pakistan

by russell

OK, I always like to try to get a sense of relative scale when I think about things.  It's just a way to kind of orient yourself in the issue.

Go here, type "us" in the text box, click "Go", and take a look.  The area flooded in Pakistan is about the size of the entire Mississippi river valley, from MN to the Gulf.

Type in "washington dc" and you'll see that it covers the entire US east coast, from the Canadian border to the border between GA and FL.

Ouch.

20 million plus Pakistanis affected, 20% of country underwater, 6 million in need of urgent food relief, 3.5 million kids at risk of disease, 2 million homeless.

500K Pakistanis reached by relief efforts so far.

OK, so we've had our issues with Pakistan.  These folks are not the ISI, or OBL, or Mullah Omar.  People gotta eat, and and have clean water, and basic shelter, and basic medical attention.  Otherwise they will die.

CARE works, or pick your own favorite charity.

Comments

[McKinneyTexas]

Thanks for the post, the link and your conscience

[Eric Martin]

Not only that, but if one wanted to only take the cold, hard, realist outlook: where we are delivering aid, we are generating goodwill. Where we are not, the Taliban/AQ are stepping into the vacuum and reaping the reward.

More aid = more hearts and minds.*

(* this, of course, is the cold, hard, realist rationale, which should be unnecessary given the scale of the human tragedy)

[ptl]

yes please donate, it is desperate

MSF/Doctors Without Borders are there, updates on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/msf.english

[Gary Farber]

Following up on Eric:

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden called for the creation of a new relief body to help Muslims in an audiotape released Friday, seeking to exploit discontent following this summer's devastating floods in Pakistan by depicting the region's governments as uncaring.

It was the third message in recent weeks from al-Qaida figures concerning the massive floods that affected around 20 million people in Pakistan, signaling a concentrated campaign by the terror group to tap into anger over the flooding to rally support.

But while the earlier messages by subordinates were angry, urging followers to rise up, bin Laden took a softer, even humanitarian tone — apparently trying to broaden al-Qaida's appeal by presenting his group as a problem-solving protector of the poor.

"What governments spend on relief work is secondary to what they spend on armies," bin Laden said on the 11-minute tape entitled "Reflections on the Method of Relief Work."

"If governments spent (on relief) only one percent of what is spent on armies, they would change the face of the world for poor people," he added.

Yes, it's Martin Luther bin Laden.

[...] In a video released last week, a U.S.-born al-Qaida spokesman, Adam Gadahn, urged Muslims in Pakistan to join Islamist militants fighting their nation's rulers, saying that Islamabad's "sluggish and halfhearted" response to recent floods showed it did not care for them.

Before that, al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, made a thinly veiled call on Pakistanis to rise up against their government over what he said was the "failure" of authorities there to provide relief to flood victims.

Hey, they're (again) playing "good al Qaeda, bad al Qaeda."

I wonder how many American cop shows al-Zawahri and bin Laden have seen.

[Mary]

I gave in the first days (before the Canadian government was matching donations), and I gave twice as much yesterday (now that the government is matching).

It's still a drop in the bucket.

[Gary Farber]

It's so tempting to ban the word "Jordans," but, alas....

Russell?

[russell]

away, foul sneaker peddlar!!

[Gary Farber]

These guys use all sorts of variants on footwear words, since they're selling footwear, sneakers, "Air Jordans," "Jordans," etc., so Be On The Lookout for those guys, specifically. They tend to come in waves, and always on weekends, as well as sporadically on weekdays/nights.

Plus the other spammers, of course. Constant vigilance, comrade! They are unrelenting, and we must be so in return! Only this shall see us through to final victory!

I hate spammers. Hate them.

[Gary Farber]

The next comment:

Wonderful blogs, but about the last two paragraphs (mean I don't really understand. Can you explain it?

Posted by: cheap jordans | November 01, 2010 at 09:25 PM

You first.

[russell]

Not just a spammer, a smart-@ss spammer.

Jeez.