KZBlog

Thanks to Registan.net for pointing me to this article on problems with US AID funding for Central Asia:

Aid for almost every country in the former Soviet Union will be falling in 2008, under the current foreign affairs budget released by the US State Department. Much of the planned US assistance will go toward helping independent-minded states in the region resist Russian efforts to reassert its dominance in the Caspian Basin and elsewhere. Even so, some Washington experts lament the drop-off in aid, and describe the dwindling budgets in recent years as “monuments to weak analysis, inter-agency pettiness, and trite bureaucratic formuli.”

Overall, the budget for the Freedom Support Act, which provides aid to former Soviet states, is $346 million for fiscal year 2009, which actually starts on October 1, 2008. That is down from $396 million in fiscal 2008, and $452 million the year before that.

It’s interesting to note because one of the sponsors of the Freedom Support Act was John McCain, who will likely be the Republican nominee for President. So perhaps the Central Asia crowd should be cheering for McCain who has paid some attention to the region. On the other hand, Barak Obama is widely believed to be more of an internationalist and perceived to have sympathy for Muslim countries, having been raised in Indonesia. Perhaps he will be more willing to dole out aid to developing countries and to sympathize with the common rhetoric of Western democracy balanced with Asian values that is rife throughout this region. Hilary Clinton, on the other hand, seems to have a more shameful link to the region via ex-President Clinton who seems happy to do business deals here to help out his buddies and lend credence to regional leaders by talking to them.

I’d be interested in what you readers think. Which US Presidential candidate is best for Central Asia?