Looting Follows Tsunami’s Rampage
After Tsunami's Rampage, Looters' Market Is on a Roll [RSS] (NYT) Business is coming back to Banda Aceh, a city hit hard by the tsunami, and not all of it fits into neat moral boxes. On Diponegoro Street, at what was once the commercial heart of this city, a muddy man named Husnaidi, 30, picked through the debris ejected from the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 19, 2005 08:24
What Is Barbara Boxer Talking About?
I've already discussed the Rice hearing below, but I think that the following issue deserves its own post. Before Senator Boxer criticized the Iraq War, she lectured the nominee (emphasis added): Transcript: Confirmation Hearing of Condoleeza Rice (NYT) And if you're going to become the voice of diplomacy, this is just a helpful point. When Senator Voinovich mentioned the issue of tsunami relief, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 18, 2005 17:46
The Post-Tsunami Stock Markets
If there can be a silver lining at all in Southern Asia, perhaps the New York Times has identified part of it: Why Stock Markets Stayed Calm in Southern Asia [RSS] Natural disasters often provoke sharp stock market declines where they occur, usually followed by recoveries that are almost as intense. Ten years ago this week, the Kobe earthquake in Japan sent ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 16, 2005 00:55
Tsunami Relief and Missed Opportunities
Russell Berman of the Hoover Institution makes a couple of good points that I'd like to synthesize: Lessons Learned from the Tsunami (The Stanford Daily) As the toll from the tsunami continues to mount, it has become clear that this catastrophe was also a political turning point. No governments may have fallen, but some deeply held political myths and beliefs have not ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 14, 2005 19:17
Indonesia Orders Foreign Troops Out by March
Indonesia Sets Deadline for Foreign Troops (AP) Indonesia announced that U.S. and other foreign troops providing tsunami disaster relief must leave the country by the end of March and ordered aid workers Wednesday to declare their travel plans or face expulsion from devastated Aceh province on Sumatra island. The government's moves highlight its sensitivities over a foreign military operation ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 13, 2005 09:39
Saving Dolphins From Water
The Humane Society of the United States has a blog, detailing the efforts of these selfless people who are rescuing dolphins and breaking up dog fights in the tsunami flood zone. I sent a text message to Jim Styers from Myanmar Dolphin Project to let him know the adult dolphin had been caught. He wanted to know if anyone had ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 7, 2005 19:31
Al Qaeda Sets Up Indonesia Relief Camp
Concern over radical relief group (CNN) An extremist Islamic group with alleged al Qaeda links has set up a relief camp on Indonesia's tsunami-stricken Sumatra island, raising concerns it could stir up sentiment against U.S. and Australian troops helping distribute aid. The Laskar Mujahidin group posted a sign at its camp that read -- in English -- "Islamic Law Enforcement." ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 6, 2005 20:43
Coalition of the Giving
Coalition of the Giving (New York Post) [P]rivate and government donations around the world for victims of earthquake-devastated South Asia passed the $5 billion mark. "This is by far the largest fund-raising event in history," said John Hartman, vice president of Kintera Inc., an online fund-raising clearinghouse. In America, about $1 billion was raised from private sources, and an estimated three-quarters ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 6, 2005 11:26
President Bush Donates $10,000 for Tsunami Relief
I saw a report on the television a few minutes ago that President Bush had written checks totalling $10,000 out of his personal funds to several charities supporting disaster relief for the victims of the Asian tsunami. It's not much compared to what Sandra Bullock or Michael Shumacher donated, but then presidents make a lot less money than movie ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 5, 2005 14:18
Michael Schumacher Donates $10 Million in Tsunami Aid
Schumacher gives $10 million in tsunami (Reuters) Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher is to donate $10 million (5.3 million pounds to help the victims of the South Asian tsunami, his manager Willi Weber says. The donation from Schumacher was announced by Weber on a German television fundraising drive that on Tuesday evening received more than 34 million euros ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 5, 2005 14:03
