No Boondoggle to Tie Foreign Aid to Recipients' Core Values

Written by Marc J. Lane


Official corruption, it's plain to see, stifles entrepreneurship, innovation and investment inrepparttar poorest of nations. That's one important reasonrepparttar 126022 Bush administration's visionary Millennium Challenge Account plan would, forrepparttar 126023 first time, promote prosperity inrepparttar 126024 developing world by tying foreign aid to a country's commitment to rule justly, invest in its people and embrace economic freedom. Yet,repparttar 126025 program's future is in doubt. The ideologues who bash it contend that legislative compromises linking U.S. aid to a nation's social performance threaten to turnrepparttar 126026 Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) strategy into a worthless boondoggle.

Butrepparttar 126027 MCA proposal is a novel and constructive reform initiative. It promises to bring hope, opportunity and business torepparttar 126028 neediest people on earth, but only after their governments demonstrate that their policies and institutions can realistically be expected to spur sustainable economic development.

Underrepparttar 126029 plan, an eligible country would request a monetary grant, enter into a contract withrepparttar 126030 U.S. government and submit to U.S. scrutiny. Any country that seeks MCA aid would need to encourage good governance, transparent regulation and open trade. And only measurable results would be rewarded with an incentive payout.

The pending MCA bill would energizerepparttar 126031 poorest of nations not only by affording them targeted financial assistance, but also by invitingrepparttar 126032 competition to qualify for it. As important,repparttar 126033 program stands to root out official corruption and safeguard human rights and political liberty.

Corruption within developing countries — official bribery, extortion, fraud and embezzlement — debases democracy, distorts markets, and denies both risk-takers and workers their fair share of economic resources. It also underminesrepparttar 126034 stability and growth of our global trading system.

Of course everybody was innocent but...

Written by Slawek


I have just read in "Rzeczpospolita" an excellent "Short History ofrepparttar Jews in Poland", describingrepparttar 126021 tragedy of one ofrepparttar 126022 most significant ancient cultures which survived till our times. It happened so thatrepparttar 126023 Jewish nation, persecuted by VARIOUS SPIRITS OF THE TIMES, found several centuries of peace in Poland, located in Central Europe. 

Due to that fact, sincerepparttar 126024 11th century it had been developing, along with one ofrepparttar 126025 Slavonic tribes, an interesting culture ofrepparttar 126026 contemporary Poland. Readingrepparttar 126027 text of Stefan Bratkowski I remembered another text fromrepparttar 126028 correspondence of Jerzy Stempowski (Hostowiec) with Jerzy Giedroyc, published by Czytelnik in 1998. As I was reading it, I was fascinated withrepparttar 126029 live HISTORY, not distorted by historians, politicians, ideologists and journalists. Let me quote some ofrepparttar 126030 fragments fromrepparttar 126031 first volum(pp. 134 - 154) ofrepparttar 126032 correspondence of "Prince" Giedroyc with one ofrepparttar 126033 most interesting, most open minds ofrepparttar 126034 20th Century, educator of several generations of Polish humanists, Jerzy Stempowski. It was inrepparttar 126035 1950s:  

"Bern, July 18, 1957  The biggest danger forrepparttar 126036 Jews is their own extremity and intolerance, eventually effecting everybody andrepparttar 126037 hardest forrepparttar 126038 helpless andrepparttar 126039 innocent. I don't see any remedy for this. Jewish community is too fragmented, too diverse, to find a recipe that would satisfy everybody". "It is a feeling for more private use."

