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Bank Nationalization: "As American As Apple Pie" Top
Even before the panel discussion commenced, George Stephanopoulos knew that this would not, in actuality, be a debate. The topic was the nationalization of major U.S. banks, which just a few weeks ago was treated as either inconceivable or illogical. But with the credit crisis growing worse and chorus of political support growing louder, the ABC host opened up a segment with more of a statement than a question. "Over the last several weeks, you have seen something that was radioactive even six months ago, the idea of nationalizing major banks in this country, moving towards something of a consensus," Stephanopoulos said. There wasn't a panelist who disputed the idea -- indeed, naysayers were mocked. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman scoffed at the notion that the White House was one of the few remaining holdouts, picking apart the Obama administration's comment as a sophisticated sidestep. "That Gibbs statement was masterful," Krugman said of the remark by Obama's press secretary that a "privately-held banking system" regulated by the government was optimal. Some interpreted it as White House opposition to nationalization, but Krugman argued otherwise. "It sounded like a reassurance [but he] was actually saying what everybody believes. Nobody wants the government running the banking system for any length of time." Rather, Krugman argues, the government's involvement should be temporary -- just long enough to wipe out shareholders, fire management, clean up the banks and quickly resell them into the marketplace. He added that it seems likely that there is no other choice. George Will, who at times has been diametrically opposed to Krugman on economic matters, seemed to be acknowledging much the same when he opened the discussion with his usual bit of highbrow wit. "This week, a Democratic administration reproved Alan Greenspan for reckless talk on nationalization," he said. "That's how 'through the looking glass' we are." The debate at which the panelists finally arrived was not over nationalization itself, but how to describe it using a less loaded term. "Pre-privatization," offered Krugman. "What is a leader's job but to put context around it," Suzy Welch remarked to her fellow panelists. The argument, the panelists were saying, was now moot. The insolvency of the banking system not only demanded more direct government intervention, but the process was already taking place. There was Nouriel Roubini, the economist known as Dr. Doom for predicting the current downturn, who champions a quick and brief nationalization period as the pill that must be swallowed. "There are some banks that are so insolvent, their assets are well below their liabilities. We have already put a huge amount of money as a government into these banks. This is not anymore even a partisan issue, when you have Alan Greenspan, [Sen.] Lindsey Graham and others saying we want a temporary nationalization..." There was the conservative George Will: "With credit now treated essentially as a public utility, the difference between what we have and what nationalization would be is marginal. One number: the market capitalization of Bank of America is $19 billion since October they have received $45 billion in public funds. So what's the difference?" And then there was Krugman, who summed it all up by calling nationalization "as American as apple pie." "We have nationalized 14 banks already this year. We don't call it that but there were 14 banks, two a week that the FDIC seized because they didn't have enough assets to pay their depositors. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation says, 'ok, we are taking over. We are cleaning out the stockholders.' We are going to do exactly, as Nouriel said, we should be doing for some major banks. So actually nationalization as properly understood is probably as American as apple pie."
 
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Joe Lieberman Meets Israel's Lieberman, Netanyahu Top
Joining a Likud government would be a breach of Kadima voters' trust and an act of self-delusion, Kadima leader Tzipi Livni said on Sunday evening ahead of a meeting with prime minister-designate and Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu. Speaking to the Kadima faction in the Knesset, Livni stressed the difficulties she perceived in the idea of her party joining a Likud-led coalition. More on Israel
 
