newsroom

TODAY Thursday 23 October 1997 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site.

 

TODAY IN THE WORLD: "Heading Down the Right Path"

Perhaps the most important commentary on President Clinton's climate speech came from Senator John Chafee. The President is "heading down the right road," he said. The support of the Rhode Island Republican, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is crucial to any chance for ratification of a Kyoto treaty and for passage of the $5 billion package of tax breaks and subsidies for energy efficiency that the President will propose in January. John Chafee may not be sufficient, but he is certainly necessary; without him, Bill Clinton stands little chance of wooing a bloc of moderate Republicans big enough to overcome the resistance of Trent Lock and the coal and oil industries.

Beginning today, as international negotiators convene in Bonn for the final run-up to Kyoto, we will hear a good deal about the bargaining positions of this country or that coalition. The European Union, whose representatives were uniformly negative yesterday ("It simply won't fly," said Peter Jorgensen, in deft Americanese), has floated a proposal that appeals to enviros because it calls for quick, big, and mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and appeals to China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil et.al. because it doesn't require them to do anything for the moment. The so-called Group of 77 Plus China yesterday proposed much the same as the Europeans, except that they extended binding reductions for the rich countries farther into time (2020) and deeper below 1990 levels (35%).

But neither of those proposals will ever fly in the US Senate, and Bill Clinton and John Chafee know it. American political realities require 1) a postponement of any unpleasant tax measures; and 2) a guarantee that the developing countries don't get a free ride. Either there will be a deal made in December that is pretty close to the Washington proposal -- which was, don't forget, designed to be pretty close to the Tokyo proposal -- or there won't be a deal at all and the President will introduce his win/win incentives package on a go-it-alone basis.

In either eventuality, John Chafee remains a central factor in the equation. There's a bit of nostalgia here for New Englanders. In an era when Yankee bluebloods don't carry much influence in the affairs of state -- we just witnessed the sorry spectacle of William Weld humiliated by Jesse Helms -- it carries one back to an earlier time, a time of Lodge and Smith and Aitken and Herter, to see that a New England Protestant Republican can still hold a few cards in a high-stakes game of foreign policy poker.

 

TODAY ON THE SITE

Because Explore with Fred has been with us since Day One (16 April), it would be reasonable to assume that the feature pretty much remains the same. But no! Just this week the protean Beantowner has submitted an all-new (new text, new graphics, new design) edition of the Earth Mirror. You ignore it at your peril.

 

Recent "Today" columns:

10/22: Markets and Medium-Greens
10/21: The Silver Republic and the People's Republic
10/20: Duck!
10/17: The Energy Non-Crisis
10/16: Drillbit Diplomacy
10/15: We Love You, Hiroshi Okuda
10/14: Good Deals at Showroom and Pump
10/10: Clinton Waffles!
10/09: Can Therapy Help the Songbirds?
10/08: Girls and Puberty

To access more "Today" columns, click "Archives" below.