"Between 1904 and 1930 there occurred irreversible changes amongrepparttar 126040 Poles as well as amongrepparttar 126041 Jews. Onrepparttar 126042 Polish part, those wererepparttar 126043 results ofrepparttar 126044 nation-based state concept ofrepparttar 126045 National Democracy party (Endecja). That concept effectedrepparttar 126046 whole period betweenrepparttar 126047 two world wars. The changes onrepparttar 126048 Jewish part were equally deep. In 1904, did anybody see Jews shooting their guns, escorting prisoners with guns in their hands or training granade throwing? NO. Nobody would even believe such a possibility. And in 1917-1918 those strange scenes became reality atrepparttar 126049 whole area engulfed withrepparttar 126050 soviet revolution and penetratedrepparttar 126051 imagination of not just Poles but other people as well."  "Those changes should be completed withrepparttar 126052 anti-Semitism ofrepparttar 126053 West, why not mention it? With a few exceptions, it were notrepparttar 126054 Polish people who helped Hitler to exterminate Jews. It was done by their parla to exterminate Jews. It was done by England and America, doing a campaign and watching that nobody escapesrepparttar 126055 net. It was done by their parliaments, approvingrepparttar 126056 policy and passing laws when everybody knew what it was all about. Evenrepparttar 126057 American Jews were passively watching it, apparently they believed thatrepparttar 126058 slaughter ofrepparttar 126059 Jews in Europe is a lesser calamity than their massive migration to America. And Palestine? I thinkrepparttar 126060 leaders and participants ofrepparttar 126061 project did not neglect anything to create conflicts, which cannot be resolved. Allrepparttar 126062 powers ofrepparttar 126063 West contributed to that situation but their citizens did not intend to live in Palestine. All these events were unthinkable in 1904 but they dramatically alteredrepparttar 126064 basic components ofrepparttar 126065 so called "Jewish issue."

Don’t you think we should ask here whetherrepparttar 126066 American zealousness to explainrepparttar 126067 complex aspects ofrepparttar 126068 Polish- Jewish conflicts is not aimed at distractingrepparttar 126069 world attention from their own (American), not too impressing, attitude torepparttar 126070 holocaust?  What did Uncle Sam and robust Churchill do withrepparttar 126071 reports of Jan Karski, what did IMB built its power on, what didrepparttar 126072 American newspaper say aboutrepparttar 126073 „Jewish plot”, what were Roosevelt’s and Churchill’s views ofrepparttar 126074 “Jewish issue”?  In 1920s and 30s inrepparttar 126075 United States, just as in Poland, there were limitations in acepting Jewish candidates to study medicine and numerus clausus atrepparttar 126076 Columbia University as late as 1950s; for most part quoted after "Rzeczpospolita", Krzysztof Maslon. (Years ago I had an opportunity to talk with an American psychologist who was not accepted torepparttar 126077 Columbia University in late 40s because he had filled outrepparttar 126078 university questionnaire). 

It is not so much an apology as a piece of shameful evidence ofrepparttar 126079 so called extravagancies ofrepparttar 126080 "TIME SPIRIT". "Bern, October 27, 1957 The first thing that I noticed after I had come back was a note fromrepparttar 126081 last page of Le Monde of October 26 - onrepparttar 126082 banquet at Cerle militare to commemoraterepparttar 126083 30th anniversary ofrepparttar 126084 Szwarcbard’s trial”. "I hopedrepparttar 126085 Jewish community would not come back that infamous episode which, like a micro-universe, focused allrepparttar 126086 human meanness and filth of our times. Nothing was missing there: neither collaboration with GPU andrepparttar 126087 Jewish nationalists, nor distorting historic facts forrepparttar 126088 purpose of propaganda -repparttar 126089 history ofrepparttar 126090 Ukrainian independence movement written for that occasion by Jewish journalists must have been a model for Stalin - norrepparttar 126091 revolt ofrepparttar 126092 mob, animated by politicians, againstrepparttar 126093 elite ofrepparttar 126094 Jewish society which has never really recovered from that defeat". "Sincerepparttar 126095 Jewish organizations inrepparttar 126096 United States did not get scared byrepparttar 126097 driven hunt and refused financial support, allrepparttar 126098 costs ofrepparttar 126099 world campaign againstrepparttar 126100 Ukraine were covered fromrepparttar 126101 contributions ofrepparttar 126102 poorest Jewish people in Poland, who were enticed into collective hysteria byrepparttar 126103 political leaders who were allied withrepparttar 126104 National Democracy (Endecja) and were trying to reach marshal Pilsudski in that way." 

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