The G-Men Do Scotland

Africa tops the agenda in Gleneagles, Scotland, where the leaders of the G-8, the club of industrialized nations, gather today for their annual summit. The Wall Street Journal feels President Bush is getting a bad rap for not agreeing to Tony Blair’s call to double official development aid. In an editorial that asks “Who’s Stingy?” in the headline, the Journal applauds Bush for offering to eliminate all U.S. farm subsidies if Europe does the same, a move that would help Africa’s poor farmers compete in the world market. The Journal has a point -- Europe is less inclined to offer Africa trade fairness because it is more reluctant than the U.S. to surrender its harmful agricultural protectionism.

A New York Times G-8 editorial today also notes that any meaningful relief for Africa must include fairer trade rules, but does not mention that Bush may be ahead of the Europeans on this issue. The Times hopes that “summit-meeting chemistry” will compel the president to increase Washington’s aid commitment. A tongue-in-cheek editorial in the Financial Times claims to have uncovered a draft communique from the G-8 leaders. “We agreed to save Africa. Or rather, everyone apart from George did, as the Americans have this funny thing about not signing up to things they do not intend to do,” it reads in part.

Rather than Africa via Scotland, today’s Washington Post editorial page is concerned about Afghanistan. The resurgence of the Taliban and escalating violence in the country brings to mind Iraq: “Confident declarations by senior U.S. officials that the enemy was nearly broken have proved premature.”

Andres Martinez