Top of the Morning: Russia Raises Specter of Nuclear War; G8 Kicks off

Top stories from DAWNS Digest. 

On The G8 Agenda: Food Security

As host of the G8 Meeting, which kicks off today, President Obama has chosen food security as a thematic and action area for this summit. He will deliver a speech in Washington on the topic, alongside Benin’s President Boni Yayi, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Ghana’s President John Atta Mills and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwere. “‘It is one of the things that this president and this administration regard as a major, major project to work with Africa on,’ said Johnnie Carson, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. The leaders meet Friday at an event hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs to launch what Carson says will be significant new business commitments for African agriculture. They also will discuss how best to address issues of hunger and poverty in a development environment affected by the global economic crisis.” (VOA http://bit.ly/JW1Z1g)

Russia Really, Really Does Not Want the USA to Attack Iran or Syria

How do we know this? Check out these remarks, timed ahead of the G8 summit in Camp David this weekend. “Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned on Thursday that military action against sovereign states could lead to a regional nuclear war, starkly voicing Moscow’s opposition to Western intervention ahead of a G8 summit at which Syria and Iran will be discussed. “Hasty military operations in foreign states usually bring radicals to power,” Medvedev, president for four years until Vladimir Putin’s inauguration on May 7, told a conference in St. Petersburg in remarks posted on the government’s website. “At some point such actions which undermine state sovereignty may lead to a full-scale regional war, even, although I do not want to frighten anyone, with the use of nuclear weapons,” Medvedev said. “Everyone should bear this in mind.” (Reuters http://reut.rs/JW1wfl)