DVD Polizei

US Officials demanding payment for passport photos? Sounds like our wonderful capitalistic society at work. If we were socialistic, we wouldn't be charging them.

mosquitobite

Not true. If we were socialist - the rest of us would be paying for them. There would still be a charge.

Which, in this case, I wouldn't mind paying for them myself.

al_bundy

either the story isn't true, or it's some prick state department people trying to show off who is in charge

DVD Polizei

It's probably a misunderstanding. It is rather odd that we have this "stingy US" comment variance floating around in various stories now, and seeminly spreading from UN comments.

One guy I'd love to punch in the nose, and then in nutsack, is our UN friend, Jan Egeland.

Actually, I think that will be my sig for a while.

Geofferson

CNN is reporting 80,000 now.

Minor Threat

"Why you......you............"

nevermind

The US should use the money earmarked for paying the UN dues and send it for disaster relief.

Grimfarrow

Here's another one:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp..._2004dec28&e=3

Aid Grows Amid Remarks About President's Absence

Although U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland yesterday withdrew his earlier comment, domestic criticism of Bush continued to rise. Skeptics said the initial aid sums -- as well as Bush's decision at first to remain cloistered on his Texas ranch for the Christmas holiday rather than speak in person about the tragedy -- showed scant appreciation for the magnitude of suffering and for the rescue and rebuilding work facing such nations as Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Indonesia.

After a day of repeated inquiries from reporters about his public absence, Bush late yesterday afternoon announced plans to hold a National Security Council meeting by teleconference to discuss several issues, including the tsunami, followed by a short public statement.

Bush's deepened public involvement puts him more in line with other world figures. In Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder cut short his vacation and returned to work in Berlin because of the Indian Ocean crisis, which began with a gigantic underwater earthquake. In Britain, the predominant U.S. voice speaking about the disaster was not Bush but former president Bill Clinton (news - web sites), who in an interview with the BBC said the suffering was like something in a "horror movie," and urged a coordinated international response.

There was an international outpouring of support after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and even some administration officials familiar with relief efforts said they were surprised that Bush had not appeared personally to comment on the tsunami tragedy. "It's kind of freaky," a senior career official said.

U.S. officials denied that the overnight aid increase was a response to the U.N. complaint Monday that some countries were "stingy" with aid. Usually only about 10 percent of the final aid tally is given in the initial response to a natural disaster, with the bulk of aid provided after an assessment of long-term needs, according to the State Department.

Gelb said what appears to be a grudging increase in effort sends the wrong message, at a time when dollar totals matter less than a clear statement about U.S. intentions. Noting that the disaster occurred at a time when large numbers of people in many nations -- especially Muslim ones such as Indonesia -- object to U.S. policies in Iraq, he said Bush was missing an opportunity to demonstrate American benevolence.

"People do watch and see what we do," he said. "Here's an opportunity to remind people of the good we do, and he [Bush] can do it without changing his policy on Iraq or terrorism."

nevermind

Criticism of Bush? Get the fuck out of here!!

Shocking.

Bandoman

Brilliant.

Minor Threat

Tommy Ceez

Excelent roundup of photos and videos

http://jlgolson.blogspot.com/2004/12/tsunami-video.html

Grimfarrow

The criticisms at Bush are quite unfair, but the accounts about how slow and disorganised the US embassy has been at setting up relief seems to be true. Most pointed at how quick the British were at setting up emergency hotlines and providing for their injured and/or lost citizens wihin the affected area.

Tommy Ceez

http://www.democraticunderground.com...ss=104x2877486

Tommy Ceez

It might have to do with the level of American tourist presence in these countries...the cream of the crop american diplomats would probably be in Mexico and Canada, while Austrialian and European diplomats would be more capable in South Asia and Africa. Kinda like a budget thing.

suziq999

CNN now has a total of 80,000!!! Holy shit.

On a strange note I was searching for a picture and found an early news release that said something like "up to 300 may be dead from tsunamis"... Too bad that didn't stick.

Myster X

It might be Bush's fault afterall.

Grimfarrow

Well, 12 Americans have died, with hundreds missing. That's easily comparable to most European countries, so I don't think that's a valid excuse.

Myster X

Death toll reaches 100,000

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/art...0Standard&ct=5

The death toll in the tsunami disaster soared past 100,000 today - and is set to climb higher.

A total of 50 Britons are now confirmed dead and at least 100 are unaccounted for after tidal waves swept away resorts in Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and around the Indian Ocean.

Officials in every country today warned the final number of dead will be even higher as rescue teams reach remote areas.

The UN said there were now strong grounds to believe that the toll in the Sumatran province of Aceh, the worst affected area, would be as high as 80,000. The number dead has now climbed in every country affected, including:


Thailand: 1,700 confirmed dead, including 43 British tourists.

Indonesia: more than 42,000 confirmed dead.

India: nearly 7,000 dead, and many coastal areas including parts of Kerala still to be searched.

Sri Lanka: 22,500 are confirmed dead and there are fears for hundreds of independent British travellers on the east coast.
Aid agencies today warned disease will also cause massive casualties among the survivors as the biggest relief effort in history began.

