Jacqueline Marcus: Is Obama Accomplishing the Impossible with Negotiations with China, India, Japan, and Russia

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY
by Jacqueline Marcus

President Obama possibly will end the occupation in Afghanistan but not in the way we expected. He may be diplomatically working on a solution, an agreement that involves joint-efforts between China, India, Japan, and Russia. We're learning more about Obama's negotiations with China's President Hu Jintao and India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the attempt to seriously tackle the global warming crisis, and Afghanistan is in the mix of that discussion.

Many critics, myself included, have been disappointed by the President's decision to send more troops in what appears to be a prolonged military occupation in Afghanistan. But perhaps we need to cut Obama a little slack before rushing to judgment? After all, Obama is the master of diplomacy, and his negotiations may have sealed a deal to rescue the planet from global warming. He knows that he can't count on Congress.

Diplomacy has been the magic charm. Cheney and Bush antagonized world leaders with their bully threats. Like mafia thugs, the Cheney-Palin attitude of aggression, disrespect for other leaders and their cultures, has created tensions and enemies around the world towards the U.S., leaving no possibility for meaningful negotiations. Bush was notorious for his arrogant assertion, "No negotiations." Bush and Cheney are decaying fossils from the industrial era; they did everything they could to stop "green" progress. Bush's "new world order" was a plan to keep defense contractors and industrialists in power despite the dire consequences. But this can't happen if China is more than ready to go GREEN.

While Dick Cheney, a recognized war criminal in most countries, continues to mock Obama for following international protocols, Obama is bypassing our corrupt Congress and working quietly, behind the scenes, with world leaders to resolve the problems of Afghanistan, climate change, and economic instability. These issues are interrelated.

Obama's successful meetings with leaders of China, India, Japan, and Russia may not only lead to a New Green Economy, but also may be the beginning of a prosperous partnership with China and Russia after years of hostile relationships fostered by prior administrations, i.e., perpetuating the phony Cold War divisions instead of peace.

China's advancements in green technologies, solar, wind, and electric cars are serving to spark action in our economy that will create a new work force in the U.S.

China's wind turbine projects will produce seven times more energy than what their country now uses. Read that again. It's astounding!

These positive negotiations could never have happened under Republican leadership, given their record of bully Palin threats and corrupt deals with defense and industrial lobbyists.

President Obama understands that diplomacy is the wise way to proceed for successful results. Conversations with Japan have also been positive: Here is an excerpt from Prime Minister Hatoyama's speech during Obama's visit in relation to resolving the conflict in Afghanistan and climate change:

To assist Afghanistan, rather than conducting replenishment support activities, Japan would instead enhance its support to improve the public welfare of the Afghan people. I explained that Japan would provide around five billion dollars over the coming five years. This would be spent primarily to improve the daily livelihoods of the Afghan people, including for support in the areas of agriculture, the building of social infrastructure and schools, and also to improve security conditions in the country, such as through support for the police force and vocational training of former combatants. President Obama stated his appreciation for this new assistance and expressed his wish to take decisions on policy concerning Afghanistan by consulting directly with me to the extent possible.

We also discussed climate change. Japan and the U.S. have concurred on a major goal -- the two countries would each reduce their respective greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. They also agreed to cooperate for the success of COP15.

After discussions with Obama, there is no coincidence that China "announced its own bargaining position to slow the growth of carbon emissions by 2020. Using a different standard from the U.S. – measuring carbon intensity (relative to its own economic growth), China is offering a 40% to 45% cut below 2005 levels," as Richard Wolffe reported, adding that "Obama is at the point where he feels on the verge of a breakthrough, based on the kind of talks that don't get covered by reporters obsessing about state dinners." Indeed, don't expect to learn about Obama's progress from the corporate networks.

The tragedy is that we're at an EMERGENCY turning point. If we continue down the industrial, business-as-usual polluting ways, 2050 will be way too late. World Scientists are screaming: Emergency! Emergency! Every glacier on the planet is melting rapidly, seas continue to rise, the Pentagon has warned about climate change and its catastrophic consequences of starvation and anarchy. The rich will not be protected or isolated. We're all in this boat together because Planet Earth is our ship and when there are major, threatening leaks in the ship, we all go down and we ARE going down as the temperature rises.

However, given Obama's behind-the-scenes goal to form a joint-effort with world leaders to work on climate change, governments cannot do what independent businesses can do. In Texas, of all places! Oil developers are investing in wind turbines because they know that's where the money is.

This fact has already been recognized by Texas wind developers and electric utilities active in the state's nascent industry. The Panhandle, mountainous parts of West Texas, and perhaps even the lower Gulf Coast, contain areas with winds presently suitable for electric power generation. The number of commercially attractive sites will only expand as development costs continue to drop and wind turbine technology improves.
 
The market is offering alternatives that consumers are buying, even if the products are slightly more expensive. Professor Lester Brown revealed that if everyone bought energy efficient LED bulbs, it would save enough energy to shut down 500 coal burning plants.

Now that medical marijuana is becoming legal in many states, state governments could start growing hemp farms. Hemp can be used for paper, clothes, building, and it can replace most oil-based materials. Loggers could be paid for planting trees and growing hemp instead of cutting down trees, which are crucial for restoring climate balance: Protecting the Forests and Hoping for Payback "to the list of essential functions proclaimed for the giant evergreens of the West, add protection against climate change."

The U.S is the largest consumer of gas. As I mentioned in my last BuzzFlash commentary, we could lower emissions drastically, BEFORE 2050, by driving electric cars. My next car will be electric. Jay Leno has been advertising Ford's economy-electric car and similar cars will be flooding the marketplace due to high gas prices.

Consumer demand is the way to building a New Green Economy, independent of the House and Senate's attempt to block progress. To prove the point, Earth Justice's lawyers are working to make coal an unacceptable energy choice. In 2007, they, alone, (NOT Congress) closed five coal burning plants AND they stopped the construction of new coal plants. (EarthJustice.org). These major environmental victories go unreported in the mainstream media, but they're happening.

Thanks to government incentives and changing public sentiment, clean energy is the most popular kid on the green movement block. The stimulus plan poured billions into renewable energy, automakers are all but predicting electric gridlock within the next few years, and everyone who's anyone in the electric power industry is investing in the "smart grid."

If the money being thrown around is any indication, that's just the tip of the slowly melting iceberg. Cleantech Group, an industry research firm, reports venture capital investment in clean technology -- including solar, biofuels, batteries, and the smart grid -- overtook IT and biotech for the biggest piece of the VC pie. The sector swiped 27 percent of all investment dollars in the third quarter -- that's $1.6 billion.

As the new green economy replaces the industrial economy, Afghanistan's oil will become obsolete. Despite the troop increase, which is discouraging, it appears that President Obama is working on a plan to resolve the conflict in that region with China, India, Japan, and Russia, but that plan goes beyond Afghanistan: It is a "Mobilization to Save Civilization" to use Lester Brown's words.

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY

Jacqueline Marcus' book of poems, Close to the Shore, was published by Michigan State University Press. She is a regular guest contributor to BuzzFlash.com. She taught philosophy at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, California, and is the editor of http://www.ForPoetry.com. She is currently promoting green technologies (solar & wind) on the island of Maui. www.GoSolarMaui.com. She is currently working on a new book: Corporate Media and the Erosion of a Civil Society.

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