U.S. rejects Annan call to cut greenhouse gases

[leftchick]

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L15319476&WTmodLoc=World-R5-Alertnet-2


NAIROBI, Nov 15 (Reuters) - The United States rejected on Wednesday a plea by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to cut emissions of greenhouse gases and to join the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol on fighting global warming.

"We think that the United States has been leading in terms of its ground-breaking initiatives," Paula Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, told a news conference during Nov. 6-17 U.N. talks on combating global warming.

Earlier, Annan told environment ministers from 70 nations that there was a "shocking lack of leadership" in cutting emissions. He also said: "I think it would be preferable if they (the United States) signed the Kyoto agreement."

Dobriansky said that the United States was sticking to its goal of braking, rather than capping, the rise in emissions and investing heavily in new technologies to fight global warming.

"We seek to slow, reverse and to really curb emissions," she said.



Paula J. Dobriansky, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs, address a news conference, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2006 at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the U.N. conference on climate change Wednesday that it's clear it will cost far less to cut greenhouse-gas emissions now 'than to deal with the consequences later.'(AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)


:banghead:

[hatrack]

1. Great, we're going to "really curb emissions" by not limiting them

Somehow Ms. Dobriansky's logic eludes me . . .

:silly:

[leftchick]

2. Ms Dobriansky is a PNACer

what a shock...

Paula J. Dobriansky
From SourceWatch
Dr. Paula J. Dobriansky was born September 14, 1955, in Alexandria, VA. She was appointed as Under Secretary, Global Affairs on May 1, 2001, by President George Walker Bush. <1>

Dobriansky can be considered a neo-conservative. She was one of the signatories of the January 26, 1998, Project for the New American Century (PNAC Letter) to President William Jefferson Clinton. <2>

Previously, Dr. Dobriansky served as Senior Vice President and Director of the Washington Office of the Council on Foreign Relations, "responsible for managing the Council's office and operations in DC and for leading Council meetings, study groups, and seminars. She was also the Council's first George F. Kennan Senior Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies."<3> She is also a member of the Trilateral Commission. <4>

According to the official Department of State biography for Dobriansky, she was "unanimously confirmed" by the Senate. Dobriansky's responsibilities include "a broad range of foreign policy issues, including democracy, human rights, labor, counter-narcotics and law enforcement, refugee and humanitarian relief matters and environmental/scientific issues. She has also been designated as the Special Coordinator for Tibet."<5><6>

Dr. Dobriansky has "served as Senior International Affairs and Trade Advisor at the law firm of Hunton & Williams and as Co-Chair of the International TV Council at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting." <7>

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paula_J._Dobriansky

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

5. Yep. There she is:

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm

[acmejack]

3. No wonder the world views us with contempt.

Arrogant much?

[dipsydoodle]

6. Not so much contempt -

just sadness. Might be a good time to advise any friends you may have living on your eastern seaboard ,whose homes are less than 50 feet above sealevel, to at least start consider moving elsewhere now before property values go down the tubes.

[jpwhite]

4. ignoring this won't make it go away

Ignoring global warming won't make it go away. We have a responsiblity to our children and to our future generations to leave this earth in a condition where they can breathe clean air and where they don't have to worry about radical climate changes. We must take initiatives in order to reduce CO2 emissions, and to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Hypotehically, let's say global warming wasn't true. If America was to have all hydrogen cars instead of gasoline cars and we could eliminate our need to buy oil from the Middle East, that puts us in a situation where we are no longer buying oil from countries that support terrorism. Isn't that what we really want? How much longer are we going to pretend that the Saudi's don't support terrorists? Something to think about....

We as progressives need to take the lead on this issue. The American people are starting to realize that the Republicans do not have a solution to this problem.

James
[e-mail]

[lisby]

7. "I can't hear you.. la la la la!"...

What a pathetic administration. And all the world can see it. We've gone from gold to rust in only 6 years.

What a legacy for W: total complicity in the end of planet Earth.

Lisby

:argh:

[SutaUvaca]

8. Why wasn't she just laughed off the stage?!

n/t

[Tyler Durden]

9. Because the rest of the world is more polite than us.

Not to sound like a traitor, but I do sincerely hope the rest of the world is making plans to deal with us, one way or another.

[Rambis]

10. Yet we have to enforce Iraq resolutions?

I think we should withdraw from the UN until * is out of power then rejoin when we intend to help the organization.

[pinniped]

11. * installed his minions in every sector.

.

[stepnw1f]

12. Another Neo-Con Shithead

I can't even post what I'm thinking....

[YankeyMCC]

13. More here:

Annan Faults ‘Frightening Lack of Leadership’ for Global Warming

(snip)
“The impact of climate change will fall disproportionately on the world’s poorest countries, many of them here in Africa,” Mr. Annan said in a speech to a major climate conference here. “Poor people already live on the front lines of pollution, disaster and the degradation of resources and land.

“For them,” the United Nations leader said, “adaptation is a matter of sheer survival.”
(snip)

(snip)
This year’s conference in Nairobi, partly because it has drawn so many Africans, has focused on the possibility that those least responsible for pollution-induced climate change may suffer the most from it. Africa, one of the least industrialized areas in the world, is a case in point.
(snip)

(snip)
Participants were also divided over the idea of a carbon dioxide tax. On Wednesday the president of Switzerland, Moritz Leuenberger, proposed using such a tax to finance adaptation programs. The tax would serve the dual purpose of discouraging rich countries from polluting and helping poor countries deal with the consequences of pollution.

“This is not a fight against nature,” Mr. Leuenberger said. “It is a battle against shortsighted egoism.”
(snip)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/world/16climate.html?_r=1&oref=slogin