whatever? i think we are here to learn to live together and take care of one another as we are all brothers and sisters. the golden rule to do unto others as we would have done to us is what i try to follow. i may not be successful but at least i do not take pleasure in others suffering. do you think jesus would be ok with us treating our fellow human beings like this? we are all the same we are the human race.
Why go against nature and try to keep a population alive that isn't meant to be? Human compassion will result in an overpopulated world that isn't able to sustain life until some of that life dies off. Most species have mass die-offs when their populations explode beyond that which can be indefinitely sustained by their environment. We must not delay nature's design or the die-off of humanity will reach even further that a few regions not meant to support human life in the first place.
is that you Al? really, r u Al Gore the one who run for pres. wow, nice to see u r alive and well
Having been to Somalia twice while in the Marine Corps, to support aid efforts, to say the world failed Somalia is misguided at best. What government exists in Somalia, only has some level of support/control in Mogadishu itself. The rest of the country to controlled by warlords and various clan factions.
In reality, what happens is this...aid is delivered to outlying areas and refugee camps such as Baidoa and Barderra, with the protection of some form of military force. After the aid is distributed and the aid teams leave, raiders from various factions come rolling into town with their Toyota pickups with ZU-23's mounted in the back, and steal all the aid food in order to supply and feed their faction.
These warring factions use woman and children as fighters and human shields, making military type operations morally difficult for many individuals.
To top it off, Somalia doesn't have any type of resource which makes it of national interest to the US, except for maybe the tactical position at the horn of Africa and it's pirates.
The western mind generally doesn't understand the tribal cultures and mindsets of African and middle eastern clans. Their differences are so deeply rooted in history, that there isn't anything western cultures can do to fix it, short of a D-Day type invasion and total military occupation (which I am wholeheartedly against)
Sounds like this Al-Shabaab group is a terrorist organization. Hmm...
that group is the one recruiting the Somalis here in MN to head on over and grab an AK-47
20+ Somali youth from here are there – recruited from the peaceful mosques to go kill in the name of Allah
just check it out on the Star & tribune website the feds are chasing them all over town
they don't assimilate and use arson as a tool to get what they want
they are thugs and criminals
please someone explain to me why we even let them into this country
Drop some bags of sugar over there and get out. They will grow up to be the same terrorists that have always been there. They've already killed how many US Army Rangers last time we were there? I'm sorry, but its time to take care of our own.
the rich and famous in Hollywood will step up to help, not because they care, but because they are so greedy that they want more media coverage , especially when dealing with people of color, oh,yes, Hollywood people will go there and bring the press with them, a bunch of greedy, good for nothing people.
it is called the cycle of nature – Somalia is a country doomed from the very start
this is not the first time that the world has had to bail them out and it won't be the last
we save them this year – so what about 2012 and the 2013 it will never end
we have one of the largest Somali populations in the US here in MN
they are ungrateful and selfish lot – bleeding the human services budgets dry and every school district that they are in has had the overall test scores drop we have a Somali high school here and it is ridiculous the amount of money we spend on it compared to a regular high school
they steal – lie – kill each other – deal drugs REFUSE TO LEARN ENGLISH the translation costs are staggering
the ones helped here head back over to fight with the terrorists
like throwing good money after bad – the local folks cannot get federal aid when floods and tornado's hit
and we are sending taxpayer dollars over there
so remind me again – why should we help them?
Aid does nothing but create a cycle of dependence. Even the UN figured that one out.
Reinstall British colonial rule. I mean even the Brits were more competent than the current crop of Somali "leaders."
The world failed Somalia
Bull! For 6000 years these people have barely made any progress and have one mindset, everyone else is responsible for them. Millions starve, why, they reproduce like bunnies...they can't seem to progress...talk to their muslim inmans about that then. The Somali people need to begin to help themselves before anyone else can help them. Look around we're BROKE!!! We have nothing left to give them. We can't even off load grain to them because of the transportation costs. Billions upon billions have been aimed at that part of the world with NO RETURN of ANY KIND!!
"...6000 years and no progress..."
Yep. Stone age cave men. We give them metal and they are confused from never having seen it. But they can pull a trigger.
There should be a prime directive about providing technology and goods that other countries have not developed on their own. If you can make a gun then you're stuck with your rocks and stones.
Wrong. Somalia failed Somalia.
Darwinism failed Somalia
Somalia failed Somalia.
From the book, "Awakening Hippocrates" by Dr. Edward O' Neil, published in 2006 by the American Medical Association, and unanimously praised by figures such as Rhena Schweitzer Miller (Albert Schweitzer's daughter), Tracy Kidder (Publitzer winnder), Robert Sparks (President Emeritus of Kellogg Foundation), Jim Yong Kim (Chief of Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities of Harvard Medical School) and from other figures. Some excerpts:
[…Other world regions have received US aid when their strategic importance warranted it… In Somalia, US food shipments flooded area markets, ruining the livelihoods of areas farmers. Up to two thirds of shipments in some areas were stolen and then sold on the black market purchase arms, furthering the conflict… Former Somali minister of the interior, Abdirahman Osman Raghe, said, “Food aid… had turned Somalia from a self-sufficient exporter of food to an aid-dependent kleptocracy” (169) ] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100).
