America takes advantage of a public diplomacy opportunity

[hist2004]

The author of this article is obviously enjoying taking a one-two punch
at the European nations, and the U.N. The United States has always helped
in times of natural disasters but many countries have also contributed as
best they can. The U.S. does have the “Military Lift” capability to get the
goods and relief delivered, but I’m sure France also has this capability
along with a few others (large scale lift capability).

Whether there is also a strategic motive is arguable as well, as we’ve
seen many nations (US included) avoid providing aid when it was
direly needed (Rwanda, Sudan). I saw an Indonesian victim waiting
for supplies wearing a Bin Laden picture on his t-shirt. How ironic-Hist2004

THE WESTERN FRONT

We Are the World

By sending help to tsunami victims, America takes advantage of a public diplomacy opportunity.

BY BRENDAN MINITER

Tuesday, January 4, 2005

Colin Powell and Jeb Bush are now on a diplomatic mission to the nations hit by the tsunami. But as residents from Thailand in Southeast Asia to Somalia on the horn of Africa pick through the debris, it will not be lost on them that not only are food, fresh water and other necessities streaming in from the free societies of the world, but also that a large portion of those necessities are arriving on American military transports.

This may seem unremarkable in America. After all, it is the U.S. military that has the "lift" capacity. But this tsunami is putting on display exactly what United Nations and European bureaucrats are loath to admit: that the U.S. and its military are forces for good in the world. From the wealth and freedom that allow Americans to generously give to those in need to the military infrastructure that enables much of that aid to be delivered, this natural disaster is an advertisement for the type of societies that best serve the people of the world.

The Saudi royal family may write a few checks. Even the Iranian mullahs may be cajoled into handing over a few rials. But broad relief requires tapping the creativity, insight and generosity of a wide cross-section of society. And it is only the free societies of the world that have both the wherewithal and the ability to pinpoint and quickly meet emerging needs. That's something that goes a long way in undermining the message al Qaeda leaders have been preaching for a better part of a decade. America isn't seeking world domination. Tsunami help is coming with no strings attached.

This simple fact has to be driving Osama bin Laden bananas. Only a month ago the news surfaced that al Qaeda operatives were training in Malaysia to carry out attacks in Thailand. Bin Laden's minions have also been active in Indonesia--which is both the world's largest Muslim nation and a democracy--and nearly every other country hit by this disaster. Now that Mother Nature has laid waste to the region herself, the terrorists aren't about to turn around and help in the rebuilding. It's clear that the vision al Qaeda has for the region more closely resembles the beachfronts after the deadly waves came crashing ashore than before, when they were still resort communities teaming with fun.

By responding with generosity, it is also clear that the vision Americans share is of all nations prospering. Liberty for all is more than a political ideal; it's also the foundation of President Bush's foreign policy. Admittedly this is partly for the selfish reason that prosperous countries are unlikely to breed terror. Nonetheless, the policy is benefiting Afghans, Iraqis and Muslims around the globe.

Which brings us back to the Euroweenies and U.N. bureaucrats and American politicians who've spent much of the past three years complaining that Mr. Bush's "unilateralist" policies would alienate key allies in the war on terror. The U.S. government has pledged $350 million in disaster relief--a figure that will almost certainly rise in the coming weeks and months--which is being more than matched by private donations from all across America. The U.N. might talk a good game, but when the water came in around them, the people of Southeast Asia didn't hold much of a grudge with Mr. Bush. Indeed, the question quickly became: What is America going to do to help?

The point here isn't to squeeze a political opportunity out of what may be the worst natural disaster in recorded history. Rather it is to recognize that what's at stake in the war on terror is also what was nearly swept away by the sea--civilization itself. It won't be lost on the people of Thailand as they face their own terrorist problem that the same American military that is battling al Qaeda is now helping them battle the brutal natural world as well. The training exercises the U.S. military regularly conducts around the world with other nations' armed forces will now take on an added significance.

There are times in life when we are all called to stand up and chose sides in the great moral struggles of our time. What the people of Southeast Asia are seeing is that in a region al Qaeda has been actively targeting, it is America that is standing up when it counts. It's hard to see how that Bush policy will alienate the very people al Qaeda seeks to dominate. Quite to the contrary, it is the American system--free people governing themselves--that is now standing shoulder to shoulder with those who have lost nearly everything.

Regards,
Hist2004

[BigBaribal]

My "neocon" radar sent me a warning :lol:

[Pille1234]

Sometimes after reading such crap I believe the Americans live in another universe than I do. Then I take a deep breath and remember myself that such 'articles' are not written because the author believes they are true but because they suit an agenda; targeted not at an international publicity but at a special group of Americans.

