It's The American Leadership That Has Not

The Time Has Come To End This Charade. The Debts Are Unaffordable. If They Won't Cancel The Debts I Would Suggest Obstruction; You Do It Yourselves. Africa Should Say: 'thank You Very Much But We Need This Money To Meet The Needs Of Children Who Are Dying Right Now So We Will Put The Debt Servicing Payments Into Urgent Social Investment In Health, Education, Drinking Water, Control Of Aids And Other Needs.'

All Of The Incessant Debate About Development Assistance, And Whether The Rich Are Doing Enough To Help The Poor, Actually Concerns Less Than 1% Of Rich World Income. The Effort Required Of The Rich Is Indeed So Slight That To Do Less Is To Announce Brazenly To A Large Part Of The World: 'you Count For Nothing.' We Should Not Be Surprised, Then, If In Later Years The Rich Reap The Whirlwind Of That Heartless Response.

Our Interconnectedness On The Planet Is The Dominating Truth Of The 21st Century. One Stark Result Is That The World's Poor Live, And Especially Die, With The Awareness That The United States Is Doing Little To Mobilise The Weapons Of Mass Salvation That Could Offer Them Survival, Dignity And Eventually The Escape From Poverty.

It's Not So Unusual To Run Out Of Someone Else's Currency.

White House And State Department Foreign-policy Experts Are Overwhelmingly Directed Towards Military And Diplomatic Issues, Not Development Issues.