Cheney-Bush deny hope for climate treaty

VP Dick Cheney directing U.S. policy at the UN climate conference in Montreal and has stopped any possible agreement between the U.S. and the rest of the world. The Bush White House is dead set against any loss of demand for oil and will never agree to any treaty that reduces demand, period. They couldn't care less about environmental issues and global warming is just too complicated a concept for George to understand. Prime Minister Paul Martin describes a "global conscience".........not in the Bush-Cheney world. From the Toronto Star: U.S. angered by Martin's climate comments Dec. 8, 2005. 08:32 PM MONTREAL (CP) — With one day of talks to go at the UN climate conference, desperate efforts to draw the United States into the global effort to curb greenhouse emissions appear to have hit a brick wall, and Prime Minister Paul Martin is being blamed. An official with close contacts in the U.S. delegation said any hopes of drawing Washington into the process were killed when Martin pointed a finger of blame at the United States in a news briefing at the conference. "That was a big mistake," said the delegate, speaking on condition of anonymity Thursday. He said the U.S. delegation, which is directed from Washington by Vice-President Dick Cheney, was deeply angered by Martin's comments. In his comments Wednesday, Martin called on all nations to join the global effort to fight climate change, adding: "To the reticent nations, including the United States, I say there is such a thing as a global conscience, and now is the time to listen to it." From the Guardian Unlimited Playing Russian roulette with the world A dark cloud hangs over proceedings here in Montreal at the start of the last day of the UN climate change summit. The mood could not have changed more violently, writes Simon Retallack. ........... Then as temperatures were plunging outside, phones began ringing with news that the US delegation had destabilized the talks in dramatic fashion. The Canadian hosts were reported to have confirmed that the US had rejected a deal to start talks outside the Kyoto track between developed and developing countries to discuss future action on climate change, even though the already anodyne text sanctioning these talks had just been weakened further, now stating that whatever emerged would be entirely non-binding. It’s possible that the result could be disastrous for the Montreal summit, preventing a green light being given to any new negotiations starting on global action to address climate change when the first phase of the Kyoto protocol runs out in 2012. If the US insists on rejecting even the discussion of future action by all countries, it could stop Japan and others from agreeing to develop a new round of emission cuts by industrialized countries, potentially killing off the prospects of Kyoto mark II. Rumors have been circulating that any change in the US approach is the result of a direct intervention in the talks by the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, and that this was precisely the result he sought. Update: ABC News Clinton to Appear at Climate Meeting Surprise Visitor Clinton to Make 11th-Hour Appearance at Troubled Climate Meeting By CHARLES J. HANLEY AP Special Correspondent The Associated Press MONTREAL Dec 9, 2005 — A contentious U.N. climate conference entered its final day Friday with the long-term future undecided in the fight against global warming, and with a surprise visitor on tap to rally the "pro-Kyoto" forces. Bill Clinton, who as president championed the Kyoto Protocol clamping controls on "greenhouse gases," was scheduled to speak at the conference Friday afternoon in an unofficial capacity but potentially at a critical point in backroom talks involving the U.S. delegation. The U.S. envoys, representing a Bush administration that renounced the Kyoto pact, were said to be displeased by the 11th-hour surprise.