U.S. to Unveil $1 Billion Aid Package to Repair Georgia

[DogPoundPup]

Source: NYT

BAKU, Azerbaijan — The Bush administration plans to announce a $1 billion package of aid to help rebuild Georgia after its rout by Russian forces last month, administration officials said on Wednesday, as Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in the region to signal support for Georgia and other countries neighboring Russia.

The aid — along with Mr. Cheney’s visit — is sure to increase tensions with Russia, whose leaders have accused the United States of stoking the conflict with Georgia over its two separatist regions, by providing weapons and training to the Georgians. President Dmitri A. Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin have also complained that humanitarian supplies delivered by the American Navy and Air Force since Russian forces routed Georgian forces and occupied parts of the country were a disguise for delivering new weapons.

Administration officials have dismissed those accusations as baseless.

The aid package, which is expected to include money for rebuilding Georgia’s infrastructure and its economy, is scheduled to be detailed in Washington later on Wednesday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the official said. President Bush is also expected to release a statement.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/world/europe/04cheney.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. "Unveil?" Unveiling is a political stunt. Just give them the darned help already.

[deminks]

2. Whose credit card is this one going on?

Just askin.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Why didn't NOLA get $1 billion?

[CottonBear]

14. 1 Billion would have rebuilt (elevated above flood level) all of the homes in NOLA. n/t

[kayell]

27. Exactly, let's put that $1 Billion into fixing NO, even if it is 3 years late. nt

[theoldman]

4. I guess since we helped break it, we have to help repair it.

[Dollface]

5. I wonder whose pocket(s) that will go into.

[Frisbee]

8. My very first thought...

guess there will be some rich Georgians soon. I wonder if Halliburton/KBR is getting any of the contracts?

[Dollface]

17. I'm guessing yes but they will likely set up a new entity to hide behind.

[saigon68]

23. All the NEOCONS will profit

[Ghost Dog]

33. There's more: IMF to lend Georgia $US750m to rebuild

Thursday, 4 September, 2008

The International Monetary Fund has agreed to lend Georgia $US750 million ($A896.9 million) to help rebuild the economy of the pro-Western former Soviet republic after Russia's invasion last month.

The loan is intended "to help mitigate the adverse economic and financial consequences of the recent conflict", the IMF said.

The United States is expected to roll out a $US1 billion ($A1.2 billion) aid package to help rebuild the country's war-battered infrastructure, the Associated Press has reported, and European Union aid is expected as well.

The IMF said Georgia's strong record of reform and sound macroeconomic policies have "strengthened the resilience of the economy and bodes well for a solid recovery" from the Russian invasion that followed Georgia's move to reclaim a breakaway province.

The IMF said the financial package was also intended "to help sustain the confidence of markets and investors".

/... http://news.sbs.com.au/worldnewsaustralia/imf_to_lend_georgia_us750m_to_rebuild_556836

Need I add, from my POV: :sarcasm:

[notadmblnd]

6. Vladimir, please try to ignore these createns for a while longer.

Please exercise tolerance with America just a little while longer. President Obama will take office in January and America will once again have a real leader. a leader who will try his best to reconcile our differences peaceably.

[WriteDown]

9. Super Putin....

will just view Obama as a puny man. See link below. Obama hasn't even wrestled a grizzly yet.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3464279

[notadmblnd]

13. I saw this earlier in the week.. pure propaganda

I'm sure that like us, the Russian people aren't stupid enough to believe that Putin goes around with his handy dandy tranquilizing dart gun on him while traveling through his country.

As a woman and a mother I find the situation very much like a pissing contest between little boys and they both think they can pee the farthest. If it wasn't so scary, it would be funny.

I know Obama hasn't wrastled any bear yet. However, I do believe that Obama has a strength that Putin doesn't. I'm not going to say it's spiritual, because I don't think it is. It's more primal, more of aura of wisdom and intelligence. He's got an incredible mind and he'll use it wrastle the bear.

[WriteDown]

15. We shall see...

I have learned over the years that reason and wisdom cannot handle people who like to use force. Luckily, Obama is taking a pretty hard stance against Putin.

[Ghost Dog]

34. Ya mean Obama doesn't shoot moose

in a bikini? :silly:

[oldskool]

7. I thought Sakashvilli said

Georgia was 3rd most prosperous country in the world. And one
of least prosperous counties (in debt) are going to build
their infrastructure. Why does Obama and Biden agree with
this? They are really starting to loss my support.

[asjr]

10. The Bush administration is hell-bent

on bankrupting us before they leave.

[madmax]

11. With Trillions in deficit

we can afford to keeping on bleeding foregin aid. :shrug:

[oldskool]

24. we are nine trillion in debt

[Tempest]

12. Our own bridges are collapsing

Spend the money here in the USA, damn it.

[caseycoon]

16. When are they going to repair the US? n/t

[and-justice-for-all]

18. What the fuck!

How about a billion dollar aid package to the schools, here!

[rocktivity]

19. The domestic Georgia, or the foreign one?

rocknation

[newfie11]

20. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY???

Do we have to spend money all over the world but never at home.

[barbtries]

21. how many kids could go to college

for a billion bucks?

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

22. I dono;t get this government. What about here at home?

[superconnected]

25. And my coworker from portugual said last week that he and the rest of Europe

can't believe America doesn't have universal health care. This money is going to friends and partners of the Carlyle group. There is no other reason we would spend this much money on someone else war and yet have such severely underfunded schools and vital social services cut for 8 years since bush got in.

