G8 double African relief, Live8 claim victory, really??
Attributable to the lobbying, or simply coincidental? Will it even matter?
from 
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News in the last few days, via My Way News, originally from Associated Press, headline linked. Comments follow.
Resolute G-8 Leaders Unveil African Aid
Jul 8, 6:18 PM (ET)
By TOM RAUM
GLENEAGLES, Scotland (AP) - Vowing not to be sidetracked by the deadly London bombings, world leaders unveiled a $50 billion package Friday to help lift Africa from poverty and proposed up to $9 billion to help the Palestinians achieve peace with Israel.
"We offer today this contrast with the politics of terror," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair, wrapping an economic summit jolted by Thursday's bus and subway attacks.
Leaders also pledged new joint efforts against terrorism in response to the attacks.
{snip}
With a last-minute pledge from Japan, Blair won a key victory - a promise to boost Africa aid to $50 billion annually by 2010, from the current $25 billion. The United States did not make any additional pledges. Bush announced last week that he would seek to double U.S. aid to Africa by 2010.
At Blair's behest, the G-8 nations also endorsed canceling the debt of 18 of the world's poorest nations and renewed their commitment to a peacekeeping force in Africa.
"All of this does not change the world tomorrow. It is a beginning, not an end," said Blair, the summit host, with summit leaders and the leaders of five African countries standing behind him on the steps of the Gleneagles Hotel.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo thanked them for their "resolve not to be diverted by these terrorist acts."
Blair failed, however, to get all summit countries to commit to boosting foreign aid to an amount equal to 0.7 percent of national income by 2015. U.S. giving is currently 0.16 percent of national income, the smallest percentage of any G-8 country.
Even so, Irish rock star Bono, who helped organize last weekend's global Live 8 concerts to pressure G-8 leaders to spend more money on Africa, said "a mountain has been climbed."
"We've pulled this off," he said. "The world spoke and the politicians listened."
... more at linked article
So pop/rock stars are boasting that they did it, they pulled it off, and the G8 listened and did as directed. Really?
Or, was this all something that probably would have happened with or without a big music fest?
Is the outcome just a coincidence, or was it directly attributable to the Live8 staged shows? It's hard to tell for sure, given that all of these leaders have been getting lobbied for some time now -- including President Bush, who has promised to try to double African aid over the next several years anyway.
But more importantly, was any of this really a victory, or was it just another feel good operation that will lead to money going into a bottomless pit of graft and corruption by leaders in these countries who are more interested in their own genocidal campaigns against other tribes and people than they are in letting the people in their get medical treatment, food handouts and other humanitarian aid?
Without applying the necessary due diligence and followup on the actual aid money that is given to these nations, nothing will have been accomplished. Money will continue to go down the drain and we'll get decades more of complaints that the U.S.A. isn't giving a high enough percentage of it's wealth away to help lost causes such as this. Will Bono, Geldolf and others actually visit the warlords and watch the food be handed out? Will they question why some groups of people are kept away in favor of others who are allowed to take the handouts? Will they be allowed to travel freely to all areas of the nations they are claiming to help, or will many areas simply be too dangerous to visit because the warlords minions haven't yet finished their genocidal missions in those areas?
Many questions, and very few answers currently. I hope that changes over time, and I hope that the answers make many of the questions moot. Let the money, or at least the effects of it, get into the hands of the victims who need the help. Let it buy medicines, condoms, food, shelter, and other basic necessities for the peoples of Africa that need the help combating Aids, starvation, malaria, and other diseases. Let it help fight the population explosion, and even better, let it help educate the peoples of these countries into self sufficiency. Let it really help them to develop their own food sources, and let it help them to discover natural resources and other commodities that they can freely trade with the rest of the world in order to develop their own capitalistic societies that will help bring those nations into the modern world economy.
Resolute G-8 Leaders Unveil African Aid
Jul 8, 6:18 PM (ET)
By TOM RAUM
GLENEAGLES, Scotland (AP) - Vowing not to be sidetracked by the deadly London bombings, world leaders unveiled a $50 billion package Friday to help lift Africa from poverty and proposed up to $9 billion to help the Palestinians achieve peace with Israel.
"We offer today this contrast with the politics of terror," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair, wrapping an economic summit jolted by Thursday's bus and subway attacks.
Leaders also pledged new joint efforts against terrorism in response to the attacks.
{snip}
With a last-minute pledge from Japan, Blair won a key victory - a promise to boost Africa aid to $50 billion annually by 2010, from the current $25 billion. The United States did not make any additional pledges. Bush announced last week that he would seek to double U.S. aid to Africa by 2010.
At Blair's behest, the G-8 nations also endorsed canceling the debt of 18 of the world's poorest nations and renewed their commitment to a peacekeeping force in Africa.
"All of this does not change the world tomorrow. It is a beginning, not an end," said Blair, the summit host, with summit leaders and the leaders of five African countries standing behind him on the steps of the Gleneagles Hotel.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo thanked them for their "resolve not to be diverted by these terrorist acts."
Blair failed, however, to get all summit countries to commit to boosting foreign aid to an amount equal to 0.7 percent of national income by 2015. U.S. giving is currently 0.16 percent of national income, the smallest percentage of any G-8 country.
Even so, Irish rock star Bono, who helped organize last weekend's global Live 8 concerts to pressure G-8 leaders to spend more money on Africa, said "a mountain has been climbed."
"We've pulled this off," he said. "The world spoke and the politicians listened."
... more at linked article
So pop/rock stars are boasting that they did it, they pulled it off, and the G8 listened and did as directed. Really?
Or, was this all something that probably would have happened with or without a big music fest?
Is the outcome just a coincidence, or was it directly attributable to the Live8 staged shows? It's hard to tell for sure, given that all of these leaders have been getting lobbied for some time now -- including President Bush, who has promised to try to double African aid over the next several years anyway.
But more importantly, was any of this really a victory, or was it just another feel good operation that will lead to money going into a bottomless pit of graft and corruption by leaders in these countries who are more interested in their own genocidal campaigns against other tribes and people than they are in letting the people in their get medical treatment, food handouts and other humanitarian aid?
Without applying the necessary due diligence and followup on the actual aid money that is given to these nations, nothing will have been accomplished. Money will continue to go down the drain and we'll get decades more of complaints that the U.S.A. isn't giving a high enough percentage of it's wealth away to help lost causes such as this. Will Bono, Geldolf and others actually visit the warlords and watch the food be handed out? Will they question why some groups of people are kept away in favor of others who are allowed to take the handouts? Will they be allowed to travel freely to all areas of the nations they are claiming to help, or will many areas simply be too dangerous to visit because the warlords minions haven't yet finished their genocidal missions in those areas?
Many questions, and very few answers currently. I hope that changes over time, and I hope that the answers make many of the questions moot. Let the money, or at least the effects of it, get into the hands of the victims who need the help. Let it buy medicines, condoms, food, shelter, and other basic necessities for the peoples of Africa that need the help combating Aids, starvation, malaria, and other diseases. Let it help fight the population explosion, and even better, let it help educate the peoples of these countries into self sufficiency. Let it really help them to develop their own food sources, and let it help them to discover natural resources and other commodities that they can freely trade with the rest of the world in order to develop their own capitalistic societies that will help bring those nations into the modern world economy.