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Climate Change Showdown Heats Up
To watch the full-length edition on the meltdown on the discussion on climate change, click here to get our podcast.
(CNN) – One of the world’s leading climatologists Wednesday hit back at charges by U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) that some of the world’s top climate scientists have in effect “cooked the science” and should be investigated by the federal government.
James Hansen, head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and an adjunct professor at New York’s Columbia University, said, “I’d love to have an investigation which should include Senator Inhofe, who’s one of the most well-oiled, coal-fired politicians in Washington.”
“He’s very well funded to protect the fossil fuel industry, but he was elected to support the people,” Hansen added in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
New York Times columnist and best-selling author Thomas Friedman strongly supported Hansen saying, “I’d love to see all the e-mails between his office and various coal and oil companies over the last 20 years.”
“We’ll let Senator Inhofe lay all his emails on the table going back and forth between oil and coal companies, and we’ll let citizens and voters decided where the real science is.”
CNN asked Senator Inhofe to join the discussion with Amanpour, but he declined. In a statement to the Senate Environment Committee Tuesday, Senator Inhofe, the ranking Republican, said, “The minority staff found that some of the world’s leading climate scientists engaged in potentially illegal and unethical behavior. In other words, they cooked the science.”
His remarks came after revelations that some climate change data has been based on questionable scientific practices and even errors.
One leading climate change skeptic, Bjorn Lomborg, Director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center in Denmark, told Amanpour it’s obvious Senator Inhofe has a political agenda and he does not agree with him.
“But I think we need to say if we’re going to re-establish credibility with the climate science, we need to dial back on the scariness and start talking about what the facts are actually telling us.”
The debate over climate change is heating up as world powers prepare for another climate change conference in Bonn, Germany in April – four months after the Copenhagen summit failed to agree binding cuts in greenhouse gas emissions which many blame for global warming.
But the United Nations climate chief, Yvo de Boer, last week announced that he will resign at the end of June after four years on the job and what many say is the disappointing outcome of the Copenhagen conference.
In his resignation statement, de Boer said, “Copenhagen did not provide us with a clear agreement in legal terms, but the political commitment and sense of direction toward a low-emissions world are overwhelming.”
Hansen had a grim warning about the consequences of inaction on this issue. “If we burn all the fossil fuels, we will hand our children and grandchildren a situation that’s out of their control.”
“We have to be honest about the fact that we have to have a rising price of carbon emissions. We’ve got to put a price on these fossil fuels, because right now we’re subsidizing them.”
Friedman said the world faces a choice. “If we listen to climate change scientists like Dr. Hansen and we prepare for climate change, but climate change does not happen, what happens? We have cleaner air, cleaner environment, We have a more energy-independent economy, new industries, and global impact.”
“If we listen to Jim Inhofe, the climate deniers, and don’t get ready for climate change and climate change comes, we’re a bad biological experiment.”
Lomborg said it’s clear the world is going to see a temperature rise. But he’s skeptical of the way that it’s being communicated and skeptical of the way solutions are being proposed.
“I think fundamentally what’s happened is a lot of people have been pushing to scare the pants off people, to get us to cut carbon emissions, but we haven’t done so”, he said.
“Essentially what we saw in Copenhagen was exactly the failure of that strategy. We need a new and smarter way forward.”
Lomborg added that many climate economists are demanding action that could cost $40 trillion a year – a price that is much higher than most people are prepared to pay.
He said targeted investment is the key to solving the problem. “What we need to do is invest dramatically more, 50 times more than what the world spends now on research and development.”
“That’s cheap and that will actually work. So let’s get off the high horse and actually start working with promises that will function and deal with climate change in the long run.”
Afghanistan observer sees disappointment
By Tom Evans; Sr. Writer, AMANPOUR.
(CNN) - As the top NATO commander in Afghanistan publicly apologized for the latest civilian deaths in the war, one of his former advisers said Tuesday the Afghan people have "crystallized their frustration" on the issue of civilian casualties.
"It's crystallized a disappointment with the international intervention that's been growing since about 2003," said Sarah Chayes, who just completed one year of service as an adviser to Gen. Stanley McChrystal and his staff in Kabul.
"I actually think the issue is broader," she told CNN's Christiane Amanpour. "And so the impact on the Marjah (offensive) is really going to depend on what else happens in that operation."
Chayes was referring to the joint U.S., British, and Afghan offensive in Helmand province in which 15,000 troops are trying to take control of a town and the surrounding area from Taliban fighters.
