L’incontro tra il presidente statunitense Barack Obama e quello cinese Hu Jintao ha sancito il mancato accordo sui tagli alle emissioni di CO2 tra i rappresentanti delle nazioni che hanno partecipato al vertice dell’APEC, (Organizzazione per la cooperazione economica dei paesi dell’Asia-Pacifico).

Molti autorevoli esperti avevano realisticamente previsto che gli interessi di Cina e Usa (le due maggiori potenze industriali del mondo e i due paesi più inquinatori), ma anche quelli di numerosi paesi asiatici, a partire dall’India, non hanno voglia, denaro e fantasia per impegnarsi in un gravoso e costoso programma di lotta all’emissione dei gas serra, almeno in termini di scadenze precise, livelli prestabiliti e sanzioni per chi non è in regola.

Nessuno negli ultimi tempi ha negato a parole la necessità di affrontare l’emergenza climatica, ma da Obama al presidente dell’Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, dal russo Medvedev, al brasiliano Lula, tutti hanno preso, o lo stanno facendo, dei provvedimenti in merito. Ma nessuno di loro vuole impegnarsi in modo vincolante, con un’autorità che controlli standard di riduzione dei gas serra, tempi di raggiungimento dei livelli determinati, in una comune condivisione di sforzi e di obiettivi.
E su questo si costruirà il fallimento della Conferenza di Copenhagen e si metterà a rischio il futuro della Terra, soprattutto perché è passato il principio che non esistano delle scadenze improcrastinabili.

A pochi giorni dalla conferenza di Copenaghen, i ministri Ue dell’Ambiente si dedicano a due giorni di consultazioni informali. Si trovano a discutere la nuova situazione che si é determinata a Singapore, con il sì del presidente americano, Barack Obama, alla proposta danese di un accordo in due tempi. I ministri della Ue così si trovano presi in contropiede e in evidente difficoltà nel preparare una trattativa, destinata fin d’ora al fallimento. L’assenza di target vincolanti per le emissioni è il problema maggiore.

Fonte: Rinnovabili.it
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Barack Obama e Hu Jintao declaram que apoiam a assinatura de acordo de redução de emissões

Estados Unidos e China comunicam que pretendem pressionar, sim, para a elaboração de um acordo na conferência climática de Copenhague, em dezembro.

As duas maiores nações poluidoras do mundo, responsáveis por 40% das emissões do planeta, anunciaram objetivo de elaborar metas de redução das emissões de gases causadores do efeito estufa.

O anúncio foi feito ontem por Barack Obama e pelo presidente chinês Hu Jintao. O comunicado vem em boa hora, após semanas conturbadas nas quais os líderes não sinalizavam a possibilidade de um acordo no próximo mês.

Segundo reportagem do The Guardian, Obama afirmou que o objetivo principal da conferência não é um acordo parcial ou declaração política, mas um algo que possa ser posto em prática imediatamente.

Os líderes emitiram um comunicado conjunto no qual diziam que os países participantes de Copenhague deveriam concordar com metas de redução de emissões para nações ricas e um plano de ação para diminuir emissões de gás carbônico em países em desenvolvimento.

O comunicado dizia ainda ser necessário aumentar a assistência financeira a países em desenvolvimento, promover o desenvolvimento da tecnologia, ajudar a adaptação de comunidades carentes e aumentar a proteção das florestas.

A ida de Barack Obama à China faz parte de uma viagem oficial de nove dias para quatro países asiáticos.

Fonte: Eco4planet

The Age, Australia, Nov. 21, 2009 -

HOURS after Barack Obama landed in Beijing and headed downtown, a cavalcade of black sedans drove out the other way.

China’s security chief, Zhou Yongkang, was heading against the traffic to meet an old Sudanese friend who has been accused of genocide in Darfur. Zhou’s three-day visit to President Omar al-Bashir coincided with Obama’s time in Beijing with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. It was a vivid statement of how differently the US and China might view the world when they are running it together.

Obama had brought some of his heaviest hitters to enlist China in confronting ”the major challenges of the 21st century, from climate change to nuclear proliferation to economic recovery … challenges that neither of our nations can solve by acting alone”.