[2Sheds_Jackson]

Sometimes after reading such crap I believe the Americans live in another universe than I do. Then I take a deep breath and remember myself that such 'articles' are not written because the author believes they are true but because they suit an agenda; targeted not at an international publicity but at a special group of Americans.

Just as you don't believe what you've written here, and have only included your comments to meet the requirements of a special group of forum members?

[priccobe]

Sometimes after reading such crap I believe the Americans live in another universe than I do. Then I take a deep breath and remember myself that such 'articles' are not written because the author believes they are true but because they suit an agenda; targeted not at an international publicity but at a special group of Americans.
By crap, do you actually mean truth? What other countries are providing the relief effort that primarily the US, along with Australia and Japan, are?
It is really sad that the politics of hate, the hatred of America, has turned this international tragedy into a US and Bush bashing opportunity for the tiny, ankle-biting hypocrites to revel in. Truly a pathetic turn of events....

There is only one reason we're helping out over there - it's the right thing to do. We're not doing it for fame and glory or trying to get the rest of the wold to worhip us. It's really all that simple.

All the rest of it is nothing more but petty whining by failing eurostates and self-loathing Americans.

[Knutsen]

By crap, do you actually mean truth? What other countries are providing the relief effort that primarily the US, along with Australia and Japan, are? :cantbeli:

Keep accusing others of doing nothing to show how great your country is whereas people keeps dying.

[fantassin]

Some of you should stop looking at your star-spangled belly button; each and every country in the world is doing what it can to help.

Thumping your chest and shouting "look how good and misunderstood we are" will only lead to even more loathing against what will then be seen as "american imperialism".

And Hist2004, as much as I regret it, France has NO strategic lift capability in its air force.

Biggest A/C are 14 C-130H, 3 Airbus A310s and 2 A319CJ. Not exactly Berlin airlift material...but France has sent its only helicopter carrier and several specialized units as well as money since you ask.

[Pille1234]

By crap, do you actually mean truth? What other countries are providing the relief effort that primarily the US, along with Australia and Japan, are?
That you dare to ask this question shows me enough of your level of information. Well I'm generous and give you some information for free:


German Army Gears up for "Mission Aceh"

Training for the real thing

Germany has increased aid to Indonesia, the worst-hit country in the tsunami disaster, by sending in the army to set up a high-tech mobile field hospital in the ravaged Aceh province.

With nearly 400,000 people made homeless and more than 94,000 confirmed dead, Indonesia has borne the brunt of the tsunami that lashed countries in the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26, 2004.

The epicenter of the undersea quake which triggered massive tidal waves was near the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island. The country's Aceh province, closest to the epicenter, has taken a severe battering with chaotic scenes of destruction and devastation.

Even as aid workers raced to supply food and water to the thousands of refugees on the island, the international relief effort suffered a setback on Tuesday after the main airport in Banda Aceh, the island capital and a key hub for relief flights, was closed to planes. The closure came after the landing gear of a cargo plane collapsed in the early hours of the morning.

Fact-finding team in the region

Despite the setback, the German army has received a go-ahead from the Indonesian government to set up a high-tech mobile field hospital in the Aceh province that would enable emergency medical aid and operations for the injured and sick.

On Saturday, an advance party of nine German soldiers, a so-called fact-finding team set off for Aceh, to investigate conditions on the ground, assess the logistical challenges and check accessibility routes for flying in the mobile hospital unit which will be spread out in 40 tents.

According to the German defense ministry, 120 German army paramedics will fly out to Aceh, which has also been lashed by tropical rains in the aftermath of the disaster, and attend to victims in the field hospital.

In addition, the German navy's hospital ship, "Berlin," has also departed for Indonesia as have members of the German Technical Assistance Service (GTZ) to set up a mobile water treatment plant to provide drinking water for Sumatra's civilian population.

High-tech hospital

The army hospital consists of 22 beds including three for intensive care patients. This basic unit is meant above all to provide emergency medical aid to the population. Paramedics are expected to tour the region and provide first aid where needed.

The more sophisticated elements of the field hospital include ultrasound machinery, X-rays and laboratory equipment which can help in diagnosing tropical illnesses as well as an on board pharmaceutical and medical supplies depot.

Jurdi Ziad, who will head "Mission Aceh," told German public broadcaster NDR that the mobile field hospital also enabled surgeons to perform emergency operations, up to 20 a day. The entire maneuver will involve transporting around 350 tons of material, Ziad said.

The army paramedics will be flown out to Aceh as soon as they get a green signal from the advance fact-finding team in the region. The field hospital is expected to be up and running within two hours of reaching Aceh and fully operational in 4 to 8 hours.

