No Boondoggle to Tie Foreign Aid to Recipients' Core ValuesWritten by Marc J. Lane
Official corruption, it's plain to see, stifles entrepreneurship, innovation and investment in poorest of nations. That's one important reason Bush administration's visionary Millennium Challenge Account plan would, for first time, promote prosperity in developing world by tying foreign aid to a country's commitment to rule justly, invest in its people and embrace economic freedom. Yet, 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 turn Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) strategy into a worthless boondoggle. But MCA proposal is a novel and constructive reform initiative. It promises to bring hope, opportunity and business to neediest people on earth, but only after their governments demonstrate that their policies and institutions can realistically be expected to spur sustainable economic development. Under plan, an eligible country would request a monetary grant, enter into a contract with 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 energize poorest of nations not only by affording them targeted financial assistance, but also by inviting competition to qualify for it. As important, 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 undermines 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 of Jews in Poland", describing tragedy of one of most significant ancient cultures which survived till our times. It happened so that Jewish nation, persecuted by VARIOUS SPIRITS OF THE TIMES, found several centuries of peace in Poland, located in Central Europe. Due to that fact, since 11th century it had been developing, along with one of Slavonic tribes, an interesting culture of contemporary Poland. Reading text of Stefan Bratkowski I remembered another text from correspondence of Jerzy Stempowski (Hostowiec) with Jerzy Giedroyc, published by Czytelnik in 1998. As I was reading it, I was fascinated with live HISTORY, not distorted by historians, politicians, ideologists and journalists. Let me quote some of fragments from first volum(pp. 134 - 154) of correspondence of "Prince" Giedroyc with one of most interesting, most open minds of 20th Century, educator of several generations of Polish humanists, Jerzy Stempowski. It was in 1950s: "Bern, July 18, 1957 The biggest danger for Jews is their own extremity and intolerance, eventually effecting everybody and hardest for helpless and 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 among Poles as well as among Jews. On Polish part, those were results of nation-based state concept of National Democracy party (Endecja). That concept effected whole period between two world wars. The changes on 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 at whole area engulfed with soviet revolution and penetrated imagination of not just Poles but other people as well." "Those changes should be completed with anti-Semitism of West, why not mention it? With a few exceptions, it were not 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 escapes net. It was done by their parliaments, approving policy and passing laws when everybody knew what it was all about. Even American Jews were passively watching it, apparently they believed that slaughter of Jews in Europe is a lesser calamity than their massive migration to America. And Palestine? I think leaders and participants of project did not neglect anything to create conflicts, which cannot be resolved. All powers of 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 altered basic components of so called "Jewish issue." Don’t you think we should ask here whether American zealousness to explain complex aspects of Polish- Jewish conflicts is not aimed at distracting world attention from their own (American), not too impressing, attitude to holocaust? What did Uncle Sam and robust Churchill do with reports of Jan Karski, what did IMB built its power on, what did American newspaper say about „Jewish plot”, what were Roosevelt’s and Churchill’s views of “Jewish issue”? In 1920s and 30s in United States, just as in Poland, there were limitations in acepting Jewish candidates to study medicine and numerus clausus at 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 to Columbia University in late 40s because he had filled out university questionnaire). It is not so much an apology as a piece of shameful evidence of so called extravagancies of "TIME SPIRIT". "Bern, October 27, 1957 The first thing that I noticed after I had come back was a note from last page of Le Monde of October 26 - on banquet at Cerle militare to commemorate 30th anniversary of Szwarcbard’s trial”. "I hoped Jewish community would not come back that infamous episode which, like a micro-universe, focused all human meanness and filth of our times. Nothing was missing there: neither collaboration with GPU and Jewish nationalists, nor distorting historic facts for purpose of propaganda - history of Ukrainian independence movement written for that occasion by Jewish journalists must have been a model for Stalin - nor revolt of mob, animated by politicians, against elite of Jewish society which has never really recovered from that defeat". "Since Jewish organizations in United States did not get scared by driven hunt and refused financial support, all costs of world campaign against Ukraine were covered from contributions of poorest Jewish people in Poland, who were enticed into collective hysteria by political leaders who were allied with National Democracy (Endecja) and were trying to reach marshal Pilsudski in that way."
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