Over the three days Obama and Hu spoke positively of each other’s efforts but struggled to list concrete achievements on any of Obama’s priorities. The US leader and his team spoke bravely if not convincingly about China being receptive to its message on Iran, North Korea and Pakistan and Afghanistan. Sudan never made it to the list. On China’s human rights, both sides plainly disagreed.

”I underlined to President Obama that given our differences in national conditions, it is only normal that our two sides may disagree on some issues,” said Hu.

For the Chinese state, even if the leaders failed to forge a personal rapport or policy breakthrough, it was a priceless three-day opportunity to manoeuvre a US president on their stage and project an image of China on top. By some accounts, China’s single highest diplomatic priority was not reducing the threat of rogue nuclear weapons on its doorstep or preventing the next economic meltdown, but getting Obama to say ”Tibet is part of China” on Chinese soil.

In Chinese diplomacy, form and content can be hard to disentangle. China is a ”ritual state”, says Australian National University China historian Geremie Barme. It is ”tirelessly reassuring itself and whoever is watching of its own stature and stateliness”.

Not all Chinese were impressed by their ”ritual state” going to extraordinary lengths to prevent Obama from engaging freely with the Chinese public. To many, particularly among internet-savvy youth, the contrast between Beijing’s insecurity and Obama’s natural confidence was instructive. ”They put a condom on the President of the United States,” wrote Wang Yukun at Sina, a popular website.

Obama handled Beijing’s strictures with grace but it wasn’t easy going. Bashir, in Khartoum, found security chief Zhou Yongkang to be a more obliging dance partner.

Zhou’s team unveiled the first Khartoum-Beijing direct flights, opened a Confucius Institute, signed an agriculture deal and agreed to jointly pump more oil.

The world is familiar with how Obama’s agenda in China was constrained by his own domestic politics. He had slapped tariffs on Chinese tyre imports and was not ready for a legally binding climate change agreement at Copenhagen – something that China sees as in its national interest.

But Hu was also weighed down by domestic political challenges. In 1995 Zhou was working his way to the top of China’s biggest oil company, Petrochina. Zhou and oil industry veteran Zeng Qinghong persuaded then president Jiang Zemin to exploit Sudan’s oil reserves at a time when Western companies could not afford the political or reputation risk, according to several Chinese oil industry and foreign policy sources.

”You are the important promoter of the Sudan-China oil project, the Sudanese people have special affection towards you,” said Bashir, on Thursday’s CCTV report. ”Sudan-China oil co-operation not only brought Sudan oil but also peace.”

Zhou left Petrochina in 1998 and Jiang stepped down from the presidency in 2002. But Chinese institutions can be shaped as much by invisible ties of patronage as official lines of power. Oil industry sources and foreign policy strategists say Zhou continued to hold the reins of China’s oil industry for many years after his official title changed. Some strategists claim that an ”oil gang” also drove the Chinese Government’s more recent forays into Iran’s oil and gas fields and even obstructed efforts by Hu and others to support international sanctions against Sudan and Iran.

Zhou now heads China’s secret and public security agencies and justice system. He is Jiang’s most important ally and therefore a factional rival of Jiang’s successor, Hu. Jiang’s allies also head China’s propaganda apparatus and possibly form a majority of the all-important Central Military Commission. Unfortunately for Obama, most of the concessions he would have liked from Hu happen to be on turf the Chinese President does not confidently control. Hu has to juggle the interests of factional rivals, giant state-owned corporations and an increasingly demanding bureaucracy. Hu could not unilaterally commit to what Obama appeared to put most effort into – a threat of sanctions against Iran.

Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, told an unimpressed White House press corps that Obama had never expected that ”the waters would part and everything would change over the course of our almost 2½-day trip to China”.

Gibbs was in damage control but he also had a point. The US cannot lead as it used to and has no choice but to give China a more proportionate say.

John Garnaut is China correspondent.

- The Age

Hegang, China

A deadly gas explosion has killed at least 42 miners and trapped more than 60 others, in a Chinese mine on Saturday. The incident occurred at about 2.30 a.m. when 528 people were working hundreds of feet underground. Rescue workers reported that about 400 workers successfully escaped the mine. The Xinxing mine is in Heilongjiang province, which borders Russia and is owned by the Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group.