[olddad56]

40. I think that they purposely don't spend money on schools to dumb down the population...

so they will grow up to be naive enough to drink the purple kool-aid.

[superconnected]

26. Oh and expect this murderous crook to spend as much as he can of our money

before he's out on his ass. He's afraid mccain will lose so he wants to get it out and to the world crime familys as much and as fast as he can. 1 billion is unprecedented but not for a crook.

[oldskool]

28. They are lying to us

And the are caught there is no energy crisis. search: 200
years oil and gas North slope Alaska. Oil prices are
manipulated to pay of third world countries debt.Globalization
is one world government,They are using government
leaks,race,religion,economics,civil liberties,political
correctness against us to divide us to go into police state.
Just like around the world.Newspapers around the world are
reporting this. These are facts. History is repeating itself
for a reason. It's part of an agenda from both parties
(Globalization). Use your web browser for real issues or get
dirt on people for non-issues. It's up to us people.

[scisyhp1]

29. There was very little demage done to civilian infrastructure

in Georgia by the Russian offensive. The Georgian military,
on the other hand, was thorougfully and systematically demolished.
Any rapair of such magnitude will have to be done on the country's
military capacity. There is no rational purpose in doing that.
No matter the amount spent, Georgia will never be a match for
Russia. Russia will simply have a bigger demolition job in any
future conflict with Georgia. Georgia simply cannot protect
itself militarily from Russia, it can only do so politically.
Why spend all that money on the military then? Are they planning
to confront Armenia or Azerbaijan in the near future? Of course not.
These weapons will be used to defend the pro-US regime from the
internal opposition, which US is, quite correctly, anticipating.
By the same token, that was the reason the Russians did destroy
Georgia's military so ruthlessly. They wanted to prevent it from
being used by the regime against any future civil unrest directed
against Saakashvily, not because they were afraid of a new Georgian
attack. Any such fears were put to rest by the fact of Russian
response itself.

[Ghost Dog]

35. bingo.

[mhatrw]

30. Billions for Georgia. No bottled water for NOLA. n/t

[skoalyman]

31. good lord thats not enough

surly we can give them 2 trillion after all we're to big to fail:shrug:

[MichiganVote]

32. What a complete crock of shit.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

36. It'll come bouncing back into US pockets

especially if as I suspect it's going to be spent on military hardware. So basically it would be like giving US weapons producers $1bn to supply arms to Georgia.

[cobalt1999]

37. Don't we have people here in THIS country that need help?

Isn't Europe closer?

Let someone else help for once!

[PFunk]

38. Excuse me but can this money go someplace else. Like to other americans perhaps.

We have problems here that money can be used for (like hurricane relief).

[TankLV]

39. Why? - the hurricane hit LOUISIANA - again!!!

:sarcasm:



















I'd better ad the sarcasm smiley because there are too many clueless still here...

[AlphaCentauri]

41. White House unveils $1 billion aid plan for Georgia

Source: IHT

President George W. Bush proposed $1 billion in humanitarian and economic assistance on Wednesday to help rebuild Georgia after its short, disastrous war with Russia last month, but he stopped short of committing the United States to re-equipping its battered military.

Bush announced the infusion of aid as Vice President Dick Cheney arrived here in what he described as a demonstration that the United States had "a deep and abiding interest" in keeping Georgia and other neighboring states free from a new era of Russian domination.

The aid — along with Cheney's high-profile visit to a region the Russians call "the near abroad" — is sure to inflame tensions further. Russia's leaders have openly accused the United States of having provoked the conflict by providing Georgia weapons and training for its armed forces, while encouraging its aspirations to join the NATO alliance.

The new package of aid, which requires additional approval from Congress, significantly expands assistance to a country that has become ardently pro-American in recent years, though at the cost of the worst relations between the United States and Russia since the end of the cold war.



Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/04/europe/04cheney.php

[madrchsod]

42. illinois could use some money .....where`s ours?

[JDPriestly]

43. California could use money to put people back to work and rebuild

infrastructure. And then, there is New Orleans where the levees are still not what they should be.

[Old and In the Way]

44. What's Dick and the RNC's cut?

Is he getting the usually 10% commission for exporting more money we don't have? Unbelievable.

[Hubert Flottz]

51. Spending it over there so they don't have to spend it over here.

I wish everybody could see underneath the bridges they drive across in America every day. The GOP has produced one thing here in the "homeland" if nothing else...lots of rust.

[LynnTheDem]

45. And New Orleans? How 'bout the missing billions in Iraq.

By the way, George Duhhhbya; while the US "media" spins, the rest of the world knows Georgia started the fight and they know all about America's utter hypocrisy.

Hide the facts from Americans; but ya can't hide em from the rest of the world.

[EC]

46. And once more they are doing what Obama proposed... n/t

[IndianaGreen]

47. Frak Georgia! They started their nasty little war!

We need that money in America.

[lapfog_1]

48. Might want to save it for Florida

I have a feeling that it's going to need it after Ike visits.

[Democrats_win]

49. Borrowing from China to give to Georgia. Just pissing away our future.

[Purveyor]

50. Sadly both Obama and Biden are 'on board' with this 'aid'... Go figure! eom