Source: https://lemmy.ml/post/29579005/18409840
MrKaplan must be absolutely rolling in the dough!/S
"Oh, this is calamity! Calamity! Oh no, he's on the floor!"
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"The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance." Wikipedia
And I know this because my dad was the Assistant Administrator of USAID under Clinton. Their funding fell into the following general categories and funding levels:
But please continue with your wildly inaccurate statements by all means.
If you read on, you'll see plenty of examples of it being a CIA front. Kinda tip of the iceberg but I figured it's your source, you'll respect it when I quote it.
I mean one does not, on the face of it, expect an aid organisation to train foreign police in torture techniques, does one? Work towards overthrowing legitimate foreign governments?
Every part of the government (and tons of NGOs) got used as CIA fronts at various times. However, the preponderance of money spent has been humanitarian aid that has quite literally saved millions of lives. Saying it isn't an aid organization is ridiculous. Sounds like your problem is (justifiably) with the CIA and not USAID. It was never perfect but there are plenty of people alive today because of the work it's funded.
"Got used" would be one thing, and not indict the whole organisation, there being a revolving door between CIA and USAID is a completely different one. And the critique doesn't end with the CIA, of course, USAID had no qualms stopping aid programmes when foreign government voted the wrong way in the UN. Following orders from the rest of the administration? Of course. It's impossible for the US administration to actually have an actual aid organisation, the US is too self-serving, doesn't understand the concept of charity.
What you're doing is tantamount to saying that the army logistics corps is not part of the military. Plenty of Iraqis are alive right now because of that logistics corps. Sounds weird? It should.
You do know the USAID's budget is public and directed by Congress, not the CIA - right? And that they don't send out folks directly but fund charities and NGOs to meet certain goals. In 2023 they spent $43.4 billion over 130 countries with $30 billion of that going to Ukraine. NGOs account for 52% of what they spent and among public international organizations almost all of the money spent goes to the World Food Program and the World Bank.
Current estimates on the effects of cutting USAID funding are one million children will go untreated for severe malnutrition, up to 166,000 people will die from malaria and 200,000 more children will be paralyzed by polio over the next decade.
But sure "CIA front" sounds so plausible.
Like "HIV Prevention workshops" that are actually regime change ops. Like funneling aid for Haiti to the chaps. Why give money to the Haitian government or construction companies when you can hire a US one which takes the money and has a record of leaving its projects unfinished?
Tip of the fucking iceberg. USAIDs main business was foreign interference, advancement of neoliberal policies, and legalised corruption. Maybe the reason state building failed in Afghanistan is because you left it to clowns with gilded noses.
...it's also, yes, occasionally doing good things. Like help bring down apartheid in South Africa. Which is why Musk hates it which is why it got the axe once Musk had one to swing. It's one of those plotlines that, in a movie, would be considered to be too far-fetched.
Go fund the World Food Programme and the Word Health Organisation, instead. Go pay your fucking UN dues. Don't stand there and declare your self-interest and corruption to be the world's saviour when saving people is, at best, an afterthought. Usually it's a fig leaf, something to bleed liberal hearts with. Seems to be working with you, at least.