Despite military efforts to avoid civilian casualties, several dozen have been killed recently by NATO bullets and bombs. In the past two weeks alone, more than 50 Afghan civilians are believed to have been killed in more than half a dozen U.S. and NATO military operations.
U.N. official: North Korea should get food aid
To watch the full-length edition on North Korea, click here to get our podcast.
By Tom Evans; Sr. Writer, AMANPOUR.
Three days after North Korea declared it will not abandon its nuclear weapons program, a senior United Nations official who has just visited Pyongyang strongly defended international food aid to the so-called Hermit Kingdom.
"These are human beings that need the food. It's not the political system. This shouldn't be argued in a political way," U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday.
He said the United Nations is giving nutritional supplements to as many as 1.3 million of North Korea's 24 million people. But the U.N. World Food Programme has estimated that more than a third of the population needs food aid.
Pascoe, who earlier this month was the first top-level U.N. official to visit North Korea in six years, said, "There clearly is malnutrition at younger ages, so we're trying to help them with fortified food and up through the schools so that they can eat. There also was a very large program on immunizations for the children."
"Our problem is we don't have enough money coming in now to sustain some of those programs. ... But the truth of the matter is, we need to do more because these are people."
Pascoe insisted the United Nations can account for the food aid: "Our people believe they have a very clear idea of who's using the food, where it's going, and it's really for the good of the people who need it most."
He added that North Korean officials have talked a lot about wanting some kind of peace treaty that would formally end the 1950-53 Korean War, a conflict that concluded with an armistice.
But North Korea, in public at least, seems determined to maintain a hard line, refusing to rejoin six-nation talks on its nuclear program that it abandoned last year. Those talks also include South Korea, the United States, China, Russia, and Japan.
Last week, Pyongyang appeared to reject the idea of receiving economic aid in return for dismantling its nuclear program. The official Korean Central News Agency said the nation would not abandon nuclear weapons "unless the hostile (U.S.) policy toward (North Korea) is rolled back and the nuclear threat to it removed."
A leading expert on North Korea, Sung-Yoon Lee, an adjunct assistant professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts, said North Korea's real goal is to have a peace treaty that drives American troops out of the Korean Peninsula, which would "tilt the balance of power for the short term in North Korea's favor."
"They say this quite explicitly, that (their goal) is to build a communist state in the entire Korean Peninsula, and unless there should be any ambiguity, they do spell it out", he added. "They say that means roll back U.S. 'imperialist forces' from South Korea and end the U.S. 'colonial occupation' of South Korea."
Lee noted that no state with nuclear weapons has ever - for any economic or political rewards - bargained away nuclear weapons unless there was regime change.
But Lee said North Korea is an inherently unstable country that's on the precipice of economic collapse and whose leader is certain to pass.
"Kim Jong-Il is mortal. His time will come to an end," he said.
Tom's Take
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/11/16/christianetom.jpg caption caption="Sr. Writer for Amanpour, Tom Evans, works on scripts with Christiane"]
On AMANPOUR today, we look at North Korea. It has the biggest annual defense budget in the world relative to its GDP, with the fifth largest army. For decades, the government’s priority has been to build its arsenal and feed those most loyal to it at the expense of the general population who rely on foreign handouts to avoid starvation. But there are signs that the North Korean “palace economy” may be crumbling with rumors of street protests and a potential succession crisis. Christiane will speak to U.N. Under-Secretary-General Lynn Pascoe, the first high-ranking U.N. official to visit North Korea in six years. She’ll also talk with Tufts University professor Sung-Yoon Lee about what can be done to prepare for the potential collapse of the North Korean regime. North Korea is not the only story in the news today. Here are some perspectives.
Tom Evans
Sr. Writer, AMANPOUR.
IRAN – Does Iran care about international reaction to its nuclear program?
– Iran has picked almost 20 potential sites for new uranium enrichment plants and could begin planning for two of them this year
– Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran does not believe in nuclear weaponry, even though draft IAEA report said Tehran may be trying to build a nuclear warhead
– Western powers trying to drum up support for more international sanctions, and Israel has unveiled a long range drone fleet that has the capability to fly over Iranian territory
QUESTION: Will world powers unite around more sanctions… or will countries such as Israel pursue their own solutions to tackle Iran’s nuclear ambitions?
U.N. envoy: Reconciliatory efforts needed in Afghanistan
To watch the full-length edition on Afghanistan and the Taliban, click here to get our podcast.
By Tom Evans; Sr. Writer, AMANPOUR.
The Taliban should halt attacks on schools and clinics to demonstrate support for the reconciliation effort in Afghanistan, the United Nations' top envoy in Kabul said Wednesday.
