Is looking after our own the only priority in life?
One of the major criticisms of your government taking part in a major humanitarian effort is the common "we should be taking care of our own first" before worrying about the people with severe problems.
I'm going to politely disagree with this idea and argue that in today's world that kind of closed-minded nationalistic (or tribal) attitude needs to give way to a more pan-global world view.
Many countries want to retreat towards isolationism and damn the consequences of the outside world. America does it. The UK does it. Russia most definitely does it. Secessionist countries like Catalonia do it and overall it probably should stop.
To argue that your needs and your families needs are more important than anyone else is a naturally programmed idea. We will all fall victim to this thinking in our lives but this doesn't mean we shouldn't aim to overcome it.
The idea of nation states was really solidified in the 1800s. Old colonies were becoming new countries and occupied countries found a sense of national identity through their occupation. Additionally wars across Europe and the Middle East, as well as far East Asia created the world picture we see today on the map.
Ultimately perhaps we should stop looking within and start looking outwards. The international world has always relied on a bit of interconnectivity and whether you like it or not that interconnectivity and interdependency is growing and isn't going to go away soon. No nation is an island (figuratively! I know my nation literally is an island and this leads to all sorts of problems in cooperative thinking) anymore and if we keep fighting for nationality in this day and age I worry we will only end up destroying one another.
Now of course there is no denying that you or your government should take every effort to make sure that your aid be it money, logistics or even military support is actually going to make a difference rather than destabilise the country or it's economy, or even shore up the personal finances of a dictator. Supporting others isn't without any criticisms as it is true that in some situations it aids corruption or even inhibits self reliance but sometimes the alternatives are far worse.
I'm going to politely disagree with this idea and argue that in today's world that kind of closed-minded nationalistic (or tribal) attitude needs to give way to a more pan-global world view.
Many countries want to retreat towards isolationism and damn the consequences of the outside world. America does it. The UK does it. Russia most definitely does it. Secessionist countries like Catalonia do it and overall it probably should stop.
To argue that your needs and your families needs are more important than anyone else is a naturally programmed idea. We will all fall victim to this thinking in our lives but this doesn't mean we shouldn't aim to overcome it.
The idea of nation states was really solidified in the 1800s. Old colonies were becoming new countries and occupied countries found a sense of national identity through their occupation. Additionally wars across Europe and the Middle East, as well as far East Asia created the world picture we see today on the map.
Ultimately perhaps we should stop looking within and start looking outwards. The international world has always relied on a bit of interconnectivity and whether you like it or not that interconnectivity and interdependency is growing and isn't going to go away soon. No nation is an island (figuratively! I know my nation literally is an island and this leads to all sorts of problems in cooperative thinking) anymore and if we keep fighting for nationality in this day and age I worry we will only end up destroying one another.
Now of course there is no denying that you or your government should take every effort to make sure that your aid be it money, logistics or even military support is actually going to make a difference rather than destabilise the country or it's economy, or even shore up the personal finances of a dictator. Supporting others isn't without any criticisms as it is true that in some situations it aids corruption or even inhibits self reliance but sometimes the alternatives are far worse.
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