Who Americans are

My morning started with joy and honour this morning as a free reader of ACC became a paid subscriber last night. She made a commitment to this newsletter that I appreciate more than she probably thought at the time. When I use honour, I am not kidding as any financial commitment is something I take seriously as I don’t give money away without long hard thought so I know others must as well. I am not acquainted with this lady but she wrote me a note about how my column on Africa yesterday resonated with exactly what she is seeing on a trip through that region right now. She did not specify where she is but did comment that humanitarian efforts are something we could offer Africa to broaden our engagement there.

Few statements could be more timely or accurate. No people—none—in the world is as giving to those in need as Americans are. We do it on a large scale and on a small one. The 2004 Indonesia tsunami victims around southeast Asia were an example of major proportion. The U.S. military was only a part of the vast array of resources we brought forth. Much help was government-initiated but a substantial portion was also from Joe and Joan Q. Public’s chequebooks. Earthquake victims in Pakistan later that decade were similarly able to survive because of U.S. help. Tornado victims in Missouri or those displaced by the never ending cycle of hurricanes are domestic examples.

We have always been, at heart, able to reach out beyond our individual homes to help others, regardless of skin colour, creed, or political party. It is part of the American DNA—at last it has been in the past.

My point yesterday was about Africa was that we have other tools we can use to engage with the region, not that we should ignore China (or Russia, for that matter). Over the course of the post-Cold War era, however, we increasingly use military statistics (about our strength, their {whomever that may be} strength, their intentions, and the like) rather than focus on the other far cheaper instruments. Put otherwise, we focus on them rather than the power already we have. The power we already have is enormous.

I am not suggesting we simply ‘throw instruments’ at problems as that is not only foolish but irresponsible. I am advocating that we make a point of understanding where and when we might use something the skills where we excel by having situational awareness of other contexts. Much as you know what is going on with your friends to know when to laugh with them versus comforting them, we need have some idea how things progress (or don’t) in Africa, the Middle East, the South Pacific, etc. Those conditions are likely to be completely devoid, if really considered, of concerns about China or Russia. We need know what others really care about.

Today, 27 April 2024, East Africa is being overwhelmed by dramatic flooding. Merely yesterday, photographs of people, already dire living conditions, trying to skirt rising flood waters in Burundi, Tanzania, and Kenya were harrowing. The slums of Nairobi or the rural setting of Burundi under torrents of water offer dire health prognoses for people who have little nor have options for escape. As typical with flooding, these immediate conditions tend to linger for more than a single day or two, exacerbating the challenges of recovery in regions where life is difficult already.

Governments in Africa have some strengths, usually associated with leveraging strong family structures but their institutional capacity to address humanitarian crises are often quite weak. U.S. capacity building, otherwise known as development, has its role in bilateral relations long term but we are exquisitely skillful at helping states address temporary needs with food, clothing, and medical care. The assistance is most often effectively managed through multinational relief organisations rather than the military since that is not the primary task for those in uniform. But multinational organisations lack the air assets to get into these locations. Coordination between private and public sector activities are essential.

Providing help to governments in these threatened communities would leave a tremendous long-term impression on those in East Africa about the United States should we choose to assist. We don’t generally offer such assistance for the purpose of leaving an impression but actions do create consequences. We are better at this than anyone else.

Some times countries don’t want our help which is fine: we need respect those decisions. But often they are utterly overwhelmed by nature, grateful for any aid on any scale.

China is actually pretty abysmal at helping others, though they have improved since 2013 when their reaction to a massive Philippine typhoon embarrassed Beijing which could do virtually nothing by way of assistance. China now has a hospital ship, modelled after our own, but still is far behind us in terms of ‘lift’ to get to crises anywhere in the world. China focuses on China, regardless of its purported advances in the world.

I am not advocating we be the sole party responsible for ‘saving the world’ but I am suggesting we recognise that supporting people in need is a fundamentally American activity. It is one that has positive implications well worth the financial commitment, as noted years ago by Bush Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’s reminder on spending more on soldiers if we don’t send more development assistance as part of our global efforts. Again, I don’t advocate spending for spending’s sake but because it is in our interests to do so, as individuals and as a nation. We are the luckiest people alive to live here and we have the ability to share that with others in need. But I also recognize this is a public discussion democracies need to have to assure the majority sees a value.

In about 2008, I read an observation by David Remnick of The New Yorker that has never left me. I admit I don’t remember the context but suspect it was about Iraq considering the date. But Remnick noted—I am paraphrasing with my aging brain here— that what makes a superpower is the willing to do things for others even if we don’t benefit directly ourselves. It’s the right thing to do for others.

Such an American concept. This is as much why people have respected us as anything else we see as superpower status.

Thank you for reading this newsletter today. I welcome your thoughts, rebuttals, pushbacks, questions, and reminders. I write to expand civil, measured conversation; that really is my goal, with some whimsy thrown in once in a while.

Be well and be safe. FIN

Abdi Latif Dahir, ‘Deadly Rains and Flood Sweep Cities Across East Africa’, NYTimes.com, 25 April 2024, retrieved at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/25/world/africa/kenya-flooding-rain-tanzania.html