The British toll climbed as a new alert was sounded over the number missing. Abta, the tours operators' association, said there were 100 Britons unaccounted for. There are no confirmed numbers for missing backpackers.

Today more dramatic accounts emerged as hundreds of Britons flew back to Heathrow from Thailand.

Businessman Neil Tennant, from Woodbridge, Suffolk, told how he and his family had to flee to the roof of their hotel in Khao Lak as a giant wave swamped the building.

He said: "We ran up to the roof from our room just a few seconds before the water swamped it. I have no doubt we would have been killed if we had stayed where we were."

Amy Davies, from Camden, who was staying at Ko Phi Phi in Thailand, arrived home still in her swimming costume. She said: "I saw a drowned child in the water below me."

First Choice said six of its 248 customers in Phuket were still unaccounted after Sunday's tsunami.

An official at the British embassy in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, today said the confirmed British death toll there stood at three.

First Choice had 584 holidaymakers in the Maldives. One died and all the others have been accounted for.

MyTravel said it had between 850 and 900 clients in the affected area. Most had been accounted for.

The vast majority of the 3,500 foreigners still unaccounted for in the disaster region are from Scandinavia. The missing include at least 1,500 Swedes, 800 Norwegians, 214 Danes and 200 Finns.

Families across Britain were today in mourning and hundreds waited helplessly for news of their loved ones. Film director Lord Attenborough was among those grieving after it was confirmed his granddaughter, Lucy, 14, was dead and his daughter, Jane Holland, 49, was missing, feared dead. Jane's mother-in-law, also called Jane Holland, was also missing in Phuket. The family, who live in London, have asked for privacy "at this terrible time".

The south-east Asian communities of London watched in horror as the tsunami destroyed the lives of their relatives. Moulana Mazahir, from Harrow, lost 50 close relatives when a wall of water destroyed his home town of Hambantotain southern Sri Lanka. The 45-year-old chef 's only solace is that his wife and three sons, who had been on holiday in the resort, escaped with their lives after leaving just three hours before disaster struck.

"My life will never be the same. It was a miracle my wife and sons are still alive - but they are terrified."

Mohammed Samsudena and his wife Nirusha, 29, also from Harrow, say they have lost 40 family members and are desperately trying to contact other relatives in Hambantota. The 36-year-old petrol station sales assistant said: "Yesterday morning we heard that the body of my sister-in-law, Fatima, had been found. She was only 18."

Relatives of London newlyweds Christopher and Gaynor Mullen, from Richmond, now fear the worst - last hearing from the couple on Christmas Day, when they simply said they were "on the beach" in Thailand.

Fashion photographer Simon Atlee, 33, from London, most famous for his photograph of Rugby World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson in the Hackett advertisements, was also swept away in the tidal wave as his holiday bungalow in Khao Lak near Phuket was destroyed. His girlfriend, Czech model Petra Nemcova, 25, survived by clinging onto a palm tree.

Louise Willgrass, 43, from Colney, near Norwich, was washed away after she had got out of the rented car her family was travelling in to buy suncream at a Phuket supermarket.

The car, being driven by her husband Nigel and containing their four children, Emily, 16, Ben, 14, Michael, nine and Katie, six was overwhelmed by the tidal wave. Mr Willgrass managed to pull the children free and they survived by clinging to floating debris.

Conservation volunteer Lisa Jones, 31, is feared dead on the tiny Thai island of Koh Phra Thong, where she had been helping research sea turtles.

heimerSWT

From that thread:

HistoryProf

You know, I saw Egeland's original comments, and listened to him on Larry King and elsewhere last night and have to say that much of this uproar is being generated out of thin air by the people supposedly outraged by it. He NEVER once named the US or Bush, but was talking about how ALL western nations could do more, in general, to help poorer nations. HE DOES NOT SAY "STINGY US" AT ANY TIME IN HIS REMARKS. They were completely misrepresented by the US Press (*GASP*) It was ill-timed, sure, but at no point was it directed at America, let alone Bush. It seems Bush supporters, however, can only see invective against their boy in everything coming from the UN or something. Talk about blinders.

Sad thing is that he's pretty much right, we could (and by we, i mean the industrialized Western "1st world") and should do far more. And the initial $15 million offer was pathetic. Hell, the counties around me spend that much on snow removal every year. This is going to assume ungodly proportions very quickly, and we should be doing everything we can to help. The epidemics that are likely to ensue will be worse than the actual tsunami. But that is preventable with action.

heimerSWT

I have never been to Asia, so I am definitely not an expert, but two of my closest friends visited Thailand in June, and said the amount of European tourists were significantly higher than the American tourists. If this is true, does it make sense for European countries to have a reason to respond quicker?

nevermind

tries so hard not to hate yeahhhh...

Tommy Ceez

I tend to think that France not the US should be the most insulted of all at those comments...maybe its just that Americans are used to being beated up by the UN and get defensive.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28593949.htm

Tommy Ceez

Not just a reason, but an established infrastructure to respond better.