Obama's Refusal To Reverse Bush Policy In Afghanistan Angers Human Rights Groups Top
Less than a month after signing an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, President Barack Obama has quietly agreed to keep denying the right to trial to hundreds more terror suspects held at a makeshift camp in Afghanistan that human rights lawyers have dubbed "Obama's Guantanamo". In a single-sentence answer filed with a Washington court, the administration dashed hopes that it would immediately rip up Bush-era policies that have kept more than 600 prisoners in legal limbo and in rudimentary conditions at the Bagram air base, north of Kabul. Now, human rights groups say they are becoming increasingly concerned that the use of extra-judicial methods in Afghanistan could be extended rather than curtailed under the new US administration. The air base is about to undergo a $60m (£42m) expansion that will double its size, meaning it can house five times as many prisoners as remain at Guantanamo. Apart from staff at the International Red Cross, human rights groups and journalists have been barred from Bagram, where former prisoners say they were tortured by being shackled to the ceiling of isolation cells and deprived of sleep. The base became notorious when two Afghan inmates died after the use of such techniques in 2002, and although treatment and conditions have been improved since then, the Red Cross issued a formal complaint to the US government in 2007 about harsh treatment of some prisoners held in isolation for months. While the majority of the estimated 600 prisoners are believed to be Afghan, an unknown number - perhaps several dozen - have been picked up from other countries. One of the detainees who passed through the Afghan prison was Binyam Mohamed, the British resident who is expected to return to the UK this week after his release from Guantanamo Bay. Mr Mohamed's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, head of a legal charity called Reprieve, called President Obama's strategy "the Bagram bait and switch", where the administration was trumpeting the closure of a camp housing 242 prisoners, while scaling up the Bagram base to house 1,100 more. "Guantanamo Bay was a diversionary tactic in the 'War on Terror'," said the lawyer. "Totting up the prisoners around the world - held by the US in Iraq, Afghanistan, Djibouti, the prison ships and Diego Garcia, or held by US proxies in Jordan, Egypt and Morocco - the numbers dwarf Guantanamo. There are still perhaps as many as 18,000 people in legal black holes. Mr Obama should perhaps be offered more than a month to get the American house in order. However, this early sally from the administration underlines another message: it is far too early for human rights advocates to stand on the USS Abraham Lincoln and announce, 'Mission Accomplished'." Four non-Afghan detainees at Bagram are fighting a legal case in Washington to be given the same access to the US court system that was granted to the inmates of Guantanamo Bay by a controversial Supreme Court decision last year. The Bush administration was fighting their claim. Two days into his presidency, Mr Obama promised to shut Guantanamo within a year in an effort to restore America's moral standing in the world and to prosecute the struggle against terrorism "in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals". But on the same day, the judge in the Bagram case said that the order "indicated significant changes to the government's approach to the detention, and review of detention, of individuals currently held at Guantanamo Bay" and that "a different approach could impact the court's analysis of certain issues central to the resolution" of the Bagram cases as well. Judge John Bates asked the new administration if it wanted to "refine" its stance. The response, filed by the Department of Justice late on Friday, came as a crushing blow to human rights campaigners. "Having considered the matter, the government adheres to its previously articulated position," it said. Tina Foster, executive director of the International Justice Network, the New York human rights organisation representing the detainees, warned last night that "by leaving Bagram open, the administration turns the closure of Guantanamo into essentially a hollow and symbolic gesture". She said: "Without reconsidering the underlying policy, which has led to the abuses at Abu Ghraib and the indefinite detention of hundreds of people all these years, then we are simply returning to the status quo. The exact same thing that had the world up in arms has been going on at Bagram since even before Guantanamo. "People have been tortured to the point that they have died; it is a rallying cry for those who oppose the US actions in Afghanistan; it is not strategic for the US; and, more importantly, holding people indefinitely, regardless of who they are and regardless of the facts, is completely inconsistent with everything we stand for as a country." The Department of Justice would only say that the legal briefs in the Washington case "speak for themselves". It says Bagram is a special case because, unlike Guantanamo, it is sited within a theatre of war. Mr Obama has pushed out the wider questions about the US policy on detaining terror suspects and supporters of the Taliban in Afghanistan until the summer, ordering a review that will take six months to complete. The administration is weighing the likely increase in prisoners from an expanded fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, against the international perception that it is embedding extra-judicial detention into its policies for years to come. Related articles: What lies ahead for Binyam Mohamed? Read more from the Independent. More on Afghanistan
 
