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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Biden ordered a similar review of  U.S. aid upon taking office

https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/whats-next-foreign-aid-under-biden[/quote]

I have worked in global health since the first Bush administration. Nothing that any president has done to date, including the reviews, comes close to the absolute chaos of the past week. Literally no one knows what these orders mean, including senior State Department and USAID staff. Half of the Missions are telling our organization to do a full stop, including salaries, and the other half are saying to just stop programs and await instruction. Some are telling us to report on DEIA elements, and others are not. What is a DEIA element of a global health program? Is it work with disabled children promote [b]inclusion[/b] and [b]accessibility[/b] of schools? Is it working with ethnic minorities in a certain region who are over-represented in tuberculosis cases? We have no idea, and the Missions have no idea.

This is not just unprecedented, it's wildly under-considered. [b]International development serves the interests of US foreign policy and national security by preventing disease outbreaks, curbing migration, preventing resource wars, and introducing anti-corruption mechanisms that allow more stable alliances. All of that is being torn down in the course of a week[/b]. [/quote]

This is the story development professionals tell themselves, but is it really true? Has corruption really decreased in Africa? Most African heads of state aligned themselves with Russia in the Ukraine debacle. They are also playing Russia, China and the U.S. off of themselves to line their own pockets. There have been a spate of coups in the Sahel region over the past few years. Perhaps it's not working?[/quote]

It’s not working, but to understand why you have to go back 20+ years and look at what happened during the Bush II administration. China went into Africa (and the Pacific and parts of Asia) hard in the 2000s while the U.S. was redirecting aid and diplomatic resources to Afghanistan and Iraq. American diplomacy - and the access of American companies to critical minerals - never really recovered from that. [/quote]

This - and we are too righteous to condition aid on access to land and resources.  China’s belt and road initiative has essentially conquered Africa and much of central and South America.  Yet we are the gullible who provide HIV medication and clean water because it makes us feel good. China must laugh at us every single day.[/quote]

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