Lebanon Donor Conference

At a donor conference in Paris, Lebanese
PM Fouad Siniora has been pleading with
representatives from around 40 countries to come
to the rescue of his tiny nation, already hugely in
debt and the situation severely aggravated by the
effects of Israel's grotesquely savage attack last
Summer, and it was hoped that at least 4bn
dollars would be pledged.

In which case, Siniora will be pleased:
Donors including the US, France, the EU and
Saudi Arabia have already pledged approx
$7.6bn in aid and loans.

Individual pledges so far:
US: 1bn dollars (inc new 770m)
France: 650m dollars
EU: 520m dollars
Saudi Arabia: 1.1bn dollars
World Bank: 1bn dollars
EIB: 1.25bn dollars .

Before the conference, Mr Siniora warned that
"the cost of helping Lebanon, however expensive
that might seem, is much less than the cost of
not helping Lebanon".

But who should really pay for this?
If you destroy something, you pay reparations,
that is reasonable and well established.
In which case Israel and America should pay all
of the costs which can be related to the attempted
destruction of Lebanon last Summer by those 2
terrorist states.
OK so America is paying something substantial
but you can be sure that amount will not be
deducted from the annual aid to Israel of approx
3.5bn dollars, (or 5bn dollars, depending on what
is considered aid).
Why the EU or France should pay anything here is
a mystery to me, OK, buying influence is one
consideration but still.....