Is Foreign Aid just another euphemism for Western Countries giving loans to 3rd World

[dominatr]

For a time i had been wondering... about how the media uses foreign aid very frequently and the media is known for its many euphemisms, and i just need clarification if anyone else has picked up on this before.

 

[Silurian]

Foreign Aid can take many forms.
Soft Loans
Gifts
Technical support
Goods
etc

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Foreign aid is mostly a euphemism for bribes given to keep foreign governments behaving like we want them to behave. Often it means propping up authoritarian regimes that we fear would otherwise be replaced by those hostile to US interests. Very rarely does it refer to anything that actually helps the common man in those countries.

 

[Silurian]

Well other countries are different.

From Telegraph

David Cameron agrees. Yesterday he pledged £814 million on top of the UK’s existing commitment to GAVI (the Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunisation) of £680 million between 2011 and 2015.

The prevention of diarrhoea and pneumonia in children in the poorest countries was highlighted yesterday. Rotavirus, which causes gastroenteritis, infects nearly all children world-wide before the age of three. In poorer countries, it is estimated to kill more than 500,000 every year. The virus is contagious and infections cannot be prevented by sanitation alone, yet vaccines that work are available.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...arm-that-will-be-felt-all-over-the-world.html

 

[kochman]

Foreign Aid can take many forms.
Soft Loans
Gifts
Technical support
Goods
etc

Yes, very rarely does the US loan out the money... we generally accept we aren't getting it back...