21 CETURY WORLD POWERS / » archive
article: 1
| 2 |
3 | 4
| 5 |
6 | 7
| 8
| 9 | 10
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14
Europe questions US conversion on climate change
01.06.2007 - 09:31 CET | By Renata Goldirova
US president George W. Bush has said a long-term goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions is needed, but some have questioned whether Washington's apparent u-turn on the environment is just a public-relations exercise aimed at derailing current efforts to secure a climate deal under the UN and G8 umbrella.
"Science has deepened our understanding of climate change and opened new possibilities for confronting it," president Bush announced on Thursday (31 May), the Financial Times reported, adding, "by the end of next year, America and other nations will set a long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gases."
Washington wants to hold a series of meetings with the world's biggest polluters, including rapidly growing economies like India and China, to create "a new framework…when the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012."
These 15 countries would "establish mid-term national targets and programmes that reflect their own mix of energy sources and future energy needs."
Although Mr Bush's statements seem to indicate willingness to act against global warming, they are also likely to mean that the G8 summit in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm, scheduled for 6-8 June, will not secure on a breakthrough climate change deal.
Germany's leader Angela Merkel wants the G8 club - composed of the US, Canada, Russia, Japan, the UK, France, Italy and Germany - to agree concrete steps to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius and pave the way for a new framework to replace the Kyoto protocol.
Ms Merkel hopes to bring those results to an UN-brokered meeting in Bali in December.
"The leading role of the UN on climate change is non-negotiable," the chief German negotiator on climate change, Bernd Pfaffenbach, was cited as saying by the UK paper Guardian.
Another German official described the US proposal as a "poison pill" aimed at undermining G8 and UN efforts to tackle global warming.
A similar reaction came from environmental groups who said starting alternative talks would take years to produce results.
"The plan announced by president Bush is a complete charade," Brent Blackwelder from Friends of the Earth told Reuters, adding "it is an attempt to make the Bush administration look like it takes global warming seriously without actually doing anything to curb emissions."
Differences
The two sides of the Atlantic continue to differ on many more aspects of the thorny issue of climate change.
The 27-nation EU has set two clear targets - to prevent global temperatures rising two degrees Celsius above pre-industrialised levels and to cut emissions by 50 percent compared to 1990 levels by 2050.
The main vehicle envisaged by the EU bloc is a carbon trading scheme, a market-based tool which involves credits for companies that cut emissions and penalties for those that do not comply with targets.
However, the White House remains opposed to setting temperature control as well as to placing a cap and trade system at the heart of its own environmental strategy.
"We need to harness the power of technology to help nations meet their growing energy needs while protecting the environment," president Bush said, according to the BBC, making it clear that new clean technologies are seen as essential in Washington.
The European Commission president Jose M. Barroso told the Financial Times that the US had "crossed the Rubicon" in accepting the threat of climate change but was still not fully facing up to its responsibilities.
Mr Barroso added that the US preoccupation with technology to tackle global warming would only work if Washington signed up to a global system of "measurable, binding, enforceable targets."
|
 |
|
 |
 |
Sources: Thousands of Turkish troops enter Iraq
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Several thousand Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq early Wednesday to chase Kurdish guerrillas who operate from bases there, Turkish security officials said.... |
 |
Could an al-Qaeda Attack Trigger War With Iran?
