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At Large
Britain’s Aid Disease
A country that can no longer defend itself is happy to provide millions in foreign aid to the world’s worst tyrants.
(Page 2 of 2)
I said Britain seemed determined to drag the developing world down with it, and while I admit this is somewhat hyperbolic, it is not entirely so. This aid tends to be not merely useless, it is actively destructive. At best, the aid removes incentives for the local rulers to develop their own economies and tax-bases, at worse it will help finance, or make other monies available to finance, armies, secret police and torture chambers. All this is also, of course, in addition to the aid contributed by non-Governmental organizations, whose quality is extremely variable.
Also, this is despite desperate economic problems at home. Although the exact numbers are hard to know, there are repeated reports of old-age pensioners freezing to death because of the cost of fuel bills, which are set to soar again.
The care of inmates of aged-care homes has been the cause of one scandal after another and I would guess that a push for euthanasia to save public money in the near future is all but inevitable. I will try not to again so soon mount my hobby horse of Britain’s gutted defense forces, except to mention that a few years ago it had more men in Germany, in the Army of the Rhine, than it has in all three services combined today. I have also been informed that the four aircraft defending the Falkland Islands are for ground-support, not air-defense — in other words the Falklands defenses are even weaker than I realized.
Many other thing adds up to an appalling loss of national self-respect, symbolized by the loss of even the Royal Yacht, Britannia, hulked in Scotland as a relic, and perched as it were, on top of the rubble of cultural ruin. Refitting it to modern standards would have cost, according to one estimate, about 11 million pounds, a small fraction of the amount which has been squandered on the useless Millennium Dome or will be squandered on the Olympic Games (the best British Olympics, the “austerity games” held directly after the war, were run on a shoe string).
I am prepared for a chorus of voices claiming this is not the time — if there is ever a time — to be spending money on as Royal Yacht (unlike Pakistani submarines), but nations live in part by symbols that reinforce national pride and self-respect, and Britannia, before it became a symbol of defeat, despair and decline, did this beautifully (the left hated it). As a bit of swank it was usually commanded by an Admiral rather than a mere Captain.
It has also had a record of practical use as a floating trade exhibition, and conference venue — the Royal Family actually used it only for a small part of the time — and refurbishing it would have given a little valuable work to Britain’s moribund shipyards, with their miles of empty and derelict docks and slipways.
About the Author
Hal G.P. Colebatch’s “Immram,” Counterstrike, is being published by Australian publisher Imaginites.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (46) | Leave a comment
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Michael Tomlinson| 10.26.11 @ 7:09AM
Are we really any better?
Occam's Tool| 10.26.11 @ 12:03PM
Well, Mike, at least we give MILITARY aid to Israel. Other than that, all the other foreign aid we give can be trashcanned. NATO is worthless, the UN is worthless, etc. But in our fight against the Caliphate, (which will get MUCH nastier if we withdraw from the field as you have brilliantly noted) Israel is our most reliable ally.
Jack London| 10.26.11 @ 8:17AM
What a strange article. Haven't we given much aid to countries such as Burma? Didn't we oversee the installation of corrupt regimes in Indonesia and many other countries?
And Britain's aid budget is probably not huge – are we really saying we shouldn't help starving people in Somalia? I know Madeleine Albright was happy to kill thousands of kids in Iraq, but we're not all like her, right?
And I thought you micro-government types would be applauding their domestic austerity measures.
As for treatment of seniors, we have a huge elder abuse problem in the US - just look it up.
Finally, as a republic what on earth is the point of cheering on royalty abroad and telling them to waste money on trappings like yachts? I thought we fought a war to escape the tyranny of a king – I would cheer the Brits on to do the same now with their queen and what passes for their constitution.
John| 10.26.11 @ 8:55AM
Jack, you can't possibly be that naive. Government aid organizations are designed to benefit government aid bureaucrats and foreign leaders. "Are we really saying we shouldn't help starving people in Somalia?" These organizations display images of Somali children with distended bellies and flies on their faces but the money goes for villas on the French Riviera. Years ago this fraud could be concealed. Today with the internet anyone can access the details of the aid fraud.
Jack London| 10.26.11 @ 9:27AM
Well, I see our government has given about $700 million to the UN and other agencies working in the Horn of Africa recently. Yes, some of the food is taken by corrupt officials in Somalia. But a majority is finding its way to people in camps and other locations in the various countries, as well as sanitation and other measures.
It really doesn't help to peddle idiotic talking points you've picked up from the net.
John| 10.26.11 @ 10:08AM
Jack, I was crushed when you referred to my argument as "idiotic talking points." It was almost as devastating as if you called me a poo poo head. It certainly refuted my argument. However if you google "african dictators villas 'foreign aid'" you get 627,000 results. Some of these "idiotic" articles are pretty interesting. It is sad how working class Westerners are funding the lavish lifestyles of African dictators and Western bureaucrats.
