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Paul Young's avatar

Robin, once again you wear your heart on your sleeve and I applaud you for it. I too have witnessed the kindness, and courage, of strangers in the Balkans, Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa and recognise that the, in my view, petty, spiteful and easy adherances to election slogan promises that are taking place will cause harm in the poorest of countries which are 'out of sight and out of mind' of the takers of such decisions. However, I have also seen the in-country leaderships of the countries where such needs are uppermost 'eat the money' that is required to help their population, which is equally as cruel. The most baffling element of the chopping of aid and support to other nations for me is that, usually, in excess of 75+% of the monies allocated either remain or is to the benefit of donor nations, be it in the form of weapon/equipment manufacture or peoples employed so cutting aid, be it USAID, or in the case of the UK DFID, affects far more companies and individuals 'at home' than abroad so is in effect a political statement of self-harm! Just a thought!

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