| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Captain Compassion" |
| Date: |
09 Jun 2007 08:48:12 AM |
| Object: |
Comment: Bush has taken on Europe’s role as a green champion |
Comment: Bush has taken on Europe’s role as a green champion
Insists China and India join any climate alliance
Benny Peiser
National Post
Friday, June 08, 2007
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=439bd9a8-7627-4f05-8bd8-3ff0974bdee9&k=22409
When the history of Europe's waning pre-eminence and the rise of
Asia's new superpowers is written, the German G8 summit that has just
ended in the Baltic seaside town of Heiligendamm will be regarded as a
momentous turning point. It will also be seen as the moment when the
Western powers decided to bury their hatchets over Kyoto and start
exerting pressure on their Asian challengers.
The failure of Germany and its European Union partners to push through
their key goals stands for a diplomatic defeat that epitomizes
Europe's shrinking influence in international climate negotiations.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel had set three ambitious climate goals
for the G8 summit. She wanted to sway the United States and other G8
countries to commit to cutting emissions by 50% by 2050. She also
wanted them to limit the world's temperature rise to 2C and to
increase fuel efficiency by 20%. In the end, not one these targets was
accepted by her non-EU partners.
German and European diplomats were taken aback during the negotiations
inthe run-up to the summit; not only the United States, but Japan,
Canada and even Russia opposed Europe's concept of unilateral G8
targets. Germany's original plan, to push for ambitious goals with the
aim of isolating President George W. Bush, fell short as even China
and India came out against the idea of mandatory emission caps.
But nothing caused Angela Merkel bigger upset and sheer dismay than
the refusal of Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the U.S. House
of Representatives, to back Germany's position when she visited Berlin
just days before the summit. No words of support from Al Gore either.
Instead, the U.S. Democrats showed Merkel and the EU the cold shoulder
- implicitly at least.
The snub demolished almost overnight the commonly held assumption that
the impasse over a post-Kyoto deal would be overcome with a new
president in the White House. For those who still don't get Ms.
Pelosi's and Mr. Gore's veiled message, Tony Blair made it perfectly
plain why a Democratic U.S. president would not yield either: "Whoever
U.S. president is in office, they will not agree to a climate-change
deal which doesn't have China part of it."
Which is why the G8 has now kicked the ball into China's court. The
actual deal agreed to at the G8 climate summit is broadly based on the
U.S.- and Canadian-backed climate plan presented by Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe. In early May, Abe officially announced that he
had obtained Mr. Bush's support for his new climate policy. At the G8
summit, they would seek an international consensus for an action plan
proposing global steps aimed at halving greenhouse-gas emissions by
2050 from current levels.
One catch: The U.S.-Japanese plan, now adopted by the G8, also agreed
that any effective international framework on climate change must
include China, India and other major greenhouse-gas emitters from the
developing world. In other words, G8 countries are willing "to
consider" reducing emissions in 2050 by 50% so long as all major
emitters join in that target. Crucially, by offering a deal to cut
global CO2 emissions by half, not just those of a handful of richer
nations, the G8 has shifted international pressure away from the West
and on to China and India.
No sooner had Angela Merkel announced the G8 "breakthrough" on
Thursday afternoon than Mr. Bush went on the offensive: Just before
his meeting with the Indian Prime Minister, he insisted that efforts
to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions would not succeed until India and
China are involved.
"Nothing is going to happen in terms of substantial reduction unless
China and India participate," Mr. Bush said, adding "if we want India
and China at the table, it is important that we give them the
opportunity to set an international goal."
But more than that. On the back of his own climate initiative and the
G8 agreement, Mr. Bush has now taken on the role of a suave
intermediary between Europe and Asia. To the dismay of European
diplomats, Mr. Bush has recast the United States as a "green"
bridge-builder between Europe on the one hand and developing countries
like India and China on the other - all in the name of ensuring global
reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions.
The G8 summit of Heiligendamm has brought to an end the era when
European leaders would wag their fingers at the United States and
demand action over climate change. Now, Mr. Bush has decided to don
Europe's traditional role as a green champion. Now, it's the United
States that is demanding more action on climate change - from China,
India and other major emitters.
At Heiligendamm, Mr. Bush has killed two birds with one stone.
Firstly, he has removed much of the mounting international pressure
and has shifted it instead on to China and India. Moreover, he has now
seized the initiative on climate politics and is setting the agenda
for international negotiations.
In view of Europe's political isolation, Angela Merkel had no viable
option other than to back down. By agreeing to the G8 "compromise,"
informed as it is by the new U.S. and Japanese climate plans, the EU
has effectively given up on its traditional support for a unilateral,
Kyoto-style treaty that excludes the developing world. Judging by the
euphoric words of praise for the G8 agreement, European leaders seem
to confirm that they are surreptitiously delighted about their own
"defeat." They knew full well that it was unavoidable if Europe wanted
to rejoin the Western climate alliance.
The problems faced by India and China are of a different kind
altogether.
Given their explosive growth, Chinese and Indian leaders have been
resisting setting mandatory targets for emissions that are unlikely to
be curtailed with current technology. It cannot be emphasized enough
that this refusal to accept fixed caps does not hinge on the U.S.
position. After all, China is not prepared to move - even if the
United States were to move first. China hasn't put any such conditions
on its climate policy because - in the absence of alternative energy
technologies - it simply cannot survive any caps, which would
inevitably stifle economic growth, thus putting the country at risk of
social unrest and upheaval.
