G8 crocodile tears

The Group of Eight hit many of the right notes in their Statement on Fighting High-Level Corruption, but it still rings hollow.

When the governments of many of those countries are tainted with high level corruption their patronizing comments about developing economies reek to high heaven.

We don’t need to catalogue the long list of known ethical breaches, and outright corruption, among the Western nations and in a way expect it from Russia.

So the question must be; what is their game? Can they honestly sit their and ignore their own failings and believe they are doing something noble for the world?

I think not. What I do think is that it is essentially officially sanctioned organized crime. And like organized crime it cannot tolerate competition draining the revenues.

The G8 is, by any measure, nothing more than the government front for the big players in the global economy. The whole idea is to create the best environment for these international barracudas to plunder the rest of us with impunity.

Oh, Tony Blair might talk wistfully about helping the poor nations, but it is just talk, jus a sop for the gullible. It should be noted that Blair’s government allowed the British float of Rosneft, the oil giant which the Kremlin stole from jailed founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Having acquired the licenses at fire sale prices, Khodorkovsky built the giant resources company, but then wouldn’t play the game. He is paying the price and Kremlin buddies are reaping the benefits.

It is a sham, and not all that transparent, so forget the crocodile tears about poor nations and their corruption. G8 won’t be happy until they own that as well.