A rescue team of about 156 personnel is working on the site to retrieve the trapped workers. The fact that the blast has destroyed the mine’s ventilation and communication system, is making the relief and rescue mission more challenging. The impact of the blast shook the nearby buildings and partially damaged some of them. The falling debris of the buildings left some of the escaping survivors unconscious.

The Chinese Vice Premier, Zhang Dejiang who reached the accident site, met the injured, while Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have personally issued instructions about the rescue work. China has recently and historically, been witness to some of the world’s deadliest mining industry disasters.

China is one of the NPT-recognized nuclear power states but still relies for about 80% of its power needs on thermal power, fueled by coal. Despite a recent government drive to clamp down on the small, unsafe operations where most accidents occur, lax safety standards and strong demand for coal makes these mines the deadliest in the world. The official sources have reported a 12% drop in fatalities in mines in the first seven months of this year over the last year after the smaller operations were closed down. In 2008 alone, more than 3,000 people died in mine floods, explosions, collapses and other accidents in China.

Los piratas reconocidos por todos

Los que secuestraron al Alakrana. Recibieron su rescate. Soltaron a los pescadores. Los militares hicieron un amago de persecución, y se volvieron. La oposición criticó todo. Los ministros se descoordinaron. Algunos familiares aprovecharon para meter cizaña y (puede que) hacer política. Mientras, los portugueses sacan pecho y muestran fotos de sus infantes de marina con fusiles y embozados apuntando a unos negritos en una barca. Piratas, dicen. Todo un follón. Pocas cosas claras. Pero se terminó, y los trabajadores están vivos. No es poco.

Los piratas que mandan en el mundo

Obama, el seudo-progresista presidente norteamericano, que cada vez da más de arena y menos de cal, se reúne con Hu Jintao en China. El mandamás yanqui hace algunas declaraciones sobre libertad y derechos humanos, pero luego prácticamente pacta con el dictador chino la ausencia de compromisos reales en la lucha sobre el cambio climático. Dice que a ver que pasa con las libertades del Tíbet y otros territorios dominados por China, pero en realidad se convierte en socio comercial privilegiado con e régimen autoritario de Pekín. China tiene la mayor reserva de dólares del mundo y, según cómo la maneje, puede comprometer la economía norteamericana. Y con estas cosas no se juega.

El “liberal” presidente norteamericano va de progresista, pero anuncia, antes de que se celebre el juicio, que algunos activistas y posibles terroristas islámicos detenidos en Guantánamo serán juzgados en Nueva York. Parece que el veredicto está previsto de antemano, lo cual casa mal con lo que se supone que es un régimen de libertades, un estado de derecho. Y parece que se saca su máscara progresista,… parece que de repente es un ferviente partidario de la pena de muerte… ¿O no? ¿Por qué nos tiene tan confundidos?

Los piratillas que mandan en Europa

El proyecto europeo cada vez se desprestigia más. Los dirigentes europeos actuales muestran tener una amplitud de miras como el ojo de una aguja. Creo que no identifican correctamente ni siquiera los intereses particulares de sus naciones… que se lo crean o no pasan por una Unión Europea fuerte, y no por la mascarada como la que están montando en la actualidad. O si no, se nos comerán entre chinos, norteamericanos,… y los rusos, que también tienen lo suyo. Los estrategas políticos de esos países, ante el triste espectáculo de los europeos buscando la mediocridad para lo que deberían ser liderazgos fuertes, deben de estar frotándose las manos. Y todo para alimentar el ego de los líderes franceses, alemanes, británicos,… Da pena. Mucha pena. Y el problema es que si añadimos las crisis económicos, los conflictos interétnicos y otras zarandajas, se crean las condiciones para el resurgir de los ultranacionalismos como los que dieron lugar a los fascismos de la primera mitad del siglo XX.

Epílogo chusco

La marina británica, en sus tiempos, se nutrió de la piratería que atacaba el tráfico mercante de España con sus colonias. En algún momento, no dudó en nombre sir a alguno de sus más destacados piratas. Pues bien, esta marina, que conoció época más gloriosas, ahora se dedica a pegar tiros contra las boyas del estrecho de Gibraltar. Alguna de las cuales están pintadas en rojo y amarillo, o tienen banderitas y esas cosas. Y va la guardia civil y los ve. Y se monta un incidente diplomático. Llamadas a consultas de embajadores, rectificaciones,… toda la zarandaja de los incidentes diplomáticos. Y todo porque los militares de todo país y condición, en vez de estarse quietos, o simplemente desaparecer, se dedican a hacer tonterías por el mundo con sus “pistolitas”. ¡Ag!

