The G8, Global Warming and Asia

With the conclusion of the G8 meeting last week in Germany the worlds richest countries issued several end of conference statements one of which dealt with Global Warming. The press release was unremarkable in that as usual it said absolutely nothing about the issue of Global Warming and its impact upon the environment. So,what does the G8 have and its Global Warming statement have to do with Asia? Other than the fact that Japan is a member?
Outside of the United States the leading industrial nations of Asia are some of the biggest contributors of greenhouse gases in the world.

Note Because this is such an important issue facing Asia and the world todays commentary will only focus on China. With South Korea, Japan and India to follow.

Since the 1980's China's economic growth has been nothing short of phenomenal. Real wages and income have grown along with the economy thereby creating an expanded middle class which leads to political and economic stability. The downside to rapid growth is environmental degradation which inevitably leads to environmental destruction because of the continuing need to keep economic growth at a level which benefits your countries citizens. For China air pollution is a huge problem thanks in part to its economic growth and the need to provide its citizens and industrial sector with electrical power. Unfortunately for China this has meant construction of thousands of coal fired electrical generation plants, because coal is the one fossil fuel it has an over abundance of. While China may have increased its electrical generation abilities the consequences for having done this are no longer just effecting China.

One of China's lesser-known exports is a dangerous brew of soot, toxic chemicals and climate-changing gases from the smokestacks of coal-burning power plants.
In early April, a dense cloud of pollutants over Northern China sailed to nearby Seoul, sweeping along dust and desert sand before wafting across the Pacific. An American satellite spotted the cloud as it crossed the West Coast.

While this maybe a new phenomena to American's its a regular occurrence for the people of Korea and Japan as winter changes to spring it brings a shift it the winds direction and with it comes China's air pollution. Industrial air pollution isn't the only airborne problem to come from that part of the world in the spring. Yellow Sand Storms are also a major problem for South Korea and Japan.

The Korean government launched a campaign in Mongolia on Saturday to reduce yellow dust and sandstorms in the region.

The campaign called Greenbelt Plantation Project is an initiative by the Korea Forestry service to plant some 1.5 million trees in Mongolia to prevent rampant desertification.

Like air pollution these spring time dust storms not only reduce visibility. As with the case of industrial air pollution this dust also aggravates and increases respiratory problems for those living down wind.

China's population is also highly impacted by the increase in air pollution.

According to the World Bank, 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities are in China. The industrial revolution transforming the world's most populous country is also destroying its environment. China is now the world's second-largest emitter of carbon dioxide, the main gas linked to global warming, and it is set to overtake the United States in 2009, a decade earlier than previously predicted.

What is the Chinese governments response to global warming and its effects on China's and the world's environment? Here are some quotes

China promised last week to better control emissions of greenhouse gases, unveiling a national program to combat global warming, but rejected mandatory caps on emissions as unfair to countries still trying to catch up with the developed West.

"China is a developing country. Although we do not have the obligation to cut emissions, it does not mean we do not want to shoulder our share of responsibilities," said Ma Kai, the minister heading the National Development and Reform Commission, the Cabinet-level economic planning agency.

Why do these statements sound like something the Bush Administration would put out.


The statement by the G8 on global warming

The goal is to agree to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, Merkel said, hailing the decision as a "huge success." She said it came after many rounds of talks and negotiations on climate change.

But the declaration falls short of an ironclad commitment, saying only that the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters should "seriously consider" following the European Union, Canada and Japan in seeking to halve their output by 2050.

It would have been better if the G8 had issued no statement at all concerning global warming. Why? Because the United States the worlds leading producer of greenhouse gases and led by the worlds leading global warming denier refuses to accept any concrete scientific evidence that global warming can and will have a devastating effect upon the world and its environment. Without the leadership of the United States countries like India and China along with the other major world industrial powers see no need to produce any concrete measures which would reduce global warming.

The U.S. And Its Un-Democratic Allies

Choosing allies and enemies seems so easy until one is faced with a true moral dilemma. Then like a philosophical question it becomes difficult if not impossible to judge what is right and what is wrong. George W. Bush thought that he could do what no leader before him could. Without any introspection he believed that choosing between what is right and what is wrong would be as easy as turning off a light. He was wrong. He also thought that one could choose allies the same way. Again, he was wrong. If one were looking for the moral high ground in the Global War on Terror why one would chose Pakistan and Egypt as allies in this fight is beyond my comprehension.

