What’s New March 2002

This page lists recent changes made to this site such as new pages, or updates to existing sections. The "Find Out More" links will take you to the changes. If this jumps to the middle of a page, you can easily scroll up to understand the context of the new information a bit further.

Date of Update

Description


March 31, 2002


  1. A few additional articles on various aspects of the so-called "war on terror" have been posted. Articles include those on the issue of the media, of the geopolitics, articles from various authors and web sites around the world. (See the growing list of articles at the following link.) There is also a detailed and broad FAQ that has been reposted as well.
    See the FAQ »
    See other articles »
    - Related Section(s): Middle East / Geopolitics


  2. Is aid helping poor countries? March saw a United Nations meeting on financing for development. The United States and the European Union made promising statements about increasing aid contributions to poor countries. Yet, those contributions would still be below their long-agreed targets of 0.7% of their GDPs. Furthermore, most of the rich nations that give aid contribute well below this agreed target. But, even when aid has been given, it has often been given in a way that benefits the donors. Some donate on the condition that money is spent purchasing goods and services from the donor, while in other cases donations are given based on geopolitical considerations that would benefit the donor. Some nations even provide aid to nations that are not the poorest, but are geopolitical allies. While aid has no doubt helped some countries, a lot of aid seems to be wasted or misdirected as well. Some additional information has been added and updated to this section. Find Out More »
    - Related Section(s): Third World Debt / Causes of Poverty / Trade and Economic Issues


  3. Has food aid helped in alleviating hunger? In non-emergency situations, some food aid policies have amounted to economic dumping, underselling local farmers and driving them out of business, with a chain of consequences that increases dependency and hunger. A few updates have been added to the food dumping section on this site. Find Out More »
    - Related Section(s): Hunger and Poverty / Trade and Economic Issues


  4. The U.S. appears to be considering its nuclear weapons options. While raising concerns about other countries deploying weapons of mass destruction, earlier in March, Pentagon Nuclear Posture documents revealed nuclear options at named countries. As a result, there are more fears about nuclear weapons going from being a tool of deterrent to being possible tool for war-fighting and war-making. Find Out More »
    - Related Section(s): Arms Control and Nuclear Weapons / Geopolitics