Following revelations of a George W. Bush administration policy to hold Iran responsible for any al-Qaeda attack on the U.S. that could be portrayed as planned on Iranian soil... |
|
U.S. doubles air attacks in Iraq
BAGHDAD - Four years into the war that opened with "shock and awe," U.S. warplanes have again stepped up attacks in Iraq , dropping bombs at more than twice the rate of a year ago. ... |
|
NPR interviews Dahr Jamail on State of Iraq Hospitals
The five minute interview with Michelle Norris is a good one. However, if the NPR show were true to its title, "All Things Considered"... |
|
Bipartisan panel urges agencies to order civilians to Iraq
With the situation in Iraq "grave and deteriorating," the United States must begin the process of shifting troops out of the country, members of a bipartisan panel said Wednesday... |
|
Sunnis Reject
Early Iraq Election Results, Calling for Inquiry
BAGHDAD,
Iraq, Dec. 20 - Sunni Arab leaders angrily rejected early election
results on Tuesday, saying the vote had been fixed in... |
|
Dispelling
Myths About Iraq
The
bruising debate over U.S. Iraq policy often seems to stray far from
the reality on the ground inside Iraq. Although Iraq’s progress
... |
|
Iraqis Glad
2005 Over, Dim Hopes for 2006
*BAGHDAD,
Dec 20 (IPS) - Despite the parliamentary elections last week
and temporary ease in violence ... |
|
Religious Groups
Take Early Lead in Iraqi Ballots
BAGHDAD,
Iraq, Dec. 19 - Early voting results announced by Iraqi electoral
officials on Monday, with nearly two-thirds of the ballots ... |
|
David Brooks:
Taking a long view of the Iraq conflict
WASHINGTON
Over the past few years, the Iraq war has morphed from a war of liberation
against Saddam Hussein into a civil conflict between Sunnis and Shiites
... |
|
Yosfiya: The
21st Century Nazis Are Here
Weary
of the overall failure of the US media to accurately report on the
realities of the war in Iraq for the Iraqi people and US soldiers,
Dahr Jamail went to Iraq to report on the war himself... |
|
U.S. Is Said
to Pay to Plant Articles in Iraq Papers
WASHINGTON,
Nov. 30 - Titled "The Sands Are Blowing Toward a Democratic Iraq,"
an article written this week for publication in the Iraqi press was
scornful of outsiders' pessimism about the country's future... |
|
 |
N. Korea warns of nuclear war if attacked
North Korea will respond to a pre-emptive U.S. military attack with an "annihilating strike and a nuclear war," the state-run media said Monday, heightening its antagonistic rhetoric.... |
|
Israel says no negotiations on soldier
Palestinian militants holding an Israeli soldier gave Israel less than 24 hours Monday to start releasing 1,500 Palestinian prisoners ... |
|
In the Shadow
of Sharon
IT
is too early to assess Ariel Sharon's legacy. To be sure, he will
be remembered as one of Israel's great field commanders, the wily,
bulldozing general ... |
|
The New Red,
White and Blue
As
we enter 2006, we find ourselves in trouble, at home and abroad. We
are in trouble because we are led by defeatists - wimps, actually... |
|
Life After
Ariel Sharon
When
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced two months ago that he was leaving
the right-wing Likud Party, which he had embodied for three decades... |
|
Administration
Cites War Vote in Spying Case
WASHINGTON,
Dec. 19 - President Bush and two of his most senior aides argued Monday
that the highly ... |
|
Austrian presidency
will not press for EU constitution
EUOBSERVER
/ BRUSSELS - Austrian foreign minister Ursula Plassnik has indicated
that her country's incoming six-month EU... |
|
DEFINING THE
AMERICAN INTEREST
The
American Interest (AI) is a new and independent voice devoted to the
broad theme of "America in the world." Our agenda is threefold.
The first is to analyze America's... |
|
THE AMAZING
BUBBLE-MAN
Alan
Greenspan is the great guru of the American economy, the spell-master
over the fortunes of multitudes the world over. Chairman of... |
|
US DEPARTMENT
OF STATE RELEASED A PRESS STATEMENT ABOUT U.S.-IZRAEL STRATEGIC DIALOGUE
On
November 28, 2005, the United States and Israel conducted a strategic
dialogue led by Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns
and Minister of Jerusalem... |
|
An Offering
of Detail But No New Substance
Thirty-two
months after U.S. forces invaded Iraq, President Bush's advisers concluded
that his message of "stay the course" has been translated by a weary
American public as "stay forever." And so yesterday the president
tried to reassure the nation... |
|
9/11 Commissioners
Fault Administration
WASHINGTON
-- Reviewing action on recommendations it made last year, the Sept.
