EDITORIAL
Tsunami questions
It was bound to happen.
Just weeks after the tsunamis devastated parts of Southeast Asia and the torrent of aid and expressions of sadness engendered by the disaster, questions are being raised which put a negative spin on relief efforts and possible causes.
At first there were the criticisms that the rich nations of the world were too slow to react. Then, it was that the rich nations were too stingy in what was seen as the pittances they were offering.
We in Canada were no exception. It is always made out to seem that our government can do nothing right. We were too slow to react. Our offer of help was too little, too late. Our DART team was too big and cumbersome to be moved quickly into a disaster zone and took too long to be mobilized. We should be doing this or that differently. And on it went. By the way, DART is in place now and by all account doing a fabulous job. We do good wherever we go but we never seem to give ourselves credit, expect when we win a major hockey tournament.
The government refused to publish the list of those missing, citing privacy issues, but it was however leaked to the media. Then, the government was blamed for getting it wrong when some on its list showed up alive.
The United States was first off the mark to up its donation from $35-million to $350-million. Suddenly, the world was on fire. It was as though we were at an auction with major countries trying to outbid each other to see which of them could give more money. Little Australia (relatively speaking) is as of this writing at $1-billion and in the lead. Canada has also upped its contribution to some $425+ million.
But, to go back to the comment at the top of this editorial regarding the negative responses to the relief.
For one, and this is very valid, there is concern that many of the other significant needs afflicting our world are being, or might be, neglected as we focus on this single disaster.
For another, there are more people dying every week in Africa of AIDS, wars, famine and other plagues than have been killed by the tsunamis, while the same countries which are now finding billions of dollars - some $4-billion so far - are yet to step up to the plate to help out in any significant way. Even those who have pledged money are yet to pony up.
The feeling is that if the world was able to so quickly find so much money for this one event, surely money could be found for other natural and human-made disasters decimating large parts of our planet.
Here in Canada, the feeling among some is that if we were able to lose a billion dollars in the Adscam debacle, there was obviously a billion dollars available to be lost. Are there any other billions sitting around somewhere waiting to be siphoned off by some savvy bureaucrat(s)? And could we identify those monies and use them to set up a fund for relief efforts here and elsewhere before those sticky-fingered folks strike?
What about the monies that we might have to spend if we joined George W. Bush in his weaponizing of space? (That isn't fair. He did promise us he wouldn't weaponize space, didn't he? His plan is to set up a defence shield around North America to protect us. How would they protect us without weapons, is still to be explained).
Anyway, there is money available - if we want to find it.
The other major concern, and while this has been discounted by people who claim to be in the know, is that the thousands of underground nuclear tests that have occurred during the past six decades by most of the major powers - and including some of the would-be major powers - might be responsible for the earthquake that caused the tsunamis and that other similar disasters could not be that far off.
How do we know that they are not responsible? You keep shaking up the earth over and over and over with these blasts and surely something could come loose.
It is also part of the speculation that the reason all these major countries are falling over themselves to help out is that they know or suspect - nudge, nudge, hint, hint - what might be responsible and that their hands might be just a little dirty.
And, of course, is the expected one. Tens of thousands of Westerners are estimated to have been killed by the tsunamis therefore much of the concern might be self-interest, especially since the area is a very common and cheap tourist destination for Western tourists.
By the way, some countries in the area are also known as destinations of choice for Western pedophiles.
" I'm thinking of a God very different from the God of the Christian and the God of Islam, because both are depicted as omnipotent Oriental despots, cosmic Saddam Husseins." Philosopher Antony Flew 1922 - .
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