We give them aid, they give us lip

[Gob]

News that India's Finance Minister has described the amount of money given by the UK to his country as "peanuts" comes at a tricky time for Anglo-Indian relations.

Last week, in a snub to David Cameron and several of his European counterparts, the Indian authorities announced they were signing a £8bn defence deal with the French aircraft manufacturer Dassault rather than the consortium that produces the Eurofighter. The backlash was immediate; what do the French know about "cricket and curries", one Conservative MP demanded, while a headline in the Daily Mail declared: "Well, that's gratitude."

The idea of giving aid to India has grown increasingly controversial. There was a time when the country's image as an impoverished nation meant giving such assistance was a relatively easy political sell. But, as its economy has grown and as it has successfully managed to rebrand itself as a place that is "shining", giving aid has seemed to counter common sense. Why should a country in a precarious economic position be handing over money to one that has more billionaires than the UK and an overseas aid programme of its own, many have asked.

The controversy has been given a new twist by a newspaper's discovery of a speech made in the Indian parliament in 2010 by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who said India did not want British assistance. "We do not require the aid," he said.

For India to have rejected such aid after David Cameron had claimed the country would be his foreign policy priority would have been deeply embarrassing to the Prime Minister. The report in The Sunday Telegraph claimed that India agreed to keep the aid only after lobbying from officials from the Department for International Development (Dfid).

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 79562.html

[dales]

We were under control of England at one time, how about some British Pounds sent our way.

(Gawd knows we need every penny we could get our hands on)

[Sean]

You lot can have some cash as soon as you come up with a decent curry Dales!

Or adopt cricket as your national sport.

[Gob]

Pledge allegiance to Marmite!

[Lord Jim]

It does seem ridiculous to be sending foreign aid to a country coming along economically as well as India....

Almost as ridiculous as the US sending foreign aid to China....

China is one of the biggest economies in the world and grew at more than 9 percent over the last year. It also has loaned more than $1 trillion to the U.S. to fund its deficit-spending.

But at the same time, the U.S. sends foreign aid to China, which lawmakers of all stripes say is just plain nuts.

"Why in the world would we be borrowing money and then turn around and giving it back to the countries that we're borrowing it from?" Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said. "If they have enough of a surplus to loan us money, they have enough of a surplus to take care of their own needs."

Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia asked the same question in a recent appearance on Fox News: "Hey, in the crisis that we're in right now, should we really be continuing to send American taxpayer dollars over to China for these purposes?"

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10 ... z1lbwymGKY

[dales]

The USA should give ZERO FOREIGN AID to any nation, PERIOD!

[rubato]

Some people, and countries, give aid as a way of obligating others to behave in a fawning and deferential manner. It is the act of a weak and nasty person.

A self-respecting adult individual or a country deserving respect prefers honesty to obsequiousness.


yrs,
rubato

[dgs49]

Rube, do tell.

Which countries, exactly, after having received financial aid from the U.S., have behaved "in a fawning and deferential manner"?

[rubato]

"His kindness was like fish hooks."

Ken Nordine

[dales]

"Fish Heads"

Bill Mumy