As ive had it explained to me yes

It's a mess and the source of most of that caravan that has everyone's undies in a bunch

Apparently its making the dependent on and subservient to whatever nation provides the aid

Yes, I hear that from the left

I actually am somewhat sympathetic to it

But it's still the wrong way to look at it

The idea is we want to teach a man to fish rather than give him a fish

That sounds great

Why would they fish in their pond when they can go a hundred miles to fish in someone elses pond and send the fish back home?

But if China is willing to give the man a fish and the man reciprocates by offering his home up, I'd rather be the one giving the fishes

But it shouldn't mean that we cut off aid just because we may seem to appear imperialistic

No we shouldnt cut off the aid

The mindset of the left is that anything the US does in terms of action abroad is imperialistic

I'm a bleeding heart but I make love to Henry Kissinger when it comes to geopolitical realism

And yes, that *should* be a scary image :p

No, foreign aid is stupid. Our government shouldn't be giving away our resources. Private individuals and interest groups sure. But not our government imo.

>finger guns
im fiscally conservative and socially liberal youve never debated someone like me

Billions for defense but not one cent for goodwill, eh?

Someone will give the aid

Might as well be us

No matter where you go, money equals power

Hey *highfives @Blackhawk342 *

You and me both

eyyyyy

It doesn't look good on us if we suddenly drop the ball

Plus the chinese have a bad habit of making their aid come in the form of infastructure projects

I know. They make countries dependent on them for maintenance and more toys.

It's like geopolitical drugs.

Good will should not be forced on our citizens to foreign ones @DrYuriMom

And that is even if the project is ever completed

Where they bring in chinese contractors to do the work
and the chinese government gives the nation a loan so they can pay for the projects

The Chinese learned well how to use drugs for geopolitical means from the Brits

This is important because the chinese economy is all based around construction

People in china dont have retirement accounts, they have 4-8 unfurnished unfinished apartments

I can see the economy based on business transactions but not with construction

Hiniku, that's a very purist notion. I'd rather my son's blood not be spent fighting where some realpolitik could have prevented it.

Why can't it come from the pockets of nonprofits built to help other nations. Why does it have to be our government?

Because those countries feel no loyalty towards the non profits

It's great if that happens, but if it is the responsibility of our government to protect us then they should use the best means available to protect us

We pay them and they like us in return

because we have to make sure the other countries know we are in charge