MEDIA REACTION: GLOBAL ECONOMY: BUSH'S SPEECH ON CLIMATE

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000475 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: BUSH'S SPEECH ON CLIMATE CHANGE; SAO PAULO ¶1. "Preemptive Attack" Liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo (6/1) editorialized: "In what seems to be a preemptive attack against the tough criticism the U.S. would suffer at the G8 Summit - to take place next week in Germany - because of his position on climate change, President George W. Bush launched yesterday a new proposal to try to stop the planet's abnormal heating.... The acceptance of goals by President Bush signals a turning point in his position.... But there is no reason for one to believe that he has really bent to the environmental question. His gesture seems to be rather pragmatic. By announcing the initiative on the eve of his departure to Germany, Bush not only softens pressures that he would have faced from his European colleagues, but also practically ensures that the summit will not make decisions on the climate problem. Moreover, the U.S. proposal also tramples ongoing negotiations in regards to the second stage of the Kyoto Protocol, and this tends to make advances on such a global discussion more difficult. In the implausible hypothesis that the White House's initiative will succeed, something that would not happen before the end of 2008, it would not be Bush, but his successor, that would have to face the economic burden." ¶2. "The Speech Changes, But Not The Position" Liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo's science editor Claudio Angelo commented (6/1): "Who believes in George Walker Bush?.... Alone internationally and domestically, Bush has no longer succeeded in maintaining the rhetoric denying global climate change. But his position remains the same. The speech he delivered yesterday is purposively vague, contradictory and includes an oxymoron ('clean coal') among the solutions for the environmental problem. Actually, the U.S. 'proposal' limits itself to calling a meeting to discuss objectives (thereby reinventing the wheel, since both the Climate Panel and the UN Climate convention have this goal) and reach an agreement by 2008. But in 2008, Bush will be likely replaced by a Democrat president. Therefore, in addition to not doing anything, he is pushing the burden of the decision to his successor.... Bush's new plan is not only ingenuous, but also pernicious: by kicking the debate to 2008, he automatically cancels the G8's hopes of producing this month a solid multilateral agreement to prevent global warming.... What remains to be seen is whether the European Union and Japan will believe in the Texan's talk - which despite the sheep's clothing, continues to be as toxic as always." McMullen