According to CNN, G8 leaders -- from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada and Russia -- issued a declaration detailing their commitment to ensuring adequate energy and dealing with climate change; providing food security and nutrition in Africa; promoting democratic transitions in the Middle East; and supporting political transition in Syria. They reiterated "grave concern" over Iran's nuclear program and the need to ensure an adequate oil supply.
The G8 does not include Brazil, India and China or about 45% of the world population and a large portion of the world's economy. Needless to say, China is a genuine economic power and India is no slouch either. Fifty years ago the G8 was called the G6. A few years from now, it will be called the G11. How Italy squeaks into the G8 group, and not China, Brazil or India, is a mystery to me. Italy mist be a legacy country from WW II.
By the way, we have the G7/8. The G8 plus 5 and of course the G20. It is, in my humble opinion, all about money. Who has it? Who controls it? And who gets it? According to my sources, Obama is pushing, has pushed in fact, for the privatization of global food investment. My view of this initiative is that Obama suggests each country put a bag of money into a larger bag; and the final bag of money is managed by Goldman Sachs or equal, and it is used to buy food for undernourished countries or other related activities. I wonder how Obama will look on Goldman's board when he retires? The silence of lambs is more than just a scary movie title. It is a reflection on all of us.
Please pass this on.
What do the G7/8, G8+5, and G20 all do? Why do they exist? I actually agree with you about Obama's plan for privatization the global food investment. If I learned one thing in school, it's that the USA is still the worlds great super power. If I learned two things, it's that the long term power that the US has is in food production. We have it, being land/ability to product food, and other countries do not. Obama would be smart to figure out as fast as he can how hungry other countries are and how much they are willing to pay for some food.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, I don't understand the Silence of the Lambs reference. The title, itself, is meant to reflect the story in the movie in which Jodie Foster tries to save homicide victims so that she can "silence" the lambs in her head that she couldn't save from being slaughtered when she was younger. I don't see how any of that relates to any of what you just said, nor do I see how it's a reflection on "all of us."