asia

In 1991, a cyclone hit the coast of Bangladesh, coinciding with high tides that left 10 million people homeless and killed 139,000. Most of these people were living on mudflats in the deltas. People continue to live there in large numbers because they have nowhere else to go. But if sea levels continue to rise, many peasant farmers will have no land left. As many as 70 million people could be affected in Bangladesh, and a similar number in China. Millions more Egyptian farmers on the Nile delta also stand to lose their land.

Instead of sending in the Marines [to Iran], Washington dispatched CIA agent, Kermit Roosevelt (Theodore's grandson). He performed brilliantly, winning people over through payoffs and threats. He then enlisted them to organise a series of street riots and violent demonstrations, which created the impression that Mossadegh was both unpopular and inept. In the end, Mossadegh went down ... the pro-American Mohammad Reza Shah became the unchallenged dictator.

Most experts on Bangladeshi working conditions, and even Tesco, agree that the figure for Bangladesh should be at least £22 per month (Tk 3000).Yet the starting wages in the six factories ... ranged from just £7.54 to £8.33 per month...

Nazera, working in a factory supplying Asda and Tesco, earns just £8.33 per month. ... Runa, whose factory supplies Asda, earns £7.95 per month, which she supplements with an extra £3.03 for overtime work.

In India, DFID spent US$40m on TA [technical assistance] from Credit Suisse First Boston over just six months, in the course of advising the state government of Orissa on energy privatisation. The total bill for foreign consultants on this programme eventually rose to US$110m, with most of the TA provided by Price Waterhouse Coopers. In Vietnam, one DFID official estimated that they typically pay foreign experts between US$18,000 and US$27,000 per month, compared to US$1,500-$3,000 for local experts.

In Cambodia, donors spent between $50m and $70m on 700 international consultants in 2002 - equivalent to the wage bill for 160,000 Cambodian civil servants. In other words, donor-financed consultants working in the Cambodian government are paid upwards of 200 times what their Cambodian counterparts receive.