Should the US withold government aid from Uganda if they pass the kill the gays law?

[cecilfirefox]

Genuinely, I think it's a plausible option our government should consider.

[Thickasabrick]

1. Oh hell yes. nt

[hlthe2b]

2. of course...

[AndyA]

3. Absolutely.

I certainly don't want any of my tax dollars going to a country that would do such a thing.

Do they pull their women around by the hair and club them when they don't behave? This is stone age politics.

[PVnRT]

4. Yes

[wtmusic]

5. Hopefully, an honest analysis will be done of which course of action

would result in the least suffering of Ugandans.

[joeybee12]

6. Absolutely, positively, PHUCKING YES!!!!!!!

K&R!

[GodlessBiker]

7. Plausible? Immoral if they don't.

[Solly Mack]

8. Yes

[foxfeet]

9. Yes. nt

[RKP5637]

10. Definitely!!! n/t

[StopTheNeoCons]

11. Yes..nt

[mikelgb]

12. Yes just like we withhold money from Saudi Arabia, China and Afghanistan

[parts]

29. ?!

Not that I disagree with the sentiment, but where on earth do you have the idea China and Saudi Arabia need/want US aid?

[Shanti Mama]

34. China gets LOTS of aid via international NGOs such as

Save the Children, Care, etc. And those orgs are funded, in part, by the USAID.

[parts]

38. take those away...

China'd love you for it. As the political situation gets ever more heated up, they'd like nothing better than to keep western ideas and influences away from their people, without overtly seeming to be isolating them.

No such things as black and white in this world - taking away aid as a punishment can be dangerously counterproductive. The best way is to engage, aid, and be everyone's friend. Use that soft power.

[Rhythm]

13. Absolutely. n/t

[snagglepuss]

14. Yes

[Orsino]

15. Fuck, yes. n/t

[CrispyQ]

16. Yes. --nt

[Tailormyst]

17. Yes- but they won't

They will mutter something about being disappointed and the matter will drift off into nowhere land. If you think about it, not much has been done about genocide, mass raping and other hideous events.

[Unvanguard]

18. Probably not.

Cutting off aid won't stop the law: there's every indication that Uganda will do what it pleases whatever other countries think. Politics usually trump economics: the government will say "Foreign powers are trying to force us to tolerate this foreign infestation", and people respond to that kind of rhetoric.

On the other hand, cutting off aid would mean greater misery and death for all the people who benefit from US aid--including, for instance, people suffering from AIDS who currently receive US-funded antiretroviral drugs. That's not something anyone should be eager to do, and it's not worth doing if the only effect is symbolic.

It's a horrible situation, where there are really no good options, and no reliable way to stop gay Ugandans from being murdered by the state. I wonder if there are ways to make it easier for gay people in Uganda--and elsewhere where gays face such persecution--to seek asylum in the United States and Western Europe.

[Lyric]

19. We can change the way we give aid, at least.

No more cash--we send supplies and volunteers only, so that the government cannot benefit from it. I don't want my tax dollars being used to help murder gay people.

[Unvanguard]

20. I'm not sure what kind of aid Uganda gets now, but yes.

It should be focused as directly as possible on the problem the aid money is intended to solve.

[LeftHander]

23. faith based $...used to build holding pens for rounded up gays....

and reward people to rat out gay friends and neighbors.

[Unvanguard]

30. I'm not sure what you're referring to.

If you mean the aid money for AIDS, a great deal of it goes to provide drugs for sick people, which indisputably has saved countless lives in Uganda and elsewhere. The "religious" angle comes in through the fact that the programs probably overemphasize abstinence and underemphasize condoms. But they are much, much better than nothing.

(It is also true that Christian Right figures like Rick Warren have done work with virulently homophobic churches and religious figures in Uganda, but that is a separate issue.)

[FBaggins]

32. $246 million was announced just a month or so ago

as well as (IIRC) joint military exercises.

[Shanti Mama]

35. I doubt we've ever just handed over cash

Giving aid is a highly focused activity. Too focused, sometimes, on quantifiable results.

[LeftHander]

22. I know a easy way to make life better for gays in Uganda....

DON'T KILL THEM FOR BEING GAY!!!

[Unvanguard]

24. I'm not the Ugandan government. That's not in my, or in any of our, power. n/t

[arthritisR_US]

25. Sweden is cutting aid to Uganda over this issue and the aid the US

promised in Nov of 246m should definitely be on the table.

[arthritisR_US]

21. absolutely! n/t

[Bertha Venation]

26. Absolutely. But we won't.

I am too cynical to believe such an action is possible, even in the Obama Administration.

[Bertha Venation]

27. Absolutely. But we won't.

I am too cynical to believe such an action is possible, even in the Obama Administration.

[redwitch]

YES. nt

[nemo137]

28. Should, but doubt we will.

[Initech]

31. Absolutely. The purpose-driven fuckhead should lose his tax-exempt status as well.

[951-Riverside]

33. They'll just go back to raping babies to cure aids or killing abinos and dismembering them

Africa is a messed up place.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/1362134/South-African-men-rape-babies-as-cure-for-Aids.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSGEE5B00E9

[Shanti Mama]

36. Think about who gets hurt with this action.

Did Castro suffer from our trade embargo?

Withholding aid harms those who need it most. Using aid as a bargaining chip is absolutely OK. We will structure it very differently if they take this action.

[Sebastian Doyle]

37. Does Uganda have any oil or national gas reserves?

Sadly, that's the only way they will get the US government's attention.

[mainer]

39. US should give them political asylum

Huh. That'd be a consequence those rightwing US Christians never imagined from their actions -- a flood of Ugandan gays into our country!

[truebrit71]

40. Yes. No doubt about it.

...