Last time our class met we had a debate regarding World Affairs. There were two sides to our arguments. One was, Why are we waisting our money and troops and supplies to help out everyone else when we are already in debt? The second was, If we are the leading nation, why shouldn't we help everyone else out, what we send to help nations like Africa is so minimal compared to what we spend on everything else.
Personally I took the side of, we might as well help them out. We spend less than 1% of our money on world affairs. Why shouldn't we help out countries like Africa if we are able to? That is what makes the United States a leading nation. I'm not saying by all means to send a thousand troops in and start a war, but I do think it is okay to continue sending aid and a few troops to help out.
The latest world affairs issue that has gotten everyone in an uproar is the Kony issue and sending 100 troops to Africa. According to Fox News a senior administration official downplayed the notion that the armed troops could be drawn into a hostile, combat situation, saying the move was sparked by Congress passing a law year urging the administration to do something to crack down on the Lord's Resistance Army. So here is where the controversy started. Are we in the wrongs for risking our troops or are we doing the right thing? Unfortunantly that is an opinion and us students whether we agree or disagree don't make a difference either way. As for Obama, sounds like he is going to be sending more troops to South Sudon and who knows where else.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but the money allocated for foreign aid does not, for the most part, include all the money the USA spends to be the world peace keepers. Did not the USA declare war on Iraq as a fight against terrorism AND weapons of mass destruction? Iraq is not the only case of this either. I think that when talking about the USA being involved in world affairs, it is important to consider both the minimal amount spent on helping poverty stricken and ill-managed countries as well as the amount we spend on world peace keeping. This figure more accurately tells of the amount of money we spend regarding world affairs. I am sure that this number is far greater than 1% of USA's expenditures. With that being said, I don't think the USA is in a position to help everyone else out, because we are not in a financial position to do so. The reality is that the world revolves around money and a country's survival cannot be compromised on such a large scale in order to help out those less fortunate. The question to further research is what the true figure is that is spent on foreign aid, world peace keeping, etc., because I don't believe it is anything close to 1%.
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