World press: Katrina 'testing US'
In newspapers across the world, commentators believe Hurricane Katrina marks a profound change in the way the US is perceived at home and abroad.
Some speak of the American "myth" being shattered by the poverty and racial divisions which they say the disaster has revealed.
Others hope the floods will douse US "arrogance" over its refusal to ratify the Kyoto accord on climate change. An Italian paper, however, jumps to President George Bush's defence.
Michael Streck in Germany's Die Welt
Hurricane Katrina will bury itself into the American consciousness in the same way 9/11 or the fall of Saigon did. The storm did not just destroy America's image of itself, but also has the power to bring an end to the Republican era sooner than expected. America is ashamed.
Stephan Hebel in Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine
Bush's people will say that the moment of need and willingness to help should not be poisoned by political manoeuvres. Maybe this will serve them well enough in a media world where images of victims and heroes are valued more highly than complex background. But then the lie would have won - against the desire to understand things so as to avoid them.
Jean-Pierre Aussant in France's Figaro
This tragic incident reminds us that the United States has refused to ratify the Kyoto accords. Let's hope the US can from now on stop ignoring the rest of the world. If you want to run things, you must first lead by example. Arrogance is never a good adviser!
Philippe Grangereau in France's Liberation
Bush is completely out of his depth in this disaster. Katrina has revealed America's weaknesses: its racial divisions, the poverty of those left behind by its society, and especially its president's lack of leadership.
Robi Ronza in Italy's Il Giornale
Everything can be used in Europe to badmouth Bush, so it may be worth clarifying a few key points: New Orleans was below sea level even before drilling for oil began. Second, there is no certain proof that the increase in the mean global temperature is a consequence of the emission of so-called greenhouse gases. Finally, the federal government has no specific responsibility for the post-hurricane chaos.
Yildirim Turker in Turkey's Radikal
The biggest power of the world is rising over poor black corpses. We are witnessing the collapse of the American myth. In terms of the USA's relationship with itself and the world, Hurricane Katrina seems to leave its mark on our century as an extraordinary turning point.
Editorial in Iran's Siyasat-e Ruz
Hurricane Katrina has proved that America cannot solve its internal problems and is incapable of facing these kinds of natural disasters, so it cannot bring peace and democracy to other parts of the world. Americans now understand that their rulers are only seeking to fulfil their own hegemonistic goals.
Editorial in Iran's Jomhuri-ye Eslami
The devastating waves of Katrina have unmasked the real face of America's profoundly corrupt society, and proved that under the beautiful surface of modern American life, there are decadent thoughts that always try to exploit the situation to fulfil inhuman goals. Although Bush and his team proved their inefficiency in dealing with the disaster, its aftermath proved that America's corrupt system is the main culprit.
Shen Dingli in China's Dongfang Zaobao
Katrina is testing the US. Katrina is also creating an opportunity for world unity. Cuba and North Korea's offer of sympathy and aid to the US could also result in some profound thinking in the US, and the author hopes that it will not miss this opportunity.
Editorial in Malaysia's Berita Harian
What's more saddening is that there have been riots and looting in New Orleans. It turns out that in a developed country with the most powerful economy in the world, some of its citizens are not much different from the poor in Third World countries.
Xiong Shu Li in Malaysia's Sin Chew Jit Poh
Co-operation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can no longer be delayed, but there are still countries - including the US - which still do not take the issue seriously. However, faced with global disasters, all countries are in the same boat. The US hurricane disaster is a "modern revelation", and all countries of the world including the US should be aware of this.
Editorial in Media Indonesia
The superpower United States has finally succumbed to nature's wrath. The US must eventually admit that it is unable to deal with the victims itself. Something has changed: Hurricane Katrina has destroyed some of the US's arrogance.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, quoted in El Nacional
The rich were able to leave, the poor stayed there, and it is now that they are evacuating them, four, five days later. That is the model they want to sell us. Racial segregation - the mayor of New Orleans said it - is a question of social classes; the rich were able to leave, the poor were left, enduring the hurricane. It is capitalism, in its extreme individualist phase.
Source: BBC Monitoring.....
Prince TK
Originally posted by Prince TKOpinions are like aresholes...everyone has one
World press: Katrina 'testing US'
In newspapers across the world, commentators believe Hurricane Katrina marks a profound change in the way the US is perceived at home and abroad.
