THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 153, July 18, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
G-8 FAILURE ON A GLOBAL SCALE
By Alan Caruba
THE REAL STORY OF THE RECENT G-8 CONFERENCE IN LONDON: ITS MASSIVE EXERCISE OF SELF-DELUSION & ITS FAILURE
TO ADDRESS THE GREATEST THREAT TO WESTERN CIVILIZATION SINCE GERMANY'S THIRD REICH -- THE G-8 LEADERS' GROSS
INCOMPETENCE, THEIR MISDIRECTED & DOWNRIGHT WRONG PRIORITIES & SOLUTIONS, THEIR REFUSAL TO ACKNOWLEDGE
THAT THE BIGGEST & MOST DANGEROUS PROBLEM FACING AFRICA & THE REST OF THE WORLD IS POLITICAL ISLAM & THE
WORLDWIDE ISLAMIST JIHAD, & THEIR CONSEQUENT FAILURE TO DEVELOP & ANNOUNCE A BROAD RANGE OF PROGRAMS
DESIGNED TO PUNISH ANY NATION THAT HARBORS & SUPPORTS THE JIHADISTS
FULL STORY:
I’m fairly sure that the world leaders at the G-8 meeting in England were more disappointed at being overshadowed by the Islamist
terror attack in London than they were by the fact that their priorities and solutions were so misdirected and wrong the conference
can best serve as an example of gross incompetence.
Let’s start with their priorities. Top of the list was the reduction of “greenhouse gases” presumably responsible for “global warming”
and massive debt relief to African nations. The attack in London was a stark reminder that the first priority of the West is the defeat
of Islamic fundamentalism and its proponents.
One initiative of the G-8 Conference was to pledge $3 billion in “economic aid” to the most committed terrorists on the face of the
Earth, the Palestinians. Despite all the money they have received to date, there is not a scintilla of evidence they ever intend to cease
attacking the Israelis. What parallel universe do these G-8 “leaders” live in that permits them to ignore this?
As for global warming, there is no consensus among scientists that global warming is occurring and, most certainly, no scientific data
to support the claim that the Earth will warm dramatically in the near future.
Thompson Ayodele, Director of the Institute of Public Policy Analysis, headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, says, “The resources needed
for development in Africa can be generated within the continent,” adding that “More foreign aid will not eliminate poverty and launch
African countries to productivity and growth.” The only thing that foreign aid has produced is the maintenance of corrupt
governments in many African nations and the heavy debt that impedes any growth.
Thus, the protestations of G-8 leaders from the seven wealthy industrial democracies and from Russia, supported by the silliness of
music concerts, ignore the fact that massive foreign aid is part of the problem afflicting African nations. As Ayodele points out,
“Between 1970 and 1995, aid which started at about 5% of Africa’s Gross National Incomes later peaked at 18% in 1995.” The result
was that GDP growth-per-capita “nose-dived.” Millions of Africans survive on barely $1 a day.
The only thing this aid succeeded in doing was to prop up dictators and encourage corruption, while contributing nothing to the
need for governments that support the rule of law, ensure the protection of property rights, and encourage indigenous entrepreneurial
efforts supported by the freedom to trade.
Debt relief hides the fact that 38 of the world’s poorest nations, mostly African, received $40 billion in debt relief between 1989 and
2002. At the same time, they became further indebted with $93 billion in new loans. As The Washington Times noted in a July
6 editorial, “Today, their cumulative debt burden totals $144 billion.” In Nigeria alone, in the 45 years since Britain granted it
independence in 1960, “a succession of despots squandered nearly $400 billion.” The same can be said of far too many African
nations that gained independence in the latter half of the last century.
Africa’s problems exist on a monumental scale. Forgiving a bit of the debt they owe the West is more about public relations than
about the need to address those problems. For example, as Peter Brookes, a Heritage Foundation analyst, has noted:
“40 million Africans are at risk of starvation. Another 30 million have AIDS. Forty-two
million children are not even enrolled in school. And civil war and ethnic violence rock
the Democratic Republic of Congo (3 million dead) and Liberia (200,000 killed), among
others.”
Returning to my view that the primary problem facing the West these days is Islam, Brookes noted that, “The continent has become
a regular home to international terrorism, including al-Qa'ida.” In 1998, U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed and the
continent has seen a succession of comparable attacks, all initiated by the Islamist Jihad, the goal of which is to advance the
domination of Islam throughout Africa and the world.
Talk of debt relief ignores the tremendous wealth that exists in Africa. Nigeria, Angola, and Gabon are among the top fifteen
providers of oil to the United States. Other nations such as Algeria, Congo, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, and Chad are also energy producers.
Moreover, the restrictions African governments put on business enterprises within their nations continue to stifle any effort to create
stable, productive economies. The subsidies Western nations pay their farmers also insure that African produce cannot compete in
the world marketplace.
Tens of billions of U.S. oil company investment is scheduled for Africa, and this represents an important hedge against dependence
on Persian Gulf oil. This is a U.S. national security priority.
Before we make pariahs of the oil companies who are forced to do business with corrupt African governments, let’s remember that little
of this investment (or foreign aid) reaches ordinary Africans, in terms of the building of roads, bridges, water and sewage facilities, and
schools.
Shortterm, debt relief is simply testimony to the history of failure of foreign aid to Africa and will accomplish nothing. Longterm, the
leaders of the G-8 nations and all others need to acknowledge that the greatest threat is Islam itself, mired in laws formulated in the
seventh century AD. If they do not want to see the world plunged into chaos, they need to start now to address this threat.
That stark fact seems to have been lost on the G-8 leaders who continue to say that Islam is a peaceful religion and the problem
involves only a handful of fundamentalists who hold it hostage. How much better the latest conference would have been, if it had
announced a broad range of programs designed to punish any nation that harbors and supports the Islamic Revolution.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Africa -- Africa South of the Sahara
Africa -- The Arab States of Islamic North Africa
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
The Middle East & the Arabs
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
© Alan Caruba 2005
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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