Ethics of Poverty Assistance

How to solve world poverty, chronic hunger, and food shortage if you are journalist or an academic on a field trip. Michael Wines describes the predicament of an international journalist and the ethics of assistance in a great piece in the Times. Is it okay to just send some money, give alms during a visit to a developing nation or should you contribute to a NGO or charity or, should one just cover the story objectively and hope the UN and the G8 will attend to the problem. Maybe the Millenium Development Goals will assist the poor eventually. Meanwhile, crushing poverty and chronic hunger bedevils rest of the world.