Some speak of the American "myth" being shattered by the poverty and racial divisions which they say the disaster has revealed.
Others hope the floods will ...[text shortened]... talism, in its extreme individualist phase.
Source: BBC Monitoring.....
Prince TK
New Orleans will rise and be a better city than it ever was....a lot of the people CHOSE to stay behind through ignorance or just plain stupidity....New Orleans was built to receive a this tragedy 200 years ago...it just so happened last week....better dykes and better engineering feats will make New Orleans the Queen of the south again...you'll see...that's the American way of thinking...no arrogance....just confidence...been to New York City lately?
Originally posted by chancremechanicI believe a US study group (god knows what that is though) already predicted, years ago, that if New Orleans was flooded a large group of mainly poor black people would not be able to get out.
Opinions are like aresholes...everyone has one
New Orleans will rise and be a better city than it ever was....a lot of the people CHOSE to stay behind through ignorance or just plain stupidity....New Orleans was built to receive a this tragedy 200 years ago...it just so happened last week....better dykes and better engineering feats will make New ...[text shortened]... s the American way of thinking...no arrogance....just confidence...been to New York City lately?
Obviously it would have cost money to solve this problem (although probably not as much as the clean-up is going to cost).
However, if people are only realising racial and poverty issues in the US because of this hurricane, they must surely have their collective arses up their heads.
Sort of like being shocked that there were no WMD in Iraq, I guess.
Media rules.
Originally posted by chancremechanicWouldn't it be appropriate for the USA to address issues of it's underclass instead of exporting its particular brand of "freedom" and "democracy" to Iraq?
Opinions are like aresholes...everyone has one
New Orleans will rise and be a better city than it ever was....a lot of the people CHOSE to stay behind through ignorance or just plain stupidity....New Orleans was built to receive a this tragedy 200 years ago...it just so happened last week....better dykes and better engineering feats will make New ...[text shortened]... s the American way of thinking...no arrogance....just confidence...been to New York City lately?
What Katrina has unearthed makes us wonder what "freedeom" and "way of life" Bush is defending in Iraq.
Does being strong and having the capacity mean you should go around trampling on the physically weaker with impunity and arrogance?
Oat.
Originally posted by shavixmirWell, I basically agree with you. New Orleans Blacks were freed from slavery in 1865, and through racism, Jim Crow Laws, and later alcohol, drugs, and crime the present situation now stands. I am amshamed of that part of American History, but what country doesn't have "skeletons" in the closet. This catastrophy should have been avoided by looking at your country's examples of dykes and levees. and money should have been spent upgrading the sysyem, but Americans like their "domed" stadiums and thus the Super Dome in New Orleans was built for a football team tyat plays in average 50 degree F weather, same as Houston, TX., Atlanta, GA., and Tampa Bay, Florida....a domed stadium in Florida??? Many of these black people are several generations on the welfare system, and many are hard-working souls who happen to be unable to move to a better location...is it racism? Sure, some of it is, but a lot is "welfare mentality" and distrust in local law enforcement, especially when the police were going around the neighborhoods announcing that everybody must be evacuated...these poor souls feared that their homes would get looted in their absence, and they had good reason. I don't blame someone for stealing food for their family in a time like this, but someone stealing 5 TVs should go to jail....we have incompetent government in the US at a time when we need it the least from local mayors of cities to the "Man" in the White House. Governors who are too afraid to make critical decisions in the name of political correctness, politicians who refuse to do anything about the overrun borders in the name of Homeland Security because they don't want to upset a certain "constituency"...Se abla espanol?...they don't want to play hard ball with China who now has the highest trade deficit with the US in the history of my country...I've see US flags "made in Chna" that make me cringe...so, yes, my government has its collective heads up not only its own arse, but that of President Vicente Fox of Mexico, King Faud or whoever the Emir is now of Saudi Arabia, the leadership of China, and Halliburton, Enron, Shell, Mobile, Exxon, and realestate developers who want to expand suburbia with more Malls and Wal-Marts....while the rest of the US citizenry wring our hands in frustration as our natural resourses disappear and our infrasturcture crumbles
I believe a US study group (god knows what that is though) already predicted, years ago, that if New Orleans was flooded a large group of mainly poor black people would not be able to get out.