"I believe that the reconciliation process, a peace process, is important, and there is a need to talk," Kai Eide, the U.N. special representative to Afghanistan, said. "The best way of doing it is, as we have seen in so many other conflicts, by starting step-by-step with some confidence-building measures."
Eide, who is about to retire as the U.N.'s envoy in Kabul after a two-year tenure, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview to air Thursday that he does not believe the conflict will ultimately be solved by military means alone. "There has to be a political process," he said.
The U.N. envoy pointed out that the Afghan government and its international allies have already implemented some confidence-building measures of their own in an effort to win the trust of the Taliban.
"One of them is, for instance, the start of the de-listing of (Taliban) people from the sanctions list. That has already happened. Five people were de-listed," he said, referring to an international list of names of people allegedly with close links to al Qaeda.
And now your feedback
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/11/17/feedback.jpg caption="Christiane – all ears for the feedback."]
Amanpour viewers shared personal expectations as the discussion about Venezuela’s internal crisis unveiled. The exchange Christiane and the Venezuelan leaders led initiated an open dialogue among the majority of the viewers who felt that Chavez’ leadership “faltered throughout.” The mere minority said they would vote for Chavez again if he was re-elected and commented that they did not find such a “broken” outcome during his governance. Overall, the audience’s disapproval of Chavez and his time in office surpassed by a landslide those who disagreed and voted in Chavez’s favor.
What are your thoughts? Please share your thoughts with us! In addition, if you missed the show go to http://www.amanpour.com for more information.
Below, you will see some opinions from viewers like yourself. We would love to hear what you think.
Facebook comments
Comments about Venezuela’s internal crisis
Stephanie Waleska Lacitis Prince
well as venezuelan i think that chavez is president because of 2 things, the first one the opposition here is completly disorganized and they keep fighting among themselves for shares of power and they are not focus in helping the country, also we have an awful past in terms of corruption and mismanagment of our resources
Thomas J. Colatrella
Chavez gives Socialism a bad name...plus he's a lunatic that gives 5 hour speeches...
Kidnapped in Afghanistan
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Chavez opposition sees opportunity
To watch the full-length edition on Venezuela, click here to get our podcast.
(CNN) - An energy crisis in oil-rich Venezuela is putting pressure on President Hugo Chavez and that - with protests over media regulation and falling oil output - is opening the door for a possible political shift, an opposition activist said.
"We can win if we present the right candidates, and if we go knowing that this is David against Goliath, because that's what the show for an election in Venezuela (is) going to be," Leopoldo Lopez, a former district mayor of Caracas, Venezuela, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.
The opposition hopes to take advantage of the pressure facing Chavez by tapping into key constituencies such as students, community leaders and union leaders, Lopez said.
Venezuela is in the midst of an electricity crisis so deep that one of its own government agencies, the National Electric Corporation, warns of a national energy collapse by May if something is not done.
As a result, rolling blackouts have been used to conserve energy. During the past several months, Chavez himself has taken to the airwaves, urging Venezuelans to change their incandescent light bulbs to energy-saving bulbs and to save water by taking three-minute baths. The government also made plans for a possible partial state of emergency.
Tom's Take
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/11/16/christianetom.jpg caption caption="Sr. Writer for Amanpour, Tom Evans, works on scripts with Christiane"]
AMANPOUR. today has an Exclusive interview with the outgoing United Nations special representative to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, who steps down in early March. The offensive in the South of the country has focused attention on the battlefield, yet Eide says that success in Afghanistan will ultimately be political not military. Christiane also speaks to one of the world’s preeminent experts on the Taliban, Ahmed Rashid, about the capture of the Taliban second in command, Mullah Baradar. Afghanistan tops our round-up of stories in the news today. Here are some perspectives.
Tom Evans
Sr. Writer, AMANPOUR.
AFGHANISTAN – Is Pakistan stepping up its cooperation with U.S. and Afghanistan in fight against Afghan Taliban?
– Afghan official tells Associated Press Pakistan arrested two Taliban ‘shadow’ provincial governors 10 to 12 days ago
– Taliban ‘shadow’ governors were reportedly key figures responsible for insurgent group’s expansion in northern Afghanistan recently
– Arrests came around same time Pakistani and U.S. operatives apprehended Afghan Taliban’s number two figure, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in Pakistani city of Karachi
QUESTION: Is stepped up Pakistani cooperation with U.S. and Afghanistan an effort by Islamabad to show it must be taken seriously as a partner in the reconciliation process in Afghanistan?
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