Remember Live Aid?

The first one in 1985... the one that Bob Geldolf organized... There was a huge drought in Ethiopia, the Soviets were providing weapons (to the tune of $4B US) to the ethiopian government...

Anyway, turns out that some are claiming now (25 years later) that almost $100 million of that went to weapons for rebels. Over a million ethiopians died from the famine. Mariah Carey quipped some years later, "I see those pictures of the Ethiopians and I would love to be that skinny, but without all the flies and death and stuff"

Anyway, here's the link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8535189.stm

Remember Ethiopia is in one of the poorest areas of Africa, hemmed in on the east by Somalia. Is it possible that the millions dying of famine, no matter how horrific, put ethiopia on a stronger footing? The government overthrow succeeded. Many of the rebels are now admitting to selling grain to relief workers by loading the top layer of trucks with bags of grain and filling the bottom of the truck with sand.

There are those the believe that these aid efforts actually exacerbate problems because when there is a surplus (in this case an artificial One) of food, people tend to reproduce. Thoughts?

i remember that dumb mariah carey comment. i have not paid any attention to her since then. and yea its rotten how much money is funneled to where it does. thats why i was so glad they set up haiti relief so no more than 1% can go to their gov.

I think I saw that Mariah Carey quote on a list of dumbest things ever said. No argument here.