Did I Die And Go To Heaven? Or Somewhere Else??

Can this possibly be true?

G-8 agreement wipes out $40-billion owed by 14 African and four Latin countries. Nine more impoverished states may soon be eligible for help.

I'm quoting the L.A. Times now and the Times is saying:

18 Poor Nations Relieved of Debt

The decision fulfilled a decades-old dream of anti-poverty activists, who have argued that payments on old loans drains the limited resources of the world's poorest nations, most of which are in Africa, keeping millions of people mired in poverty.

No kidding!

British Chancellor Gordon Brown, the major force in putting together the debt-relief package, announced that the poor nations' debt to the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund would be wiped out. Richer countries have agreed to replenish the reserves of the funding organizations as necessary.

Is this a hoax? It seems too good to be true! What strings are attached? Do they all have to bow to the Queen and say "jolly good ole chap!" all day long?

Just kidding there, of course. And I would never want to offend against the Queen, as one of my four or five regular readers appears to be English! But I digress. Back to the L.A. Times:

...
blah blah blah
woof woof woof
all this totally expected stuff
...

...and then, a few hints which are not entirely unexpected either, whether you read between the lines or not:

Blair pushed President Bush for action in a meeting in Washington last week. British officials reported on Friday that the White House made a significant concession

hmm... only three days after the master prevaricator bailed the blubbering half-wit's ass out of a huge jam, or at least held back the tide for the moment...

The 18 countries that would qualify immediately for debt relief have already been approved for relief under the World Bank's Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative, in which they commit to good governance, adhering to an IMF-endorsed financial plan and rooting out corruption.

How rich! Now I get to use the words bush and blair and the phrases good governance and rooting out corruption in the same sentence. Bloody delightful, eh what?

No, really. It's beautiful. A glib mendacious brit and blubbering american moron who happen to represent the biggest crooks in the world -- professional mass murders for hire to the highest corporate bidder -- send their money-men to the poorest countries in the world with IOUs worth billions in their hands, and their spiel goes

"Here's a debt worth several billion dollars. What would one of the world's poorest countries give to be free of such a debt?

Cool! Sold!"

Which gives me a whole new take on this quote:

"I know it is the intention of world leaders to forge a new and better relationship -- a new deal -- between the rich and poor countries of the world and, I believe that the advances that we have made can be built upon ... in the next few weeks," Brown said. "This is not a time for timidity, but a time for boldness, and not a time for settling for second-best, but aiming high."

Yeah, right. What kinds of cooperation would Brits and Americans require that called for "boldness", "not settling for second-best", "aiming high"? Is it just me or do these sound like the words of somebody who's trying to win a war?

Ah, right! They are trying to win a war. And if they can't win it in Iraq then they're going to try to win it in the hearts and minds of people like you and me.

Aren't they?