On 1 December, shirts the world over will blossom into colour. The red ribbons sold for world AIDS day will raise money to combat HIV, and awareness of the cause will receive a welcome boost. On this day, as on every other, 16 000 people—the student population of a university—will become infected with HIV. Most of these people will be in the developing world—teachers whose illness will deprive a community of education, farmers whose families will lose their income, and parents whose children will lose their homes.

In a depressingly familiar scenario, these people will be denied the drugs that could prolong the time they are able to contribute to their communities. The reason is simple; antiretroviral drug regimens cost about $295 (£191; €305) per patient each year. The total bill is impossible for countries whose health spending is two or three times less than their debt repayments. Médicins Sans Frontières is running a “campaign for essential medicines.” They aim to persuade those with a hand on the international purse strings that drugs to combat HIV and other leading causes of ill health should be available to all who need them.

Two of the worlds most powerful governments are currently threatening war on one of the poorest. It is a war for which, as yet, the United States and United Kingdom have no jurisdiction, no mandate, and no coherent justification. The last time these global bullies decided to flex their military muscle in the Middle East, it cost taxpayers around $1bn per day. Forget desert storm and infinite justice, the proposed campaign should be called “operation myopia.”

The leaders of some of the worlds richest countries may well be sitting in councils of war on 1 December. They will probably wear red ribbons, pinned dutifully to their chests. But will they think about what their ribbons represent? Will any of them ask, “What else could we be doing with $1bn a day?”