All the same, now that Mr. Bush has gone green, the onus is on the
leaders of Asia's powerhouses to respond. Should they reject Bush's
new climate initiative, now backed up by the G8, they - not the
Western world - will get the blame for the obstruction of progress.
However, should they eventually concede to international pressure,
China's and India's industries will also be subject to a cap on
emissions, far off in the future, but still
one that is not feasible under current or foreseeable technologies.
For the time being, the climate agreement by the G8 summit creates an
intractable impasse that is almost insurmountable in the short term.
For too long, the climate-change debate has been overheated. At times,
it looked almost unstoppable, like a runaway train in the movies. Like
in the movies, the runaway train has crashed into the buffers of the
hard reality of economic and political constraints. The lack of a
practical short-term solution to the climate impasse means that
policymakers should begin to tone down the hype and prepare citizens
for the long haul. The time has come for cooler heads.
--
There may come a time when the CO2 police will wander the earth telling
the poor and the dispossed how many dung chips they can put on their
cook fires. -- Captain Compassion.
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Celibacy in healthy human beings is a form of
insanity. -- Captain Compassion
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
.
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| User: "ZenIsWhen" |
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| Title: Re: Comment: Bush has taken on Europe's role as a green champion |
09 Jun 2007 09:15:27 AM |
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"Captain Compassion" <daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net> wrote in message
news:onbl63lgm1a75qr9596957sdb096slf576@4ax.com...
Comment: Bush has taken on Europe's role as a green champion
Damn!
You made me snort my Pepsi again!
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| User: "Amanda Williams" |
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| Title: Re: Comment: Bush has taken on Europe’s role as a green champion |
09 Jun 2007 09:11:08 AM |
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Captain Compassion <daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net> allegedly said in
news:onbl63lgm1a75qr9596957sdb096slf576@4ax.com:
Comment: Bush has taken on Europe’s role as a green champion
Insists China and India join any climate alliance
Benny Peiser
National Post
Friday, June 08, 2007
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=439bd9a8
-7627-4f05-8bd8-3ff0974bdee9&k=22409
rotfl.....
The National Putz is a joke, it was started up by Conrad Black... Benny is a notorious liar
and neocon dribbler renown for his abject and slavish devotion to all things Bush...
somewhat like that other slimey little canook ***** Frum...
"green champion"... rotflmao...
You got anything else sparky ????
Gonzo Funeral Watch: 89 days 10 hours 6 minutes and counting
--
AW
<small but dangerous>
.
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| User: "Captain Compassion" |
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| Title: Re: Comment: Bush has taken on Europe’s role as a green champion |
09 Jun 2007 09:35:04 AM |
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On 09 Jun 2007 14:11:08 GMT, Amanda Williams <pms@fu.com> wrote:
Captain Compassion <daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net> allegedly said in
news:onbl63lgm1a75qr9596957sdb096slf576@4ax.com:
Comment: Bush has taken on Europe’s role as a green champion
Insists China and India join any climate alliance
Benny Peiser
National Post
Friday, June 08, 2007
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=439bd9a8
-7627-4f05-8bd8-3ff0974bdee9&k=22409
rotfl.....
The National Putz is a joke, it was started up by Conrad Black... Benny is a notorious liar
and neocon dribbler renown for his abject and slavish devotion to all things Bush...
somewhat like that other slimey little canook ***** Frum...
"green champion"... rotflmao...
You got anything else sparky ????
Don't need anything else. :)
Gonzo Funeral Watch: 89 days 10 hours 6 minutes and counting
--
There may come a time when the CO2 police will wander the earth telling
the poor and the dispossed how many dung chips they can put on their
cook fires. -- Captain Compassion.
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Celibacy in healthy human beings is a form of
insanity. -- Captain Compassion
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
.
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| User: "Amanda Williams" |
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| Title: Re: Comment: Bush has taken on Europe’s role as a green champion |
09 Jun 2007 02:08:30 PM |
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Captain Compassion <daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net> allegedly said in
news:pjel63td93i5d8tqi5ts9723fo6de4mq07@4ax.com:
On 09 Jun 2007 14:11:08 GMT, Amanda Williams <pms@fu.com> wrote:
Captain Compassion <daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net> allegedly said in
news:onbl63lgm1a75qr9596957sdb096slf576@4ax.com:
Comment: Bush has taken on Europe’s role as a green champion
Insists China and India join any climate alliance
Benny Peiser
National Post
Friday, June 08, 2007
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=439bd9
a8 -7627-4f05-8bd8-3ff0974bdee9&k=22409
rotfl.....
The National Putz is a joke, it was started up by Conrad Black...
Benny is a notorious liar and neocon dribbler renown for his abject
and slavish devotion to all things Bush... somewhat like that other
slimey little canook ***** Frum...
"green champion"... rotflmao...
You got anything else sparky ????
Don't need anything else. :)
No?
That's pretty much what I figured....
Gonzo Funeral Watch: 89 days 15 hours 6 minutes and counting
--
AW
<small but dangerous>
.
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