Bush keeps funding for 11 of 14 countries on State Department’s human trafficking list

Cross posted at The Smoking Room

The younger Bush is becoming more like Poppy in his look-the-other-way, realpolitik refusal to cut foreign aid to all but 3 governments – Myanmar, Cuba and North Korea – on the State Department’s list of 14 that have done squat to limit trafficking in prostitutes, child sex workers and forced laborers:

Of those 14, Bush concluded that Bolivia, Jamaica, Qatar, Sudan, Togo and the United Arab Emirates had made enough improvements to avoid any cut in U.S. aid or, in the case of countries that get no American financial assistance, the barring of their officials from cultural and educational events, said Darla Jordan, a State Department spokeswoman. …

In addition to Saudi Arabia, Ecuador and Kuwait — another U.S. ally in the Middle East — were given a complete pass on any sanctions, Jordan said. Despite periodic differences, oil-rich Saudi Arabia and the United States have a tight alliance built on economic and military cooperation.

Cambodia and Venezuela are getting limited assistance, with funding for the latter also going to “strengthening the political party system and supporting electoral observation.” So how much more is Jimmy Carter getting to go down next time and whitewash the election thuggery of Chavez’s minions? Here’s a new chant for antiwar demonstrators who can’t think of any place to cut funding except nascent democracies: “Prop up our people, not their propagandists.” (Via Hit & Run.)