Before the G8 attendees focused on finding a political solution to the Syrian conflict and doing it in a way that did not isolate Vladimir Putin, who continues to support Bashar al-Assad, there was an initial focus on the global economy. (This was the case, although many felt that this was the purview of the larger group, the G20.)
Jackie Calmes wrote in the New York Times, “As President Obama begins an annual meeting with the leaders of some of the world’s richest nations on Monday in Northern Ireland, the economic-policy gulf that has divided them since the global crash in 2008 has narrowed significantly – just not exactly in ways that the White House would have liked.” (“Lines Blur in U.S.-Europe Debate on Austerity,” New York Times, June 16, 2013) Calmes argues that the Europeans have finally eased their austerity policies, albeit slightly, that many economists believe have kept Europe in recession longer than necessary. She writes that with sequestration in effect in the United States, the U.S. has moved closer to the European approach than the stimulus that has been advocated by the President and his advisers. “American and European officials said in interviews that arguments over austerity versus stimulus, so prominent at international gatherings in recent years, are likely to be muted at the two-day summit conference…”
While President Obama continued to use “persuasion” to favor stimulus, G8 summit host and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and the other European members of the G8 continue to favor austerity and believe that the high level of public debt in the euro zone lead to the current malaise.
Turning to Syria, after a very “frosty news conference” with President Obama and Russian President Putin, the G8 leaders managed to find a way to not isolate the Russian President and agree that a political solution should be found in Geneva, where the upcoming peace talks will be held.
This civil war on Jordan and Israel’s borders has the potential to further destabilize the Middle East, in ways that are not favorable from the U.S. or U.K. perspective. While the world watches, the death toll has climbed to over 90,000. Let us hope that saner heads prevail and that this human carnage can come to an end in a way that our allies do not find themselves drawn into the conflict.