Do you ever wonder where aid money goes?
https://news.yahoo.com/abandoned-palace ... 09342.html
Your aid money at work..
Your aid money at work..
Been in data comm since we formed the bits individually with a Morse key.
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Pontius Navigator
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Re: Your aid money at work..
In a word, No. I think we already know that aid money sticks high up the pipe and is syphoned off at every branch.
Some diverted straight to overseas banks. Some, as here, to opulent palaces. Some as bribes to supporting officials and guards.
Some to divert funds from national budgets.
Why do western Governments persist? To buy influence?
Some diverted straight to overseas banks. Some, as here, to opulent palaces. Some as bribes to supporting officials and guards.
Some to divert funds from national budgets.
Why do western Governments persist? To buy influence?
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Pontius Navigator
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Re: Your aid money at work..
As an example, from the BBC Website regarding Nigeria :
They are never content with stealing enough.The Swiss government has announced that it will return $320m (£240m) of the money allegedly stolen by Nigeria's late military ruler Sani Abacha.
The money was frozen in 2014 by a Swiss court after a legal procedure against his son, Abba Abacha.
Originally deposited in Luxembourg, it is a fraction of the billions of dollars allegedly looted during his rule from 1993 to 1998.
Recovering the "Abacha loot" has been a major priority for Nigeria.
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Undried Plum
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Re: Your aid money at work..
The way for donor countries to ensure that the loot doesn't go into the pockets of the local ruling elite in recipient countries is to spend the money with companies substantially owned and controlled by nationals of the donor country.
The US has got the idea. They're one of the stingiest countries in the world in terms of aid-to-GDP ratio. They almost exclusively spend what little aid they do provide on US companies. They target food 'aid' on agricultural countries in such a way as to run the local farmers out of business, knowing that no famer can compete with free food. They then force the already impoverished country into debt and servitude to import food grown by US agribusiness.
Another trick they use is 'give' 'free' seedstock to the recipient country. Of course that seedstock is patented and invoices will eventually follow. Monsanto did a lot of that sort of thing with Glyphosate and genetically modified crops which are immune to Glyphosate and which therefore need a constant supply of that particular weedkiller to survive and thrive. Another trick is to supply 'free' livestock. The kicker is that the animals have artificial genetic markers which replicate down the generations and are almost impossible to breed out. Sooner or later the original breeder comes knocking on the door demanding royalties. By then all the local indigenous breeds have died out because they are less productive than the superbreeds that have so generously been 'given' for 'free'.
Getting an impoverished third world country hooked on this sort of stuff leads to massive unaffordable debt which can only be exchanged for natural resources such as minerals.
The US has got the idea. They're one of the stingiest countries in the world in terms of aid-to-GDP ratio. They almost exclusively spend what little aid they do provide on US companies. They target food 'aid' on agricultural countries in such a way as to run the local farmers out of business, knowing that no famer can compete with free food. They then force the already impoverished country into debt and servitude to import food grown by US agribusiness.
Another trick they use is 'give' 'free' seedstock to the recipient country. Of course that seedstock is patented and invoices will eventually follow. Monsanto did a lot of that sort of thing with Glyphosate and genetically modified crops which are immune to Glyphosate and which therefore need a constant supply of that particular weedkiller to survive and thrive. Another trick is to supply 'free' livestock. The kicker is that the animals have artificial genetic markers which replicate down the generations and are almost impossible to breed out. Sooner or later the original breeder comes knocking on the door demanding royalties. By then all the local indigenous breeds have died out because they are less productive than the superbreeds that have so generously been 'given' for 'free'.
Getting an impoverished third world country hooked on this sort of stuff leads to massive unaffordable debt which can only be exchanged for natural resources such as minerals.