G-8 Summit Flops As Leaders Hysterically Deny Reality

June 8, 2007 (LPAC)--As Lyndon LaRouche was in Rome telling an EIR roundtable forum that included Italian Parliamentary leaders that, "First of all, the world system, in its present form, is hopelessly bankrupt," the leaders of the G8, meeting in Heiligendamm, Germany were in denial of reality and accomplished nothing. The G8 failure was especially pronounced after Russian President Vladimir Putin surprised the gathering with a proposal to cooperate with the U.S. in building an anti-missile system to be potentially placed in Azerbaijan.

The G8 declaration on the climate issue, which was at the "center" of this summit agenda, is so vague that even the "Greenie" politicians complain about it as "meaningless" and "mere soundbites." Assistant Environment Minister of Germany, Michael Mueller, said there is nothing in this new declaration that has not been stated already 15 years ago, at the United nations Earth Summit in 1992, and little progress has been made, since. Mueller is not at all optimistic that much will happen against global warming, in the near future, and if he, one of the most pronounced ecologists in Germany, says so, it is good news, actually.

Also the much-trumpeted Africa Declaration of the summit is not only a flop, but also a fraud. It turns out that of the 60 billion dollars promised for "Africa Aid," a good deal will not be spent at all against AIDS in Africa, but against AIDS in Eastern Europe. Critics also complain that a lot of the money should have already been granted 7 years ago, when the "millennium target" of reducing poverty and diseases had been proclaimed. The annual aid budget of Germany for Africa will be increased only from 400 million euros to 500 million. The aid promise is, furthermore, bound to progress on "democracy", "governance" and "free market" in African countries, which means nothing else than blackmailing the Africans into opening their doors widely, to allow more plundering of their natural resources, more advance of globalization.

If at all, progress at the Heiligendamm summit can be reported only from areas outside of the official summit agenda: international labor union support for the German government's hedge fund transparency initiative has been stated, plus the Barney Frank letter, a political signal of support from the Democrats in the US Congress coordinated with Socialists and Social Democrats from Europe. The other good news from the summit is one from its sidelines, namely the Putin surprise proposal to Bush to build a joint missile defense and radar base in Azerbaijan—which, if accepted by the USA, would instantly cut off the "new Cold War" and "reverse Global Showdown" run by the Anglo-Americans and their European allies.