Obviously it would have cost money to solve this problem (although probably not as much as the clean-up is going to cost).
However, if people are only realis ...[text shortened]... eir heads.
Sort of like being shocked that there were no WMD in Iraq, I guess.
Media rules.
Originally posted by oatYes to your first question.
Wouldn't it be appropriate for the USA to address issues of it's underclass instead of exporting its particular brand of "freedom" and "democracy" to Iraq?
What Katrina has unearthed makes us wonder what "freedeom" and "way of life" Bush is defending in Iraq.
Does being strong and having the capacity mean you should go around trampling on the physically weaker with impunity and arrogance?
Oat.
Your second observation is pointless because the poor blacks in New Orleans, for the most part, could have pulled themselves out of poverty by their bootstaps through hard work just as the Chinese, Mexicans, Koreans, Vietnamese, and even poor Europeans who came after them did through education and saving their meager earnings and pooling it just as the Italians, Koreans, Indians, Jews, and Vietnamese do...have you ever seen a Korean Ghetto?....Vietnamese Ghetto, Chinese Ghetto?...Jewish Ghetto?....didn't think so....I don't know why this sort of system has not worked for Blacks...even today, in Africa, many tribes (Hutu and Tutsi) kill each other by the millions, therefore they are unable to form a cohesive system that lets them succeed in America like other minorities do....there is racism among Blacks even today in reference to shades of darkness...maybe racism is harsher to darker skin, i don't know....even joining the military like I did to improve my education and living standard works...Bush is trying to give the Iraqi people at least the opportunity to govern themselves, maybe going about it not quite the right way.
Whom are "we" trampling on? If the Iraqi gov't wants us to leave, we'll do so. Don't even mention Afghanistan because the taliban were worse than the nazis and were responsible for 9-11 if not directly, then indirectly by allowing bin-craphead a refuse.
Originally posted by chancremechanicExcellent Post. It also frustrates me and im sure alot of other people in the world. Bush wants to drag country's into war under the banner of social freedom, when the USA herself, needs some desperatley needed internal renovations. A nation cannot continue to expand when it's insides are rotting.
Well, I basically agree with you. New Orleans Blacks were freed from slavery in 1865, and through racism, Jim Crow Laws, and later alcohol, drugs, and crime the present situation now stands. I am amshamed of that part of American History, but what country doesn't have "skeletons" in the closet. This catastrophy should have been avoided by looki ...[text shortened]... ring our hands in frustration as our natural resourses disappear and our infrasturcture crumbles
Originally posted by Shonkytonkit's the united STATES of america ... not the united STATE of america ...
Excellent Post. It also frustrates me and im sure alot of other people in the world. Bush wants to drag country's into war under the banner of social freedom, when the USA herself, needs some desperatley needed internal renovations. A nation cannot continue to expand when it's insides are rotting.
Originally posted by shavixmirThat prediction was made in a scientific american article in 2001.
I believe a US study group (god knows what that is though) already predicted, years ago, that if New Orleans was flooded a large group of mainly poor black people would not be able to get out.
Obviously it would have cost money to solve this problem (although probably not as much as the clean-up is going to cost).
However, if people are only realis ...[text shortened]... eir heads.
Sort of like being shocked that there were no WMD in Iraq, I guess.
Media rules.
Originally posted by chancremechanicwell other than that everythings ok, right?
Well, I basically agree with you. New Orleans Blacks were freed from slavery in 1865, and through racism, Jim Crow Laws, and later alcohol, drugs, and crime the present situation now stands. I am amshamed of that part of American History, but what country doesn't have "skeletons" in the closet. This catastrophy should have been avoided by looki ...[text shortened]... ring our hands in frustration as our natural resourses disappear and our infrasturcture crumbles
This is an article from the Mirror regarding Barbara Bush's views on the disaster. For those unaware the Mirror is one of our tabloids, and you have to read it with a pinch of salt. But if the story is true at least we know from which side of the family George got his brains from.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/[WORD TOO LONG].html
looks like the link to this article is too long but you should be able to pick it up from the home page http://www.mirror.co.uk/
Originally posted by Jay PeateaYou'll have to cut and paste the article, your link doesn't work.
