Will Geldof Agree to Call Off the Riot?Captain Ed has a
terrific piece this morning on the G8's agreement to slash the debt of some poor nations by $55 billion. He highlights this as a victory for Bob Geldof:
That's the vision for Live8, the effort pushed by Sir Bob Geldof. Debt relief was the first of the main pillars of their approach, tariff reform and increased aid being the other two.He contrasts this with a
Mark Steyn column, but there is absolutely no discussion about the demonstrations planned to coincide with the G8 summit on July 6th in Edinburgh. Is that still on? This has always struck me as the weak link in the conservative bloggers' embrace of Geldof; nobody wants to talk about what's going to happen next month. Rock concerts are fine, mobs demonstrating in the street are not. Geldof needs to make an announcement that the G8 have satisfied his demands and that anybody who believes in his cause should refrain from coming to Scotland.
Here's what Geldof says on the Live 8 website:
The G8 brings together the leaders of the worlds most powerful countries – the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia. This year they meet from 6th – 9th July in Gleneagles with Britain’s Prime Minister, Tony Blair hosting the summit.
Tony Blair has put the challenges faced in Africa on the top of the agenda – but the leaders need to know when they sit down that the world is watching them and waiting for them to deliver.They have delivered, Sir Robert. Now call off the demonstrations. Call off the
ridiculous flotilla, in which it is quite likely that novice sailors will get themselves killed trying to transport people across the English channel in rowboats:
