Why don't you stay on holiday Tony?
I have lived and worked in six African countries but have a British/South African background--thus I'm quite conservative and fairly cautious about to committing my time or energy to worthy causes. Sure I give alms to the poor and to animal welfare but I seldom consider donations to countries in need. Add in a dose of cynical thinking here too for I suspect the money given to countries by the Red Cross and Oxfam et al, is skimmed off by NGOs driving fancy 4, corrupt government officials and, lower down, the men who sell donated food etc. I know Africa well.
If you had asked me 5 years ago to donate money to Lebanon, I would have backed off; I would have turned my back on the Middle East; I would not have done it in a bigotted way; people like me don't give donations to the Middle East --or Africa, that's me the cynical one.
Now, in a complete reversal of my thinking, I am going to donate to Lebanon.
Why? Recent Foreign Policy adapted by the UK is not consistent with UK life and the people living there. Recent policy has taken a country that is multi-cultural and very diverse into a war in Iraq. It has allowed the war in Afghanistan to flare up again. It has supported Israel to the extent that women and children lost their lives because The Great Bush" was looking at the" big picture". What big picture? Moslem versus West? Al Quaeda versus all? Bush and Blair are fomenting conflict not solving the "big problem!"
Tony Blair and Bush speak about a road map. What road map? That map went out of the window when the USA lost interest in the Middle East.
What's left? A Lebanon in complete tatters. Air travellers with frayed nerves. Britain with British terrorists. People panicking because a lady (innocent) takes a box of matches onto a plane. Blair should be kicked all the way to Timbuktu for putting his country in danger; for supporting a maniac; for going on holiday instead of insisting on an immediate ceasefire!
There is no "big picture" at the end of the rainbow (and I know a fair amount about the Middle East conflicts),and there is no quick fix to a sixty year old problem, but they still believe there is don't they?
So, I am going to donate money to Lebanon, a country destroyed by Israel, the USA and the UK. I'm sure Koffi Annan agrees with me if no one else does!
Open to debate.