[…Other countries have also suffered from infusions of US foreign aid. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala received substantial US aid when perceived communist threats and real throats to US business interests surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s (Chomsky 1993, 29). Much of this infusion armed authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed the poorest members of Latin American societies (9). Saudi Arabia has long received substantial US aid in return for maintaining peace with Israel and keeping oil prices down…] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100)
[…The adjustment loans to receiving countries include three components: privatization, liberalization, and deregulation (Kim et al 2000, 22). Privatization means that state-controlled firms or services, including health care and education, were sold off or taken over by NGOs or for-profit firms that often added user fees... These policies have translated into literal assault on the poor… To the creditor nations, however, structural adjustment has been a remarkable success –the loans are being repaid (Kim et al 2000, 11). Between 1983 and 1989, poor countries paid $242 billion more to their creditors than they received in new loans. As of June 2005, Nigeria spends $1.7 billion per year on debt service payments, an amount that is five times larger than it spends on education, and 13 times larger than it spends on health (Kar and Watkins 2005). (Awakening Hippocrates, p130)
Please go spend $23. The book was published in 2006, and pretty much wrecked a revolution inside health care profession, international care, and universities humanities curriculum. 20 years in the making, the book revolutionized our view of our foreign policy, and the hypocrisy of "aid". Come back after you read that book.. jeez. It is 2011. Also, the book 's massive data pretty much argue that everyone benefiting is well, "involved" (or less politely, morally obliged).
Or. If you decide the book is inaccurate, argue with it...
A population with brains no bigger than peas failed Somalia
CNN is really making a big push for us to care about Somalia. Listen to your readers/viewers, move on to another topic.
This is Africa's problem, not Europe's nor the U.S.' This is what happens when your country is controlled by pirates and terrorists. I couldn't care less.
As was said many times before : STOP OVERPOPULATING and your problems will go away......
About CNN......I don't know where to start : Using THIS, as a means to avoid coverage of the Wisconsin failure of the fat-ass , lazy unions' recall attempts , which is a CLEAR rejection of ALL the far-left ideology......to avoid the analysis, and explanation , that London burning, is a model for ALL well-fare states : That's where it leads when you promise "cradle to grave", and you can't do it, since it's impossible.....And lastly : How about CNN donating a few billion to Somalia to show the way......you phonies, liberal hypocrites....Even Bono can go , and suck on a big bone....
America needs to take care of our own, for once. We got people here with no food, no shelter, no medical care and these are legal citizens who SHOULD have such things. Yet, we give it away to illegal criminal invaders too stupid to learn English. This is exactly what those Somali idiots wanted the last time the middle class of America were forced to try and babysit those vermin. Well, they got what they want. Enjoy it, Somalia. At least with the children starving to death it should save somebody bullets, whoever is stupid enough to get sucked into that quagmire to waste money and lives of brave soldiers. Worthless third world wasteland dump.
Lets go back to Day 1 Geography..Thomas Malthus
"Population grows exponentially, while food supply increases arithmetically."
This is just the beginning. The United States needs to start worrying about themselves or there will not be a United States to babysit the rest of the world.
I agree. The next evil is over population.
Most people have been so brain washed that they have never grasped the First Rule of Life "..Control Of Resources..".
But then over population takes over we'll see this rule being played out everyday by all the starving Americans.
And then, the great age of America will fall to the wayside and be great no longer.
You know, people point to Ancient China and Asia as the first inventors of many, many commonly used items in the western world. But Ancient China never became great because of over population and lack of resources.
Prepare for the dark ages like the great European dark ages.
It's the world's fault? I didn't realize that the Somali's were working so well together that the world logistically failed them!
NO! The world DIDNOT fail Somalia .ISLAM has failed Somalia.They have used starvation and brutality to subdue Somalia. That is one of the tactics of this religion of peace and love.We tried to help thid country before.The muslim war lords took the food and murdered our servicemen.Bajoriais trying to lie Islam out of responsabilty for the suffering in Somalia.But the truth and the proof is there for everyone to see
My heart goes out to these people but I don't understand why they keep having children and they can't hardly take care of the ones that they have right now. Can't someone help them with birth control. I believe if they cry out to God he will help them. It's not the world's fault. Their own government should take care of their people. God please help them. May you have mercy on them.
You're "...heart..." going out to these people is the biggest problem in the US last century and this. You have no comprehension between good people and bad. And this is really scary. That you can't tell the difference.
NUKE IT! NUKE IT TO HELL. God has turned his eyes away from Somalia and it is lost. It is done. The nation is done. God commands that all people of Somalia will die a horrible and agonizing death and go straight to the 6th level of Hell.
NOT ONE MENTION OF BIRTH CONTROL. SHAMEFUL.
(Rashid Abdi, are you trying to ensure you still have this job in the future by FAILING to promote an end to the unsustainable 7.1 birthrate?....the same self-perpetuating methods of the flush aid orgs? (Read 'Lords of Poverty', people. They do Not wish hunger to end, and they deal in BILLIONS in 'aid'.) Or perhaps you think 'free will' to breed away is paramount, even if you destroy this planet, or cannot feed your own?
THESE INNOCENT CHILDREN DESERVE TO BE SAVED.
THEY, AND THE REST OF THE WORLD DESERVE NOT TO BE EXPLOITED BY PROFITEERS WORKING THIS NIGHTMARE.
Birth rate in Somalia is 3x that of most western countries. Median age is 17 years old. This country's problem can't be solved by shipping in food. The people and the culture itself needs to change. The majority of the population is poorly educated and over half are nomads.
The population is easily swayed by warlords. You can't try to feed a wild rabid dog even when it's starving. You are bound to get your hands bitten..... as we did during the events that lead up to Black Hawk Down.
NO SOMALIA FAILED SOMALIA! DON'T BRING THE WORLD INTO SOMETHING THAT THE WORLD HAD NO BUSINESS TO BE INTO IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Last time we went there to feed them they tried to kill us. KEEP AMERICAN BOYS OUT OF THERE! Let the AU handle it. It's their problem. 1 out of 7 of Americans are on food stamps. Now I'm no mathematician, but that sure adds up to "it's not our problem."
