Reporting official perspectives on the G-8 summit..

Analysis:

This article is an associated press piece that the Grand Rapids Press pulled from the news wire. The original article was framed around the issue of British Prime minister Tony Blair having to leave early on the final day due to the bombings in London, with only a fraction of the article dealing with what was actually accomplished at the G-8 summit. The Grand Rapids Press ran the article in a much edited form, cutting out most the content dealing with the London Terror attacks, running only the parts on the summit itself. The article mentions two topics discussed at the summit. One was the issue of aid to African Nations. The article notes that the G-8 leaders pledged to increase aid but that the US objected to linking aid contribution levels to a set percentage of the donor countries GNP. The other topic mentioned in the article is the reduction of green house emissions which contribute to global warming. The article mentions that no real progress was made on this issue due to opposition by the US to setting any targets or timetables for emission reduction.

This article was rather typical of much of the coverage of the G-8 that has run in the Grand Rapids Press as well as the US media in general. One of the important issues not addressed in the article is the issue of what are the causes of poverty in Africa and what role trade and fiscal policies set by the G-8 countries play into that. So for example, one of the big issues for many poor African countries is agricultural subsidies in the “developed” world that make it very difficult for African farmers to compete in the marketplace. Another issue is that of “economic reforms” that countries must implement in order to qualify for foreign aid. The reforms usually consist of cutting social services and privatizing government services, and opening markets up to foreign investment. These type of reforms have, according to ngo’s such as Jubilee USA and “Fifty Years is Enough”, have not been proven to increase per capita income growth or reduce poverty. These policy issues, while important, have generally been ignored in the reporting on the G-8 in the Grand Rapids press.

Story:

Shaken G-8 leaders manage compromise on Africa aid

Associated Press

GLENEAGLES, Scotland – World leaders, shaken by deadly bombings in London, shortened the final day of their economic summit on Friday to allow British Prime Minister Tony Blair to rush back to chair a government panel dealing with the attacks.

The Group of Eight leaders, struggling amid the attacks to keep to their meeting’s mission, put the finishing touches on a major aid package for Africa. They failed to overcome stiff resistance from the Bush administration to launching a more aggressive attack on global warming.

That meets a key Blair objective, though the pledge doesn’t mention the British leader’s hope of increasing aid from the current $25 billion to $50 billion. Also left out of the pledge of support for Africa will be Blair’s other goal of getting all summit countries to commit to raising foreign aid to an amount equivalent to 0.7 percent of each country’s economy by 2015.

The United States, which is now giving an amount equal to 0.16 percent of its economy, objected to the setting a numerical target.

Even less progress was made on Blair’s other summit goal – getting America on board with the other countries to make major reductions in emissions of the gases that some have blamed for global warming.

According to a draft communiqué on climate change obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, the United States, the only G-8 country that has not ratified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming, was successful in rejecting Blair’s call for setting specific targets and a timetable for reducing greenhouse emissions.

Text from the original article ommitted from the Grand Rapids Press version:

On Thursday, Blair had left the summit for several hours to confer with officials at Scotland Yard and calm a nation shocked by the worst attacks on the capital since World War II. Though he later returned to the meeting at this exclusive resort about 450 miles from London, business was not proceeding as planned.

Blair’s closing press conference was moved up by an hour so the British leader could go to London for an emergency meeting of a government committee that is dealing with the bombings. The nearly simultaneous, deadly blasts rocked London’s subway and tore open a double-decker bus during Thursday’s rush hour.

President Bush, who along with the other leaders gathered here had expressed strong condemnation for the attacks, was leaving for Washington earlier than scheduled. G-8 organizers scrambled to accommodate the changing schedules.

Also reflecting the London attacks, the series of communiqués scheduled to be issued as the Group of Eight summit drew to a close will include a beefed-up section on terrorism. Aides to the leaders worked late into the night on this document, which was described as a progress report on what their countries are doing in the global war on terrorism.

The G-8 was scheduled to issue separate joint statements on Africa and global warming, the two issues that Blair made the centerpieces of this year’s 31st annual summit held at an exclusive golf resort in the Scottish highlands. The other issues were to be dealt with in a closing chairman’s statement.

Within hours of the London bombings, Bush and the other leaders issued a special joint statement that was read by Blair with his summit colleagues gathered somberly behind him. It condemned “these barbaric acts” and vowed, “We are united in our resolve to confront and defeat this terrorism that is not an attack on one nation, but on all nations and on civilized people everywhere.”

“We will not yield to these people,” Bush said later in his own remarks to reporters – a sentiment echoed by a chorus of other leaders.

“Our collective freedom has come under attack today by those who would use violence and murder to force extremism upon the world,” said Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.

Despite the changes to the summit schedule, all of the leaders stressed that the terrorist attacks would not stop them from accomplishing what they set out to do at the meeting.

Before the final joint statements were issued, the G-8 leaders were meeting with the leaders of five African nations over ways to provide greater support for the troubled continent.

The leaders were expected to pledge to double assistance by 2012 to reduce poverty and fight disease in Africa, the world’s poorest continent.

The communiqué was to acknowledge the split between the United States and the other countries in a section that said “those of us who have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, welcome its entry into force and will work to make it a success.” That was the document’s only mention of the treaty put into effect this February. Bush contends the Kyoto accord’s curbs on greenhouse emissions would wreck the U.S. economy.

Still, supporters of more aggressive action said that the United States had agreed to a document that stated “while uncertainty remains in our understanding of climate science, we know enough to act now.” French President Jacques Chirac called that compromise language a “visible, real evolution” in the American position.

Environmental groups complained that the statement omitted Blair’s objectives of obtaining commitments to cut greenhouse emissions by specified levels.