Where's The Focus?(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)

Economy: The meeting of the world's seven richest nations has a pretty full agenda -- SARS, terrorism, debt relief, just to name a few. Isn't something missing?

In fact, something is: a focused discussion of Europe's economic woes. That's surprising, since the meeting of the seven richest nations, an annual event since 1975, is where top leaders are supposed to hash out the world's economic woes.

But things have changed since 1975.

What started as a meeting to find solutions to specific economic ills has turned into something else altogether -- a kind of catch-all conference for the airing of general diplomatic grievances.

It's a little bit like one of Rube Goldberg's farcical devices: There are a lot of moving parts, smoke and noise, but at the end no one's really quite sure what's accomplished. This year's G-8 meeting -- the G-7 plus Russia -- in the French resort of Evian Les Bains is no different.

We recognize that SARS, debt relief, terrorism, global warming and smoothing over battered egos after the recent dispute over the war in Iraq are all important. But they're not amenable to solutions -- or even meaningful discussions -- at a two-day economic conference.

It will be a pity if the conferees, including President Bush, let their attention be distracted by the circus atmosphere at the G-8 meeting -- where, once again, anti-globalization demonstrators will be out in full force -- ...