Jack London| 10.26.11 @ 10:34AM
So you think our $700 million is all going to dictators? I guess you have no idea what the UN is doing in the field in the Horn of Africa, and I guess you have no intention of educating yourself.
I agree we do fund dictators - but we usually do it much more directly with arms and intelligence.
Dai Alanye | 10.26.11 @ 11:29AM
Continuing food aid is destructive of farm economies in the recipient countries. It makes the givers feel good about themselves but does long-term damage to places like Somalia.
And anyone who thinks that anything the UN touches is free from waste and corruption is fooling himself.
John| 10.26.11 @ 11:35AM
Jack, I like your style. You point out that I am uneducated and therefore anything I say is invalid. You point out that I don't even want to educate myself. I guess I should just shut my mouth. I admit that some foreign aid does go to the needy. This aid is incidental. The lion's share goes to the bureaucracy and the governments (dictators) that control the money.
Jack London| 10.26.11 @ 12:59PM
Well John, you provide the evidence that the 'lion's share' of current UN humanitarian aid to East Africa is being stolen and we'll see. I don't expect an answer.
Vern Crisler | 10.26.11 @ 11:20PM
Jack, please make the moral case for spending other people's money on foreign aid. Why not spend your own money? And given that all of our Western nations are in debt up to their eyeballs, we're actually giving away money that we don't have. We're taking food out of the mouths of our children and grandchildren so some welfare bureaucrats can feel good about themselves today.
Will| 10.27.11 @ 8:34AM
Because there are some public goods- not just foreign aid but also street lighting, railways, the military- which benefit everybody but will never be paid for by individuals- they must be funded via taxation.
Occam's Tool| 10.26.11 @ 12:05PM
No, Jack, a MINORITY of the aid is finding it's way to the people involved. Daffy and Mubarak had fortunes of $200 Billion and $74 Billion, respectively, Arafat's was around $3 billion. Where do you think the money came from?
Jack London| 10.26.11 @ 12:57PM
Don't be ridiculous. They didn't get their cash from UN humanitarian aid.
Todd S| 10.26.11 @ 5:46PM
That is exactly where Arafat got his money from, how else did Arafat amass such a fortune? The UN is corrupt and useless, just like the Democrat Party and their union supporters.
David W| 10.26.11 @ 8:24AM
How far Britain has fallen. If only those in power today had been in office back in the late 30s and 40s Hitler could have taken a row boat across the channel and no one would have stopped him. Indeed, the muslims there today would probably welcome him with open arms.
It is hard to believe that a government could be so blind, but I've been watching the current US administration bumble and stumble along the exact same path so I shouldn't be surprised.
Timothy L. Pennell| 10.26.11 @ 9:22AM
Britain is on it's way to becoming: Istanbul. You know. It used to be Constantinople. The Greatest Roman City of its day, and the Capitol of Christendom.
The British have gone from the World's Greatest Empire, to a pathetic joke. Rue Britannia, will soon be Allah Hu Akbar. (Or whatever the hell it is) It's once great Capitol City, is now referred to as : Londonistan. They have No Army. No Navy. Their Marines look like little School Boys. They spend more time worried that their Temperature might go up 1 Degree, in the next 100 years, than they are in the fact that THEIR ENEMY, who lives among them, will soon have MORE PEOPLE than the British do.
And, Hussein Obama is doing all he can, to see that we follow suit.
This is what you get when you TEACH BOYS to be girls. You end up with NO MEN.
Occam's Tool| 10.26.11 @ 12:06PM
TLP--Magnifique. Purely Gold.
See, I do compliment you frequently. But this was pithy and perfectly true.
Timothy L. Pennell| 10.26.11 @ 2:34PM
I hope there weren't too many commas.
Audace| 10.27.11 @ 12:45AM
Good post, Tim. As one who walked many a Brit street over the past two decades, this is Britain. Forget the hot cross buns, jams, and scones. But do add the Hindi Indians. This will be a conflagration, muslims vs. hindus or arabs vs. Indians.
The first great shot of the Pakistan-India war will, in my view, be fired in a city in Britain.
Please let me encourage any reader to fly over, rent a car and drive from Canterbury (Tim, you can use the metaphors of Britain's decline in the decline of anything useful coming from the seat of the Anglican church), drive from Canturbury on the carriageway (yes, this quaint term for the road) directly into London.
This visual trip of just the last 90 minutes before you hit the preserved and pristine touristed central London, this "view of Londistan" tells you what Britain has become today and what it will be in short order.