Khan el-Khalili, Cairo Tourist Bazaar, Hit By Bomb Explosion Top
CAIRO — A bomb exploded Sunday in a famed bazaar in medieval Cairo, killing a Frenchwoman and wounding at least 17 people _ most of them foreign tourists, officials said. Within an hour, police tracked down a second bomb and detonated it safely, an official said. The Khan el-Khalili, which sells souvenirs, jewelry and handicrafts, is always filled with tourists. It was last attacked in April 2005, when a suicide bomber killed two French citizens and an American. Sunday's blast outside a cafe sent a panicked rush of worshippers from the nearby Hussein mosque. "I was praying and there was a big boom and people started panicking and rushing out of the mosque, then police came and sealed the main door, evacuating us out of the back," said Mohammed Abdel Azim, 56, who was inside the historic mosque. Outside, blood stained the marble paving stones. A medic at the scene said all the injured were taken to the nearby Hussein hospital and the Frenchwoman died in the intensive care unit. Among the wounded were 10 French and three German tourists as well four Egyptians, said a security official. A frantic woman screamed at police sealing off the area to let her look for her daughter. The outdoor cafes and restaurants lining the square were packed with crowds, including a large group of Irish tourists at Mohammed Said's Al-Sinousi Cafe. "There was a big loud boom. Everybody ducked," the cafe owner said. "I ran out to figure out what's happening." The blast sent crowds scrambling in all directions, he said. A police colonel said the small bomb outside the cafe kicked up stone and marble fragments, which wounded the passersby. All the officials describing the blasts spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. Egypt fought a long war with Islamist militants in the 1990s, which culminated in a massacre of more than 50 tourists in Luxor in 1997. The rebels were largely defeated and there have been few attacks since in the Nile valley. There were, however, a number of attacks in recent years against resorts in the Sinai Peninsula, including one in Sharm el-Sheik in 2005 that killed more than 60 people. Tourism is one Egypt's major sources of foreign income. More on Egypt
 
Zimbabwe's Mugabe Celebrates Birthday With Sumptuous Banquet While People Starve Top
Robert Mugabe marked his 85th birthday yesterday with a sumptuous banquet in Harare at the start of a week of parties which observers say is a further sign of the Zimbabwean president's defiance in the face of growing criticism of his regime. More on Zimbabwe
 
Pakistan To Arm Village Militias To Fight Terror Top
ISLAMABAD — A Pakistani border region struggling against Taliban and al-Qaida militants will distribute 30,000 rifles to villagers in hopes that local militias can help the provincial government regain control, a top official said Sunday. The announcement from the North West Frontier Province came after Pakistan's government announced a seemingly conflicting deal in the Swat Valley _ a Taliban stronghold within the province _ to impose Islamic law if the extremists stop fighting. Pakistan has sought to allay the concerns of U.S. and NATO, whose troops face an escalating Taliban insurgency in nearby Afghanistan, that a peace deal would create a militant haven. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Saturday he would try to "remove the apprehensions of the world community" about the Swat deal in meetings with U.S. officials in Washington next week, the state-run news agency reported. Village militias backed by the United States have been credited with reducing violence in Iraq. A similar initiative is under way in Afghanistan. The United States is spending millions of dollars on programs to stiffen Pakistan's security forces in the rugged frontier region, though there was no sign it was involved in the militia plan. A U.S. Embassy spokesman could not be reached for comment. It was also unclear if the embattled North West Frontier Province government's plan had the backing of national leaders _ or if handing out arms in a region already awash with weapons would help. Haider Khan Hoti, chief minister of the provincial government, said authorities would distribute the guns among "peaceful groups and individuals" so they could help police to guard their villages. Officials would consult with local police chiefs before handing out the arms and would take them back if they were not used against "terrorists and troublemakers," Hoti's office said in a written statement. Hoti said the guns were on hand, having been seized from "terrorists and anti-state elements." He also approved a plan for an elite provincial police unit of 2,500 officers and said the province would meet the $40 million cost. The militia plan raises doubts about the coherence of Pakistani efforts to counter Taliban groups who have seized growing pockets of the northwest, forged links with al-Qaida and carried out a blur of suicide bombings. Pakistani officials have encouraged residents to establish militias in the semiautonomous tribal areas sandwiched between the North West Frontier Province and the Afghan border. The pro-Western central government says it will come down hard on groups who refuse to renounce violence and stop supporting cross-border terrorism in return for reconciliation. Federal officials insisted they have not handed out any weapons in the tribal areas, and appeared to be caught cold by Sunday's announcement. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said it had not been consulted about giving weapons to village militias. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, supposedly in charge of national law and order issues, also was unaware of the plan. The provincial government did not say when the weapons would be handed out, or if villagers would be armed in the Swat valley, where security forces and Taliban militants are observing a week-old cease-fire while seeking a peace accord. Earlier Sunday, Taliban gunmen abducted a senior government official and six of his security guards in Swat, demonstrating their unbroken hold in the valley after seeing off a yearlong offensive by the army. A Taliban spokesman said after several hours that the official, Khushal Khan, had been released, only to backtrack late Sunday. Spokesman Muslim Khan said the official would be freed "soon," but that his abduction was a warning to the provincial authorities, who he alleged had arrested two Taliban members in violation of the cease-fire. "We wanted to show the government that we can also taken action against it," he said. The provincial government has sent a hard-line cleric to persuade the Swat Taliban to renounce violence in return for the introduction of elements of Islamic law. Officials say the legal concessions meet long-standing demands for speedy justice in Swat and fall far short of the harsh version of Islamic law favored by Taliban militants. ___ Associated Press writer Sherin Zada in Mingora contributed to this report. More on Pakistan
 
