Word: summiteering
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...world has changed since the Earth Summit," said a U.S. delegate, referring to the 1992 Rio conference on environment and development, which was marred by deep distrust and finger pointing among participating nations. "That was just two years ago, and you couldn't even talk about population." In contrast, the unexpected consensus in Cairo left delegates bubbling about a "watershed in world history." Timothy Wirth, the U.S. Undersecretary of State for global affairs, who earned high praise for helping guide the initially fractious group toward agreement, called the consensus a rare victory for the U.N. "It's hard enough...
...closed-door talks between U.S. and Cuban negotiators ended today, amid indications that a sliver of middle ground on the refugee crisis could emerge by week's end. Chief Cuban delegate Ricardo Alarcon left New York for Havana after an hourlong mini-summit this morning with Michael Skol, the U.S. representative. Alarcon, who plans to consult with higher-ups at home, said he would return "in a few days." U.S. officials, who have offered to accept 20,000 Cubans in return for a halt to the boatlift, suggested they were disappointed with a new Cuban counterproposal. TIME State Department correspondent...
...file dissents, or try to find some consensus language that papers over the conflicts, which usually happens with U.N. documents. The need for consensus reduces action plans to pallid, inoffensive wish lists that quickly disappear into bureaucratic oblivion after the signing ceremonies. Such was the outcome of the Earth Summit that convened in Rio de Janeiro two years ago. But continued indecisiveness on the population issue may be a formula for disaster. Speaking in Washington recently, Nobel-laureate physicist Henry Kendall of M.I.T. observed, "If we don't control the population with justice, humanity and mercy, it will be done...
...golden anniversary has drawn damning accusations that the bank has damaged the environment, bolstered authoritarian regimes and favored rich people over poor ones. The criticism is getting noisy and forceful. A loose coalition of several hundred groups plans to send thousands of demonstrators to the bank's annual summit in Madrid in October. And last week the U.S. Senate voted to make a $1.2 billion contribution to the World Bank contingent on the bank's proving its loans make economic sense and do not deface the landscape...
...Syria, the new surge of peacemaking in the Middle East is mostly a spectator sport. When the exuberant Israeli-Jordanian summit took place in Washington last week, Syrians gathered in hushed groups to stare at their television sets as Jordan's King Hussein and Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin warmly pledged an end to a state of war and the beginning of an era of cooperation. Following so quickly on the return of Yasser Arafat and officials of his Palestine Liberation Organization to the Gaza Strip and Jericho, last week's handshake confirmed that the mood in the region...