The human tragedy unfolding in Pakistan right now demands our full attention.
Flooding there has already stranded 20 million people, more than 10 percent of the population. A fifth of the nation is underwater. More than 3.5 million children are in imminent danger of contracting cholera and acute diarrhea; millions more are in danger of starving if they don't get help soon. More than 1,500 have already been killed by the floods.
This is a human disaster.
It's also a frightening opening for the Taliban.
Yet so far only a trickle of aid has gotten through. As of today (Thursday), the U.S. has pledged $150 million, along with 12 helicopters to take food and material to the victims. (Other rich nations have offered even less - the U.K., $48.5 million; Japan, $10 million, and France, a measly $1 million. Today (Thursday), Hillary Clinton is speaking at the UN, seeking more.)
This is bizarre and shameful. We're spending over $100 billion this year on military maneuvers to defeat the Taliban in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan. Over 200 helicopters are deployed in that effort. And we're spending $2 billion in military aid to Pakistan.
More must be done for flood victims, immediately.
Beyond helping to prevent mass disease and starvation we'll also need to help Pakistan rebuild. Half of the nation's people depend on agriculture for their livelihood, and a large portion of the nation's crops and agricultural land have been destroyed. Roads, bridges, railways, and irrigation systems have been wiped out.
Last year, Congress agreed to a $7.5 billion civilian aid package to Pakistan to build roads, bridges, and schools. That should be quadrupled.
While they're at it, Congress should remove all tariffs on textiles and clothing from Pakistan. Textiles and clothing are half Pakistan's exports. More than half of all Pakistanis are employed growing cotton, weaving it into cloth, or cutting and sewing it into clothing. In the months and years ahead, Pakistan will have to rely ever more on these exports.
Yet we impose a 17 percent tariff on textiles and clothing from Pakistan. If we removed it, Pakistan's exports would surge $5 billion annually. That would boost the wages of millions there.
That tariff also artificially raises the price of the clothing and textiles you and I buy. How many American jobs do we protect by this absurdity? Almost none. Instead, we've been importing more textiles and clothing from China and other East Asian nations. China subsidizes its exports with an artificially-low currency.
If you're not moved by the scale of the disaster and its aftermath, consider that our future security is inextricably bound up with the future for Pakistan. Of 175 million Pakistanis, some 100 million are under age 25. In the years ahead they'll either opt for gainful employment or, in its absence, may choose Islamic extremism.
We are already in a war for their hearts and minds, as well as those of young people throughout the Muslim world.
Right now, Islamic insurgents are using the chaos as an opportunity, attacking police posts in Pakistan's northwest while police have been occupied in rescue and relief work. Meanwhile, lacking help and losing hope, many Pakistanis are becoming increasingly hostile toward President Asif Ali Zardari.
And, of course, Pakistan has the bomb.
What can you do? Government efforts are important but so is private giving. Check the New York Times's Lede blog for organizations providing disaster relief. The Oxfam website has lots of good information about who's doing what, and how effectively.
This post originally appeared at RobertReich.org.
Building development is supposed to reflect UV or buildings will be burned like our skin except they aren't insulated for it. Los Angeles alone spends over 100 million dollars a year in energy costs responding to urban heat islands. Look at a satellite map of the winds moving across the globe. Keep in mind that simple formula that heat rises if we create it.
Here is what we missed in the calculator in building development or energy use. Education of the world is literally blind to temperature. Here is a link showing 100 million dollars of new building development being radiated. It is 89 deg. F being reported by the weather station and buildings are as hot as 199 deg. F without emissions produced. As a matter of fact, we are responding to the symptoms with massive energy waste with more emissions. http://www.thermoguy.com/blog/index.php?itemid=42
Here is a time-lapsed infrared video showing how fast buildings are radiated. http://www.thermoguy.com/blog/index.php?itemid=41
Weather is the interaction of cold and warm air with water vapor, dumping heat atmospherically changes weather around the world. The buildings are illegal and should be the responsibility of the builder but it couldn't be seen. Paint and shade can deal with this immediately and stop the heat from affecting the world.
That would make me feel a bit better. Ahhh........ to dream.
Because it is the kind, compassionate, humane thing to do.
We shouldn't do things just because we expect a thank you note. We should do it, because it is the right thing to do.
Uh, why??? We can't afford our own roads, bridges and schools. We're paying for them with money borrowed from the Chinese. Why would we send $.7.5 BILLION to Pakistan? We've got our own problems to deal with.
Sure, we should help and do so with logistics, food, water, and other things, but we simply cannot rebuild Pakistan.
Of course, most Americans today have zero idea what the Marshall Plan even was. Can they find the U.S. on a map?
Are you a Christian.......?
Too bad Bush never unleashed the Compassionate Conservatives he campaigned On and left us with you Paranoid and Vindicative Versions.
These are just regular villagers here.....
And the funds to go to the Government but to NGOs
These minority groups represent more than half of the population of Afghanistan and they are attempting to prepare themselves for our departure from there. During the time we have in Afghanistan, no money from the United States should go through the Central government. That is where the corruption lies, and we should be directly arming, training, feeding, giving other assistance, and paying the groups which shal really fight the Talbian when we leave. We could finance that with a small portion of what we are spending and permit the Afghans themselves to determine their destiny. Once the Taliban is defeated, or largely so, from within, then give the groups who defeat them assistance in energy rebuilding, reforestration, food, medicine, education, and getting the economy on its' feet.
The same could be done within Pakistan, but Pakistan is an overwhelmingly different thing even from Afghanistan, in that it is, essentially a failed nation with nuclear arms.
Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project
America's Image Remains Poor
Concern About Extremist Threat Slips in Pakistan
Less Support for U.S. Involvement
America’s overall image remains negative in Pakistan. Along with Turks and Egyptians, Pakistanis give the U.S. its lowest ratings among the 22 nations included in the spring 2010 Pew Global Attitudes survey – in all three countries, only 17% have a favorable view of the U.S. Roughly six-in-ten (59%) Pakistanis describe the U.S. as an enemy, while just 11% say it is a partner. And President Barack Obama is unpopular – only 8% of Pakistanis express confidence that he will do the right thing in world affairs, his lowest rating among the 22 nations.
http://pewglobal.org/2010/07/29/concern-about-extremist-threat-slips-in-pakistan/
Widespread Support for Harsh Laws
"...many Pakistanis endorse extreme views about law, religion and society. More than eight-in-ten support segregating men and women in the workplace, stoning adulterers, and whipping and cutting off the hands of thieves. Roughly three-in-four endorse the death penalty for those who leave Islam."
http://pewglobal.org/2010/07/29/concern-about-extremist-threat-slips-in-pakistan/