Efficiency.

The Obama administration is once again reviving a years-long and recurring effort to reform the way the United States delivers food aid abroad, but unfortunately, it’s a very uphill battle against some highly specially interested parties and the Congresspeople who represent them. Right now, the federal government spends just shy of a couple billion dollars [...]

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Womp.

President Obama included a small but very reasonable suggestion for reforming and bettering the way the United States delivers food aid in his (very late) budget proposal, but sadly, the response from the all-too-interested parties has been all too predictable. As the U.S. food aid program functions now, the government is required to buy most [...]

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Smart power?

Egypt’s economy is in bad place, with an unemployment rate of around 13 percent and an even worse youth unemployment rate, and Morsi’s government has been negotiating with the International Monetary Fund about a $4.8 billion loan package to try to help stabilize the economy and get their budget in order. The IMF, however, would [...]

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Allies.

Meant to blog this last night but got sidetracked by the day-long Hagel clusterfark. The vote on Paul’s bill wasn’t close: 79-19, with more Republicans voting against it (26) than for it (19). Why? For the same reason McCain looked the other way at Morsi’s Jew-baiting and backed continued aid to Egypt. Namely, leverage: [T]he [...]

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The opportune moment...?

Wait a tick — I thought Europe was supposed to be broke? Where are they getting the cash for all of these bailouts and foreign aid? Via Reuters: Egypt is likely to need more than $10 billion in external financing to help revive its economy, battered after a revolt that toppled the country’s authoritarian government [...]

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Auspicious.

Last week, with heavy bipartisan support, Congress passed a bill affirming various routes of strategic cooperation between the U.S. and Israel. Earlier today, President Obama signed the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act, as well as authorizing $70 million in military assistance — affording him the perfect opportunity to try and counter some of the [...]

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Frustration.

The absolutely devastating earthquake that rocked the tiny island of Haiti in 2010 inspired a deluge of foreign aid and charitable donations from the international community, all part of a pledge to help the island nation “build back better” and overcome its endemic poverty. As well-meaning as such efforts usually are, alas — philanthropy without [...]

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Oh, goody.

First, the good news: The Kim regime admitted on state-run television that their “satellite” launch failed.  The bad news: Newly-minted Dear Leader Kim Jong-un needs to save face, and what better way to that than to set off a nuke? North Korea said its much hyped long-range rocket launch failed on Friday, in a very [...]

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Ransom.

Regimes come and go but the bribes remain the same. US aid to Egypt is guaranteed by the Camp David Accords and stopping it would be a violation of that treaty, a high-ranking Muslim Brotherhood lawmaker said Sunday. Essam El-Erian, who also serves as chairman of the Egyptian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said that should [...]

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Oh well.

Looks like we just saved $1.3 billion. About 7 in 10 Egyptians surveyed by Gallup in December 2011 oppose U.S. economic aid to Egypt, and a similar percentage opposes the U.S. sending direct aid to civil society groups. This rebuke of U.S. financial support may be a challenge for Egypt’s newly elected parliament and its [...]

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