"...The World Faild...?!x??!..." You're joking right? Somalis live for anarchy. Everyone wants to be king. They burn don't opposing tribe's farms, houses, barns, crops, livestock. Food is a weapon and the Somalis have constantly used it for decades.
THE WORLD, in the form of the UN, has sent millions if not billions of dollars worth of crop seed and live stock to the Somalis. It gets destroyed in one way are another.
Don't even try to tell me the world has failed these psychos.
From the book, "Awakening Hippocrates" by Dr. Edward O' Neil, published in 2006 by the American Medical Association, and unanimously praised by figures such as Rhena Schweitzer Miller (Albert Schweitzer's daughter), Tracy Kidder (Publitzer winnder), Robert Sparks (President Emeritus of Kellogg Foundation), Jim Yong Kim (Chief of Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities of Harvard Medical School):
[…Other world regions have received US aid when their strategic importance warranted it… In Somalia, US food shipments flooded area markets, ruining the livelihoods of areas farmers. Up to two thirds of shipments in some areas were stolen and then sold on the black market purchase arms, furthering the conflict… Former Somali minister of the interior, Abdirahman Osman Raghe, said, “Food aid… had turned Somalia from a self-sufficient exporter of food to an aid-dependent kleptocracy” (169) ] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100).
[…Other countries have also suffered from infusions of US foreign aid. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala received substantial US aid when perceived communist threats and real throats to US business interests surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s (Chomsky 1993, 29). Much of this infusion armed authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed the poorest members of Latin American societies (9). Saudi Arabia has long received substantial US aid in return for maintaining peace with Israel and keeping oil prices down…] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100)
[ ….Strategic considerations of foreign aid through the years help to explain why thugs like Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya, Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran, and the Duviliers of Haiti amassed personal fortunes. The US government and its allies have turned a blind eye to even the worst human rights’ abuses as long as strategic and economic objectives were met. In some cases, US aid has directly armed and trained the military forces that have carried out some of the worst atrocities of the modern era, particularly in Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s. Lars Schoultz of the University of North Carolina found a direct correlation between US foreign aid and human rights abuses. He concluded that US aid “has tended to flow to Latin American governments which torture their citizens… to the hemisphere’s relatively egregious violators of fundamental human rights” (Chomsky 1993, 120) ] (from Awakening Hippocrates)
Look around you. This is a desert. Look under your feet. Nothing but sand. Food. Does not grow here. This will always be a desert. Go to where the food is and grows.
Vegas started in a desert.
Vegas was built by an industrial society with laws and infrastructure to support proprty rights. Somalia is occupied by a hunter gatherer society with no such infrastrctur or traditions. The comparison is not valid
These people will have intercourse 100's if not 1000's of times in their lives.
All they know how to do is make babies. They never think, "...if I can't support myself then how can I support my baby...?"
These people are just about pleasuring themselves. The baby is just a by product.
Your statement is the stupidest one on the whole comment section. Thank you for taking that proud spot.
Mr Bajoria; how about writing the phrase "Help me help you 600 times this evening". It will give you a better perspective to write your next article.
To hell with Somalia. Last time we tried to help they dragged our dead soldiers through the street and they continue to engage in piracy.
We have our own problems here and real americans that are in crisis. If an Isalmic theocracy has claimed control then let them rally the other muslim countiries to come to their rescue, you know, the ones with TRILLIONS of our oil money. Where are the arab billionaire coming to the rescue of thier muslim counterparts? "Moderate" muslims............hello? (sound of a pin dropping)
Somalia failed Somalia.
they need a leader who can send death squads out to kill all Al-Shabaab members and throw their corpses in the ocean.
Let them starve! And stop the guilt trips; we're sick of it!
Somalia failed Somalia. It's ridiculous to think otherwise.
Helping Somalia, the Pirates HQ of the planet, the islam country? the lawless land?
when i am going to see *ALL* Islam countrolled country pour in billions to help their OWN kind i might considere it.
I GET SICK READING STUPID COMENTEIS LIKE THIS GO READ AND GROW IDIOT
Help me please! I am too sorry to help myself. I remember when the skinnys were dragging US servicemen in the streets, after we went in to help them. My heart bleeds for the skinnys, not! We they decide they want to take charge and help themselves then and only then will I think of aiding them. Looking at the mother whose seven kids died is heart breaking, but until they decide to change their culture nothing will happen in their life. I have an idea lets do a concert and call it Feed the World, crap that has already happened. Gave $$ to that one but nothing changed but the date.
Somalia failed Somalia, don't lay your blame on me. I am taking care of all I can handle here in America, where the politicians are selling my birthright to the highest bidders. I am impoverished by inflation stealing my wages and savings that was caused by my politicians. We have our own battles to fight and just because you think your battle is special does not really mean anything to us.
Quit whining and expecting others to take up your causes. The world did no fail anyone and I am already doing all I can.
A Muslim, a Christian, an American, a Canadian, a Hindu, an Israeli, a Sudanese, a Somali. What's the difference between all of these? Religion, culture, color of the skin. For me, nothing is different. They are all the same; born with a heart and soul, a mind, a hope and a want/desire for life. Some are fortunate to be born in a country with a stable government, infrastructure, one which is able to support a person and let them thrive. The others are less fortunate and must struggle just to make it through one day.
