The members of the G8 agreed on Friday to boost aid for Africa to $50 billion. If you read my post on Live8, you probably already know that I don’t think throwing more money at Africa is going to solve anything. They have problems that cannot be solved by money alone.

The leaders presented the deal as “a message of hope that countered the hatred behind the London bomb attacks.”

“We speak today in the shadow of terrorism but it will not obscure what we came here to achieve,” Blair declared, flanked by fellow leaders of the G8 and seven of their African counterparts on the steps of the Gleneagles hotel in Scotland.

Excuse me, but what does rich terrorists setting off explosions in rich nations have to do with Africa? The notion that the poverty in Africa is a breeding ground for terrorism is quite simply, stupid. Throwing absurd amounts of money into an extremely problematic continent is one thing, but trying to pass it off as countering terrorism is ridiculous.

I understand that the London attacks required some sort of response, but I think that response should have been clear and separate from whatever else the leaders were trying to accomplish.

Read: Reuters