The United States are on “a very dangerous path” because it is spending 450 billion US dollar annually on the military and just 15 billion dollar to promote development in poor countries, the head of the UN anti-poverty effort warned Tuesday.
– We can not solve problems of security through military means, certainly not through military means alone, said Jeffrey Sachs adding: – No one has ever succeeded in doing that, and no one ever will because hungry and desperate people will do desperate things, or the places that they live will face collapse.
Of the 22 largest donor countries, the US is spending the lowest percentage of its gross domestic product on development – just 0,14 percent – compared to the 0,7 percent target that all countries agreed to 34 years ago, Sachs told a news conference. – We are roughly 50 billion – 55 billion dollar short per year, he said according to the World Bank press review Wednesday.
The best way to peace is through solving the problems “of how people can stay alive on the planet,” said Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and a Special Adviser to UN-boss Kofi Annan on anti-poverty efforts.
Sachs said the world would be more secure if more people had enough to eat, medical care, reliable and safe drinking water and a chance for a better future.
– People do not see that right now, Sachs said adding: – What they see is the United States spending hundreds of billions of dollars on the military approach and then complaining about any call to spend anything much on development.
He said there are rumors that the Bush administration will soon ask Congress for another 70 billion US dollar for Iraq, yet it is hard to get any money for development. – This has been a bipartisan effort of neglect for decades, Sachs said.
– From the point of view of Americas own specific interests and security, we are on a very dangerous path right now…because the world will not be stable with mass suffering, disease and poverty, he said.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
