Jacques Du Pasquier wrote:
>
> Amara Graps wrote (12.11.2001/00:17) :
> > >Do the US already effectively communicate their views to the people, in
> > >their own language ?
> >
> > According to the latest Economist, it started just this last week. Before
> > this last week, the US administration's broadcast presented in English
> > lame messages ("Attention Taliban. You are condemned. Did you know that?")
> > Now diplomats are responding directly on the local al-Jazeera network,
> > giving interviews in Arabic.
>
> Thanks for the info. That's certainly good (I couldn't find the
> translated transcripts of the interviews with Google though). I still
> think that something that lasts could be useful. Words said on TV are
> readily wiped out by persuasion from people present in your physical
> environment.
>
> And answering (hostile) questions is not the same as freely choosing
> to introduce yourself in some way. Something that all could refer to,
> and discuss ; and that Americans would somehow endorse, too (compare
> with talks of diplomats we don't even know about). Something a bit
> deeper, broader...
>
> I heard some Afghanis were actually convinced by the Talibans that the
> food dropped by US airplanes was poisonned, and starved to death
> instead of eating it...
Actually, I very much doubt this last as many of the Afghanis
are now at the point of ruining their stomachs eating grass they
are so hungry. The truth is that not nearly enough food is now
available to prevent the deaths of millions. And no, it is not,
or not just, the fault of the Taliban. The country has been
ravaged by war and various repressive regimes for 3 decades.
Its agricultural and economic understructure is a total shambles
and was even before the bombing. The vast majority of food aid
used to come by truck convoy from Pakistan. We stopped those
convoys on or around September 16. The food packets we have
dropped have been only a drop in the bucket of what is needed if
millions are to avoid death by starvation, malnutrion and
opportunistic disorders as a result of that and/or exposure.
- samantha
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