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As Aleppo burns, we need to face the dark truth about where our foreign aid actually goes

Foreign aid is a bargaining chip with developing countries, securing contracts for British oil, finance, infrastructure and military contractors, often structured via British tax havens, from the City of London

For Syrian civilians in Aleppo, caught in a brutal civil war since 2011 with relentless shelling, barrel bombs and sniper fire, “everything feels like hell”.

US and UK-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan turned the Middle East into a ticking time bomb, generating refugee flows last seen during WW2 and sparking aggressive Cold War-esque military posturing over plans to isolate Syria from Iran and Russia.

If the human tragedy unfolding in Syria teaches us one thing, it’s that western military intervention is too often the cause of humanitarian crises, rather than the solution to it.

With the UN impotent, political leadership has never been more needed. Yet free market fundamentalism by governments is causing paralysing and inaction.

It is within the context of neoliberal economics that Theresa May’s signal to slash UK foreign aid should be examined.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE:

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/aleppo-syria-assad-isis-battle-ceasefire-burns-dark-truth-foreign-aid-weapons-deals-theresa-may-a7473626.html?cmpid=facebook-post

Categories: Education, Educational Resources, Europe, Europe and Australia, European Union, UK, United Nations

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