Sort of. I agree that Bush probably didn’t get outmaneuvered here by Blair. But I also doubt this script was the original.
My guess is Blair realized that they weren’t going to get that Greater Middle East proposal thingie through the G8 as currently situated. So he told Bush that they’re probably going to need universal debt relief. Bush said let me think it over, talked about it with his handlers and they decided than the benefits were greater than the cost and told Blair to go ahead.
Kudos to Blair for realizing what needed to be done and convincing Bush to go along with it.
Maybe there is something to the special relationship.
You don’t think remedying a situation which is causing a significant percentage of your population, mostly the young and productive ones, to die like flies and leave lots of orphans is a pretty fundamental issue? Who’s going to build the roads and create the rule of law?
And can anyone explain to me how one creates a semi-comprehensive AIDS prevention program without mentioning condoms, which happen to be a contraceptive method? Do they seriously think abstinence is a viable option for an entire continent, including married people?
Well, yeah. But this is like complaining about gravity. It’d be stupid to expect any kinda cure for AIDS to be devloped by subsistence farmers. If you wanted effective drugs produced, isn’t it blindingly obvious that it’d be more efficacious to ask for them from a pharmacuetical research and manufacturing firm that to try to get 'em from a bunch of rustic dirt-farmers?
All of which is not to say that a few billion dollars to promote safer-sex and some education is a bad idea. Just that if you want some reasonable results, it’s a better idea to begin by looking at groups that have actually shown some results in the area of your concern the past. Any money for promoting safe sex, education and condom distribution is gonna wind up in the hands of one of those most fearsome things, The Large Corporation, anyway.
Uh yeah. And that’s not what Bush’s plan does. There are programs that already in place that have some expertise in this area, but Bush is setting up a new program. Big pharma might know about developing and marketing drugs, but they do not have the expertise to tackle a massive public health problem. If he were really interested in ending AIDS in Africa, he would be giving the money to people who, say, know something about the problem and how to solve it.
My other problem with the money going to big pharma is that there are cheaper generic alternatives. It sure looks like they’re fleecing the pockets of their wealthy friends.
