From: Brendan Coffey (bmc@section9.net)
Date: Sat Apr 12 2003 - 20:16:32 MDT
Quoth Michael Dickey:
> > $1.3B is not a "tie" with $1.98B. That's a 52.3% difference.
>
> Well Brendan, thanks for the Math lesson. I am fully aware that 1.9 and
> 1.3B are not a 'tie' however, my first suggestion of 12 billion was quite
> off, and the difference between 1.9 and 1.3 billion compared to 12 billion
> is a insignificant enough as to be considered a 'tie' for the context of
the
> discussion. But we all welcome further information on this list, so
thanks
> for spending more googling time digging up more accurate figures than I
and
> being kind enough to relay them to us.
You're welcome. :-) I figured it was a good opportunity for my first
post, since I was interested in the figures, and people on the list
didn't seem to be aware of them. The research was pretty enlightening.
> However, I do not think your insult
> disguised as a nitpick was neccessary. But thats just my 2c.
Please don't put words in my mouth, it wasn't an insult. Do you seriously
think that numbers on the same order of magnitude should be considered
"tied?" Would $1.3B and $8B be a "tie" as well? The word "tie" was a
significant mischaracterization of the numbers.
> The US's
> > aid to Israel in 2003 will be $2.1B. And $12B is over 3x the US'
> > total foreign military aid allocation. Damien is conflating total
> > foreign aid figures with foreign military aid figures.
>
> Originaly I was referring to Egypts non-military aide, but I did not relay
> as much as I did not, at the time, have the time to dig up the
information.
> So are you agreeing than the Egypt is the single biggest reciepient of
> non-military aide?
Again, this mischaracterizes the numbers. Egypt will be
the largest recipient of US economic aid for the FIRST
TIME in 2003. Israel's economic aid has historically been
about 1.4x Egypt's. According to the US state department,
(http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/9190.pdf), there has been
a 7/10 (Egypt/Israel) ratio between total aid to Israel and Egypt from
1979 through the present. By a wide margin, Israel is the top recipient
both of military and combined military/economic aid.
The reason Egypt's aid will be larger (by a narrow margin, $19M) this year
is as follows. At Israel's request, we are decreasing their economic
aid by $120M/yr and increasing their military aid $60M/yr over the next
ten years. Simultaneously, by our OWN volition, we are decreasing Egypt's
economic aid to match. And we're not increasing Egypt's military subsidy.
So, starting in 2003 (and continuously until both their subsidies hit 0?),
Egypt's economic aid package is marginally larger than Israel's, yes.
> > It's cute that people think this isn't about oil, economy and empire.
> >
> Its cute that people think this IS about oil, economy, and empire.
What would your reading of these numbers be, in re: of our foreign policy
interests in the Middle East? I'm interested in what you think about
that last paragraph above.
-Brendan <bmc@section9.net>
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