The paradox of our time is the great power of the world's richest countries to do good, but their seeming compulsion to miss every opportunity to do so. The US stands as the supreme example of this: a country that devotes $450 billion per year to military spending allocates only $12 billion per year to development assistance for poor countries. It can bomb Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, but seems ill-equipped to help these places develop. Europe is little better, paralyzed as it is by internal divisions and budget deficits. Next week's G-8 summit in Evian, France is a chance to make a fresh start.
The paradox of our time is the great power of the world's richest countries to do good, but their seeming compulsion to miss every opportunity to do so. The US stands as the supreme example of this: a country that devotes $450 billion per year to military spending allocates only $12 billion per year to development assistance for poor countries. It can bomb Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, but seems ill-equipped to help these places develop. Europe is little better, paralyzed as it is by internal divisions and budget deficits. Next week's G-8 summit in Evian, France is a chance to make a fresh start.