Me relajaré con unas fotografías de tranquilos y pacíficos árboles en otoño.

Pinos en el Cabezo Cortado de Zaragoza - Panasonic Lumix GF1, Leica Summicron-C 40/2

È incredibile trovare e leggere certi ridicoli articoli in internet. La rete o network che si voglia, è veramente un muro dove chiunque può scrivere quello che vuole, condizionando i navigatori, modificando la storia e le culture. Anche questo è un sistema per uccidere l’uomo e crea confusione o, nel peggiore dei casi, aspettative che non hanno nessun fondamento, proprio come la visita del Presidente degli Stati Uniti d’America in Cina.
Sappiamo tutti che da quando è salito al potere l’attuale numero uno cinese Hu Jintao la situazione dei diritti umani in Cina è peggiorata. Abbiamo saputo di molte persone che sono state arrestate, rinchiuse in prigione e nella maggior parte dei casi hanno subito violenze. I cittadini, ma soprattutto gli oppositori di Hu Jintao subiscono molta più pressione rispetto al passato, infatti l’attuale regime comunista cinese controlla i media, blocca internet e limita la libertà d’espressione.
Aspettarsi o essersi aspettati che il pur bravo Presidente Barack Obama fosse andato in Cina a cambiare le sorti dei cinesi mi sembra un pò troppo! Ho letto un’articolo che sostiene che la gente si aspettava che Obama avrebbe fatto qualcosa per i diritti umani in Cina, legittimo tutto questo, ma sappiamo tutti che non sarebbe stato possibile. È per questo gli è stato dato del fallimento! Ho letto sullo stesso articolo che si tratta di un fallimento perché in passato le pressioni esercitate da Washington hanno avuto i loro effetti: Pechino ha paura della diplomazia americana basata sui diritti umani. Ma chi scrive queste cose non si sente assurdo? Pechino ha fatto solo la sua politica che è stata quella di espandersi nel mondo e mettere nicchie di cinesi in ogni angolo del globo! I cinesi sono falsi, sono persone di basso livello e di conseguenza si sono comportati. Ed ora che sono riusciti nell’intento, che hanno quote di partecipazioni nelle più importanti società americane ed europee, per quale motivo dovrebbero essere intimoriti dagli USA?
Il Presidente americano ha detto e lasciato ai cinesi frasi importanti, parole che potrebbero avere un peso in futuro e non certo subito, come qualcuno ha sostenuto in rete. Frasi che potrebbero muovere certe coscienze ed i cuori del popolo cinese in futuro, ma probabilmente ci vorranno una, due o chissà magari più generazioni.
“We do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation, but we also don’t believe that the principles we stand for are unique to our nation.”
“These freedoms of expression and worship, of access to information and political participation, we believe are universal rights.”
“They should be available to all people, including ethnic and religious minorities, whether they are in the United States, China or any nation.”
“That makes our democracy stronger because it forces me to hear opinions that I don’t want to hear, it forces me to examine what I’m doing.”
“We have known setbacks and challenges over the last 30 years. Our relationship has not been without disagreement and difficulty. But the notion that we must be adversaries is not predestined.”
Uno dei motivi principali del viaggio di Barack Obama, in realtà, era il tasso di cambio fra il dollaro e lo yuan, infatti sembrerebbe questa la chiave per ridurre il deficit commerciale fra Usa e Cina, un deficit che è arrivato alla cifra record di oltre 268 miliardi di dollari. Molti americani sanno che questo è dovuto al fatto che il governo cinese manipola l’attuale tasso di cambio, e che questo va ad aggiungersi a un ingiusto sistema commerciale. Come ha detto il senatore americano Charles Schumer, “l’intera crisi economica è partita con la manipolazione, da parte di Pechino, della propria valuta. Se non risolviamo questo problema, è inutile affrontare gli altri”.
La verità del – forse, chi lo sa in futuro? – non riuscito viaggio di Barack Obama è dovuto a due fattori, il primo la grande forza interna dell’attuale governo cinese che non vuole lasciare il controllo del suo destino all’Occidente, e come secondo punto potrebbe essere vero che l’attuale amministrazione americana non conosce la Cina.
Comunque le relazioni tra i due paesi non si basano soltanto sull’economia e nemmeno sui diritti umani. In passato, Hitler e Stalin non furono in grado di sciogliere il sistema democratico occidentale, e ora il Partito comunista cinese cerca di realizzare il desiderio di Lenin: fare in modo che l’imperialismo americano sia l’ultimo stadio del capitalismo. Va detto che, fino ad ora, sembra aver avuto successo. Ed è per questo che l’ultima visita in Cina di un presidente americano ha ricevuto così tanta attenzione dalla popolazione: questi non si curano soltanto di scambi commerciali e disoccupazione. La gente è preoccupata dal fatto che l’America possa essere sconfitta dalla Cina. Probabilmente è in questo dato che si vuole far passare per fallito il viaggio di Obama, mentre personalmente credo che più di quello che è stato fatto non poteva essere fatto! Il Presidente USA ha provato a forzare la mano, ma da persona intelligente ha preferito fare un passo indietro, ha mandato qualche segnale, ha lasciato qualche frase di speranza al popolo cinese, ma soprattutto ha imparato la Cina, il suo governo ed il suo popolo. Ora spetta al suo entourage preparare le prossime mosse, e queste si che sarebbero di fallimento se non andranno in “porto”, almeno parzialmente! Un fallimento per tutto il mondo Occidentale, che in futuro potrebbe sconvolgere il sistema che abbiamo conosciuto. Un passo alla volta e tutto cambia, quando succede è troppo tardi per tornare indietro. Meditate gente, meditate, ed invece di guardare il Grande Fratello, continuate a meditare.

