Should we give aid to a country that kowtows to thugs?

It's a difficult moral question. A similar question often posed is should we give aid to a country riddled with corruption? There is no easy answer because it would be all too easy to use 'it'll only go on arms/ be squandered/ stolen by authorities' as an excuse not to give help. But if it is clear that aid is making a country's problems worse by propping up a corrupt regime we have to question whether it is the right thing to do. My take is that if lines to civilians are open to get food/ medical aid through it should be done. But giving money to a government whose ethics are questionable should not be done. And each case needs to be looked at individually. I don't know enough about the Sudanese government to comment on this particular case. jude "Cacoethes scribendi" http://www.judesworld.net

We shouldn't give aid to the Sudanese government. I don't think the Sudanese government are kowtowing to thugs, I think they are the thugs and this decision is consistent with a long track record of violence and general inhumanity to their own citizens and others. That said, as an interested non-expert on aid, I don't know whether we actually do give aid to the Sudanese government at the moment. I'd be surprised if we did. Quite a bit of aid is going to people in Darfur, which is part of Sudan, but this aid is directed towards people who have been attacked and displaced by government-backed thugs and is delivered by international aid agencies. I'm not sure the Sudanese government would really care if we stopped sending aid to people that they've been trying to kill anyway.

www.lorrainemace.com From comments made on the news it appears that the arrest, conviction and sentence in this case is because the government in Sudan is 'upset' that aid has been given to their opponents in Darfur. It seems harsh on the teacher at the centre of all this, if this is, indeed, the position. She is guilty of, at worst, poor judgement.

Imprisoning and then deporting a woman for naming a teddy bear 'Mohammed'. Hmm...she'll wake up in Liverpool next week and laugh about it. Cos it sure is hilarious! If not a little...um...worrying. :-/ In wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish, but enivrez-vous! The art is to be absolutely yourself -Charles Baudelaire. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmhEMPN7y1I

"it appears that the arrest, conviction and sentence in this case is because the government in Sudan is 'upset' that aid has been given to their opponents in Darfur." I don't know if they're upset about aid (as it food and medical aid). They're definitely upset that the UN is in the process of sending a large peacekeeping force to Darfur. I think the main thing Ms Gibbons is guilty of is choosing to go and work in Sudan. It's a nasty place run by nasty people but it's not significantly nastier now than when she went out there.

All other things aside for a moment, what a stupid woman! She was obviously highly ill-prepared for her adventure in Sudan. Complaining about this is like a polar explorer whining about frost bite.

'Complaining about this is like a polar explorer whining about frost bite.' Yep. 100% in agreement. On UK TV this morning there was someone talking on a sofa saying the woman should have had some cultural awareness training. The strap-line under this talking head said he was a Cultural Awareness Coach! Is that really a job? What the fuck happened to common sense? Reading a book, trawling the internet? Watching the fucking news where demonstrations that occur because a Scandinavian magazine/newspaper prints a 'blasphemous' cartoon are shown? I sympathise with the woman's current predicament, but come on! I'm going for a lie-down, this one really makes me mad. Ewan

Maybe she isn't stupid at all but realised that something like this might happen and it was all part of a plan to come back and sell her story to a newspaper for a six figure sum which she undoubtedly will. I'd suffer a couple of weeks in jail and maybe even 40 lashes for the right price. jude "Cacoethes scribendi" http://www.judesworld.net

She took a chance then Jude, I mean the jail time could have been longer. How much time would you do in a Sudanese jail and what's the right price?

There's a celebrity reality show in there somewhere. How about 'Celebrity Sudanese Porridge'? Or 'Celebrity Sub-Saharan Slammer'? "This morning our celebrities will be taking the flogging challenge..." Oooh, I'm on a roll now. How about 'Celebrity Calvin's Geneva'? Or 'International It's a Knock-out Inquisition'? Lots of comedy tongue-piercing and the winner avoids the pyre.

LMAOIIWSFS* Ewan *If It Wasn't So Fucking Sad

The problem with coming up with spoof-ideas for reality TV shoes is that they always end up happening. I'm sure the show 'Gillian McKeith looks at Celebrity shit' that was on a couple of year's ago was a variation on an original idea in Charlie Brooker's TVGohome.

"Socialism has taught us that everyone is nice and just like us and of course we must believe it." Are you sure? It hasn't taught me that. "There are a lot of places that look civilized on the surface but really aren't." I think anyone who read up on Sudan and expected it to be civilised probably wouldn't be the sharpest tool in the box. With the possible exception of North Korea and Burma, Sudan's reputation is about as bad as they come. "Note what happens to women in an awful lot of non western countries.Don't get raped in Saudi,Bahrain...... the list could go on and on.It is bad enough here but at least we don't hang or flog the victim.I blame woolly headedness." Not completely sure whose woolly headedness is the cause of the current situation in Sudan, or the general state of affairs in the oil based tyrannies of Saudi Arabia and their neighbours. In the case of the Saudis, I strongly advocate that we stop selling them weapons and don't invite them for any more state visits to this country until they start to move out of the 17th century. I've got no problem arguing for cultural imperialism when the alternative is barbarism. Unfortunately one thing the Labour and Tory parties currently agree strongly on is that it's vital to remain cosy with the House of Saud because their such good customers.

Follow the Aid Chain Follow the Aid chain watch it shrink shedding its fat in the corruption sink first in Europe then far away in the pockets of the friends who make the word “Charity” stink We praise the lord God for making us superior as we share our bounty at least, the bit we have over this heightens that feeling of them being inferior and gives us a warm glow as our egos waxes fatter The charities whip us to guilt ridden stress via photos on television of children in distress starving black children in need of our help we are magnanimous and give to the whelps The costs of these kind actions are not shown on the screen but they begin before the first cent appears on the scene the experts are hired for thousands of pounds and the firms in the west don’t sell themselves for a song On each step of the way a bit of money remains hanging but with the destination in sight the pay-offs are really spinning and the generous benefactors smile and expect for their bequests that people in the Third World show gratitude and a new zest Praise to the gods out there in the west for the loans at the highest rates of interest the old drugs with an expiry date in the past food left over from a harvest that can’t last so the givers are angry when the need remains high and blame the victims for their misfortunes and their miserable lives