In one of the more outrageous actions of the Trump administration - and that's a pretty high bar - it has ordered 550 tonnes of emergency food aid to be destroyed (incinerated!) because it has cut funding for USAID.
The "high energy biscuits", intended for malnourished children living in war and disaster zones, and sufficient to feed 1.5 millon kids (think the starving younger residents of Gaza) are currently being stored in a warehouse in Dubai. But in the absence of USAID staff, now laid off by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, the stores will instead be destroyed.
And this won't be the last. There is currently an estimated 60,000 tons of food aid languishing in US warehouses around the world which will probably end up being destroyed too. And all in the interests of saving a few bucks towards Trump's tax cuts for the wealthy.
How ridiculous!
Can it not be given to a sensible aid organization like UNHCR, UNWRA, UNICEF, or the World Food Programme. I'm guessing it's not quite so simple. And even those organizations are severely constrained by staffing and funding shortages. Can Dubai not distribute it itself (Dubai is not short of money, and think of the kudos to be earned)?
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