How do you spell Obama in Chinese? Depends who you are. The Chinese news media spell it 奥巴马 (àobāmǎ). But the US Embassy in Beijing recently launched a campaign to change it to 欧巴马 (ōubāmǎ). Why no agreement? The embassy says its spelling is closer to the American pronunciation of Obama. But the Chinese don’t appear to like how it sounds, or reads. For one thing, the Taiwanese already transliterate Obama the American way. Beijing likes to keep its scriptural distance from Taipei. More here and here.

Next on the podcast, the contrasting oratorical styles of presidents Hu and Obama. The two leaders draw on starkly different rhetorical traditions, and they may also have somewhat different audiences when they step up to a podium. There are personal differences too, mainly concerning charisma: Obama oozes it;  Hu doesn’t go in for oozing much of anything.  Some young Chinese have noticed.  Like their Japanese counterparts, they’re learning English by reciting famous Obama speeches.

Then, something on a type of Chinese idiom known as chengyu, as explained by the late James Lilley, former U.S. ambassador to China. Lilley says Chinese diplomats loved to hide behind these sayings. He recalls how he once turned the tables on them by coming up with an enigmatic saying of his own.

After that we travel to the UK, where Confucian philosophy has infused Chinese language classes in five public schools. It’s almost inevitable that when you learn a language, you learn about the culture of the people who speak that language. (Believe it or not, it helps.) But this new approach in Britain goes a step further: the schools draw on Confucian teaching methods. The idea is that students will learn more through thinking and enjoying a subject than they might through memorization.

And then, a grand finale:  poet and writer Marilyn Chin on why she loves the expression chop suey. It’s all in the onomatopoeia. More about the origin of the dish here and the song here (it’s a high point in the musical Flower Drum Song.) Much more, by the way, from Marilyn Chin next week, including a discussion of the role language plays in her new novel.

Listen in iTunes or here.

"Hell of a job, Brownie!"

Rising CO2 Will Cause Catastrophic Sea Level Rise Finds Antarctic Study by Louise Gray, Environment CorrespondentThe Telegraph/UK

Sea levels could rise by up to six metres if the world fails to get pollution under control, according to the latest study in the Antarctic.

The British Antarctic Survey is the latest research to warn of the consequences of increased greenhouse gases on the Earth’s climate. Carbon dioxide is rising at record rates putting the world on a pathway for a 6C rise in temperature, which will cause a sea level rise of up six metres, threatening coastal cities like London, New York and San Francisco.

The recent studies add pressure on world leaders to agree to an international deal on climate change at a UN summit in Copenhagen this December.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/11/18-6

How Limousine Liberals, Water Oligarchs and Even Sean Hannity Are Hijacking Our Water Supply By Yasha Levine, AlterNet.

