alt Hacker NewsUSAID was absolutely a net positive and if nothing else its elimination has completely ceded almost all soft power to China and Russia, something that will have repercussions for decades to come.
USAID was absolutely a net positive and if nothing else its elimination has completely ceded almost all soft power to China and Russia, something that will have repercussions for decades to come.
And Iran:
> A rise in instability abroad also creates a national-security risk for the U.S., Wright adds. Yemen—once a major USAID recipient, with $768 million worth of aid flowing into the country in 2024—is also home to the Houthis, an Iran-backed militant group that controls much of the country’s north and has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. As USAID funding disappears, support for the rebels is only likely to grow, he says. “Iran can continue to finance rebellions like the Houthis,” says Wright. “These second- and third-order effects might be even more consequential to the U.S. than the direct effects.”
* https://time.com/article/2026/05/15/usaid-shutdown-rise-glob...
* Analysis: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aeh7122