Bush has done more for Africa than any American President … hard truth for Celebrities and French.

There was an interesting article in the UK’s Telegraph reporting that Bush has done more for Africa than any other American president.

“Bob Geldof has reportedly warned a top recording artist not to publicly criticise the White House during the worldwide television broadcast of the Live 8 concerts next month.

The warning came after Geldof insisted that President George W Bush had done more for Africa than any other American leader.”

Hard to believe? Just ask U2’s Bono:

“Bono was exceedingly pro-Bush, calling him “the most important and toughest nut”, a stance that has annoyed singers such as Billy Bragg and Sinead O’Connor, who think he is risking his credibility by getting too close to the leader.”

And not only, are Billy Bragg and Sinead O’Connor unimpressed, reportedly, so are the most civilised of the civilised, the French:

“Geldof confessed that he had been forced to defend the Bush administration in a visit to France, where “they refuse to accept, because of their political ideology, that he has actually done more than any American president for Africa”. Geldof said: “But it’s empirically so.”"

An interesting article, a little humble pie for the rabid Bush haters of the world. You have to hold a certain respect for Bono, not your usual self-important celebrity, those more adept at labelling injustice and moralising rather than actually doing something about it. Bono says he’s going to engage the leaders of the world to help Africa, so he does it, and he makes no bones about the fact that Bush is doing the most.

And well, as for the French, what can one say. Their president is a crook. Their foreign policy recently ran aground by their own public opinion of the EU constitution. And the language of civility and high morals has excused more than enough French complicity with tyranny over the years. The French like to talk a good talk about Africa but we should all know what that means: stable dictatorships that are good for French business.

A good article. Glad to see at least one news organisation reported it.

Check it out here.