Wednesday, January 12, 2005
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The political economy of disaster aid and debt relief
The Economist has a good backgrounder on the delicate politics of proffering aid and debt moratoriums as a means of assisting countries experiencing natural disasters. It opens as follows:
Read the whole thing. UPDATE: CNN provides another complication when disaster relief is deployed:
posted by Dan on 01.12.05 at 02:42 PM Comments: Rather than continuing to send aid or providing debt relief, the U.S. should immediately offer a guest worker program to Indonesia and the other countries affected by the tsunami. This would prevent the EU or Arab countries from offering a similar program. It would also bring in billions for Indonesia and help the U.S. consumer. It would truly be a win-win. For more details on our proposal, see the Jobs for South Asia Coalition. posted by: The Jobs for South Asia Coalition on 01.12.05 at 02:42 PM [permalink]The internal politics of Indonesia make the issue of disaster and development assistance past the immediate aftermath of the tsunami almost unbelievably complicated. The March 31 deadline sounds like something this vice president floated on his own, but there are many things about Indonesia's history, organization and interest groups that will make reconstruction of the disaster area like putting together an intricate jigsaw puzzle many pieces of which are in motion. The potential payoff -- a more stable Indonesia less alienated from the West -- is enormous, though. posted by: Zathras on 01.12.05 at 02:42 PM [permalink]Post a Comment: |
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