China Coal Mine Gas Blast Kills At Least 74 Top
GUJIAO, China — Rescuers wearing headlamps and oxygen backpacks carried dozens of miners to safety Sunday after a gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China killed at least 74. The blast at the mine, which had for years boasted an exemplary safety record, highlighted the perilous conditions that make China's mining industry the deadliest in the world. Survivors described how they tried to flee along tunnels to escape the choking carbon monoxide, but were overcome by the fumes. "When it happened, I felt a big gust of wind that blew me over," a miner with tubes coming out of his nose told state broadcaster CCTV from his hospital bed. "I got up and started running to try to get to the surface. After that I don't know what happened." His name was not given. The official Xinhua News Agency said 436 miners were in the Tunlan Coal Mine in Gujiao city near Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province, when the pre-dawn blast occurred. At least 74 miners died and 114 others were hospitalized, including six in critical condition, Xinhua said, making it China's deadliest mine disaster in more than a year. All the miners who had been trapped underground were found by late Sunday, Xinhua said, citing the rescue headquarters. It was not clear if all the bodies had been recovered. One survivor, Xue Huancheng, told Xinhua from his hospital bed that he remembered being ordered to flee because the ventilation system had broken down. "Power supply underground was cut off and we had to walk," he said. Even though he was using an oxygen tank to help him breathe, Xue said he fainted after walking for 40 minutes, just as he neared the exit. He awoke two hours later in a hospital. Most of the injured miners were suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, Xinhua said, citing doctors. Exposure to carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless gas, can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea and may lead to death. The mine is owned by Shanxi Coking Coal Group, China's largest producer of coking coal, which is used in the production of steel. The company said it is the world's second-largest coking coal producer, with sales revenues that topped 37 billion yuan ($5.4 billion) in 2007. Xinhua said it operated 28 mines. Xinhua said Tunlan Coal Mine had among the best facilities of any mine in China and that no major accidents had occurred there in five years. The mine produces 5 million tons of coking coal a year. A State Administration of Work Safety duty officer who would give only her surname, Zhang, said the cause of the explosion was being investigated. Rescuers with backpacks attached to breathing equipment and wearing red helmets with headlamps, their faces blackened from the mine, emerged above ground from an elevator to the pit and carried miners on stretchers to waiting ambulances. Some 80 rescuers were deployed, Xinhua said. The death toll was the highest from a coal mine accident in China since December 2007, when gas exploded in an unventilated tunnel in Linfen city, also in Shanxi province, killing 105 miners, according to the State Administration of Work Safety. Beijing has promised for years to improve mine safety, but energy-hungry China depends on coal for most of its power. More than 1,000 dangerous small mines were closed last year, but China's mining industry remains the world's deadliest. About 3,200 people died in coal mine accidents last year, a 15 percent decline from the previous year. While China's overall coal mining safety record is abysmal, the numbers mask great disparities. Large, state-run mines tend to have safety records approaching those of developed countries while smaller mines have little or no safety equipment and weak worker training. Government figures show that almost 80 percent of China's 16,000 mines are small, illegal operations. ___ Associated Press writer Gillian Wong contributed to this report from Beijing. More on China
 
