The Roosevelt Institution
3/17/06
At our last meeting, we discussed both sides of the argument regarding questions of humanitarian desperation; the symbolic power of Western aid; the obligation of the West not to favor certain democratically elected regimes over others -> vs. the hypocrisy of supporting a terrorist faction.
In the end, we aggreed with the opinion expressed by Jimmy Carter, stressing the importance of giving the regime a tabula rasa (at least a fair shot) and nonetheless redirecting aid through intl. organizations, tho we spent a fair amount of time discussing the pros and cons of such institutions.