G8 Summit Starts In Earthquake Affected Town

By Gilbert Mercier, NEWS  JUNKIE  POST

The three day G8 summit starts today in the town of Aquila. The Italian town was the epicenter of a deadly earthquake that took place last April.

Some critics view the chosen venue by Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi as a publicity stunt, and as one more effort to distract attention from the lurid sex scandal that has partially compromised Berlusconi’s international standing.

The key issues to be discussed are the global financial and economic crisis, climate change and the situation in Iran.

As far as security, the Italian government has deployed 15,000 security forces to contain potential violence from anti-globalization demonstrators. However, some delegations coming to the summit are more concerned about earthquake after shocks than protests.

The Chinese leader, Hu Jintao, was invited to attend by PM Berlusconi, but had to  head back to China in order to address the unrest in the Xinjinga province.

The members of the G8 are the US, Japan, Russia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy & Canada. This summit could be, according to some analysts, of “historical importance.” Delegations from Brazil, India, China and African countries will be present at the summit.

Aid for Africa, from the G8 countries, will be the topic on top of the summit’s agenda for Friday, so far the G8 countries have failed short on promises of financial assistance for Africa. This is especially the case for  Italy.

Front and center of the summit between the world leaders will be a progress report on the health of the word economy. It is likely that the disagreements over the best way to handle the crisis will subside. The US and Britain are pushing for more stimulus in Continental Europe, on the other side of the debate; Germany and France still want more regulations.

On climate change, some real progress could be made in working on establishing a comprehensive emission cap agreement in an effort to keep the rise of temperatures below the critical number of two degrees Celsius.

On Iran, it is likely that Russia will resist an official statement from the G8 putting in doubt the validity of the election and condemning the crack down on protesters by the Iranian government in the aftermath of the contested election.

Ahead of the summit, the White House is playing down expectations saying “It is more about exchanging views as opposed to establishing concrete measures.”