Posted on: Monday, June 14, 2004
EDITORIAL
G-8: papering over some big differences
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| President Bush walks hand in hand with Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo at the G-8 summit, held last week at Sea Island, Ga.
Associated Press |
Bush did obtain a cautious statement from the gathering about promoting democracy in the Arab world, which is notable for its departure from Washington's traditional reliance on the "stability" provided by authoritarian regimes in the region.
Meanwhile, the agenda was dominated by "war on terror" issues, ensuring that barely half of last year's agreements have been implemented. Another year that empty would call into question the very reason for G-8 forums.
What's tragic is that Bush's single-mindedness on the agenda has shortchanged what might have been G-8's crowning achievement, an effort to relieve the foreign debt of 42 of the world's least developed countries.
Bush has demanded that creditors forgive as much as 90 percent of Iraq's debt in exchange for significant funding for the other countries' debt relief. Unfortunately, a mere fraction of the sum being asked for Iraq would go a long way toward relieving the great burden of the hardest-hit nations in Africa.