I have spent years of my life working in developing countries and not once have I met anyone who chooses to be in their situation. Most people are in their current situation not because they want to be, but because of a select few who are in power and control. It's absurd to hear comments about "they should choose not to have children..should be using birth control...and learning how to better use their resourses etc." Most of these people have no formal education and how they live their lives are just a continuation of how those before them have lived theirs. We need to look past the overwhelming political news of what is happening up in the higher authorities of these countries, Somalia in particular, and look at the innocent people, people no different from you and me, who are suffering. These are the people that WE TOGETHER are socially responsible for helping. Imagine taking away all the privileges you have here in the States. These people are leaving their homes, their friends and families, with nothing but the clothes on their back to see refuge hundreds if not thousands of miles away. You don't trust where your money is going? Research organizations who are working in Somalia and East Africa, organizations who truly are they to help the people, without any political opinion, Red Cross, MSF/Doctors Without Borders. Please stop the discrimination, stop the hatred, help out your fellow global citizen. Why aren't their lives worth as much as yours?
Why should I be responsible for anyone but myself?
CK, It is not that their lives are worth less than mine; or mine with more. It is simply the face that I am an American. I am a life-long democrat, so much so that some would probably call me a liberal. Howevere, my "fellow global citizens" need to take some accountability of their own. How anyone can bring a child into that world is beyond my comprehension. Until every child in the US gets the nutrition they need, sorry, my pockets are closed to the outside. History, recent history, has shown this country to be extremely hostile to us. Believe me, I an NO tea partyer in any way shape or form, but I, as a tax payer, do NOT want one dollar to go to Somolia until all US children have enough food and a quality education. We are not the world's big brother. Evidently that role has been passed with to China. Let them start to help. SOrry if that sounds callous. I work 40+ hours a week to take care of myself, and if I can, my fellow Americans.
From the book, "Awakening Hippocrates" by Dr. Edward O' Neil, published in 2006 by the American Medical Association, and unanimously praised by figures such as Rhena Schweitzer Miller (Albert Schweitzer's daughter), Tracy Kidder (Publitzer winnder), Robert Sparks (President Emeritus of Kellogg Foundation), Jim Yong Kim (Chief of Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities of Harvard Medical School):
[…According to the World Bank, in 2001 there were 1.1 billion people living in extreme poverty, roughly one sixth of humanity. Extreme poverty means that people lack the income necessary to meet their basic survival needs. They lack health care, clean water, sanitation, basic education and reliable shelter. The next category is “moderate” poverty, which includes 1.5 billion people in 2001. They live on $1 to $2 per day. They often lack clean water and sanitation, and struggle to make ends meet. Any setback like an economic downturn or serious illness can plunge them into extreme poverty. Together, the extreme and moderate poor account for roughly 40% of humanity] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 11).
[…Other world regions have received US aid when their strategic importance warranted it… In Somalia, US food shipments flooded area markets, ruining the livelihoods of areas farmers. Up to two thirds of shipments in some areas were stolen and then sold on the black market purchase arms, furthering the conflict… Former Somali minister of the interior, Abdirahman Osman Raghe, said, “Food aid… had turned Somalia from a self-sufficient exporter of food to an aid-dependent kleptocracy” (169) ] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100).
[…There are 826 million malnourished people in the developing world today (UNDP 2001, 2), even though enough food is produced in the world to feed everyone (World Health Organization [WHO], 1998). Poor nutrition early in life may also lead to chronic diseases later in life, such as coronary artery disease, hypertension, and diabetes (UNICEF 1998, 10). The major impact of malnutrition is, as always, on infants and children. Each day, 27000 children die of treatable illness, often spurred by malnutrition. The WHO estimated that more than half of all child deaths in developing countries in 1995 were associated with malnutrition (UNICEF 1998, 11). WHO further estimates that roughly one third of the world’s children are affected by protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). These are the kids with bloated bellies and thinning hair that we see on late-night television ads] (Awakening Hippocrates p33).
[In 1997, UN calculated that for a total of $40 billion per year rich countries could cover the following for ALL the world's people: basic healthcare and nutrition -$13 billion; water and sanitation --$9 billion; basic education --$6 billion; and reproductive health for women --$12 billion (United Nations Development Program (UNDP) 1998, 37)] (Awakening Hippocrates p48).
So your point is the US should never give food aid to another country right? Because given that according to your source that correlates with human rights violations (which I imagine you agree we should try and avoid)...
Wrong Comment sorry.
What do you do when you truly have nothing and the only thing that keeps you alive and wanting to continue is to have a child? I think you are looking at this "having a child" via a very simplistic view. You can only hold yourself accountable for so much in theses situations. Imagine yourslf in their situation. You may be able to fair better, but this is because you are educated and have a "western world" or "developed country" idea...but you know, there's no convienent store of McDonalds on every corner in the Saharan and Sub-Saharan regions.
When are you finally going to say "ok, we have quality education here and nutrition in the States" and when you are going to start giving? Let's face it, every country has their own problems, including us and developed countries, however as part of a world, we have to look to the others that need our help. I'm not saying that we should be Big Brother, that is not our role, but we do need to help, like majority of the other countries. And in all honesty, to know that a portion of my tax dollars, from the 60, often 80+ hours a week I work to support myself, are going to help Somalia or another developing country, makes me feel like my taxes, for once, are being used justly and are for once not being wasted.
No no no The world but Turkiye. Turkiye aids are the center of humanitarian aids. They are the ones who give sincerely. Current Golden Generation Young Turks gave their money effort time to aid Somalia from Kimseyokmu relief foundation. The food will end soon but they also educate people that's what matters the most. Education starts at younger ages and thats why golden generation Young Turks work from the foundation of peace, unity and wisdom to use resources. Keep up the good work
The International Community is to blame? What B.S.
Why not the Muslims who ran the nation into the ground. Or the Muslim terrorists who destroyed what they hated (everything but power). Or the Muslim powers in the Middle East, who did nothing to help. Or the Somali warlords who chased out the "international community" when it attempted to help years ago. Or the Muslim tyrants who prevented food from reaching the people? Or maybe the Somali pirates who live like leaches off robbery. Or maybe the Muslim Somali terrorists recruiting Muslim youth from the "international community" in places like peaceful Minnesota, to go to Somalia to murder in the name of their god and religion.
