Indy Media Watch

A UN spokesman has said that the United States and other Western nations were being "stingy" with relief funds.

As the article mentions:

The United States is "the largest contributor to international relief and aid efforts, not only through the government, but through charitable organizations."

This of course includes giving money, $2.4 billion dollars of it, to the UN. Perhaps the UN, instead of holding press conferences to complain about generosity, should shut the hell up and start helping the earthquake victims instead. Or have they frittered away the $15 million already?

Given the UN's track record, I for one wouldn't be the least bit surprised judging by its achievements in Iraq:

Of the $5.2 billion in promised aid—including a pledged U.S. increase from $928 million in 2002 to $1.2 billion in 2004—as little as 20 to 30 percent of it reaches villages, observers say. The rest is absorbed by administration and personnel. Rory Stewart—now serving for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq as deputy governor of Maysan province—returned to Kabul this year and was shocked to find that friends of his were earning $800 a day working for the UN. "The cost of keeping a single expat on the ground is between 300,000 and half a million U.S. dollars a year," he says of the UN staff, "if you take into account the cost of salary, all the allowances, the per diems, the white Land Cruisers they ride around in, the equipment in their offices."

All talk, hates the US, Israel and the West and nothing productive is achieved. The UN and Indy Media seem to have a lot in common.

If it seems like I am being particularly hard on Indy Media at the moment, it is because I am appalled by the crap (there I said it) they are talking about at the moment while all of this is going on. What a waste of a good idea.

Here is someone who is being helpful.

Update: The UN are now backpedalling furiously.

The United Nations' emergency relief coordinator said Tuesday that the international response to the tsunami catastrophe in southern Asia has been "very generous" despite earlier comments in which he called some nations "stingy."

And I believe the UN has had a lot of productive achievements, despite earlier comments where I said "nothing productive is achieved" by them...

Here's someone else who shares my opinion and offers an interesting solution.

Thanks and greetings to all the intelligent blogs who have linked to me because of this, use trackback if you can, I'd like to stay in touch!