Utter chaos and destruction

But, for now, it's difficult for the group of around 120 German army paramedics who are still awaiting departure to Aceh to paint a concrete picture of what awaits them in the crisis region.

Hartmut Siebertz, vice commander of the unit said they were still waiting for assessment reports from the fact-finding team.

"But, it's still very likely that we can expect unimaginably horrible conditions and really difficult working conditions," he added.

Media reports and televised aerial images already speak of untold devastation in the remote parts of Aceh province, where roads and airstrips have been washed away and entire towns have been erased from the map.

This week, reporters spoke of scenes of utter chaos as thousands of refugees huddled in makeshift tents and the smell of putrefaction and the stench from the strewn debris wafted over the island. Aid workers are already warning of the onset of disease in the face of massive water contamination.

Fears and doubts

Some of the German army paramedics like Stefanie Schwenn from Hamburg, admitted that she was nervous of the task ahead.

"We were actually all on vacation when we got a call that we should travel back to the base because we were going to Asia," Schwenn said. "What can you say, you simply think, 'Oh ****' in that moment. Yes, it is my first deployment and it's normal to be a bit scared."

Schwenn said that all she knew about the devastation in Aceh was what she had gleaned from the media.

Even Sven Börg, another paramedic who is preparing to leave for the region, said he expected it to be a harrowing experience.

"One can't really imagine it theoretically," he said. "I think, when we actually arrive it, it's going to be quite a jolt for us to see how everything is destroyed."

Despite the fears and doubts, Siebertz said he believed that his mobile hospital unit could still provide valuable help to the remaining population.

"In the face of the high death toll to say that our aid is just a 'small drop in the ocean' sounds so negative," he said. "That's not how I would assess it. It's a very high-quality help that we're offering the people."

DW staff (sp)




Germany Keen on South Asia Partnerships

Bonn has set up a partnership with the Cuddalore district in India

Chancellor Schröder wants to go beyond immediate financial and humanitarian aid to the tsunami-hit nations by proposing bilateral "partnerships." The idea of long-term help has found takers in Germany.

Praised for his brisk and generous response to the tsunami disaster that hit Asian countries, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has now ramped up his government's lasting commitment to international relief efforts by suggesting that help should continue long after the tragedy has disappeared from the headlines.

In his annual New Year's address, Schröder proposed that top industrial nations form bilateral "partnerships" with countries hit by the tsunami in southern Asia on Dec. 26, 2004.

"I envisage that all the big industrial countries each take responsibility for one nation. Also Germany. Our states for corresponding areas there. Our cities for their cities and our villages for their villages," Schröder said in the speech.

"German schools and children, supported by their parents, could sponsor schools over there," the chancellor said. "This would show that we want to go much further than pledging money -- which is of course important -- and that we understand our responsibility as long term."

"The right idea"

Schröder's proposal has found a positive resonance in Germany, where the disaster has struck a personal chord: at least 60 Germans vacationing in southern Asia have been confirmed dead, while over a 1,000 are still missing.

Most believe that Schröder's latest suggestion might be welcomed because personal donations, which have been pouring in from all corners of Germany ever since the disaster struck, usually increase once people know how their money is being put to use. In addition, forming city "partnerships" has the additional advantage that the help isn't a one-off gesture, but rather a long-term responsibility.

Kurt Beck, premier of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, called the suggestion "the only right idea to organize and structure support in the long term."

Essen-based energy and chemical group RAG has already agreed to sponsor 100 children in the crisis region and support them financially through school and vocational training until they are ready to fend for themselves.

The proposal has also found takers among the German Association of Cities and Municipalities. Franz-Reinhard Habbel, spokesman for the association, said that several municipalities in Germany had already used their New Year parties to collect donations and that the chancellor's proposal meant that the funds could be used to establish partnerships with individual cities in the crisis regions and help repair damaged schools and streets.

Bonn and Cuddalore

The idea has also sparked interest among German cities.

The former capital of Bonn already has -- with the help of aid group "German Agro Action" -- set up a partnership with the ravaged district of Cuddalore Tamil Nadu, in southeast India.

More than 7,400 people are feared dead in Tamil Nadu alone and the tsunami triggered by a powerful undersea earthquake hit Cuddalore's fishing community particularly hard, flattening the poorly-constructed huts and shacks on the beach.

"We're going to help exactly 1,992 families in the district of Cuddalore, that's about 12,000 people, more than 80 percent of whom are fishermen," said Marion Aberle, spokeswoman for German Agro Action. "We want to help them build a new life. That means long-term help by providing boats, fishing nets, paddles as well as helping them reconstruct their homes."

Creating close bonds

Aberle also stressed that Schröder's proposal would create strong ties between nations.