State Of The Union: Obama's First Address To Congress Tuesday Top
Check back here on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 9 PM ET for live video of Obama's address. President Obama is delivering his first State of the Union-like address on Tuesday. McClatchy says there are three key questions facing the nation's leader : First, will he reach out to the Republicans who have felt free to scorn him, or match his popularity against theirs and try to slap them back? Second, how specific will he be about his plans for the coming days? Will he propose nationalizing troubled banks or lay the groundwork for such a dramatic action? Will he use his first proposed budget this week to advance a campaign to overhaul the nation's health-care system? Third, will he continue the warnings he's used so far to prod Congress to follow his lead on rescuing the economy, or will he employ a more upbeat voice and say help is on the way? AP adds some context on what Obama plans to discuss: The president is expected to show Americans how all the pieces fit together to make the economy sound again. There's the $787 billion just-signed stimulus bill, plus an even more expensive mix of rescues for the financial industry, auto companies and troubled mortgage holders. He will touch on other priorities he says fit into the bigger picture. Potentially eye-popping expensive plans to broaden health care coverage to eventually insure everyone. Moving the country toward greener energy sources. Expanding education opportunities. Overhauling financial industry regulation. And, he is all but certain to talk about the national debt and budget woes, stressing the need to get what he calls "exploding deficits" under control by controlling spending. His upcoming budget request will include his goal to slice the estimated $1.3 trillion annual deficit in half by the end of his first term. The speech is not formally called a State of the Union, AP reports , because Obama is not considered to have had enough time in the White House yet to deliver a full status report. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi formally invited President Obama to address Congress. The full letter: President Barack Obama The White House Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President: We greatly appreciate your support for the legislation we have sent you to guarantee fair pay for women and expanded health care for children, and for your leadership as we work to finalize an economic recovery bill, which we will send you shortly. This Congress and your Administration have truly hit the ground running, but our hard work has just begun. We would like to invite you to address a Joint Session of the Congress on Tuesday, February 24 to share your vision for addressing the many critical challenges our country faces at home and abroad. Thank you for considering this invitation to speak to the Congress and the nation. We look forward to your reply. Sincerely, NANCY PELOSI HARRY REID Speaker of the House Majority Leader of the Senate
 
Legalizing Marijuana More Popular Than GOP Leaders Top
Inspired by this Chris Bowers post, here's a chart I made comparing public support for legalizing marijuana to the approval ratings for Rush Limbaugh and various Republican Party leaders that I found on PollingReport. More on mitch mcconnell
 
Vassilis Paleokostas And Alket Rizai: Greece's Most Wanted Men Stage Helicopter Prison Escape -- Again Top
ATHENS, Greece — Two convicted robbers escaped from a high-security Greek prison by scaling a rope ladder to a hovering helicopter for a second time, authorities said Sunday. An occupant of the helicopter exchanged gunfire with guards on the ground. Vassilis Paleokostas, 42, and Alket Rizaj, 34, were picked up by a helicopter that flew over the courtyard of Korydallos prison in Athens Sunday afternoon. The inmates climbed a ladder thrown to them by a woman passenger, the Ministry of Justice said. Guards opened fire and the woman returned fire with an automatic rifle. No injuries were reported. Paleokostas and Rizaj escaped from the same prison in the same manner three years ago. An elderly couple found the helicopter abandoned near a highway north of Athens later Sunday, police said. The pilot was bound, gagged and had a hood over his head. He told police that the helicopter was chartered by a couple who said they wanted to go from the town of Itea in central Greece to Athens. The couple had chartered the helicopter a number of times in the previous weeks. There were conflicting reports from local residents about the number of vehicles that sped away from the helicopter's landing site, police said. Police helicopters are scouring the vicinity for any sign of the escaped convicts. Authorities had at first feared that up to four people might have escaped, but a second count of the prison's inmates confirmed that only two were missing. Paleokostas and Rizaj were to appear before a magistrate Monday in connection with their previous escape by helicopter on June 4, 2006. That operation had been masterminded by Paleokostas' elder brother Nikos, himself a convicted criminal who escaped from the same prison in 1990 during a mass breakout. The elder Paleokostas was recaptured by authorities in September 2006 and is still in jail. He has been convicted in 16 bank robberies. Rizaj, an Albanian immigrant, was also recaptured in September 2006, while Vassilis Paleokostas was apprehended in August 2008. While on the run, he is suspected of masterminding the kidnapping for ransom of a prominent Greek industrialist, Giorgos Mylonas. Both men are considered to be criminals rather than acting for political motives. Police are investigating whether Rizaj, during his three-month spell outside prison after his previous escape, was involved in contract killings. More on Europe
 
