Blair may 'snub' Bush on climate at G-8
Leaked papers show Bush, Blair miles apart on global warming.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has long declared that he considers global warming to be the
greatest threat to the earth, is considering a political gamble that would isolate US President George Bush on the environment.
The
Guardian reports that it received leaked copies of the disputed text about climate change that were being prepared for the
leaders of the G-8 summit next week in Gleneagles, Scotland. The information indicates that Mr. Blair "is
contemplating an unprecedented rift with the US over climate change ... which will lead to a final communique agreed by seven countries with President George Bush left out on a limb."
So far apart are the US and the rest of the G8 that the senior civil servants from all eight countries are meeting today and tomorrow to try to avoid a showdown. The text, described as "the base for Friday, Saturday meeting", shows that the US refuses to accept either the science surrounding climate change or that the burning of fossil fuels is contributing to it.
Blair also doesn't want to personally invite the leaders of China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico to the summit to discuss global warming, and then do nothing because of US intransigence, according to the
Guardian.
The
BBC reports that the US disagrees with the sentence: "But we know that we need to slow, stop and then reverse growth in greenhouse gases to reduce our exposure to potentially serious economic, environmental and security risks."
The
Guardian also reports that one compromise that Blair is exploring would see the summit "drop the climate change clauses in return for agreement to discuss action on greenhouse gas emissions." So far, the US has refused to do even this.
As well, the
Sydney Morning Herald reports that France and Germay are not willing to settle for a weak statement from the G-8. Instead, they would
rather see a split with the US on the issue.
In an interview with Danish Television, Mr. Bush defended his stance, saying that adherence to the Kyoto Accord on greenhouse gas admissions would have "
ruined the economy."
"We're hooked on oil from the Middle East, which is a national security problem and an economic security problem," President Bush said in [the Danish TV interview]. Mr. Bush is to visit Denmark next week before going to the G-8 summit in Scotland.
But the
Scotsman reports that politicians from both Britain, and the Republican Party in the US, called on the president to show '
new leadership' on the issue. Former British Cabinet Minister Stephen Byers and US Senator Olympia Snowe, co-chairs of the International Climate Change Taskforce, wrote to the President calling on him to take action.
In their letter to the President, Mr Byers and Senator Snowe underline the importance attached by Prime Minister Tony Blair to tackling the threat of extreme weather patterns which the world's top scientists warn will result if nothing is done to curb the rise of polluting carbon dioxide from transport and industry. They warn the President: "As you know British Prime Minister Tony Blair has made addressing the global threat of climate change one of two priorities for his presidency of the G8 this year.
"Your administration's position is critical to the Prime Minister's aspirations for a successful G8 summit. Without your agreement progress cannot be made on this issue at the G8 and the problem itself cannot be resolved in a timely manner."
On Wednesday, research presented in the journal
Nature, showed that "Global warming could have a major impact on Africa's southern sand dune systems, spreading desert-like conditions and destroying the livelihoods
of hundreds of thousands of people before the end of the century ...." This would have dramatic effects on issues like immigration and security, created by the movement of peoples out of the region.
A recent article in
New Scientist, however, argues that pollutants in the air actually act to keep the planet cooler, and as we clean the air, global warming may increase. But this only
works to a limited degree - while the cooling effect won't increase, global warming will even if the air stays as it is now.
"Scientists must pay more attention to this issue as they do
more complex modeling, and the public needs to be aware of the implications," research leader Meinrat Andreae told The
Christian Science Monitor earlier this week.
Also...
•
Merrill Lynch pushes global warming bubble (
Fox News)
•
Greenhouse hypocrisy (
Washington Post)
•
US changed Iraq policy to begin airstrikes months before war (
RawStory.com)
•
Blair 'waited until after election' to reveal scale of illegal immigration (
Independent)
•
Mountie defends dealings with Syria over Arar torture possibility (
Toronto Star)
• Feedback appreciated. E-mail
Tom Regan
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