13-4-00
The Australian

Are western nations really suffering 'donor fatigue' - despite even the most gut-wrenching 'visuals' from Ethiopia? Or is it more likely that the Good Samaritans have realised the futility of giving bread to the starving whose governments have just spent $2 billion each (e.g. Ethiopia/Eritrea) fashioning swords from ploughshares?

Perhaps a more useful procedure would be to slap an appropriate 'aid tax' on arms profits at source (in the West) and place this revenue in an international fund; the 'victims' could then withdraw money as needed, always of course in proportion to the money they've spent on our assorted materiel [subs: pls add the accent]...

As a rider to such a putative UN resolution we could perhaps require those that persist in exporting land mines to undertake mine clearance at their own expense, and using their own personnel...