Presented By: A New Top Dog Top
   When it comes to the world's most-wired nation, there's a new #1: Singapore is now the most wired nation on earth, with the household broadband penetration rate hitting 99.9 percent last December. The figure, given by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), puts Singapore ahead of countries traditionally thought of as powerhouses in the wired world: South Korea (92 per cent), Hong Kong (83.8 per cent) and Taiwan (76.8 per cent), going by figures from research firm Frost & Sullivan's 2007 study. It also handily beats the Government's own target, of a 90 cent penetration rate by 2015, set in 2006 as part of a 10-year masterplan to transform the country and economy by promoting the adoption of infocomm. That 99.9 percentage is a bit misleading, however, since… ...although Singapore's broadband penetration rate is close to 100 per cent, it does not mean that almost all households here have broadband access. This is because some households have more than one broadband line - a home connection and a portable modem, for instance. Still, Singapore's overall access is impressive, and was brought about by a combination of faster speeds, lower prices, and providers offering free laptops to get people to sign up for service. The rest of the world take note. www.internetinnovation.org >> Read more Ads by Pheedo
 
John Wihbey: Climate Morality and 2009 Top
"What right does someone driving a huge gas-guzzling SUV have to say to a poor Bangladeshi or Indian cooking over a wood stove to cut down their emissions?" It's a stark framing of the global debate over climate change - and one that Americans, as the collective driver of that proverbial SUV, might seriously consider right now. The question was posed to me in a recent exchange with Adil Najam , a lead author of the report by the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that shared the Nobel Prize with Al Gore. His sentiment leads to a more immediate and concrete question: What role will morality play in U.S. climate change policy this year? Yes, it sounds an almost naive, as officials and diplomats often only weigh considerations of realpolitik and trade advantage. But the question of ethical leadership will play a role this year, and America will be judged on it, like it or not. The year 2009 looms large in the world climate debate - it's arguable that the next 10 months could mark a turning point, either good or bad. After all, at year's end, the Copenhagen climate conference will take place, a forum that will set the framework for a successor to the 1997 Kyoto climate protocol, which the U.S. conspicuously never signed. Many people, including Najam, are not optimistic that a big breakthrough will happen at Copenhagen. The differences on mitigation and adaptation - how to cut carbon and share costs in adjusting to a new hot world - are too great, observers say. Expectations for the U.S. are already being tamped down. United Nations climate chief Yvo de Boer even said recently that he doesn't expect the U.S. to match Europe's aggressive pledges to cut carbon emissions. U.S. leadership, though, could change the overall dynamic, and there are signs of it happening already on several fronts. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) have stated that they may advance cap-and-trade bills this year, with Waxman's more likely on the early side. The general idea is to sell a declining number of permits to carbon polluting companies, using the free market to put a price on carbon and forcing companies to look to cleaner alternatives. The world will undoubtedly be watching even for baby steps on this. Of course, the economic recession makes any new moves more difficult. But a large coalition of U.S. businesses and environmental groups - and independent economists, as journalist Eric Pooley has noted - now believe cap-and-trade could be good for U.S. economy in the long run. That coalition, called the U.S. Climate Action Partnership , gave its endorsement to a cap-and-trade scheme just last month. The Obama administration is already setting a different tone, and even capitalizing on climate change leadership as a new diplomatic tool to forge better relationships. On her recent trip to Beijing, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sounded a note of contrition about America's role in polluting the world's atmosphere: When we were industrializing and growing, we didn't know any better; neither did Europe...Now we're smart enough to figure out how to have the right kind of growth. Clinton's new climate envoy, Todd Stern, noted that China and the U.S. account for 40 percent of global carbon emissions, according to The New York Times . "This is not a matter of politics or morality or right or wrong," he said. "It is simply the unforgiving math of accumulating emissions." At one level, he's right. Reality is reality. Carbon helps trap heat. The carbon level is rising. The Earth is warming. Disaster looms. But the question remains whether or not the U.S. bears a special responsibility - a moral one that the Chinese, or Indians or Bangladeshis or anyone else for that matter, simply do not bear. Some say that the U.S. must get China and India to act on curbing emissions, or any domestic carbon cap will put American businesses at a disadvantage. Najam deconstructs that logic: China may have surpassed the US in total emissions, but is still no where near the US in terms of per capita emissions. Each Chinese still only emits a fraction of what each American emits and therefore there is something quite pungent about the idea that somehow there is moral equivalence between US and Chinese emissions. Many Indian scholars also raise the issue of 'survival emissions' versus 'luxury emissions.' There are those, of course, who see the warming as a vague abstraction, a long-term problem that has no particular moral consequences attached. Others disagree. In his new book "Forecast: The Consequences of Climate Change, from the Amazon to the Arctic, from Darfur to Napa Valley," the journalist Stephan Faris takes a close look at the impacts of climate change on conflicts, poverty, and general misery around the world. He builds a case - and many analysts here and abroad concur - that climate change has played some role in causing the strife and genocide in Sudan. Faris concludes, Of all the repercussions of climate change on the killing in Darfur, one of the most significant may be moral. If the region's collapse was in part caused by the emissions from our factories, our power plants, and our cars, we bear some responsibility for the dying. For the skeptics who think his conclusions have outrun the evidence, Faris gives a nuanced comparison, which rests on the fact that drought and swings in climate make impoverished societies more vulnerable and susceptible to conflict: The impact of climate change on a country is analogous to the effect of hunger on a person. If a starving man succumbed to tuberculosis or was shot while stealing a piece of bread, you wouldn't say he had died because he didn't eat. But hunger played a role in his death. Global warming by itself doesn't launch wars, rebellions, or campaigns of ethnic cleansing. In other words, the causal chain of responsibility may be difficult to trace precisely. And no one would argue the U.S. is the only culprit. But there is nevertheless a connection. As Clinton implies, America helped start this climate mess. Now the question looms what steps - or even just signals - the country is willing to put forth this year to end it. More on Climate change
 