Hmm. Why is it that someone else is always to blame?
MORE ACCURATELY: SOMALIA FAILED THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What's going on there is tragic!
Somalia needs to look at their government, their thugs, pirates, etc. to right their wrongs.
How can they be helped when all they want to do is kill those who want to help them!!!!!!???????????
From the book, "Awakening Hippocrates" by Dr. Edward O' Neil, published in 2006 by the American Medical Association, and unanimously praised by figures such as Rhena Schweitzer Miller (Albert Schweitzer's daughter), Tracy Kidder (Publitzer winnder), Robert Sparks (President Emeritus of Kellogg Foundation), Jim Yong Kim (Chief of Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities of Harvard Medical School):
[…Other world regions have received US aid when their strategic importance warranted it… In Somalia, US food shipments flooded area markets, ruining the livelihoods of areas farmers. Up to two thirds of shipments in some areas were stolen and then sold on the black market purchase arms, furthering the conflict… Former Somali minister of the interior, Abdirahman Osman Raghe, said, “Food aid… had turned Somalia from a self-sufficient exporter of food to an aid-dependent kleptocracy” (169) ] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100).
[…Other countries have also suffered from infusions of US foreign aid. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala received substantial US aid when perceived communist threats and real throats to US business interests surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s (Chomsky 1993, 29). Much of this infusion armed authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed the poorest members of Latin American societies (9). Saudi Arabia has long received substantial US aid in return for maintaining peace with Israel and keeping oil prices down…] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100)
[ ….Strategic considerations of foreign aid through the years help to explain why thugs like Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya, Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran, and the Duviliers of Haiti amassed personal fortunes. The US government and its allies have turned a blind eye to even the worst human rights’ abuses as long as strategic and economic objectives were met. In some cases, US aid has directly armed and trained the military forces that have carried out some of the worst atrocities of the modern era, particularly in Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s. Lars Schoultz of the University of North Carolina found a direct correlation between US foreign aid and human rights abuses. He concluded that US aid “has tended to flow to Latin American governments which torture their citizens… to the hemisphere’s relatively egregious violators of fundamental human rights” (Chomsky 1993, 120) ] (from Awakening Hippocrates. Page I forgot. Sorry).
Those of you who helped......God bless you!
Those of you who declined to help because Somalis are: Muslims, Pirates, Enemy, etc ........May God put a light in your heart and show you Mercy. Don't judged a whole nation guilty because of few bad people.
No Country is Perfect. We have our Good, Bad and Ugly. Just like the rest of the World.
"A self-sufficient human being is subhuman.
I have gifts you do not have, so consequently, I am unique--You have
gifts that I do not have, so you are unique.
God has made us so that we will need each other."
--Archbishop Desmond Tutu
That is one of the dumbest statements I have ever read.
ISLAM FAILED SOMALIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The world owes Somalia absolutely nothing. If you want to give, give. If you don't want to give, don't. Lay your guilt trips somewhere else. You go save the world if you want. Don't include me in your plans.
rom the book, "Awakening Hippocrates" by Dr. Edward O' Neil, published in 2006 by the American Medical Association, and unanimously praised by figures such as Rhena Schweitzer Miller (Albert Schweitzer's daughter), Tracy Kidder (Publitzer winnder), Robert Sparks (President Emeritus of Kellogg Foundation), Jim Yong Kim (Chief of Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities of Harvard Medical School):
[…Other world regions have received US aid when their strategic importance warranted it… In Somalia, US food shipments flooded area markets, ruining the livelihoods of areas farmers. Up to two thirds of shipments in some areas were stolen and then sold on the black market purchase arms, furthering the conflict… Former Somali minister of the interior, Abdirahman Osman Raghe, said, “Food aid… had turned Somalia from a self-sufficient exporter of food to an aid-dependent kleptocracy” (169) ] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100).
[…Other countries have also suffered from infusions of US foreign aid. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala received substantial US aid when perceived communist threats and real throats to US business interests surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s (Chomsky 1993, 29). Much of this infusion armed authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed the poorest members of Latin American societies (9). Saudi Arabia has long received substantial US aid in return for maintaining peace with Israel and keeping oil prices down…] (Awakening Hippocrates, page 100)
[ ….Strategic considerations of foreign aid through the years help to explain why thugs like Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya, Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran, and the Duviliers of Haiti amassed personal fortunes. The US government and its allies have turned a blind eye to even the worst human rights’ abuses as long as strategic and economic objectives were met. In some cases, US aid has directly armed and trained the military forces that have carried out some of the worst atrocities of the modern era, particularly in Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s. Lars Schoultz of the University of North Carolina found a direct correlation between US foreign aid and human rights abuses. He concluded that US aid “has tended to flow to Latin American governments which torture their citizens… to the hemisphere’s relatively egregious violators of fundamental human rights” (Chomsky 1993, 120) ] (from Awakening Hippocrates. Page I forgot).
That's just a couple page. There are $450 pages of these. Lol. Better than a novel. Just look up the book from Amazon. It's $23. And read it from beginning to end. Then, we'll see. Nothing to lose.
So your point is the US should never give food aid to another country right? Because given that according to your source that correlates with human rights violations (which I imagine you agree we should try and avoid)...
Sorry this is the part I meant to comment on.
Data states food aid is associated with human rights violation. But food aid does not cause it. Consider the following:
Note that throughout my responses I am just citing "Awakening Hippocrates", the one single (monumental) work (published 2006 by American Medical Association).
[…Author John Perkins wrote about the inner workings of the international “corporatocracy”, described as the new ruling elite in governments, banks, and corporations in his eye-opening book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (2004). As self-described, he created the optimistic financial projects that would justify huge World Bank and Regional Development Bank loans to developing countries….]