Pakistan has been an on again off again ally of the United States since the 1980 invasion of Afghanistan by the former Soviet Union. Even though the Red Army captured and controlled all of Afghanistan’s major cities they were never able to fully control the country. Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan came through its Inter-Services Intelligence agency somewhat like America’s CIA. It was through the ISI that the CIA funneled weapons to the Mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan. With the withdrawal of Soviet forces Pakistan’s ISI involvement in the internal affairs of Afghanistan didn’t end. It was the ISI that helped bring the Taliban to power in Afghanistan in 1993. Also in that same year the United States placed Pakistan on a watch list of countries which it suspected were involved international in terrorism because Lt. Gen. Nasir then heading the ISI was preventing the U.S. from buying back Stinger missiles used by the Afghan Mujahideen and of supporting Harkat ul-Ansar a group accused by the U.S. of being terrorists. On May 28, 1998 Pakistan detonated a nuclear device just a few weeks after India and conducted tests of its own. This would lead to a nuclear stand-off between India and Pakistan in 2001 and 2002 over Kashmir the disputed territory of which each side controls half.

Pakistan’s current President General Pervez Musharraf came to power in 1999 through a bloodless coup. After the attacks of September 11, 2001 Pakistan once again became a useful ally as front line state in the War on Terror. So useful in fact that Pakistan has become the number one recipient of U.S. military funding through the Coalition Support Fund which reimburses countries for military spending. More than 10 times higher than number two Poland.
To suggest that Pakistan is now a Democratic country would be misleading. Since Musharraf sized power there have been elections: Its just lie to say they were free and fair considering that Gen. Pervez Musharraf was the only candidate for president and he his trying to remain president even though his term is to end this year with an election. Pakistan has done little to contain or control either the Taliban or Al-Qaeda both of which have a large presence in Western Pakistan. Last year the Pakistani army negotiated a settlement with tribes in North and South Waziristan which in effect allowed the tribal groups in those states to operate freely while the army remained in its barracks.

Egypt has had three presidents since the 1950’s. Gamal Abdel Nasser became president in 1954 and would remain in office until his death in 1970. Anwar Sadat succeeded him and would remain in office until his assassination by soldier during a military parade in 1981. Hosni Mubarak was chosen to succeed Sadat continuing to hold office today.

Since taking office there have been five presidential elections in Egypt with Mubarak of course winning every election by a landslide not that the outcome was ever in doubt even though opposition parties were allowed to field candidates for the first time. The ruling National Democratic party was able, as shown below to control the electoral process. This is what free and fair elections look like in Egypt:

• The National Democratic Party’s (NDP) use of violence
• The interference of Egyptian security forces, particularly in the second and third rounds of voting
• The arrest of MB members after the first round of elections
• Vote buying
• Low voter turnout
• The poor success rate of the NDP, and its cooption of independents who had left the party before the elections, and rejoined it after their election

Hosni Mubarak heads The National Democratic Party
The Muslim Brotherhood is the largest and most popular opposition party in Egypt.
Elections will be held June 15 to seat members for Egypt's Upper House of Parliament known as the Shura Council and the government is working diligently to maintain its grip on power.

Mahmoud's release came amid a continued government crackdown against the Brotherhood in the lead up to June elections for the upper house of Parliament, known as the Shura Council, that will include candidates from the group.

Police said 51 Brotherhood members and supporters had been arrested since Thursday, including seven Saturday in the province of Ismailia, located 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Cairo.

Hosni Mubarak was elected to a fifth term in office in an election which took pace on September 7, 2005. The official results show Mubarak receiving 88.6% of the vote with the next highest percentage going to Ayman Nour of the Tomorrow Party getting 12%. Its estimated that only 40% of all voters are registered to vote and that the actual turnout for all elections is between 30% and 40%. Because the Presidential Election Commission controls whose name or names can appear on the ballot they are able to marginalize the opposition parties. The commission is of course controlled my Hosni Mubarak's ruling party. To suggest that Egypt is moving towards a more democratic state is far from the truth when it appears that Gamal Mubarak, Mr Mubarak's son is being groomed as his successor. Pluralism doesn't begin at the home of the current president who has ruled Egypt under an emergency decree since taking office in 1981. Dynastic and authoritarian would better describe the current political situation in Egypt a country which is the second largest recipient of American foreign aid after Israel.

According to the Christian Science Monitor up to 2004 Egypt had received $50 billion dollars in aid with an average of $1.3 billion a year in military aid and an average of $815 million a year in economic aid.