Diplomats Accuse Bush of Attempting to Derail UN Climate Conference

[rodeodance]

Source: The Guardian




Diplomats Accuse Bush of Attempting to Derail UN Climate Conference
President goes ahead with own environment meeting
·Fear that US will again reject limit on emissions

Ewen MacAskill in Washington
The Guardian
Thursday September 27 2007


President George Bush was yesterday criticised by diplomats for attempting to derail a UN initiative on climate change by pressing ahead with his own conference, which starts in Washington today.0927 06

.........

The highest-ranking representative from outside the US is the German environment minister, Sigmar Gabriel. He said yesterday he did not expect the US or other nations attending the conference to budge. “One cannot expect concrete results.”

One of those attending said the conference reflected “political hardball” on the part of the Bush administration, aimed at undermining the UN, for which it holds long-term suspicion. Another said the conference was aimed at domestic politics, with Mr Bush seeking headlines and television coverage implying that he was doing something about climate change while, in fact, doing almost nothing.

There was criticism too from within the US. Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, described the conference as “a sidelight, not a process that leads to anything”. He accused the White House of seeking “an alternative to a binding treaty … you’re seeing the Bush administration make this up as they go along.”

Read more: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=102

[olddad56]

1. Bush is hard to deal with when he has had a few drinks....

And he has always had a few drinks.

[Lisa]

2. As far as I'm concerned, Mr. Bush can stick his sham "climate conference"

... up into his "aspirational targets".

This is a time-waster -- a deliberate, cynical attempt to delay dealing with the problem -- just like the Reagan administration used on the acid rain issue in the 1980s.

[Leo 9]

3. U.S. insists it supports U.N. on climate

U.S. insists it supports U.N. on climate
Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:01am BST

By Deborah Zabarenko and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States insisted on Thursday it was serious about global warming and tried to reassure sceptics that President George W. Bush's gathering of major polluting nations would not undermine U.N. efforts.

But some participants and environmentalists were unconvinced, voicing concern that Washington was trying to rally support for voluntary emissions cuts rather than the mandatory reductions called for in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

"I want to stress that the United States takes climate change very seriously, for we are both a major economy and a major emitter," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the start of the two-day conference.

"Climate change is a global problem and we are contributing to it," Rice said. "Therefore, we are prepared to expand our leadership to address the challenge."

snip

http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKN2628297620070928

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3008639

[cosmicdot]

4. the Guardian link

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/sep/27/climatechange1

[Kurovski]

5. What were some folks saying back in 1999?

No difference between George Bush and Al Gore? Was that it?

R