This is less about feeding a neighbor than digging them a latrine so they stop crapping in your water supply.
Why should we expect anyone to step up? The default state of diseases is that they are not managed.
And as China (and maybe even Europe) do pivot, I'm not sure why they'd prioritise preventing it from spreading to Americans (we have troops stationed in the region) versus to their own homelands.
>Why should we expect anyone to step up?
Why should we expect the US to step up? Funny how ONLY the US has responsibility for safeguarding the world, but the supposed new world leaders don't.
It's almost as if the double standard is off the charts.
Le all-mighty dollar, it tastes best when given freely no?
> It's almost as if the double standard is off the charts.
I agree. I love how the same people will typically call for US withdrawal from any/all military theatres; whilst promoting sending <FORCED> aid at the end of a needle. I think a lot of these people were of the "lock them up for their covid heresy" category...
If this was China exerting influence I'm sure we'd start complaining there's poison in the needles, bribery and how they should go back and focus on China.
This is a valid strategic conclusion. It would require America ceding Africa and probably the Middle East as strategic theatres to China and, to a lesser degree, Russia and maybe France. (This may be worth the cost.)
It would also require trade and travel decoupling from both China and Europe, as well as from the Middle East and probably South America and Canada, too, given the transmission vectors inherent in those flows. (This isn’t worth the cost.)
So yes, if Americans accept lower living standards this equilibrium theoretically works. (Even if it’s stupid.) If we want to capitalize on global trade, and be able to vacation and do business wherever we please and have a reasonable expectation of being allowed to return home, on the other hand, and pay a fraction of the gains from the former to safeguard our health, this strategy fails.
I'm a wonderful citizen of heir u-turn starmer unfortunately so plenty of wanting to clear the waterways here :P
With what money? There's a reason they're dependent on USAID.
> I'm sure there's a parable about teaching someone to fish rather than feeding them
Unfortunately the priorities of USAID (and European foreign aid as well) aren't exactly aligned with that paradigm. It's the worst expressed in agriculture because we just dumped our excess production on Africa to keep our prices stable, but foreign aid being sustainable is a relatively new and not really widespread requirement.
How much does BASIC hygiene cost it's like manners. It's education (which is more than well funded at a "throw cash at it problem".
> we just dumped our excess production
Well in a nutshell, yes we'd dumping quite a lot on Africa, that doesn't mean we should shore up the system with yet another western derived screw-up. At this point I'll go for the good old star trek perspective of impacting a cultures development by suddenly advancing their technological position.
Unless you have industrial pollutants in which case you also have someone to blame...
We didn't get this far as a species being that ignorant
To hell with your historical collective guilt machine.
I honestly dont care what people did before I was born. I had absolutely no decision in anything of theirs. Had no choice in any of that. Nor did I enslave or torture or murder people. My parents didnt either. Their parents didnt either.
And somehow, Im responsible for shit that happened hundreds of years ago? Whatever.
I dont mind helping and working collectively for a human cause. But im also not going to be an emotional collective guilt tampon because people before I was born did bad things.
Id say "Take it up with them", but theyre dead. Thats why you flail at anybody and try to make them feel responsible.
I will not answer to idiocy like "your bloodline X generations back".
I am not feeling guilty simply because I am not guilty.
And I do not feel guilty about historical happenings I did not have a hand in. They are things to read about to understand how we got here. But caring? No. More like dispassionate historical context.
I fight against shit like "Collective Historical Guilt". Liberals here in the USA use this crap, like in worthless land akcnowldgements but do absolutely nothing.
Ive also seen a lot of republican and MAGA types also have their 'white' ethnicity weaponized. Its obvious when 1 side blames you on a demographic you cant change (skin color). You vote against them.
I will never support collective guilt/punishment. And I will not 'care' about some historical wrongs.
Also, we could talk about current colonialism: arms trade, mining, mercenary armies.
Sure enough, if you close your eyes hard enough you can pretend your wealth is well earned and unrelated the ills of the world.
It's rarely the case.
Im forced to engage in this system of capitalism. I am not a capitalist. My political power is 1 vote, aka basically nothing.
Because Im forced to engage, Im somehow responsible for the horrors others do. I absolutely reject this absurd line of thought.
Do I try to limit damage on voluntary things I do? Absolutely. Do I also try to help where help is wanted? Yes, I do. Thats also being a good human to fellow humans.
You mention: arms trade, mining, mercenary armies.
Ive never traded weapons. I dont even own any guns.
Mining? Im in the process of rewilding my property back to more forest. Im also getting rid of invasives previous owners planted (english ivy, etm).
And thanfulky, Im not a mercernary army. Ffs, really?
I have absolutely 0 sway on any of these topics. And I wont ever. Im not a politician, whose votes really do count.
> Sure enough, if you close your eyes hard enough you can pretend your wealth is well earned and unrelated the ills of the world.
I guess youre one of those types that because I might identify as "white" thats im a millionaire or otherwise abuse people at scale to make billions.
Protip: im not. Most of the jobs I worked was in food service or factory work. And all your accusatory platitudes are as deep as a porta-potty.
And yeah, there is no ethical consumption in capitalism. Its all exploitation, at every scale and measure. Dont have a whole lot of choices about it. Cry harder.
The United States predates you, and will almost certainly outlive you.
You, an individual with a microscopic lifespan and negligible influence in the grand sweep of history, do not in fact share any guilt for the things your ancestors did, nor do you deserve credit for the greatness they wrought. The United States, however, deserves blame where guilty and praise where worthy for what it did during its lifespan, which expands hundreds of years into the past, and with luck will continue into the future.
It’s not all about you.
The disease control interventions really are a mix of teaching and doing. In acute situations, experts are brought in to do (some of) the things. But mostly it's training and outreach and supplying equipment to do routine disease control and surveillance of issues that need help.
That's literally what USAID was providing. Both teaching fish AND also feeding them.
[1] https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-documentary...