----From book (“Awakening Hippocrates” page 103).
[…The adjustment loans to receiving countries include three components: privatization, liberalization, and deregulation (Kim et al 2000, 22). Privatization means that state-controlled firms or services, including health care and education, were sold off or taken over by NGOs or for-profit firms that often added user fees... These policies have translated into literal assault on the poor… To the creditor nations, however, structural adjustment has been a remarkable success –the loans are being repaid (Kim et al 2000, 11). Between 1983 and 1989, poor countries paid $242 billion more to their creditors than they received in new loans. As of June 2005, Nigeria spends $1.7 billion per year on debt service payments, an amount that is five times larger than it spends on education, and 13 times larger than it spends on health (Kar and Watkins 2005). ------------------------from book Awakening Hippocrates, p130.
[…. As a rule, most assistance comes with strings attached. According to the Congresssional Research Service, 87% of US military aid, 90% of food assistance, 81% of bilateral development assistance was used to purchase US products or services in recent years (Kim et al 2005, 19). ------------from the book, “Awakening Hippocrates”, page 103
[…The UN estimates that tied or string-attached aid costs developing coutnries $5 to $7 billion annually, or enough to fund universal primary education; sub-Saharan Africa alone loses $1.6 to $2.3 billion annually (UNDP 2005, 103). President Bush’s global AIDS initiative (PEPFAR) has required poor nations to purchase US-made bran name anti-retrovirals at up to 50 times the cost of local, generic versions, which are just as effective (Deen 2004; Sontag 2004)…] -----From the book, “Awakening Hippocrates, page 104).
If you are curious, please obtain the book. It has all key terms defined, it is a sweeping survey. No argument. No opinion. Everything is cited. In fact, it was "the buzz" within us international health care community for it provides insight into our past mistakes, and also how are poor efforts are squandered by entrenched interests. I'm just surprised that, well, the book is not widely read.
While I do grant that the actual facts and support may be in another part of the book that you didn’t quote, and I’m not going to ask you to quote it as having done that in the past I know it gets tedious, but may I assume that it provides a comparison of the effectiveness of strings attached aid vs. no strings attached aid (preferably for identical purposes within the same country)?
A quick comparison to the US showed that our national government spends quite a bit more on our debt service payments then on education as well
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/piechart_2011_US_fed
Shows that the US government spends a little under 2x on its debt payments compared to education.
While I can understand it may not result in the largest immediate short term benefit, I don’t really think giving away military aid without strings attached sounds like a particularly good idea. I’m not exactly fond of selling someone a weapon which may then be turned around and used again me.
I will certainly consider reading it after I finish with my current reading obligation. It sounds quite interesting.
I assure you, the WORLD did not fail Somalia, SOMALIA failed themselves. The Islamic militants failed their country. The world is working hard to feed and care for these folks. Al-Shabaab is busy putting up restrictions, so clearly THEY failed their own people and are continuing to do so because if they cared, they'd be throwing open every possible avenue of assistance up to and including surrendering power if that got their children fed.
Meanwhile we spend our hard earned tax dollars feeding the starving in Somalia, while people still starve in America. Let's not forget, we're in the middle of our own financial crisis and spending money America doesn't have! I still remember what happened the LAST time we tried to help this country during a famine. Rest assured, no one in Somalia will thank us for coming to their aid with food and money, we'll be lucky if they don't escort us all out with bullets.
And none of this changes the reality that these children are dying because Earth is overpopulated and Global Warming is just getting started. Wait another ten years and see how well off we are. Better still, commit to recycling while you're waiting. At least that's something.
Clearly you are different from many other disturbing posters here.
But I am not convinced. For one, you said the or the violent elements of Somalia is truly responsible, rather than some failed or screw-up conception or execution of "foreign aid" plan.
Citing the same book ("Awakening Hippocrates" by Edward O' Neil, 2006 AMA):
[...The five permanent members of the UN Security Council --the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia-- produced more than 70% of the world's conventional arms for export in 2002 (Stohl 2003). At the head of the pack stands the United States, by far the global leader in arms manufacturing and sales. Its 2002 sales stood at $13.3 billion, or 45% of the total of world sales. The United States is also responsible for half the arms sales to developing countries --$8.6 billion in 2002 alone-- helping to destabilize entire regions and fuel deadly conflicts (Stohl 2003). Many of these weapons eventually find their way into the hands of terrorists, rebel groups, or despotic governments that use them to intimate and kill their own people... During 1993 to 1994, U.S supplied weapons were used on one or both sides of 45 of the 50 largest ethnic or territorial conflicts (Kim et al 200, 212)... In one of the world's most troubled regions, the Middle East / North Africa, the United States delivered $34.4 billion worth of arms from 1987 to 1994 alone (Sennott 1996,. B1)]
-----– from "Awakening Hippocrates, p219.
This, compared with UN's estimate that $40 billion per year could help all the world's poor:
[....In 1997, UN calculated that for a total of $40 billion per year rich countries could cover the following for ALL the world's people: basic healthcare and nutrition -$13 billion; water and sanitation --$9 billion; basic education --$6 billion; and reproductive health for women --$12 billion (United Nations Development Program (UNDP) 1998, 37)] (Awakening Hippocrates p48)...] -----– from Awakening Hippocrates, page 48.
I would really like to believe otherwise when the pieces were first put together to hit everyone in 2006. But. What could we push it back now, when the data essentially implicate *certain bodies of governance*? Besides, it is not like nobody reads the UN report to say helping ALL the world's poor is impossible. Also, it is not likely that arms sales of this magnitude could be accidentally signed off by some petty officer at the lower rank.