A group of water oligarchs engineered a disastrous privatization scheme to make a fortune out of California’s most precious natural resource.

A group of water oligarchs in California have engineered a disastrous deregulation and privatization scheme. And they’ve pulled in hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars without causing much public outrage. The amount of power and control they wield over California’s most precious resource, water, should shock and frighten us — and it would, if more people were aware of it. But here is the scary thing: They are plotting to gain an even larger share of California’s increasingly-scarce, over-tapped water supply, which will surely lead to shortages, higher prices and untold destruction to California’s environment.

California is in year three of a fairly nasty dry spell. And some very powerful forces are not letting this mini-crisis go to waste, fiercely lobbying Governor Schwarzenegger and Senator Dianne Feinstein, paying off corporate shills like Fox News’ Sean Hannity and capitalizing on people’s fear of drought to push a massive waterworks project that will pump more water, build more dams and keep sucking the state’s rivers dry. …This drought hysteria is nothing more than political theatrics, a scare tactic backed by big agribusiness to strong-arm California voters into building a multi-billion dollar system of dams and canals that would not really help small farmers — of which there are very few anyway — but would deliver more water to corporations, subsidize their landholdings, fuel real estate development and enable large-scale water privatization. At its core, it is a war waged for water by California’s megarich on everyone else.  READ MORE:

http://www.alternet.org/water/144020/how_limousine_liberals%2C_water_oligarchs_and_even_sean_hannity_are_hijacking_our_water_supply

Rachel Maddow Interview with Former Evangelist Frank Schaeffer: Christian Right Is ‘Trolling for Assassins’ AlterNet.

Schaeffer: “There is a crazy fringe [receiving] messages that have been pouring out of FOX News … talking about doing away with Obama, asking God to kill him.”  READ MORE:

http://www.alternet.org/rights/144054/rachel_maddow_interview_with_former_evangelist_frank_schaeffer%3A_christian_right_is_%27trolling_for_assassins%27

Shocking Benefits of Legalizing Pot By Ami Cholia, AlterNet.

There are some pluses to legalization that you probably haven’t heard about.

The war on drugs may be a noble intention, but the illegal growing of marijuana is destroying our environment.

Primarily run by Mexican drug cartels California’s illegal growers aren’t your typical peace-loving hippies of the 70s. These men live illegally on farms all summer, putting tons of waste into the soil and water. Pesticides drain into creeks and enter the food chain, sickening wildlife.  Each plant also uses about 15 gallons of water per day soaking up a large part of the water resources around.

Organized crime groups who cash in on the drug war’s distortion of supply and demand dynamics have little regard for the environment. Even illegal growers of organic marijuana impact the environment by felling trees in national forests to make room for illicit grow sites. The plants are seasonal, but the environmental damage lasts forever.

There is a serious exception to be made. Many medical – legal – marijuana growers are among the most responsible citizens around. They buy soil in bulk, use rat traps instead of poison, water with timers and drip systems. They have very little physical impact on the land.

Outside of the obvious benefits of hemp — bio-diesel, burns cleanly, soil builder, better cheaper paper, etc. — organic and sustainable practices for growing marijuana would bring in tons of revenue for the states, clean up the environment, and save the government $150 billion on policing and courts, since 47.5% of all drug arrests are marijuana-related.

We’re not promoting drug addiction.  The positive benefits to the environment by making marijuana legal definitely seem enough to take action.

Even Glenn Beck seems to think this is worth it.  READ MORE:

http://www.alternet.org/environment/144052/world%27s_biggest_polluters_strike_a_deal%3A_u.s._and_china_agree_to_comprehensive_clean_energy_and_climate_plan?page=3

World’s Biggest Polluters Strike a Deal: U.S. and China Agree to Comprehensive Clean Energy and Climate Plan By Joseph Romm, Climate Progress.

The overall plan is much more ambitious in scope and depth than anticipated.

A comprehensive plan for U.S.-China cooperation on clean energy and climate change was announced in Beijing by President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao. The plan contains directives to create various institutions and programs addressing a wide array of cooperation on clean-energy technologies and capacity building, including very important efforts on helping China build a robust, transparent and accurate inventory of their greenhouse gas emissions.