This is an article from the Mirror regarding Barbara Bush's views on the disaster. For those unaware the Mirror is one of our tabloids, and you have to read it with a pinch of salt. But if the story is true at least we know from which side of the family George got his brains from.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15938967%26metho ...[text shortened]... cle is too long but you should be able to pick it up from the home page http://www.mirror.co.uk/
EDIT : Hmm, two things I didn't know until today:
1) You can pick up the whole thread by pressing 'Reply and Quote' below the original post, then cut and paste.
2) You can't cut and paste the article fom the Daily Mirror, it's hard-coded.
Really strange....
Originally posted by DOlivier20047 September 2005
You'll have to cut and paste the article, your link doesn't work.
BUSH: THEY WERE UNDERPRIVILEGED, SO THIS IS WORKING VERY WELL FOR THEM
From Ryan Parry in New Orleans
BUNGLING Barbara Bush yesterday claimed poverty-stricken refugees who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina are actually better off thanks to the devastating floods.
The 80-year-old former first lady piled more pressure on her under fire son George's administration by declaring that the victims are so happy in their makeshift camps they would rather stay than go back to their impoverished communities.
Her gaffe came after a visit with husband George Snr to the Astrodome stadium in Houston, Texas, where thousands of evacuees from New Orleans and other affected areas are being housed.
Barbara chuckled as she said: "So many of the people here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.
"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. Almost everyone I've talked to says: 'We're going to move to Houston'."
Many of the refugees are anxiously waiting for news of missing loved ones. Their homes have been destroyed and families shattered by the hurricane that hit southern America last week.
Barbara's comments come as celebrities lined up to criticise George Bush over delays in responding to the crisis.
As the hunt for the thousands of people still missing intensified yesterday, James Bond star Pierce Brosnan, 52, said: "This man called President Bush has a lot to answer for. I don't know if he is really taking care of America. This government has been shameful."
Actor Colin Farrell added: "If this had been a bunch of white people on the roofs of their houses I don't have any f***ing doubt there would have been every single helicopter, plane and means that the government has trying to help."
The 29-year-old Irishman spoke out after being auctioned off on a £6,000 charity date.
Other stars rolled up their sleeves and got on with the job of helping stricken communities themselves rather than waiting for politicians to sort out the mess.
Actor Sean Penn spent nine hours pulling bodies out of the putrid waters in New Orleans.
He said: "It's the ultimate distress and human suffering.
"Though we have come to be suspicious of the will of our administration, I don't think anybody ever anticipated the criminal negligence of the Bush administration in this situation."
Penn had to abandon his mission when his boat sprung a leak. He bailed out using a plastic cup.
Grease star John Travolta delivered five tonnes of food and 400 tetanus shots to Louisiana on his private jet. He visited shelters across the region and spoke to victims before touring New Orleans with actress wife Kelly Preston.
Singer Paul Simon donated two mobile medical units and Barry Manilow announced his fund had raised £81,000 in aid.
Macy Gray and Oprah Winfrey visited the devastated region. Chat queen Oprah also handed out food at the Astrodome.
Author John Grisham has given £2.7million to the relief effort in his home state of Mississippi. Rappers P Diddy and Jay-Z pledged £550,000 to help the thousands of homeless.
Several concerts are being staged including an MTV benefit gig called ReAct Now: Music & Relief on Saturday. The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Kanye West, Sheryl Crow and Paul McCartney are due to play.
Up to 10,000 are believed killed by Katrina. By last night the floodwaters had dropped substantially and rescuers braced themselves for what horrors the receding deluge would reveal.
Dozens of refrigerated trucks were on standby to store bodies.
Draining the remaining water is likely to take weeks and with so many people decomposing the risk of disease worsens by the day.
In Violet on the Mississippi, 22 bodies were found lashed together around a pole - evidence of a bid to escape the rising waters.
New Orleans police estimated there were fewer than 10,000 people left in the city. Many refuse to leave their homes. The authorities have now refused to hand out water to those who insist on staying.
But officials said the lawlessness that plagued New Orleans has been brought under control.
Mr Bush yesterday pledged to lead a probe into the government's dismally slow relief effort. He said: "We've got to solve problems."