No?
Oh, I don't doubt that the sale of weapons from multiple governments caused many problems in these third world countries. Of course, the primary weapon sold is the AK-47, the work horse of the Soviet era and that's mostly what is being shot at us and not only in Somalia. It's not like these folks have weapons of mass destruction, or computerized tanks, just enough guns to shoot each other and, when we bother coming, us. You're right, I would support destruction of old weaponry, rather than sale of it. But it wasn't weapons that caused the drought, no human alive controls the climate, it was poor management of resources possessed, and that includes birth rate and water resources.
MOVE TO WHERE THE FOOD IS!
Somalia failed Somalia.
Some may ask why didn't these samolian people help themselves and some did we know them as pirates. These people need more than food and given the world economy and the chaos in that part of the world it looks like many samolians are headed toward extinction. All it takes is for just a few people to give Samolia a bad name a bad reputation and so no one really wants to help these people...It is not like Haiti's destruction from an earthquake Samolia's condition is more like self destruction.
It is a horrible situation, but I am more concerned about the people in AMERICA that are starving. People in AMERICA with nowhere to go, no income, no support, no health care, no homes. Why should we be taking care of a problem that is basically out of our control and ignore the people right here who enduring hardship. People that we could actually help. There are people here in this country right now, who are enduring drought, and heat, and dying crops, and being forced to sell off their livelihoods. What about them??? Yeah lets send money and food to this place this DESERT where a massive population breeding like flies shouldn't even exist.
We do not need to support this country. The only way we could make a real impact would be to take it over completely, change their government, economy, and society, and implement birth control.
Do not allow any more refugees into the United States. We cannot afford them and there is too high a percentage that simply refuses to participate in the "melting pot".
Do not send any US servicemember to this country. Nothing or no one there is worth one drop of American blood.
I don't think much has changed in the 18yrs since I was deplohed there.
Let them sort it out, unfortunate as it is. Stay out, stay away.
We do not owe any country anything. We pay out so much money that could help the needy here. I'm sorry about their situation but they brought it on themselves. As the late Sam Kinison said, " don't send them food, send them UHauls so they can move their a**** to where there is food" . Makes perfect sense to me.
No the world did not Fail Somalia ... Somalia Fail itself... it has been a fail stage since the beginning until now..Nobody can blame the world. People are just tired of helping that region again and again after years...it's them they have to help themselves...they are too busy killing each other and do not think of their own people.
It's the easiest and simplest outlet to blame "The World" as being responsible for Somalia's. How naìve can one get? What is being ignored is the lack of birth control. It is not up to "The World" to keep on feeding a population and any population that just keeps on giving birth after birth. Famine, as it was correctly reported, is the outcome of corrupt governments and mismanagent. As long as the civilized world continues feeding this practice, it will never change. Education is non-existent and, in more often taboo in their so-called "culture".
Keep voting "Republican" or "Tea Party" IDIOTS !!!! Pretty soon you will have the United States of Somalia right here in your own backyard !! (Does anyone even have an idea how many of our very own children, right here in the U.S.A., are starving????) WHY THE HECK should I care about Somalia?? FIRST, LET'S TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN !!!! Seems quite apparent to me, the Somali Women DON'T KNOW HOW NOT TO SPREAD THEIR LEGS !!!!
How about Somalia failed the world? Because it did. It failed to contribute anything meaningful to the world. It failed to take a hand UP. It failed it's people. It's people failed it. SOMALIA is the failure here. The rest of the world is under no obligation to feed and clothe these people.
Maybe the international community will be more enthusiastic about feeding Somalia when they can be certain that their people won't be coming back in body bags for their troubles or the corpses of their soldiers stripped and dragged through the streets.
Seems that some things never change – Somalia and other African nations have done nothing to try and help their citizens – many of whom have the same standard of living their ancestors had 400 years go.
The vicious cycle of death and drought has been going on for over a thousand years. Did it ever occur to t hem that maybe God or Mother Nature made some places that cannot support human life? And the issue of birth control needs to be addressed? Why continue to have children that you have little or no chance of taking care of? There are some basic laws of nature here.
What ever is done now is only an interim solution and delaying providing a real solution to the problem. Feed them today only to let them starve next month? Where is the humanity in that.
There are plenty of Muslim countries that could help out – but they don't. Seems that they are not following the basic message of the Koran. Why is that? Islam has failed it's followers again.
I offer that they know that there is no viable solution to what is happening in Somalia. At least one that the international community will embrace and implement without a lot of political maneuvering.
A simple solution is to open the borders around Somalia let the people out that want/need to leave. Once they are out they cannot have any more children. Once the citizens are out the rest of the shuns Somalia until it ceases to exist as a nation. There is no need for it to exist.
Somolia failed itself. In 1995 I was at a checkpoint/feeding point passing out bags of rice and wheat and water to Somolia's well in the USMC and was shot twice in the back for my effort. I wasnt the only one to have this happen. They dont want the help, or know what to do with the help that is offered them. One of the only things that Clinton did right was say that you dont want our help were getting out of here.
Maybe we should do a fly -over and drop some pamphlets promoting cannabilism . Population control and food ? Problem solved . Next ?
It's a shame what's happening...but not our problem. Last time we tried to help these people they shot down two of our helicopters and killed 20+ soldiers. Time to bring our troops home and let the world solve its own problems.
Jeff:
Speak for yourself! I am an American and I want my tax money to help SOMALIA and any other country that needs it.
For those of you who think you know about Somalia, you don't know Jack. I bet the First time you came to hear about Somalia was 1993. Do your home work before you open your mouth. And believe me, I don't have anything against the US Gov for playing a dirty politic game. I just wish WE (Americans) admit our gov errors.....
