[gego]

I doubt that anything will change in the USA.

The voters may vote in new rulers, but the rulers all have the same mindset; big government, more power, more privelege for the people pulling the politicians strings, and more wealth extraction from the average man.

An the voters think all along that they are calling the shots.

[Daculling]

Do any of you know who chairs the UN Human Rights Council?.... Libya.

So I hope you don't mind if I don't give a shait what the UN says about human rights.

[Battle_Scarred_Galactico]

This doesn't change the fact that the UN are a bunch of whiny, useless idiots.

[backstop]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Battle_Scarred_Galactico', 'T')his doesn't change the fact that the UN are a bunch of whiny, useless idiots.

[Starvid]

I have to say that I don't like Bush, Bolton or any of those guys. But Bolton has a nice anti-UN attitude.

There's no such thing as the United Nations. If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.

Yeah!

edit: What most people don't understand is that the UN is not bigger than the parts that make up the UN. It's a talk club, not a world government.

It lacks any kind of credibility.

It's only power is the power of propaganda. Since many people think the UN is or ought to be some kind of world government they will be pissed of when people go against the UN. That's the only real power of the UN.

[smallpoxgirl]

So I understand where Isreal, the Marshall Islands, and Palau are coming from. It's the same group that annually votes against the resolution condeming the US blockade of Cuba.

Why did Venzuala and Iran abstain though?

[smallpoxgirl]

Good example of why the US is opposed to creation of a human rights commision:

http://www.wsdp.org/un_cerd_wsdp.htm

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'W')hat most people don't understand is that the UN is not bigger than the parts that make up the UN. It's a talk club, not a world government.

[Magus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'S')o I understand where Isreal, the Marshall Islands, and Palau are coming from. It's the same group that annually votes against the resolution condeming the US blockade of Cuba.

Why did Venzuala and Iran abstain though?

[peaker_2005]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Magus', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'S')o I understand where Isreal, the Marshall Islands, and Palau are coming from. It's the same group that annually votes against the resolution condeming the US blockade of Cuba.

Why did Venzuala and Iran abstain though?

[Magus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('peaker_2005', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Magus', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'S')o I understand where Isreal, the Marshall Islands, and Palau are coming from. It's the same group that annually votes against the resolution condeming the US blockade of Cuba.

Why did Venzuala and Iran abstain though?

[MrBean]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gego', 'I') doubt that anything will change in the USA.

[MrBean]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', '
')Why did Venzuala and Iran abstain though?

[lorenzo]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')uesday, September 26, 2006
The UN's Global Bioenergy Partnership opens its Secretariat
The Secretariat of the Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP), launched at the 14th Session of the UN Commission for Sustainable Development in May 2006 to promote the use of bioenergy, has formally opened its doors and is up and running. The GBEP will promote a global move to bioenergy.

Located at Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) headquarters and supported by the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, the Secretariat's mandate is to facilitate a global political forum to promote bioenergy and to encourage the production, marketing and use of "green" fuels, with particular focus on developing countries.

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lorenzo', 'W')e need long-term planning and policy work, because most of us would agree that bioenergy has tremendous potential (it can deliver more than 7 times the amount of oil and gas we are consuming today on this planet), but there are also lots of crucial questions about environmental and social sustainability.

[KevO]

oh dear.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')eal struck' at UN climate talks
Beijing skyline. Image: AFP/Getty
China has argued against anything which could affect its growth
Experts at a major UN climate change conference in Bangkok have reached agreement on options for combatting global warming, delegates say.

It follows marathon talks with strong reservations voiced by China.

New clauses added at the last moment clarify the potential for nuclear power and lifestyle changes to cut emissions.

The third part of this year's assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change looks at ways to curb emissions and economic factors.

The report is due to be released in the Thai capital on Friday.

'Action needed'

"It's all done," Peter Lukey, a member of the South African delegation, told the Associated Press news agency.

"Everything we wanted to see was there and more. The message is: We have to do something now."

The report makes clear that greenhouse gases are rising, and without intervention will continue to rise, with fossil fuels likely to remain the dominant energy supply for decades to come.


I can tell you that the probability for achieving 450ppm in anything approaching the world as it now is almost impossible
Professor Stephen Schneider
China repeatedly tried to tone down some elements of the draft text prepared for the start of the week-long discussions, delegates said.

It has been keen to remove references to scenarios which it fears could affect its short-term economic growth.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has already this year produced the two other elements of this global assessment report - its fourth since 1990 - dealing respectively with the science of climate change and on the potential impacts.

Stable futures

The draft report assesses the likely costs to the global economy of stabilising greenhouse gases at various concentrations in the atmosphere.

Vehicle exhaust. Image: AFP/Getty
Vehicle emissions are not tackled well, the IPCC believes
Aiming for a total greenhouse gas concentration equivalent to 650 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide would reduce global GDP by about 0.2%, it says, whereas a more ambitious target of 550ppm would cost about 0.6% of global GDP, says the BBC's environment correspondent Richard Black.

The current atmospheric concentration is about 425ppm, and many climate scientists now argue that only agreeing to keep below about 450ppm can prevent major climatic consequences.

The IPCC draft says keeping concentrations at this level could cost up to 3% of GDP.

"I can tell you that the probability for achieving 450ppm in anything approaching the world as it now is almost impossible," commented Professor Stephen Schneider from Stanford University in California, who helped draft the IPCC's first report this year on the science of climate change.

"But a temperature rise over 2-3C leads to potential mass extinctions, serious problems with coasts, mountain glaciers disappearing, melting ice sheets... and one has to talk about stabilisation at 450-550ppm range to have a better than 20-30% chance of preventing that."

The IPCC does not make policy recommendations, but even so China, with some other delegations, sought to play down references to the lower stabilisation levels.

[Newsseeker]

China never really is a team player.

[Ludi]

We here in the US can't fairly bitch about China, we produce approx 25% of the world's greenhouse gases, with only 5% of the world's population. I think China produces something like 12% of the greenhouse gases.

[NeoPeasant]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'W')e here in the US can't fairly bitch about China, we produce approx 25% of the world's greenhouse gases, with only 5% of the world's population. I think China produces something like 12% of the greenhouse gases.