These efforts include cooperation in the following areas:

1.      Greenhouse Gas Inventory.

2.      Joint Clean Energy Research Center. (Factsheet)

3.      Electric Vehicles. (Factsheet)

4.      Energy Efficiency. Building on the Ten Year Framework on Energy and Environment Cooperation, government officials of both countries will “work together (Factsheet)

5.      Renewable Energy. (Factsheet)

6.      21st Century Coal. The two countries will “launch a program of technical cooperation to …develop clean coal and carbon capture and storage technologies.” (Factsheet)

7.      Shale Gas. The U.S. and China will “assess China’s shale gas potential, promote environmentally-sustainable development of shale gas resources, conduct joint technical studies to accelerate development of shale gas resources in China, and promote shale gas investment in China through the U.S.-China Oil and Gas Industry Forum, study tours, and workshops.” (Factsheet)

8.      Nuclear. The two countries reaffirmed the goals of the Third Executive Committee Meeting of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership to promote the peaceful use of civilian nuclear energy, and “agreed to consult with one another in order to explore such approaches—including assurance of fuel supply and cradle-to-grave nuclear fuel management so that countries can access peaceful nuclear power while minimizing the risks of proliferation.”

9.      Public-private partnerships on clean energy. A new U.S.-China Energy Cooperation Program (ECP) will “leverage private sector resources for project development work in China across a broad array of clean energy projects, to the benefit of both nations.”

The two countries hope that the upcoming United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen will follow this example and focus as much on bottom-up technological strategies for achieving real reductions in emissions as it will on top-down targets for carbon caps.  READ MORE:

http://www.alternet.org/environment/144052/world%27s_biggest_polluters_strike_a_deal%3A_u.s._and_china_agree_to_comprehensive_clean_energy_and_climate_plan?page=3

Push to Curb Credit-Card Rates Fades as Democrats resist consumer outcry by Michael KranishThe Boston Globe

WASHINGTON – Efforts in Congress to cap credit-card interest rates are faltering because of opposition from Democrats and a lack of specific support from the White House, despite growing consumer outrage over a rush by banks to impose rates as high as 30 percent.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama vowed to back a strict limit on credit-card interest rates. But the White House is not yet behind any plan.

The Senate soundly defeated legislation in May introduced by Senator Bernard Sanders, the Vermont Independent, to cap most credit-card interest rates at 15 percent. Nearly half of the Democratic senators joined Republicans in defeating the measure, 60 to 33.

Consumer groups say the problem of skyrocketing interest rates has worsened since that vote, as banks scramble to boost rates in advance of a new rule scheduled to take effect in February, requiring banks to give consumers a 45-day advance notice of rate increases.

Sanders said many of the credit cards in the hands of American consumers are issued by four banks that received taxpayer bailout money after last year’s economic meltdown: Citigroup, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.

“People are disgusted. We bailed these [companies] out and they then had the gumption to raise interest rates on the American people,” Sanders said in an interview. Sanders said he plans to reintroduce his proposal to cap rates at 15 percent; he predicted it will have more support this time.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/11/18-7

The Obama administration is likely to offer emission-reduction targets at next month’s climate summit in Copenhagen, as long as the Chinese offer a proposal of their own.

U.S. reluctance to set a short-term emissions goal has been a sticking point in the U.N.-sponsored talks for nearly a year. Almost all industrialized nations, and many developing countries, have announced plans to curb their greenhouse-gas output by 2020. Neither the United States nor China — which is not obligated to do so under the U.N. framework, even though it ranks as the world’s biggest emitter — has done so, thereby hampering the prospects of an agreement… Read more at the Washington Post

Package of energy projects

During talks in Beijing, U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao endorsed a package of energy projects, including deals on clean coal and electric vehicles. Environmental analysts say the talks offer new hope the two countries will soon offer targets on emissions reduction… Read more at American Voice

Supplementary: Previous coverage on Obama’s China visit

haplif – Frank Kalder (Global Haplifnet)

Zero sums gains. When I lose, who wins?

Since 2002, my retirement accounts are worth 38% less, being in U.S. dollars, compared to a basket of currency in exchange traded funds. Where did that 38% go? By the end of October 2008, more than half of the U.S. banks were pretend banks.