11 commission on Monday criticized the Bush administration for not
adopting standards for treatment of captured terror suspects... |
|
US
refuses to rule out use of torture
THE
White House has refused to rule out the use of torture in an effort
to prevent a major terrorist attack, arguing the war on terror could
present a "difficult dilemma" and the US administration
was duty-bound to protect the American people... |
|
American
Majority Says Bush Misled on Iraq
(Angus
Reid Global Scan) – Many adults in the United States are questioning
their president’s motives to launch the coalition effort, according
to a poll by Hart/McInturff released by the Wall Street Journal... |
|
 |
EU opens door to hidden TV adverts
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – More frequent commercial breaks as well as product placements, ... |
|
EU states under fire for red tape on foreign workers
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission is set next week to present a report criticising ... |
|
There is too much hyperbole over the EU consitutional treaty
EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - I am getting increasingly fed up with those who qualify the Constitutional Treaty as a "radical new departure" ... |
|
Brussels asks Helsinki to push for stronger EU in criminal matters
The European Commission has renewed calls to boost EU powers in criminal matters as well as increase the role of ... |
|
MEPs shelve prickly anti-fraud debate, again
The European Parliament has for the third time postponed a plenary debate on ... |
|
Frattini calls for national search into CIA flights and prisons
EU justice comissioner Franco Frattini has urged national prosecutors and judges ... |
|
EU praises Bush for wanting 'end' to Guantanamo
The EU has welcomed US president George W. Bush's statements on ending the Guantanamo ... |
|
This WEEK in the European Union
EUOBSERVER / WEEKLY AGENDA (2-9 July) This week will be the first in office for the Finnish EU presidency. ... |
|
EU troops kill
wife of Bosnian war crimes suspect
The
wife of Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Dragomir Abazovic was shot
to death in a gun battle as EU troops stormed the couple's house ... |
|
Bird flu kills
third child in Turkey
Avian
influenza has cost the life of a third child in Eastern Turkey, raising
fears that the deadly strain of the so-called bird flu virus could
spread ... |
|
EU draws up
Adriatic gas plan after Russia-Ukraine fiasco
The
EU might build a new gas pipeline on the Adriatic Sea coast in order... |
|
Slovak-Vatican
abortion deal criticised by EU experts
Slovakia
has been challenged by EU legal experts over an agreement with the
Vatican... |
|
Commissioner
proposes constitution cherry-picking
French
commissioner Jacques Barrot has proposed that single elements of the
EU constitution be taken out in a bid to save the charter... |
|
Blair takes
hits on EU budget deal
British
prime minister Tony Blair, defending the deal on EU’s budget
in front of the House of Commons... |
|
Italian bank
chief resigns
Italian
Central Bank governor Antonio Fazio resigned yesterday after the Italian
government had announced... |
|
WTO fallout
expected
Polish
experts say the WTO deal could harm EU exporters of milk, sugar, beef
and grain leading to oversupply... |
|
Austria to
revive constitution chat
Austria
plans to revive the EU constitution debate and plough ahead with Turkey
accession talks under its incoming... |
|
EU threatens
to cut Palestine funds if Hamas wins
The
EU's exterior relations chief Javier Solana will stop EU funding for
Palestine if Hamas wins the Palestinian elections saying... |
|
Ukraine snubbed
in Russia gas row
Ukraine
prime minister Yuri Yekhanourov flew to Moscow for gas price talks
but came back with nothing as Russia... |
|
Serbian grip
on Kosovo weakening
Less
and less people in Serbia and on an international level support the
idea of a Serbian Kosovo, Le Figaro writes... |
|
New Baltic
gas pipeline scheme
Finland
and Estonia are talking about building a gas pipeline linking... |
|
Germany to
cooperate with Italy
German
chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday visited Italian prime minister
Silvio Berlusconi amid promises... |
|
Turkey pressed
to stop blocking EU-NATO meetings
EUOBSERVER
/ BRUSSELS - Turkey has come under increased pressure to stop blocking
strategic meetings between the EU and NATO... |
|
Slovaks
voting on design of euro coins
EUOBSERVER
/ BRUSSELS - Slovak citizens are voting on the country's future eurocoin
designs, with a possibility... |
|
Bosnian
leaders in Brussels for US-led constitution talks
Bosnian
political leaders are meeting in Brussels to discuss a reform of their
country’s constitution, on the basis of a draft... |
|
Polish
government deepens eurosceptic ties
The
new Polish government secured parliamentary backing on Thursday (10
November) but some fear mounting tension with Brussels in store... |
|
Estonian
foreign minister denied entry visa to Russia
Russia
has refused to give the Estonian foreign minister an entry visa, sparking
a diplomatic row with Tallinn... |
|
Ex-commissioner
Edith Cresson may lose EU pension
EUOBSERVER
/ BRUSSELS - The European Commission has called for the suspension
of EU pension rights for former French prime minister... |
|
Letters
to commissioners to go public in EU transparency drive
EUOBSERVER
/ BRUSSELS - The European Commission has adopted today (9 November)
a controversial "transparency initiative."... |
|
|
