Word: kyoto
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...Then again, President Bush was never going to turn the Europeans to his way of thinking. And that's less a function of his own abilities as a statesman than of his policy positions on issues such as missile defense and the Kyoto treaty that, while they may well carry the support of a majority of American legislators, are unpalatable to most Europeans. That's not much of a problem for Bush, of course - he's the first conservative in the Oval Office since the end of the Cold War, and Europe is not exactly a priority even...
...their agenda. Because he can, by virtue of America's gargantuan military power that literally dwarfs that of its combined allies or foes, and by virtue of its status as the premier polluter of the planet's atmosphere. The Europeans may not like his position on missile defense or Kyoto, but by stating both as a fait accompli he has forced them to respond...
...Kyoto, too, it was President Bush's rejection of the treaty that set the agenda. The differences were sharp and unresolved, as they were always going to be in response to Washington's summary withdrawal from a treaty 10 years in the making that had been signed by the previous president. Of course, only the U.S. could get away with that position - if Italy or the Czech republic did that, those countries might find themselves facing sharp economic pressure to relent, but that would be unthinkable in the case of the world's largest economy. So the exasperated Europeans were...
...through moves to reduce its own emissions. And the Bush administration is indicating a willingness to discuss ways of doing this. The administration is telling the Europeans it plans to find its own ways of cutting emissions, using emissions-trading and other market-based mechanisms. And despite rejecting Kyoto, they're planning to send a representative to the talks in Bonn where the Kyoto signatories will continue to negotiate the mechanisms for achieving the emissions-cut targets set by the treaty...
...their discussions on how to implement the accord, the Europeans are also now placing a lot more emphasis on devices such as trading emissions rights, which creates a market incentive to cut the output of greenhouse gases. When President Clinton first made those the focus of his thinking on Kyoto, the Europeans rejected that and demanded that the focus be on capping output. But it seems that once they're looking at the monies involved, they're more inclined to be more flexible in how they'd pursue the Kyoto targets. Of course, if they'd been more open...