The rich countries club will hold a so-called G8 summit this week at the luxurious Gleneagles golf estate north of Edinburgh, Scotland.

The left and the right have mobilized their troops to try to disrupt this summit. They want to send the message that this group has made profit on other poor countries’ sweat and tears. Globalization is good in particular to those rich countries but it has widened the gap between the poor countries and the rich countries.

These 8 countries are consuming most of the natural resources and producing most of the green house gas. It is those poor countries that are suffering from consequences.

However, the good news is at least 7 out of 8 countries are trying to tackle the global problems like the green house gas, the poverty in Africa, the curable diseases that are killing those poor global citizens and AIDS problem that is sacking the whole African continent.

The biggest missing part is the US which is the biggest polluter in the world. The Bush Administration refuses to cooperate with other developed countries to tackle those problems. They refuse any scientific evidences from the most trustworthy scientists around the world that the Global Warming is real and man-made. This country refuses to sign the Kyoto-Protocol because of the economic issue and the issue of unfairness if China and India do not sign the same pact.

Then, this administration refuses to sign on to a commitment sought by many anti-poverty campaigners to increase aid to Africa. This poor continent owes billions of dollars to the developed countries. Hundreds thousands of African people are dying from curable diseases like Malaria. Ten thousands of people are dying from AIDS.

This administration is still deaf and blind. They do not look and listen. They simply do not care that those problems are the real global issues and they are highly elevating.

This rich countries club should give up all debts to those poor countries and donate more money to fight poverty and diseases. They have money, power and technology. They should take responsibility to solve the problems.

We are all interconnected. No man is an island. If one part of the world is in chaos, it will eventually spread that ripple effect across the globe. Global warming and HIV have proved that death and suffering do not stop in one continent, they are spreading. If we do not stop them now, they will finally kill all of us.

Is the US going to be a black sheep? Can the US be a good global citizen?
We will know the answer soon.

Tae Athikomvittaya