Bust Governments
August 11th, 2006The United States and France have agreed on a UN Resolution, and it’ll be voted on today. Read more here, but don’t get your hopes up. Whatever the result of the vote, any and all events from here on out will vary depending on Israel and Hezbollah. Because of this, it’s best to cool your coup and drink your soup, as Israel is already preparing an expanded offensive. You see? Wait and see.
In a bizarre turn, an artist has sculpted a model of Hillary Clinton’s bust, and says he hopes it “sparks a discussion” about sex. It’s kind of funny that Clinton and Katherine Harris are the sexiest women in politics today. Hey, I had a crush on the Senator from New York when I was younger, and that, my friends, is the most ridiculous story of the day! Except for this.
The world’s wealthiest nations have come under scathing criticism for their inaction after billionaire Bill Gates made a new pledge this week to spend $500 million on the global fight against HIV and AIDS. “When the richest man on earth provides such generous support, the risk is that some donor governments may mistakenly think they are now off the hook,” says Joanne Carter, legislative director of RESULTS, a U.S.-based advocacy group. Carter and other activists associated with a number of public advocacy groups say the Gates pledge must be seen as a challenge to wealthy countries, most of whom have failed to match their words with deeds. “We will never break the back of AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria without robust increases in donor government support,” says Carter, noting that even with Gates’ hefty donation, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS is currently short of the funds it needs to achieve its targets.
I think it’s wonderful of Gates to provide such funding for AIDS research. I think it’s awful that that’s what it takes in today’s day and age, whereby big governments with large pockets won’t spend money on humanitarian and medical ventures in the rest of the world. Whether it’s AIDS funding or money for waterholes, whether it be support to stop a genocide, even, the UN and large governments can’t quite be counted on.
The United States has repeated its demand that rebel groups in Darfur quit killing each other. Washington also said a strong and mobile UN peacekeeping force must be in the Sudanese region by October 1 to make them stop such attacks. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack on Thursday condemned the violence and said a peace deal reached in May holds the key to solving the three-year-old problem. McCormack said the United States condemns the violence that is killing civilians including humanitarian workers.
He demanded that rebel groups abide by the peace accord and a ceasefire negotiated in N’Djamena, Chad’s capital, and cooperate with peacekeepers of the African Union. He said, however, the peacekeepers have tried hard, but “the situation has evolved and become much more complex and difficult.” “Consequently, a UN peacekeeping force must deploy without delay. Only a large, robust, mobile, and fast-reacting UN force is capable of stopping the violence and protecting innocent lives” and bringing general peace and security under the peace agreement. “The African Union has consistently called for transition to a UN operation without delay.”
It’s embarrassing to me that this is still going on. From AIDS research, to stopping a genocide, to intervening in Lebanon, Bush’s government has been a bust in ways that a future-Clinton Presidency, a Gore Presidency, a Democrat Presidency, wouldn’t be.