2015 IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER

NYC streets have slowed to a crawl as the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) summit and the annual Clinton Foundation poobah power bash convene and converge.

There are only five fleeting years to go for the MDGs to achieve its eight target goals by 2015. All eight are noticeably lagging, but the goal of maternal health around the world is trailing most of all.

No doubt, Manhattan’s traffic mirrors our progress.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports that total worldwide military expenditures in 2009 were estimated at a mind-boggling $1531 billion, up nearly 6% from ’08. That was despite the financial credit crisis and global recession.

Questions raised by the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILF) should make all of us sit up and respond. What, asks the WILF, would you rather have our governments pay for:
– One year of the world’s military spending, or over 24 years of the additional foreign aid that’s needed to achieve MDGs by 2015?

– One year of the world’s military spending, or 700 years of the UN regular budget?

– One year of the world’s military spending, or 2928 years of the just-launched UN women’s agency?

Where are our priorities?

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