EU leaders back sweeping financial regulations Top
BERLIN — European leaders backed sweeping new regulations for financial markets and hedge funds at a summit Sunday in Berlin as politicians and nations scrambled to tame the global economic crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted heads of state and finance ministers from Europe's largest economies to try to establish a common European position on economic reforms before an April 2 summit of the Group of 20 nations. "All financial markets, products and participants including hedge funds and other private pools of capital which may pose a systematic risk must be subjected to appropriate oversight or regulation," Merkel said in a statement released on behalf of the summit members, following the talks. Top officials from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, the Netherlands and Czech Republic agreed on seven key points during their one-day meeting in Berlin, the statement said. "A clear message and concrete action are necessary to engender new confidence in the markets and to put the world back on a path toward more growth and employment," Merkel said. But the call for blanket global regulation was sure to be resisted by the financial industry and may not be entirely welcomed by other members of the G-20, which in addition to European nations includes the United States, China, Japan and developing nations like India and Brazil. Merkel urged stricter market regulation two years ago but met with strong resistance from the United States and Britain. European leaders this time backed Merkel's call for a "charter of sustainable economic activity" to reduce economic imbalances and stabilize financial markets. The charter would subject all financial market activities around the globe to regulation, including credit rating agencies. Merkel said the charter would be "based on market forces but prevent excess and ultimately lead to the establishment of a global governance structure." The leaders also agreed to strengthen the IMF and to support doubling its funds. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that international institutions need some $500 billion and called for a "global New Deal" to be adopted to help right the world economy. "The IMF's resources must be doubled to enable it to help its members swiftly and flexibly when they experience difficulties with respect to their balance of payments," Merkel said. Other key points included adopting a "sanctions mechanism" to safeguard against tax havens and urging banks to keep larger reserves of capital. "A new system of regulation without sanctions would not have any meaning," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He said European countries were jointly drawing up a list of tax havens and the sanctions they might face for continuing what he called reckless financial activity. Merkel also warned the United States to avoid protectionism in its automobile market. "When I look at the restructuring plans of some American companies, there are a lot of state funds flowing into them," Merkel said, swiftly adding that "this is not an accusation." She said the European Commission would be asked to examine whether the U.S. was violating global trade laws. The U.S. government has extended multibillion-dollar bailout packages to General Motors and Chrysler, and the two companies asked for an additional $21.6 billion last week. Officials said a final copy of the summit agreement would not be circulated Sunday, to allow European Union members not present to view it first. The EU has 27 member nations. The ideas were based on an agenda adopted by the G-20 in November and will be taken up by the European Council on March 19-20, then presented to the G-20 meeting April 2 in London. President Barack Obama and other top world leaders are scheduled to attend the London summit. ___ Associated Press Writer Michael Fischer in Berlin contributed to this report. More on European Union
 
