G8 Summit.

[Beevers_uk]

I think they have reached a agreement on something, i dont know what!! The 8 leaders and African leaders are makin a confrence, Tony Blair is talking about Terrorism first!!
3BL Dollars to Palestinia help!!
And i dont think they have dropped the debt, but have taken steps to make trading fair, and to create a new protection for Africa, and to help AIDS and Starvation by a increase of 50bl dollars annually up to 2010. They will establish good governemnts and new laws, and establish a better way of Peace Keeping in Africa. He said they are making 'Real Progress' toward African Poverty.
(Im not sure because i couldt really understand what blair was saing, he was sort of mumbling!! Does anybody know what he said, i think thats a rough idea of what he said.)

[maccas81]

basically whats just been agreed is a doubling of aid from $25bn to $50bn ....debt among some of the poorest countries has been cancelled, and - crucially - the G8 pledged universal access to AIDS treatment - to be fair to George Bush, this is an issue that he has long spoken about and he was the main driving force behind it.....and theyve made some progress on incentivising democracy in africa...... it seems a little unclear at the moment just exactly what was agreed on climate change, but i know it involves working with developing nations as well....the reason the USA rejected Kyoto is because it was not binding on developing nations and if a new appraoch which binds developing countries, especially china can be found then thats so much the better. all in all , a good days work....they cant wave a magic wand and fix everything, but - at first glance at least - the G8 have delivered on this occasion and i think most people will broadly welcome their agreement

[maccas81]

to my knowledge, the following countreis will benefit from the debt cancellation, but i'm not 100% sure .....theyre the most heavily indebted countries, as regards debt as a percentage of their total economic output (GDP)

Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

[jasonAVO]

blah blah blah.....its all hot air. more empty promises to keep the populace off their back. instead of new promises i wish they would keep old ones....
in 1992 the rich nations agreed to use .7% of GNP for aid. heres how they measure up:

Official Development Assistance (ODA) 2004 ODA as GNP Percentage
Country 2004
1. Australia 0.25
2. Austria 0.24
3. Belgium 0.41
4. Canada 0.26
5. Denmark 0.84
6. Finland 0.35
7. France 0.42
8. Germany 0.28
9. Greece 0.23
10. Ireland 0.39
11. Italy 0.15
12. Japan 0.19
13. Luxembourg 0.85
14. Netherlands 0.74
15. New Zealand 0.23
16. Norway 0.87
17. Portugal 0.63
18. Spain 0.26
19. Sweden 0.77
20. Switzerland 0.37
21. United Kingdom 0.36
22. United States 0.16
Source: OECD Web site

kudos to those over .7.....

interestingly , japan and the u.s. , who are second and third to last on the list are number one and two in total dollars given. which only leads me to wonder how things would be if we and the rest actually kept our promise.
but the point is these are all just empty promises, rhetoric.
what needs to change are the trade laws. these are set up to keep poor countries poor. for a reason. we, the rich, stay rich by getting our stuff cheap. so not only do we need to focus on getting the politicians to change trade laws, we, the consumers need to alter how we live. we are all a part of the problem and only all can be a part of solution. whatever people feel of gwb, he is doing what he feels is best for america. because the people of america are used to getting cheap goods. we want more and more of everything and demand it cheaper. and we are only the epitome of what the rest of the world desires to be. you cant get rid of poverty while simultaneously screaming for bigger cars, faster computers, more tvs, more everything. diamonds, oil, computer processors, all come from poor peoples countries. most poor countries are rich in resources. which we get cheap through propping up despots. the world did it in the mideast for cheap oil. we do it in africa for diamonds amoong many other things, we do it in other countries to get cheap clothes and so on and so on. everything we get comes at a cost, that cost being the freedom, and wealth of poor countries.

i know i usually post too long but heres one example that shows the idiocy of how things are....

a small militia in an african nation kicks the tribal people off their land because it is rich in diamonds. the consumers in britain alone bought 200 million $ of these diamonds. the small militia takes this money to buy arms from the u.s. it becomes public knowledge that this militia has overtaken this land. the UN intervenes and the brits as well. the militia then holds off and chases out the un and brits by fighting them with weapons bought from the west, which were bought using money from the west, which was obtained from the consumers of the west. the west gets upset that the militia it is actually funding has acted in this way, though only due to the buying tendencies of the west, and sends in western soldiers. we feed the same armies we then get outraged over and fight. its a joke. and quite simply, people have to stop buying diamonds for that to change.

there are countless examples i could use to show this same pattern. it is not just the govt and the wealthy companies at fault with the system of living comfortably off the backs of the poor. it is ours as well. altering the way you live will be far more effective in the long run than what our leaders have promised.

jason

live simply...so others may simply live.

[PenguinBoy]

too right. pollitics is a fooked up little world. if only these big ass leaders, had tried to change things. There was a glimmer of hope. Because of course, if they denied us access to things such as beautiful diamonds. then we physically wouldn't be able to get them. I have to say that although i enjoyed live 8 etc i was pretty synical about the whole g8 thing.

Unfortunately, American Politics is such that candidates require sponsors. Most of whom are big oil giants. They're obviously not going to fund someone who will oppose their interests.

There is so much that i don't have control over. There's nothing i can do bout these leaders, and these terrorists.
All i can do is control how i live my life, and to vote.