"Right now the pictures are there, emotions are running high and the people are helping. But catastrophes -- even ones as large as this one -- run the risk of being forgotten," she said. "One simply has to think beyond today and think long-term."

Bärbel Diekmann, mayor of Bonn, said that donations would be collected in Bonn's schools, kindergartens, companies and carnival festivities in the coming months. "I can imagine every Bonn school financing a house in Cuddalore," Diekmann said. "It's very viable because it's so concrete."

Berlin, on the other hand, which has had a partnership with the Indonesian capital of Jakarta since 1994, plans to continue aid efforts there despite the fact that the city wasn't directly affected by the massive tidal waves. But, given the huge death toll in Indonesia alone -- more than 94,000 confirmed dead -- the German capital has decided to focus long-term help there.

Germany, largest donor?

Germany has so far been at the forefront of international relief operations in the tsunami-affected regions, particularly in the worst-hit areas of Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

On Tuesday, reports said Schröder's government, which has so far promised €20 million ($27 million) in aid for the Indian Ocean nations devastated by the tsunami, would raise that amount by €500 million more. That would make it the single-largest donor. The decision is expected to be approved and announced publicly at a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

The German army also plans to set up a mobile field hospital in the worst-affected Indonesian province of Aceh while the German Technical Assistance Service (GTZ) is setting up a water treatment plant to provide drinking water for the civilian population. Schröder has also called on rich nations to relieve debt of nations caught up in the tragedy and will propose such a moratorium for Indonesia and Somalia when the Paris Club of creditor nations next meets on Jan. 20.

However, it remains to be seen whether Schröder's latest proposal of bilateral partnerships will find acceptance within the European Union. The chancellor is expected to float the idea during a meeting of EU development ministers on Friday.

DW staff (sp)

Note that this is only about Germany. If you really were interested to inform yourself, you could have found further information about the EU initiative or the support of all other (european) countries.



It is really sad that the politics of hate, the hatred of America, has turned this international tragedy into a US and Bush bashing opportunity for the tiny, ankle-biting hypocrites to revel in. Truly a pathetic turn of events....

I did not bash Bush, in fact I did not even mention his name. But look, who used the terms "Euroweenies and U.N. bureaucrats"? The author is deliberately ignoring facts to create a chance to bash the UN / EU / liberal Americans, that is all I'm talking about.


There is only one reason we're helping out over there - it's the right thing to do. We're not doing it for fame and glory or trying to get the rest of the wold to worhip us. It's really all that simple.

All the rest of it is nothing more but petty whining by failing eurostates and self-loathing Americans.
Great! So it should be. Let's just hope that all countries deliver what they have promised, even when the headlines turn back to Iraq.[/quote]

[hist2004]

And Hist2004, as much as I regret it, France has NO strategic lift capability in its air force.

Biggest A/C are 14 C-130H, 3 Airbus A310s and 2 A319CJ. Not exactly Berlin airlift material...but France has sent its only helicopter carrier and several specialized units as well as money since you ask.


Fantassin-

I based it on the response France provided to recent operations in the Ivory
Coast etc. They can still get assets to an area fairly quickly even if it isn’t
on a large (heavy lift) scale. Any help that countries can provide will be
greatly appreciated by those in the effected areas. Thanks for the update.

Regards,
Hist2004

[BigBaribal]

How to identify a neocon text: if the words "terror", "war on terror" or "terrorists" appear too often, even in a text on a natural catastrophe, it's a real neocon text :lol:

[fantassin]

Hist2004, the BIG difference with IC is that France has a permanent base in the country and several others around it within reach of a C-160 Transall.

Indonesia and Sri Lanka are different stories even though we've got bases in the Indian Ocean but only with light assets.

But no worries, with the amount of do-gooders we have in France (it's the country which gave birth to MSF or in English Doctors Without Borders, remember...), a lot is being and will be done for the victims of that tragedy.

[ElHombre]

Praised for his brisk and generous response to the tsunami disaster that hit Asian countries, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has now ramped up his government's lasting commitment to international relief efforts by suggesting that help should continue long after the tragedy has disappeared from the headlines.

i would like to give my thanks to the chancellor for cutting his vacation short. unlike bush.

[Trigger]

Praised for his brisk and generous response to the tsunami disaster that hit Asian countries, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has now ramped up his government's lasting commitment to international relief efforts by suggesting that help should continue long after the tragedy has disappeared from the headlines.

i would like to give my thanks to the chancellor for cutting his vacation short. unlike bush.
Unlike Bush, Herr Chancellor must not be able to 'multi-task'. He had to come home from vacation to 'ramp up' his commitment while U.S. Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen were already dropping food and meds... :petting: