MEDIA REACTION: GLOBAL ECONOMY: ECONOMY AND THE

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000299

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD

DEPT PASS USTR

USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: GLOBAL ECONOMY: ECONOMY AND THE
ENVIRONMENT; SAO PAULO



1. "A World Scale Injustice"

Former UNCTAD Secretary General Rubens Ricupero maintained in
liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo
(4/15): "The US and Europe are responsible for two-thirds of gas
emissions causing climate changes, while 840 million Africans cause
less than 3%. But droughts and floods resulting from high
temperatures will punish Africans much more than Western nations,
which have been the historic villains of global warming since the
Industrial Revolution.... The scourge that affects us today is not a
natural catastrophe such as a meteorite fall. It is a change caused
by human action.... This is the unique character of the process, the
human mark that permits us to speak about injustice, not fatality.
For this reason, it is not a surprise that the government of the US,
responsible for 30% of emissions, has insisted in denying scientific
evidence that the climate change is not due to natural, but human
causes. To recognize that the change has been caused by men, and by
some more than others, is to have to admit the principle of
'differentiated responsibility,' provided by the Climate Change
Convention. It is, therefore, a positive international right that no
one can discuss or deny.... The USG expects solidarity from everyone
in the fight on international terrorism that threatens it. At the
same time, it refuses to limit gas emissions and contributes to
speeding up the physical disappearance of islands in the Pacific
Ocean or Bangladesh regions where millions of people live. The
international agenda is unfair, stupid and illegitimate because it
gives highest priority to terrorism, arms proliferation (only in
some nations),Iraq, Iran, and gives second class treatment to the
mother of all threats, the one that affects the whole planet,
including the rich nations."


2. "Transnational Eco-Stupidity"

Physicist and university Professor Rogerio Cezar de Cerqueira Leite
commented (4/15) in liberal, largest national circulation daily
Folha de S. Paulo: "Now even Presidents Hugo Chvez and Fidel Castro
joined the stupid anti-ethanol chorus. Chvez considers ethanol a
competitor of oil. The greater the ethanol supply in the market, the
smaller will be oil monopoly power. And in this aspect, Chavez has
the support of the major multinationals operating in the sector. For
Fidel, the issue is a political one. He had never said anything
against the Brazilian ethanol program before President Bush's visit
to Brazil, because he knows that solid trade cooperation always
results in ideological fraternization."
McMullen