From www.DavidPolakoff.com, my new upstart political blog (comments/criticisms welcome on the site and the article):

Katrina aid pours in, despite the world hating us

There are those on the left that would like the American public to believe that the United States has no international friends.

Too bad they're wrong.

There's a list, unfortunately a barely-publicized one, with donors alphabetical by country. Here's the article:

International Aid for Katrina Recovery

(Sept. 13) - Dozens of nations have pledged assistance for victims of Hurricane Katrina. In addition, European governments agreed to release the equivalent of 2 million barrels of oil per day from strategic reserves.

Other forms of aid include:

AFGHANISTAN: Offered $100,000.

ALBANIA: $300,000 pledged.

ARMENIA: $200,000 pledged.

AUSTRALIA: Donating $8 million to American Red Cross.

AUSTRIA: Offered tarps and camp beds.

AZERBAIJAN: tarps, camp beds

BAHAMAS: Pledged $50,000.

BANGLADESH: Offered $1 million and said it would send 160 disaster management experts, including doctors, nurses, engineers and others.

BELGIUM: Offered medical teams, generators, water pumps.

BRITAIN: Sending 500,000 ration packs.

CAMBODIA: The king donated $20,000 to match the $20,000 government donation.

CANADA: $5 million pledged to relief fund; sending planes, three warships and coast guard vessel with supplies, helicopters, search and rescue and security teams.

CHINA: Offered $5 million to aid survivors, 1,000 tents, 600 generators, bed sheets. Said it would help with medical care and epidemic prevention if needed.

CUBA: Offered 1,100 doctors.

CYPRUS: Offered $50,000.

CZECH REPUBLIC: Ready to send rescue teams, field hospital and pumps and water processing equipment.

DOMINICA: Offered police to monitor hard-hit areas.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Offered rescue workers, doctors and nurses.

DJIBOUTI: Offered $50,000.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Pledged $500,000.

EL SALVADOR: Offered soldiers to monitor disaster areas.

FINLAND: Sent a 30-member rescue team and three Red Cross logistics experts. Offered 300 tents, a water purification unit, sterile gloves, bed sheets, pillow covers, tarps and first aid kits.

FRANCE: Flying in tents, blankets, cots, medical kits, generators and other supplies. Offered aircraft, ships and helicopters.

GABON: Offered $500,000.

GERMANY: Sending emergency food rations and water pumps. Offered medical supplies, vaccination teams, water purification equipment, medical evacuation aircraft and crisis management experts.

GREECE: Offered two cruise ships to help house homeless, relief supplies and rescue crews.

GUYANA: Organizing a telethon to raise money for victims.

HONDURAS: Offered 135 flooding and sanitation experts.

HUNGARY: Pledged $5,000 and offered to send in five doctors.

ICELAND: Offered $500,000.

INDIA: Donated $5 million to American Red Cross. Sent tarps, blankets and hygiene kits.

INDONESIA: Offered 45 doctors and 155 other medical staffers and 10,000 blankets.

IRAQ: $1 million pledged to Red Cross via the Red Crescent.

IRELAND: $1.2 million pledged.

ISRAEL: Sending medical team. Offered hundreds of doctors, trauma experts and other medical staff as well as field hospitals and other relief.

ITALY: Sent military transport plane with blankets, cots and bed supplies for 15,000 people, plus inflatable dinghies, water purifiers and first-aid kits.

JAPAN: Contributing $200,000 to American Red Cross. Prepared to provide up to $300,000 worth of tents, blankets, generators, portable water tanks and other equipment.

KENYA: Offered $100 million plus an additional $400 million in petroleum products.

KOSOVO: $490,000 pledged.

KUWAIT: Providing $500 million worth of oil and other aid.

LATVIA: Offered a disaster relief team.

LUXEMBOURG: Sending five aid experts, two jeeps and 1,000 camp beds and 2,000 blankets.

MALAYSIA: Pledged $1 million to Red Cross.

MALDIVES: Sending $25,000 to Red Cross.

MAURITANIA: Promised $200,000 to Red Cross.

MEXICO: $1 million. Offered two navy ships, 15 amphibious vehicles, two helicopters, 15 heavy trucks, health brigades and rescue teams. Sent 45 truckloads of supplies and two field kitchens.

MONGOLIA: $50,000 pledged.

NATO: Ferrying supplies.

NETHERLANDS: Sent navy frigate with helicopters, medical supplies, boats and marines. Sent levee inspection team, water pumps.

NEW ZEALAND: Pledged $1.4 million to Red Cross. Offered search specialists and victim identification team.

NIGERIA: Pledged $1 million.

NORWAY: Promised $1.54 million in cash and supplies.

OMAN: Pledged $15 million.

ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES: Donated $25,000 to American Red Cross.

PAKISTAN: $1 million pledged to Red Cross, offered to send doctors and paramedics.

PALAU: $50,000 pledged.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Promised $10,000 to Red Cross.

PERU: Offered medical team of 80 to 100 people.

PHILIPPINES: Philippines Red Cross donating $25,000. Government offered to send 25-man relief team.

PORTUGAL: Offering tents, mattresses, blankets, hygiene kits. Lending 2 percent of its strategic oil reserve, equivalent to 500,000 barrels of oil.

QATAR: Offered $100 million.

ROMANIA: Sending two teams of medical experts.

RUSSIA: Sending three transport planes with generators, food, tents, blankets, drinking water and medical supplies.

SAUDI ARABIA: Promised $5 million from Aramco, $250,000 from AGFUND.

SINGAPORE: Sent three transport helicopters and 38 soldiers.

SLOVAKIA: Promised blankets, beds, first aid kits.

SOUTH KOREA: Donating $30 million in government and civilian assistance and sending search team and relief supplies.

SPAIN: Sent 16 tons of supplies, including food rations, tents and blankets. Also contributing a naval ship to a NATO-led operation.

SRI LANKA: Pledged $25,000 to American Red Cross.

SWEDEN: Sending plane stocked with water-treatment equipment, plastic jugs, water-purification experts. Offered aircraft to help distribute supplies.

SWITZERLAND: Offering 40-50 tons worth of supplies, including large tents, wool blankets, hygiene kits. Offered to send four doctors, two water experts, one environmental expert.

TAIWAN: Pledged $2 million, supplies.

THAILAND: Dispatching at least 60 doctors and nurses along with rice.

TURKEY: Promised $2.5 million in cash and aid.

UGANDA: $200,000 pledged.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: $100 million pledged.

VENEZUELA: Offered 1 million barrels of gasoline, $5 million in cash, water purification plants, rescue volunteers and more than 50 tons of canned food and water. Venezuela's Citgo Petroleum Corp. pledged $1 million.

VIETNAM: Pledged $100,000.

YEMEN: $100,000 promised to Red Cross.

Sources: Governments, U.S. State Department.

In case you didn't want to read through the list of the 79 enemies the United States has, here are some highlights of what the world that hates us is contributing:

KENYA: Offered $100 million plus an additional $400 million in petroleum products.

Kenya...$100 million. How is that not impressive?

But even more interesting than a country whose gross domestic product is .06% of the world's total GDP contributing $100 million are these:

KUWAIT: Providing $500 million worth of oil and other aid.
QATAR: Offered $100 million.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: $100 million pledged.

These of course are three Arabic countries (and, as we all know, Arabs hate Americans) contributing $700 million in cash, oil, and aid.

I suppose sometimes it takes a natural disaster to bring the world together and to prove to people that we aren't hated. Disagreements will always arise but when help is needed the strong countries of the world stand up and band together.

Even France.