Posted on 01/14/2007 10:31:25 AM PST by blam
Bush set for climate change U-turn
Downing Street says that belated US recognition of global warming could lead to a post-Kyoto agreement on curbing emissions
Gaby Hinsliff, Juliette Jowit and Paul Harris
Sunday January 14, 2007
The Observer (UK)
George Bush is preparing to make a historic shift in his position on global warming when he makes his State of the Union speech later this month, say senior Downing Street officials. Tony Blair hopes that the new stance by the United States will lead to a breakthrough in international talks on climate change and that the outlines of a successor treaty to the Kyoto agreement, the deal to curb emissions of greenhouse gases which expires in 2012, could now be thrashed out at the G8 summit in June.
The timetable may explain why Blair is so keen to remain in office until after the summit, with a deal on protecting the planet offering an appealing legacy with which to bow out of Number 10. Bush and Blair held private talks on climate change before Christmas, and there is a feeling that the US President will now agree a cap on emissions in the US, meaning that, for the first time, American industry and consumers would be expected to start conserving energy and curbing pollution.
'We could now be seeing the beginning of a consensus on a post-Kyoto framework,' said a source close to the prime minister. 'President Bush is beginning to talk about more radical measures.'
The move will be seen as part of a wider repositioning of the Bush government after its comprehensive defeat in last autumn's mid-term elections.
A change of heart on the environment was signalled earlier this month when the US administration unexpectedly announced that polar bears were now an endangered species because their habitat
(Excerpt) Read more at observer.guardian.co.uk ...
oh. man.
Yeah, we'll see.
I'm just thrilled the sellout continues!
Let's wait. Consider the source.
Let's hope people around here will wait and see what actually happens before jerking their knees in response to speculation.
Consensus is not science, no matter how many leftard wackos say it is.
Not going to happen.
Why doesn't the president just put a 'D' in fron of his name?
Not surprised in the least. Some of us were taken aback by the bots defense of Bush's anti conservative actions during the early years of his administation - did they not understand that if he's willing to ditch values X and Y, why not Z a few years down the road?
It just keeps getting better (sarcasm).
More speculative bashing. "Sellout" is a double edged word.
I have never been a Bush-basher, in fact I have stood by him through thick and thin. If this is true however, then I'm going to get banned from FR for what I say about the President.
Just what we need, a national Schwarzenkennedy. Someone tell me its not true.
"Why doesn't the president just put a 'D' in fron of his name?"
D. George Bush. Sounds cosmopolitan. :)
Hide the checkbook. This is gonna cost the US taxpayers.
I think they should outlaw climate change, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis.
That would be consistent with his NWO/Globalist beliefs...
Otherwise no deal in reducing "greenhouse emissions".
You will have plenty of company.
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