Development aid versus military spending - a lopsided disaster - by RM

There is something terribly wrong when you look at these charts, in particular when you compare that to what our political and corporate executive "leaders" want you to believe, about all the good they do in promoting health, peace and prosperity around the world.

If we look at the  5 largest economies in the world, and their latest official figures, re: their military budgets this is what we see. Mind you, these "official" figures are just the top of the iceberg, governments do have a history of hiding some military expenditures in other budgets.

China :  $ 146 billion
EU:           220
India           53
Russia        69
USA         639
Total    $ 1.1  trillion

Please note that the figures above do not include the overall global expenditures, as to military spending, which was $ 1.8 trillion in 2018

 In comparison the total amount of development aid provided to countries in need (OECD figures), to military expenditures  is quite alarming.

 One thing is certain, however, politicians, corporate executives and economists should keep in mind what Abraham Lincoln once said: "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time ".  

This EU-Digest report can only be copied or  republished if EU-Digest is quoted as the source

Ukraine: Poland cool on Ukraine military aid - "US military aid to Ukraine not a good idea"

The EU should hold back from sending military lethal aid to Ukraine, Polish Europe Minister Rafal Trzaskowski told euronews on Wednesday, amid calls in the US to send defensive weapons to Kyiv.

“We are not we taking any military solution into account because military solutions are completely off the table because we do not want to destabilize the situation any further,” Trzaskowski said in an interview.
“We have to use of the tools that are at our disposal,” he said.

“We do not want to destabilise the situation but every state has to analyse the situation and obviously will no-one say that none of the options are possible.”

When asked by euronews why he thought the EU’s current policy of restrictive measures would change Moscow’s behaviour, Trzaskowski said: “Sanctions are just a tool for showing our determination. Obviously no one says they are going to be a wonderful solution for everything. We know it is very difficult to influence Russia’s policy.”

Poland has played a leading role in the diplomatic charge to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, with the country’s former foreign minister Radek Sikorski crafting a deal with two EU counterparts to see ex-president Viktor Yanukoyvch step down.

Read more: Poland cool on Ukraine military aid | euronews, Europe

Tanks, Jets or Scholarships? - by Thomas L.Friedman

"And so it came to pass that in 2012 — a year after the Arab awakening erupted — the United States made two financial commitments to the Arab world that each began with the numbers 1 and 3. 

It gave Egypt’s military $1.3 billion worth of tanks and fighter jets, and it gave Lebanese public-school students a $13.5 million merit-based college scholarship program that is currently putting 117 Lebanese kids through local American-style colleges that promote tolerance, gender and social equality, and critical thinking. 

I’ve recently been to Egypt, and I’ve just been to Lebanon, and I can safely report this: The $13.5 million in full scholarships has already bought America so much more friendship and stability than the $1.3 billion in tanks and fighter jets ever will".

Tanks, Jets or Scholarships? - NYTimes.com