Graham Climbs Aboard Climate Change Bandwagon

By Ravi Bhatia - Talk Radio News Service

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has teamed up with Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to find common ground on creating bipartisan climate change legislation, with hopes of making progress before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen next month.

“The green economy is coming. We can either follow or lead,” Graham said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Those countries who follow will pay a price. those countries who lead in creating a new green economy for the world will make money.”

Graham and Kerry wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times published on Oct. 11 that highlighted some of the goals of the legislation, which include acknowledging that climate change is real, investing in wind, solar and nuclear energy and breaking U.S dependence on foreign oil.

Republicans boycotted the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee markups of the Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act on Tuesday and Wednesday in an attempt to urge the committee to submit the legislation to the Environmental Protection Agency for economic analysis. Ranking member Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) was the lone Republican to attend Wednesday’s meeting, although he departed after only 15 minutes.

“I do believe that all of the cars we have on the road and the trucks and the energy we use that produces carbon daily is not a good thing for the planet,” Graham said. “But if environmental policy is not good business policy you’ll never get 60 votes.”

According to Lieberman, the stakes are “too high” to wait on drafting climate change legislation.

“We will be held accountable by history unless we make every effort to find common ground,” he said.

Afghanistan And Pakistan Stability Linked, Say Experts

By Meagan Wiseley - University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News Service

In a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday, expert witnesses agreed that the U.S. should neither abandon Afghanistan or substantially increase U.S. military forces in Afghanistan in regard to a stable Pakistan.

Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S. said, “a precipitous withdrawal would repeat the strategic mistake of the 1990s when the U.S. abandoned Afghanistan to the chaos that nurtured al-Qaida. Nor should the West risk being trapped in a Vietnam style quagmire, a war without end and with no guarantee of success.”

Steve Coll, President of the New America Foundation proposed a strategy that falls between withdrawal and militarization.

“It would make clear that the Taliban will never be permitted to take power by force in Kabul or major cities. It would seek and enforce stability in Afghan population centers, emphasize politics over combat, urban stability over rural patrolling, Afghan solutions over Western ones and it would incorporate Pakistan more directly into creative and persistent diplomatic efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and the region”, said Coll.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Ranking Member Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) introduced the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act, which Congress passed earlier this year, that will triple non-military assistance to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year for the next five years.

Committee Chairman Kerry noted that “[U.S.] actions in Afghanistan will influence events in Pakistan and we must take that into account. But the ultimate choices about the country’s future will be made by the Pakistanis themselves.”

A Civilian Surge May Be The Key To Success In Afghanistan, Says Foreign Analyst

By Meagan Wiseley - University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News Service

Dr. Clare Lockhart, Co-Founder and Director of the Institute of State Effectiveness, spoke out in favor of a civilian surge, which would indicate massive support from the Afghan people, in Afghanistan Thursday during an appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

According to Lockhart, a civilian surge can be achieved in Afghanistan by enabling Afghans to exercise self rule through the creation of civil institutions.

"[These institutions will provide the] framework needed to stabilize Afghanistan," said Lockhart.

Lockhart added that this move would be an essential step to achieving an eventual exit.

Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) emphasized the importance of a winning civilian strategy in Afghanistan.

"I have said repeatedly that we will not force the surrender of the Taliban by military force alone. Therefore, any strategy that lacks a strong civilian component is doomed," said Kerry.

Fate Of World's Climate Rests On America And China Says Kerry

“Twenty years from now, folks, I do not want to be debating who lost Earth,” Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) stated Wednesday during an address at the National Press Club in Washington.

“One hundred and ninety-two nations will gather this December in Copenhagen to hammer out a new global climate treaty, but two [the U.S. and China] have the capacity to set the tone and define what is possible,” he said, citing that the two nations together produce 40 percent of all carbon emissions in the world.

Kerry said there are grave misunderstandings between the American and Chinese populations that place a souring effect on the relationship between the two countries. He argued that America underestimates China’s willingness to fight climate change, and that China unreasonably fears that the U.S. is attempting to smother China’s economic rise.

Actually, Kerry said, China has already taken much more initiative towards renewable energy than most Americans realize. He reported that China is second in the world only to Germany in renewable energy investment; China currently invests $12.5 million per hour.

“China needs to understand that we will not enter into a global treaty ... without a meaningful commitment from China to be part of the solution,” said Kerry. He argued that the U.S. must persuade China to act quickly and decisively and that to do so is in their best interests.

Kerry said that the United States’ perception of China is far different from how China sees itself. America sees China as the leading producer of carbon emissions today, and a burgeoning economic powerhouse. However, he said, China sees itself as a country with less cumulative emissions historically than the U.S. and with 500 million citizens living on less than two dollars per day.

“Our climate diplomacy depends on building a framework that is flexible enough to accommodate individual countries’ wants and needs, but firm enough to bring all of us on board and hold all nations accountable,” said Kerry.

Maliki, Kerry Express Desire For Healthy, "New" U.S.-Iraq Relationship

By Mariko Lamb - Talk Radio News Service

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met with members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Thursday to discuss bilateral efforts to pursue a healthy new relationship between the two nations.

Chairman Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) expressed hope for future relations with Iraq. “All of us are very very hopeful that the path that we are on today marks a new relationship with Iraq, one where we are the United States and Iraq, two countries operating as we do with countries all around the world.”

Maliki expressed gratitude for efforts and sacrifices made by the U.S. in the past, and he ensured the committee that U.S. troops are no longer needed in Iraq. “Iraqi troops were able to maintain security and law and order, and this is a result of joint efforts,” he said.

Maliki also expressed Iraq’s strong desire for the removal of UN sanctions imposed on Iraq. “Iraq now does not represent any threat to peace and security,” he explained. “We are full of confidence that the United States as well as all countries in the international community...will help us to get out of Chapter 7 [sanctions].”

Kerry and Maliki assured together that U.S. and Iraq will work together in the spirit of mutual interests to implement both the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement and the Strategic Framework Agreement between the two nations.