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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (10571)	10/3/2003 12:16:24 PM
From: E	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793707

Isn't Russia pulling out of Kyoto for the same reasons the US opposes Kyoto, economic ones? Those are understandable concerns, but they don't affect the question of whether not making global warming a priority concern is going to prove unfortunate from the perspective of our grandchildren's grandchildren (for example). Was new, impressive scientific evidence presented that cast doubt on the anthropogenic causes of global warming?

To: LindyBill who wrote (10571)	10/3/2003 5:35:48 PM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793707

Here is the New Scientists take on it. Typically the NS is environmentally concerned. It has to be because it's readers are and that includes me :-) That does not mean I'm a blind supporter for every thing some bloated bureaucracy says though. ---------------------------------------------------------- Global warming 'will hurt Russia' newscientist.com 14:23 03 October 03 NewScientist.com news service A failure by Russia to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol would risk unleashing dangerous climatic changes at home, two of the country's top climate scientists have warned. The caution came during a conference on global warming in Moscow that ends on Friday. Valentin Meleshko, of the Central Geophysical Observatory, forecast droughts in European Russia, dead pine forests across the taiga, and buckled roads, flooded rivers and broken pipelines in Siberia as permafrost melted. And recent disastrous floods in Yakutia were blamed on global climate change by Alexander Bedritsky, head of Russia's Federal Hydrometeorological Service. The 1997 Kyoto protocol to combat climate change will only come into legal force when countries responsible for more that 55 per cent of rich nation's greenhouse gas emissions have ratified it in their parliaments. Ratifications now cover 44 per cent; Russia would add 17 per cent and hence activate the protocol. This week's conference seemed like the perfect occasion for President Vladimir Putin to announce that he was putting the protocol before his parliament. But instead he told delegates he had not yet decided whether to propose ratification. Putin pointed out that "an increase of two or three degrees wouldn't be so bad for a northern country like Russia. We could spend less on fur coats, and the grain harvest would go up". Pollution permits Delegates took this as a joke. But some of his scientists make the argument seriously, although others believe the grain harvest would suffer. His economic advisers, headed by Andrei Illarionov, argue that Russian might gain from global warming. In 2002 year ago, prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov told the Johannesburg World Summit that Russia would ratify the protocol "soon". And until recently, most observers believed it would happen - if only so Russian could sell "spare" pollution permits under the protocol's complex rules for carbon trading. Russian emissions of greenhouse gases are currently around 30 per cent below its Kyoto targets for 2010, because of its economic collapse since 1989. "We can earn say one billion dollars a year if we trade our carbon dioxide quota," said Aleksei Yablokov, a former environmental adviser to Mikhail Gorbachev. But Putin's economic advisers argue that his plans to double the country's GDP within a decade will send emissions soaring, eventually leaving no spare permits. Putin told the conference on Friday that ratifying the protocol would have only short-term economic benefits for Russia. The economic advisers also fear a functioning international protocol could undermine world demand for oil - at a time when Russia has just signed deals with Western oil companies to develop its huge reserves on the island of Sakhalin. Some observers believe that Putin's indecision represents brinkmanship, and that Russia will eventually sign up - at a price. If Russia does not, the Kyoto protocol will be dead, as the US, with 36 per cent of emissions has said it will not sign.

To: LindyBill who wrote (10571)	10/4/2003 1:42:26 AM
From: D. Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793707

Great news for the eco-skeptics, Bill! I've been too busy to post this over the last few days. Let me get this in while I have a breather: worldtribune.com ----------------------------------------------------------- Palestinian NGOs refuse to sign anti-terror pledge SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Monday, September 29, 2003 RAMALLAH — The Palestinian Authority has been presented with a Cabinet regarded as loyal to chairman Yasser Arafat. Meanwhile, Palestinian non-government organizations have refused to sign a U.S.-sponsored commitment that they will not transfer funds to individuals or groups that engage in attacks against Israeli civilians. Palestinian sources said social welfare groups within the Palestinian Authority as well as independent NGOs have organized a campaign against signing a so-called anti-terror clause. The sources said the United States has demanded that Palestinian social welfare groups sign a commitment that they will not transfer money to those deemed terrorists. PA Prime Minister-designate Ahmed Qurei won approval for his Cabinet that included longtime allies of Arafat, Middle East Newsline reported. The Cabinet largely excluded supporters of former premier Mahmoud Abbas. Mohammed Dahlan, outgoing security minister, was not named in Qurei's Cabinet. Over the weekend, about 1,000 Dahlan supporters, many of them carrying weapons, protested the decision in the Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis. Dahlan supporters also torched posters of Fatah Central Committee members who approved the Cabinet appointments. So far, the sources said, about 30 NGOs have declared that they would not sign the anti-terror commitment. Many of the groups obtain funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development and American philanthropies. Maj. Gen. Nasser Yusef, a senior police official, was appointed interior minister in the proposed new government. Yusef has been a longtime critic of Arafat but was opposed by Dahlan when he served as security chief under Abbas. In all, 15 Fatah members, including such stalwarts as Saeb Erekat, Yasser Abbed Rabbo, Nabil Shaath and Intissar Al Wazir, were included in the 24-member Cabinet. The Cabinet, which includes Salam Fayyad as finance minister, was expected to be relayed for approval to the Palestinian Legislative Council on Thursday. On late Friday, two Israelis in a community south of Hebron were killed in an attack by a Palestinian insurgent released by Israel. Mahmoud Hamdan, a 22-year-old resident from the southern West Bank town of Dura, infiltrated the Israeli community of Negohot and shot dead two residents with an Israeli-issued M-16 semi-automatic assault rifle. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. Israeli military sources said Hamdan was released from an Israeli prison in August after serving a sentence for attempting a suicide operation. Earlier this month, representatives of 29 NGOs in the area of the West Bank city of Bethlehem met and issued a statement that they would not cooperate with a U.S. AID demand not to transfer funding to any individual or group deemed terrorist. The meeting was attended by PA security and intelligence officials. The Interior Ministry regulates NGOs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. AID has warned that the agency will halt funding to any NGO that does not sign the pledge. <edit Derek:YES!!>