One man's freedom fighter...World leaders concluded an economic summit shaken by terrorism on Friday, offering an "alternative to the hatred" — a $50 billion aid package for Africa and up to $3 billion in additional support for the Palestinians.[...]
Blair lost his push to get all summit countries to commit to boosting foreign aid to an amount equal to 0.7% of national income by 2015. Instead, a summit document said the European Union had agreed to that support but did not mention the United States.
President Bush had refused to be bound by the 0.7% target. The United States is currently giving 0.16% of national income, the smallest percentage of any of the G-8 countries.[...]
Aside from the massive increase in aid for the African continent, leaders signaled support for new deals on trade, endorsed cancellation of the debt of 18 of the world's poorest nations, pledged universal access to AIDS treatment, renewed their commitment to a peacekeeping force in Africa and heard African leaders promise to move toward democracies that follow the rule of law, he said.
[...]
Despite the leaders' expressions of anti-terror solidarity, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hinted Western countries were being hypocritical because they do not call Chechen rebels international terrorists.
Russia has objected vehemently to Britain's granting asylum to a top Chechen rebel representative, Akhmed Zakayev, and the United States giving refuge to another, Ilyas Akahmatov.
"It is highly dangerous and misleading to think that those who support and encourage terrorism can be called political figures," Lavrov said in Moscow.
Wow, thanks, dude! Refuse to sign on to global warming treaties, but by God you got that condolence book signed "on our behalf."The major failure was in the area of global warming, where staunch opposition from Bush thwarted Blair's efforts to get a U.S. commitment to firm targets for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for warming the earth's atmosphere.[...]
On climate change, 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.
[...]
Upon arriving in Washington, the president was going straight to the British Embassy to sign a condolence book on behalf of the American people.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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