Crist: Obama Is Our Only National Leader Top
In a half-hour segment on "Meet the Press" on Sunday, the varying threads of the GOP political id came into sharp contrast. On one side sat Charlie Crist, the moderate governor of the state of Florida, who not only openly campaigned for the president's stimulus package but also sent some very public plaudits the Obama's way. "I think there is a national leader, his name is President Obama," he told host David Gregory when asked if his own party had national leaders. "The people elected him. And I'm willing to give him a good shot and try to help make this work. We're in a tough time, as we talked about before. I think we do need to be bipartisan. We need to be, in fact, nonpartisan. We're all Americans. Our country is at a dire point and we need to do everything we can to work together to get America through this." Pressed as to whether he thought "the president has the right prescription to ease this recession," the Florida Republican replied, without pausing: "I think he's on the right track." Asked if he thought it was a mistake for "the Republican Party to define itself by opposition to the stimulus," he said: "It may be." The show's other guest, Bobby Jindal, did not offer such willing praise for the president. The Louisiana Governor, known superficially as the conservative Obama, pledged that the party would and should work in a bipartisan fashion. But his pitch was one of philosophical defiance, especially on matters like the stimulus. "The Republican Party has got to offer conservative alternative solutions. I think our obligation is to work with the president every chance we can, to be bipartisan," he told Gregory. "We need to work with the president every chance we can. But on principle we should be unafraid to stand up on principle and to point out our alternative solutions." The two governors, both rumored to harbor presidential ambitions, represent the current bookends of Republican thought. Their appearances on "Meet the Press" underscored the complex question facing the party. How does the GOP restore its power: through reaffirming principles or expanding its approach? Not surprisingly, the two had different diagnoses when it came to rebuilding the Republican brand. JINDAL: "I don't think we expand by becoming an imitation of the other party. I think we expand by standing on principle for what we believe in. I think that attracts voters. They may not agree with us on everything, but they will respect our honesty and will respect the results." CRIST: "You shouldn't be the party of no. Well, there's a time to say no. But I think you need to be a party that works across the aisle, where you participate. Both [Republicans and Democrats] have to do that. I think it's important for both Democrats and Republicans to work together for Americans." More on Charlie Crist
 
NY Post Chimp Cartoon Leads WaPo To Apologize In Advance Top
Politico reports that the Washington Post is apologizing in advance for a column, before any offense can be taken: "The headline, illustration, and text of 'Below the Beltway,' a column in The Washington Post Magazine today, may cause offense to readers. The magazine was was printed before a widely publicized incident last week in which a chimpanzee attacked a badly mauled a woman in Stamford, Conn. In addition, the image and text inadvertently may conjure racial stereotypes that The Post does not countenance. We regret the lapse." Last week, the New York Post came under fire for a cartoon that appeared to link President Obama to the dead chimpanzee. The paper offered a half-apology , saying they were sorry if anyone was offended but saying that vocal critics of the cartoon were "opportunists" to whom "no apology is due." The Washington Post column , called "Monkey Business," riffs on a study suggesting women are attracted to apes. More on Wash Post
 

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