Our leaders...

[aromulus]

Our leaders are a gullible lot.....

This country is giving hundreds of millions, ever year, to India in aid, out of our taxes....

And what they do...??
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8270200.stm

I am too gobsmacked to think and comment clearly....:cwm23::cwm23:

[Northerner]

India don't spend their tax revenue on silly things like the population, they pour it into weaponry and new technology.

[Dedworth]

Our leaders are a gullible lot.....

This country is giving hundreds of millions, ever year, to India in aid, out of our taxes....

And what they do...??
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8270200.stm

I am too gobsmacked to think and comment clearly....:cwm23::cwm23:

Farcical :angry:

[jimeve]

Looks like they doing good business, good for them:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Northerner]

I can see aromulas's point though. If they can spend the millions on researching and finally progressing with a space program, they don't need financial aid from us!

And I wish we would learn that lesson with north Korea! They're building the scariest weapons ability on the planet and we send food aid to stop famine. Surely, famine might weaken the regime and stop the whole nuclear thing anyway.... Or am I being too simple with my thinking?

[belfast_dude]

outrageous....

[bornatbirth]

I can see aromulas's point though. If they can spend the millions on researching and finally progressing with a space program, they don't need financial aid from us!

And I wish we would learn that lesson with north Korea! They're building the scariest weapons ability on the planet and we send food aid to stop famine. Surely, famine might weaken the regime and stop the whole nuclear thing anyway.... Or am I being too simple with my thinking?

the people who need the food arnt making them rockets!

those guys get well fed.

[JimOttley]

the people who need the food arnt making them rockets!

those guys get well fed.

Surely that's Sean's second point though, the people who need the food probably aren't getting it :( i.e. we are probably feeding the missile builders?

However it's mostly South Korea that subsidises the North in food and raw materials, a parasitic relationship born out of the insane military muscle of the North :(


Jim

[JimOttley]

Our leaders are a gullible lot.....

This country is giving hundreds of millions, ever year, to India in aid, out of our taxes....

And what they do...??
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8270200.stm

I am too gobsmacked to think and comment clearly....:cwm23::cwm23:

I take the point but India is a complex country, it is simultaneously rich and poor. If we are honest all countries are like this including the Phils and including us here in the UK, it's the quality of infrastructure across the entire country that makes the difference between supposedly rich nations and those that are truly poor.

The world has become a set of city states in which each city a miniature image of the entire country, rich centre, poverty stricken outskirts, Glasgow is no different to Mumbai or Manila in that respect, nor is Scotland (in general) terribly different from these countries apart from our (UK) social contract and the level of development of our infrastructure.

India has done exceptional work with the Chandrayyan-1 lunar satellite, they have people with real talent that need the opportunity to express that talent, we are not the only people with good ideas and just because they are a poor country does that mean they can't contribute to the worlds knowledge?

To be specific they have found the best evidence so far for reasonably large amounts of water on the moon, people might not understand what that means but it is HUGELY important for the future of the human race and the continued existence of life in this small corner of the Universe.

We have all our eggs in one basket one major mistake or disaster on this planet and life (intelligent life at least) is gone.

We should be doing that research in the UK but our kids are too interested in video games, reality TV shows etc. :(

Some of India's experiments have failed, the lunar probe Chandrayyan-1 failed early because of a mistake in the assessment of it's exposure to heat near the lunar surface, it still came up with results that matter!

Why are we indirectly paying for it? Well maybe because we can't pay to do it properly in our own country.

One day all this investment in technology will dig the rest of India out of poverty I hope, maybe it won't but I really hope it does and if it does we will have been partly responsible for that.


Jim

[KeithD]

If we are honest all countries are like this including the Phils and including us here in the UK
:doh I do wish people would stop using the word 'poor' and 'UK' in the same sentence, the vast majority have no idea what real poor is, and it certainly does not exist in this country. Kids don't have to go out to work at the age of 8 for $1 a day to feed the parents, we do not have to walk for miles for dirty infected water, we don't have to scavenge for firewood. :NoNo:

If we really did have 'poor' in the UK then we'd have shanty towns, howver the closest we have are travellers and the 'Green' tribe, but they choose to live that way.

[JimOttley]

:doh I do wish people would stop using the word 'poor' and 'UK' in the same sentence, the vast majority have no idea what real poor is, and it certainly does not exist in this country. Kids don't have to go out to work at the age of 8 for $1 a day to feed the parents, we do not have to walk for miles for dirty infected water, we don't have to scavenge for firewood. :NoNo:

If we really did have 'poor' in the UK then we'd have shanty towns, howver the closest we have are travellers and the 'Green' tribe, but they choose to live that way.

I didn't write that very well I understand that, our "poor" are not the same leauge as the poor in the 3rd world not by a long shot.

In the second paragraph I was trying to make that point regards our "Social Contract" but I really did not make myself clear and I apologise for that.

The description you give of kids aged 8 going out to work for $1 a day applies to 7 kids in our extended family right now, 2 of Ana's sisters have less than 6000 peso a month coming in.

I've only managed to rescue one wee lassie from that life and she lives with our family in Manila just now, my biggest fear is how close my kids are to that life as it would only take one disaster in our lives for us to end up there. :(

Again I apologise for not making myself clear.


Jim

[KeithD]

I'll let you off, but we'll still have Joe flogged :xxaction-smiley-047 just to be on the safe side :rolleyes:

[JimOttley]

I'll let you off, but we'll still have Joe flogged :xxaction-smiley-047 just to be on the safe side :rolleyes:

:D Cheers :xxgrinning--00xx3:


Jim