Will| 10.27.11 @ 8:37AM
Almost 400 of our "little schoolboys" have died for America in Afghanistan, plus 179 in Iraq. So shut your fucking mouth.
Petronius| 10.26.11 @ 9:26AM
The only thing "call me Dave" cares about is what Fleet St. prints about him. He's the Bush 41 of Westminster: clueless, gutless, and pining for acceptance by the yobs. The sad fact is, most British people are willing to commit national suicide in the vain attempt to live up their self image. And most of their taxes go to fostering that image by being spent on those who produce nothing; except votes. My best mate who is attached to the RAF is facing his base closing next year and most of his work will take him away from his home and family. His friends in the service are wing commanders with 1 pilot and 1 aircraft each. And my friend at NHS won't discuss much. He tells me only that, "you Americans will learn soon enough that bureaucrats can't cure anything." We all better keep our affairs in good order just in case...
Jack London| 10.26.11 @ 9:35AM
I don't get it - you love cutting public spending at home. You hate it when the Brits do it? What do you think the current GOP hopefuls want to do with federal spending?
TrueBlue| 10.26.11 @ 2:40PM
Cutting federal spending does not necessarily mean cutting Defense spending. The majority of our budget does NOT go for our national defense, and given the fact that defending the sovereignity of the country(thus protecting our Constitutional rights) is the primary job of the federal government that is a sad, sad thing.
No issues with defense spending being cut down to a reasonable level, but it should NEVER be reduced before we stop spending on foreign aid, and definitely not to the level the Brits are going where they are spending more money on aid than their own national defense.
Jack London| 10.26.11 @ 3:29PM
I quick search shows the Brits spending about $80 billion a year on defense and about $12 billion on its various aid programs. If that looks like they will be 'spending more money on aid than their own national defense' anytime soon then I suggest you get a new brain because the one you have is malfunctioning.
TrueBlue| 10.26.11 @ 3:54PM
That $80 bil is the current spending, not the soon to be massively reduced spending. Look again.
Will| 10.27.11 @ 8:38AM
To be reduced by about 8%, less than almost any other department. So at the end of this process defence spending will still be many times higher than aid spending.
Merlin| 10.27.11 @ 5:39AM
Jack,
In the US, defense of the country is a legitimate, constitutional function. Foreign aid, I would guess, is unconstitutional, as well as being counter productive, and rife with fraud.
Doctor Right| 10.26.11 @ 9:56AM
Hal:
I wonder if the following idea has EVER wandered through the brains of our politicians who continue to feed these beasts with our tax-dollars?
"If we stop paying them, maybe the dictators will collapse?"
UNBELIEVABLE.
Mike Hawk| 10.26.11 @ 10:23AM
Let the third world oil barons/ sheiks handle the aid thing. They are awash in cash.
Clint| 10.26.11 @ 12:36PM
Dr.Ron Paul,
“As the President prepares to send even more support to Egypt, we should
be reminded that it was our foreign aid that helped Mubarak retain power
to repress his people in the first place. Now we have to deal with the
consequences of those decisions, yet we keep repeating the same mistakes.
“I am not the only one who can see the absurdities of our foreign
policy. We give $3 billion to Israel and $12 billion to her enemies.
Most Americans know that makes no sense.
“We need to come to our senses, trade with our friends in the Middle
East (both Arab and Israeli), clean up our own economic mess so we set a
good example, and allow them to work out their own conflicts.”
The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here.
TrueBlue| 10.26.11 @ 2:43PM
It never ceases to amuse me how you use that quote and then call people "Israel-firster" like it's a bad thing.
As for Mubarak, he may have been repressing his people, but he was friendly with Israel because of that aid, and reasonably agreeable with us. If repression in another country is better for our security at home that's fine with me (I'll probably get screamed at for that one...).
Clint| 10.26.11 @ 2:55PM
It never ceases to amuse us, that Israel Firsters attempt to smear up & marginalize Our Tea Party Co-Favorite Presidential Candidate, Dr.Ron Paul.
The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here.
TrueBlue| 10.26.11 @ 3:53PM
That's why Cain has 32% of the Tea Party vote while Ron Paul has only 8% right?
Clint| 10.26.11 @ 7:35PM
" Herman Cain and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) emerged as the frontrunners in a tea party straw poll.
Cain won the live presidential straw poll conducted at the Tea Party Patriots policy summit, while Paul swept the online vote.
Cain, a Georgia businessman who riled up activists at the conservative conference Friday evening, took 22 percent of the live vote.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty came in second with 16 percent, followed by Paul with 15 percent and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with 10 percent. But Paul stole the show online, where he received 50 percent of the vote. Cain came in second with 12 percent, followed by Palin with 9 percent.
About 1,600 people voted in person, while 2,300 of the people watching online cast their ballots."
