A Gulf in Giving: Oil-Rich States Starve the World Food Program

[geezerbob]

foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354677,00.html

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his top lieutenants on Monday are convening the first meeting of the U.N.’s Task Force on the Global Food Crisis. Ban says it will “study the root causes of the crisis,” and propose solutions for “coordinated global action” at a summit of world leaders in June.

Ban might want to consider convincing the oil-rich nations of the Middle East to provide more than the near-invisible amount of money they currently give to the World Food Program (WFP), the U.N.’s food-giving arm, which is charged with alleviating the food crisis.

WFP internal documents show that the major oil producing nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) gives almost nothing to the food organization, even as skyrocketing oil prices and swollen oil revenues contribute to the very crisis that the U.N. claims could soon add 100 million more people to the world’s starving masses.

 

[Dale_M]

I’m not sure why the author of the editorial singles out oil-producing Middle Eastern nations. The Gross Domestic Product of Saudi Arabia ranks it 28th in the world, and it occupies the 27th spot in the list of WFP donors. Perhaps the author should scold Poland which has a higher GDP and a higher per capita GDP than Saudi Arabia. Or at the Netherlands, which also have a higher GDP than Saudi Arabia and a much higher per capita GDP. Both nations don’t seem to be shouldering their fair share.
mrdowling.com/800gdp.html

Comparing dollar contributions is fairly meaningless unless you look at the wealth of the nation making the contribution.

 

[Dale_M]

I’m not sure why the author of the editorial singles out oil-producing Middle Eastern nations. The Gross Domestic Product of Saudi Arabia ranks it 28th in the world, and it occupies the 27th spot in the list of WFP donors. Perhaps the author should scold Poland which has a higher GDP and a higher per capita GDP than Saudi Arabia. Or at the Netherlands, which also have a higher GDP than Saudi Arabia and a much higher per capita GDP. Both nations, just to pick two, don’t seem to be shouldering their fair share.
mrdowling.com/800gdp.html

Comparing dollar contributions is fairly meaningless unless you look at the wealth of the nation making the contribution.