	Generational Dynamics
	Forecasting America's Destiny ... and the World's

\| HOME \| WEB LOG \| COUNTRY WIKI \| COMMENT \| FORUM \| DOWNLOADS \| ABOUT \|

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 27-Jun-2010
27-Jun-10 News -- G-8 meeting ends with empty promises

Web Log - June, 2010

27-Jun-10 News -- G-8 meeting ends with empty promises

Fears that Sunday referendum in Kyrgyzstan may lead to new violence

G-8 meeting ends with empty promises and irrelevant disagreements

Leaders of the 8 G-8 countries (United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia) met for two days in Toronto, and issued a statement on Saturday.

Here are some of the "accomplishments" of the two-day meeting:

President Obama led the way in urging North Korea and Iran to halt nuclear programs that could potentially produce nuclear weapons, according to Reuters. What's the point of having an international summit, if there aren't a few urgings?

The group deplored the loss of life over Israel's confrontation, last month, with the aid flotilla trying to break the Gaza blockade, according to AFP, and said that the blockade was "not sustainable." What's the point of having an internation summit, if there are a few deplorings?

The group issued a "stark warning" to Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai, demanding to know how he was going to take over security and drive out corruption, according to the Guardian. And Karzai had damned well better comply, or the next G-8 meeting will issue another stark warning. What's the point of having an international summit, if there aren't a few stark warnings?

The group disagreed on deficit spending and stimulus, according to Bloomberg. President Obama wants everyone to spend more on stimulus, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants everyone to stop going deeper into debt. What's the point of having an international summit, if there aren't a few disagreements?

The group promised to provide $5 billion in aid to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by 2015, according to Xinhua. What's the point of having an international summit, if there aren't a few empty promises?

With regard to the promise of aid, G-8 pacts are "littered with broken promises," according to Canadian TV. For example, at the 2009 G-8 summit, leaders committed providing $22 billion in aid for food security, but less than $1 billion has been provided. The G-8 in 2005 promised $25 billion in aid to Africa, but only $9 billion has been provided.

So this whole thing is a big dog-and-pony show with no meaningful content at all.

And there's more. The G-8 meeting ended, but as soon as it did on Saturday afternoon, the G-20 meeting began. The G-20 is a meeting of the leaders of these countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Additional links

Although the U.S., Russia and China all have a common interest in preventing the violence in Kyrgyzstan from spreading into a wider war, none of them wants to risk getting in the middle of a possible civil war. Meanwhile, a nationwide referendum is being held on Sunday, and many fear that it will only aggravate the government crisis. Asia Times

For those homeowners facing foreclosure, there's another alternative that some banks are offering to some homeowners, called "deed in lieu." The bank gives the homeowner several thousand dollars in return for simply deeding the house back to the bank, thus eliminating expensive foreclosure proceedings. Washington Post

For those interested in the history of computers, the top 10 computer history web sites. Tech Republic

Why China's currency has two different names. Hint: you can't use "yuan" and "renminbi" interchangeably. BBC

India's greatest internal threat are the Naxal/Maoists, whose terrorist attacks we've reported several times in the last few months. One reason that the Indian army can't be dispatched to stop the threat is that the army is already stretched too thin defending the borders with Pakistan. Eurasia Review

Russia gets closer to a return to dictatorship with some new bills, soon to be passed by the State Duma, that would give the FSD security service (the new name for the Soviet KGB) additional powers to detain and interrogate people without cause. CS Monitor

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 27-Jun-10 News -- G-8 meeting ends with empty promises thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (27-Jun-2010) Permanent Link
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Donate to Generational Dynamics via PayPal

Web Log Pages

Current Web Log

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 27-Jun-2010 27-Jun-10 News -- G-8 meeting ends with empty promises

G-8 meeting ends with empty promises and irrelevant disagreements

Additional links

Web Log Pages

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 27-Jun-2010
27-Jun-10 News -- G-8 meeting ends with empty promises