For anyone who thinks that the DOGE cuts to foreign aid are just culling “fraud and waste” and that they do not matter, I give you this piece from The Atlantic: The Crisis of American Leadership Reaches an Empty Desert.
In Tiné, a barren desert town in eastern Chad, the first humanitarian crisis of the post-American world is now unfolding. Thousands of people fleeing the civil war in Sudan’s Darfur region have recently arrived there after enduring long journeys in relentless, 100-degree heat. Many have nothing—they report being beaten, robbed, or raped along the way—and almost nothing awaits them in Tiné. Due in part to the Trump administration’s devastating cuts to foreign aid, only a skeleton staff of international humanitarian workers are on hand to receive them. There are shortages of food, water, medicine, and shelter in Tiné, and few resources to move people anywhere else.
[…]
In theory, the Trump administration still supports emergency humanitarian aid. But in practice, the cuts to logistics and personnel, the abrupt changes to payments, and the associated chaos have hampered all of the international humanitarian organizations working in Tiné and everywhere else. The Chadian Red Cross lacks transport for the wounded. The World Food Program’s supplies are unreliable because support systems have been cut. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is cutting staff due to budget constraints. Jean-Paul Habamungu Samvura, who represents UNHCR in eastern Chad, said that in his 20-year career, he could not recall refugees ever being offered so little.
“Our big donor is the U.S.,” Samvura said. But in February, UNHCR was instructed to alter its services. “Things we are used to seeing as lifesaving activity, like providing shelter, are no longer considered lifesaving activity,” he explained. That leaves his team with an unsolvable problem: “Where to put people at least to give them a bit of shading.” Some of his staff have been told that their jobs will end as soon as June, but the crisis will not end in June.
[…]
This is a dramatic moment in a devastating war. More people have been displaced by violence in Sudan than in Ukraine and Gaza combined. Statements about Sudan are regularly made at the UN and in other international forums. And yet the people in these photographs seem to have been abandoned in an empty landscape. As the United States withdraws and international institutions decay, their ordeal may be a harbinger of what is to come.
But, you know, I am sure all that savings will be put to good use.
Wait, what?
- Via the NYT: Military Parade in Capital on Trump’s Birthday Could Cost $45 Million, Officials Say.
- Via NBC News: Turning Qatari 747 into Air Force One could cost $1 billion and take years, experts say.
- Via the AP: Homeland Security looks to buy a new $50M jet for secretary and Coast Guard officials.
Well, at least we know where the administration’s values are.
