Friday, September 02, 2005
The implications of foreign help
In the Balkans, where the U.S. military has been deployed to keep the peace following a decade of conflict, offers were steeped in gratitude. A Bosnian television station offered to raise money. In Kosovo, a civil emergency unit made up of former ethnic Albanian rebels offered to send a team to help rebuild.
Condoleezza Rice has wisely decided to accept offers of help from wherever they may come. Presumably, neither the Iranians nor the North Koreans have tested her resolve.
Reuters has more. Hugo Chavez has apparently offered to send cheap fuel, and that is testing Condi's resolve. We haven't answered. I imagine we are worried about handing him a gratuitous propaganda victory, and we should be. Cheap fuel is not so much help as a subsidy -- we don't need to feed the foreign perception that the United States will do anything for a quick jolt of cheap gas.
According to Reuters, the list of donor nations includes the following:
The department listed donors so far as: Australia, Austria, the Bahamas, Belgium, Canada, China, Columbia, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, the European Union, France, Germany, Guatemala, Britain, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, NATO, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Organization of American States, Paraguay, South Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Sweden, Venezuela and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (bold emphasis added)
Many countries stepped up after September 11, but there has never apparently been this sort of outpouring for a natural disaster on American soil. Even poor countries who in the past have benefited from American aid are offering help.
While there is probably a bit of schadenfreude in some of these offers (Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro?), by and large they reveal that widespread anti-Americanism is a complex and ambivalent package of emotions. Some countries want to express gratitude for American help in disasters past. Others are eager to show that they have the wherewithal to make a contribution to the world, even if they are small and poor. Still others want to educate the Bush administration about the importance of international cooperation, and see this is as a worthy means for doing so. And, of course, some governments simply want to alleviate the palpable human suffering in Katrina's wake.
For some people around the world, this disaster will humanize the United States. If before Katrina some people around the world -- correctly or otherwise -- perceived the United States as all-powerful and therefore inherently threatening regardless of our motives, this catastrophe may have the perverse effect of making us less obviously scary. That might have the unexpected effect of increasing our soft power, especially if we graciously accept the offers of help.
There is a question here for George Bush, too. Will he recognize that the international sympathy for New Orleans may also be an opportunity to take the edge off relations with a number of the countries that have been critical of American policy in the last few years? I believe that he will.
4 Comments:
By 
Gordon Smith, at
Sat Sep 03, 12:13:00 AM:
By Presley Bennett, at
Sat Sep 03, 02:38:00 AM:
I think offers of help are the least these countries could do even if it's just a gesture. I note that the angriest victims of the hurricane, however, aren't sitting around screaming "where are the (insert your favorite country)" which is generally what happens to us when a disaster happens elsewhere. We look to ourselves, always have and always will.
By cakreiz, at
Sat Sep 03, 09:04:00 AM:
He should but he won't. There's no new tricks in that old dog. He's not burdened by self-doubt or insight. Sadly, he'll remain unchanged.
By callmemickey, at
Sat Sep 03, 11:07:00 AM:
For me, the most shocking pledge of support is from cuba. Fidel Castro seems sincere in his aims to offer support and condolences to the victims. Makes me ask.. does he love America more than some liberal americans??? haha