The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here.
henry| 10.26.11 @ 10:44AM
Even the editor of “Vanity Fair”, who fed on his hatred of President Bush for eight years, had to concede that the Bush Administration did more for Africa than any previous one. President Obama, on the other hand, delivered what I consider to be his strongest speech in Ghana in 2009. Among other things he had the following to say:
First, we must support strong and sustainable democratic governments.
We must start from the simple premise that Africa's future is up to Africans.
It is easy to point fingers, and to pin the blame for these problems on others. Yes, a colonial map that made little sense bred conflict, and the West has often approached Africa as a patron, rather than a partner. But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants. In my father's life, it was partly tribalism and patronage in an independent Kenya that for a long stretch derailed his career, and we know that this kind of corruption is a daily fact of life for far too many.
This is powerful medicine for the continent. Whether it accomplishes much is debatable, but I, as an African, certainly agree with his sentiments, and those of Churchill who years ago said it was time to stop feeding the crocodile.
Dave| 10.26.11 @ 2:26PM
Reminiscent of the US doling out millions of taxpayer's money to Africa only to rebuked with "Is that all?"
No good deed.
TrueBlue| 10.26.11 @ 2:45PM
No country that wants to continue to receive our money should complain about a dang thing we do. If they don't like it, or us, then they obviously don't need our cash.
cicero| 10.26.11 @ 4:26PM
The guilt resultant from colonialism is still with us. There is no former British colony that is better off now than then, with the possible exception of what is left of the Indian Raj. The only way to stop the nonsense is to stop funding it. At that point, the people can attempt to assert self determination. It may be bloody, and it may take a long time, but it is bloody now, and it has been going on for a long time.
Britain relinquished its colonies because it found that it could not affordd them. So, why do they continue to bankrupt themselves throwing money at those same places, to even less avail than when they were there?
Buck Ofama| 10.26.11 @ 6:26PM
How much USSA munny goes to these shitholes?
Why is somalia even classified as a "nation"?
Pat| 10.26.11 @ 7:12PM
Interesting viewpoint – this author makes modern day Britain sound like Detroit, only with citizens who employ better grammar and some form of sentence structure. And we have FDR’s royal yacht moored in Oakland near Jack London Square, it’s our local “national symbol” – meaning we overcharge tourists for a boat ride around San Francisco Bay. But the Brits are presently declining to support their former colonies on the European mainland; in fact, they’re patting themselves on the back for blowing off the Euro in favor of the English pound many years ago.
And California’s legislators are queuing up for a holiday junket to Greece. Tour the Parthenon and take notes on how Greece managed to get itself bailed out by wealthier nations. That knowledge could come in handy when California needs a similar bailout – we’ll also promise to cut back on the baklava if Obama will force our bondholders among the other the states to accept a “save California haircut”.
POST American| 10.26.11 @ 11:27PM
"--We are using MASSIVE third
world immigration to DESTROY
British culture beynd repair, once
and for all -----FOREVER."
-TONY BLAIR
Fmr PM/ ---future EU head/ Globalist/
Cultural EUGENIST/ --Psychopath--
----------HUAC meets NUREMBERG 2012---------
London chapter.
Good people of England ----ARE YOU THERE?
Audace| 10.27.11 @ 1:06AM
Thank you for this article, Mr. Colebatch. Please stay on this "beat." Added up, this is an astonishing amount of GB citizenry taxes being thrown at thugs and thuggery. We just cannot afford to let the Brits (Canadians and Aussies, too?) mindlessly waste treasure on pointless foreign aid while air, sea, and land defense forces rust and whither away.
Who knows? With the power of the internet, maybe this will shame a few Brits who care, as they come across your article in their net browsing.
When has the world not known war? When has the world not known the rumors portending the next wars?
What did Jesus (God) Himself tell us?
The motto "Be prepared" has to be adhered to.
Goodness, we still haven't terminated the Somali pirates, have we?
Booker | 10.29.11 @ 7:58PM
The person who should feel shame is the author - he shows an arrogant contempt for both the truth and the intelligence of his audience.
POST American| 10.28.11 @ 11:29PM
----------------------FINAL WORD----------------------
"-------immigration to DESTROY culture
once and for all ---FOREVER."
I think we can see what's going on.
-----------HUAC meets NUREMBERG 2012---------
Booker | 10.29.11 @ 7:48PM
What planet is this man on? How many times has this junk been recycled? As I have pointed out umpteen times before, the UK has one of the largest defence budgets in the world and is more than capable of defending itself in any conceivable scenario.
Actually, the quickest route to "national suicide" is spending vastly more than you can afford on the military. The current UK government does not intend to make this foolish mistake. By bringing defence spending under control and putting it on a sustainable footing the country will be stronger, not weaker. Others should watch and learn.