ום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה, HOLOCAUST – IMPRESSIONS | PICTURES | LIFELINES | SURVIVORS | NUMBERS | and those we have to mourn about ום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה, HOLOCAUST – IMPRESSIONS | PICTURES | LIFELINES | SURVIVORS | NUMBERS | AND THOSE WE HAVE TO MOURN ABOUT
Violent waves crash against the shore in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, as Typhoon No. 10 approaches the Tohoku region on the morning of Aug. 30. Powerful Typhoon No. 10 struck the Tohoku region on the afternoon of Aug. 30 as expected. The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued a warning to residents of potential record rainfall. The […]
Der Laizismus des säkularen Deutschlands entlarvt das endzeitliche christliche Röcheln Merkels Katholisches.info : Christliches Röcheln in Deutschland. Geschlossene Kirchen und Exodus der Gläubigen Es ist Blick auf eine Kirche, von der Joseph Kardinal Ratzinger bereits seinerzeit sagte, daß das Ordinariat des Erzbistums München-Freising mehr hauptamtliche Mitarbeiter für München und Teile Oberbayerns hat als die Römische […]
THE ATLANTIC – Pope Francis hosted a special guest at the Vatican on Monday: Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook. Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, spoke with Francis about “how to use communications technology to alleviate poverty, encourage a culture of encounter, and to communicate a message of hope, especially to the […]
It is perverse that agencies intent on helping the most vulnerable in the civil war can throw a lifeline to such a brutal regime
The UN’s aid effort in Syria so far is estimated to have cost $4bn. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images
Reinoud Leenders
Monday 29 August 2016 17.05 BST
When confronted with criticism of their failure to address Syria’s humanitarian catastrophe, UN officials routinely blame a lack of resources. As Stephen O’Brien, the undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, put it, the UN system is broke, not broken.
Yet UN aid agencies, since stepping up operations in Syria in 2012, have handed lucrative procurement contracts to regime cronies who are known to have bankrolled the very repression and brutality that helped cause the crisis in the first place.
The revelation is as perverse as it is unsurprising, and points to the moral bankruptcy of the UN’s $4bn (£3bn) Syria aid effort to date. It is perverse that UN agencies, which are mandated to reach out to the most vulnerable in Syria’s vicious and protracted civil war, are throwing a lifeline to a regime that has no qualms about burning the entire country just to stay in power. :::
The UN has awarded contracts worth tens of millions of dollars to people closely associated with the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, as part of an aid programme that critics fear is increasingly at the whim of the government in Damascus, a Guardian investigation has found.
Businessmen whose companies are under US and EU sanctions have been paid substantial sums by the UN mission, as have government departments and charities – including one set up by the president’s wife, Asma al-Assad, and another by his closest associate, Rami Makhlouf.
The UN says it can only work with a small number of partners approved by President Assad and that it does all it can to ensure the money is spent properly.
“Of paramount importance is reaching as many vulnerable civilians as possible,” a spokesman said. “Our choices in Syria are limited by a highly insecure context where finding companies and partners who operate in besieged and hard to reach areas is extremely challenging.” ….
FAKTENSUCHER PLUS: 
Reinoud Leenders
Monday 29 August 2016 17.05 BST