Somalis alone didn't failed themselves, the US mislead them to go to war against it's neighbor country Ethiopia because of the COLD WAR. Russia & Cuba supported Ethiopia's. From that moment, Somalia started to crumble. Then the civil war started in late 80's.
I too am an American taxpayer and I do not want one dime going to Somalia. Your reasoning while well intended is flawed and based upon propaganda that you have filtered and positioned to support your thinking.
The homework has been some and the facts remain the same no matter how you interpret them.
The problems in Somalia started long before 1993 and the US is NOT the sole cause for the problems and challenges they are facing today. Your thoughts on the uncontrolled population growth that has no way of ever being sufficient?
He should be standing on the floor of the UN saying this. Not to reports. The UN is hold a ton of relief money. THEY are picking and choosing what to do with it. IT IS NOT OUR ISSUE..
Nobody failed Somalia. It is their own doing. Of course lot of innocent people are hurt but it is their own people. In fact they are also threatening and sometimes killing people who try to help. This is really bizarre and here left wing writers and politician are crying
I think Jayshree Bajoria should go to Somalia and distribute food and raise their lives.
Somalis are part of the problem too. I will never pretend they are not.
About the short history I mentioned on top, is all true. Unless you can proof me wrong.
Over-arguing your point lacks convincing. Your comment is the typical rant of someone who uses the blame game blaming everyone else but the real culprits, namely for one, a sub-culture that forbids birth control. Corruption also contributes to Somali's mess. So, if you want to prove that you can argue and present an intelligent dialogue, you'd better have something brighter to say.
Somalia failed because the Somalians have no idea how to run a nation to begin with. Any and all nations could pour trilions of dollars into that nation and I can predict with certainty that nothing would change, but the trillions of dollars would be in the hands of rebels and their sympathizers quickly and the insanity and poverty of that nation would continue.
Sorry, I"m not buying this nonsense that the world failed Somalia. Pure nonsense.
I am confident that the American people are heartbroken about the suffering of the people of Somalia.
I also know that the American people are willing and trying to do what they can to help.
It’s strange, but I don’t recall hearing anything about what the oil-rich OPEC countries have been doing to ameliorate this human catastrophe. Perhaps I missed something.
I’m surprised that the entire world has not whole-heartedly condemned the corrupt governments of Africa who bear responsibility for such problems as this. And I'm surprised the world has not condemned the evil and ruthless extremists, such as al shabab, who have caused these people to suffer and have hindered these people from receiving the aid they need.
I'm curious as to how its the "International Communities" fault for failure to provide aid when last time they did so they (the aid workers) were attacked and prevented from actually properly distributing the aid? If they weren't going to accept international aid then they better provide for themselves.
Of course the video of them cheering as American bodies are dragged through the streets has me not really caring whether they starve to death.
WRONG, somalia has failed ITSELF.these people are barbarians and subhuman animals that breed faster then roaches. if you want to feed them, put something in the food that will cause sterility.
Yes!
How about we stop fighting wars for oil and other skewed reasons, and actually fight for what America "says" it stands for? I can get behind our military kickin some a__ to save innocent children. What are we still doing in Iraq and Afghanistan? If we're gonna fight, at least make it something that makes a good impact. Saving innocent lives is obvious. I don't disagree with fighting terrorism, don't get me wrong, but I think you can see my point.
And one other point... I don't care who's to blame for this situation. Kids are starving to death, and something HAS to be done. That's the bottom line. We can sort out the blame game later.
"The world failed Somalia"???...And what has Somalia done for the world? NOTHING. America and Europe have been pouring billions of dollars in aid into Africa for DECADES, and they have done nothing except breed, consume and pollute. THIS NEEDS TO STOP.
Funny how it's "the world" failed Somalia. If this was happening under the previous U.S. administration, it would be Bush's fault. CNN can't possibly blame Obama hence collective world blame. I guess Hope and Change is not working in the horn of Africa....
Is the writer of this article on drugs??? I used to feel sorry for Africans and whatnot but experience and wisdom cured me of this disease. The Somalians failed themselves. No country should have to waste their valuable resources to clean up another country's mess. If anything, give the Somalians condoms, and nothing else. They need to stop reproducing. They are letting their own children starve to death and rot in the dirt. These Somalians deserve NOTHING.
Somalia is a country full of fanatic ingrate terrorist pirates. We tried to help, and they attacked us. Let them starve until they are willing to accept help. I know that sounds unmerciful, but it is what the Bible teaches; just read the parable of the prodigal son. The son starved until he admitted he was wrong and returned to his father; his father did not go looking for him, but he got up and ran to his son as soon as he saw him.
If they want to develop they shall do it on their own, nobody in the world owes anything to anyone, those who want war shall do it no matter what, if not illegally they shall do it in some other way (through conspiracy...) .
Whatever the case, if the world truly wants to act, then they shall have to encourage talks from the fighting sides, involve both in the representation in the govt. and start the process of development (South Sudan did it), and if they are dying again next year from famine it is because they are not too keen on finding a permanent solution like growing food on their fertile land, they can get a tip from the nations that have been able to reverse desertification .... and so on.
If they need reconciliation they can look up to Rwanda since it is doing so well despite the fact that they just got out of war and are on the path to progress and economic development.
SEE PEOPLE SOLUTIONS ARE THERE, BUT THERE IS NO POLITICAL WILL TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, AS THERE ARE NATIONS WHO ARE BENEFITING FROM CREATING WAR, SUPPLYING WEAPONS, "AID"...,
In 1900 the population of sub-saharan africa was 100 million. By 2005 that was 770 million and by 2050 it could be 2 billion.
The UN and aid organisations need to urgently provide free contraceptive injections and implement a two child limit otherwise there will be far worse famines to come.
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