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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Russia Forced To Choose: Kyoto and WTO or Nothing |
| 2004-10-17 |
| RUSSIA'S cabinet said today it supported the Kyoto Protocol, local news agencies reported, in the first concrete sign that Moscow would ratify the pact and enable the UN's global warming treaty to enter into force. The Associated Press reported President Vladimir Putin's economic adviser as saying the Kremlin had been "forced" to support the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. Andrei Illarionov, Putin's top economic guru, made his statement during a Cabinet session that mulled over the ratification of the pact. "It's a political decision, it's a forced decision" to ratify Kyoto, Illarionov reportedly said. "It's not the decision we are making with pleasure." If the cabinet supports the measure, it would have to submit a draft bill to the State Duma, the lower parliament house. The Duma is dominated by the Kremlin-directed United Russia party and approves nearly all bills backed by President Vladimir Putin. Putin in May pledged to speed up ratification in return for European Union approval of Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organisation. Looks the the EU doesn't want to economically compete with an uncrippled Russian economy. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #11 Thank you Al Gore and John Kerry. You deserve Russian medals, but you won't get them because of your record on medals. |
| Posted by: Pooty Poot 2004-10-17 11:52:07 AM |
| #10 Grain of salt required as far as Russia is concerned. Just a bit of "sweet talkin" to get into the WTO. |
| Posted by: tipper 2004-10-17 11:44:37 AM |
| #9 Lol! In the entertainment biz, they'd classify RB as a "tough house", heh. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-10-17 8:25:12 AM |
| #8 "There's never been anything quite like it before" Well, if you promise there won't be anything like it after, I may take a peek at it. |
| Posted by: Memesis 2004-10-17 8:08:50 AM |
| #7 Y'know, the Kyoto Protocol really gets a bad rap around here. We should all step back for a moment and marvel at the brilliance of its pure malevolent fusion of junk science and Marxist economics. There's never been anything quite like it before and that's quite an achievement in this day and age. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2004-10-17 7:53:51 AM |
| #6 Kyoto isn't about Saving the Planet (tm) It's the International Singles Bar Pickup Line Act: Hi. I'm with the government and our Kyoto plan is saving the planet for OUR children. Wanna go make some? |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-10-17 6:30:07 AM |
| #5 IMO, Puti figured that signing Kyoto doesn't mean implementing it --- just like all the already signed. |
| Posted by: Anonymous6092 2004-10-17 5:55:35 AM |
| #4 "Putin's no fool" TGA - You're right about the cash prospects, the motivations, hell - the whole thing, of course! Wonder how much of that will make it to Gov't coffers... Tsar Putty is not my kind of guy. SPo'D - Yep, he can skin the fools while the skinnin's good. What's that song about a Fool and his Money? Lol! |
| Posted by: .com 2004-10-17 3:15:33 AM |
| #3 A bunch of countries that were all gung ho for Kyoto are not now. I wonder how this will work out. Some of the biggest pushers of Koyto can't meet it's caps and their people will not take the economic hit that is reqired to do so. Putin feels quite safe taking this position. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-10-17 3:01:39 AM |
| #2 Actually not... at least for now. As I have posted a few days ago Russia will benefit from Kyoto, at least for the next years since they don't meet the quota of Kyoto yet (those were calculated on the higher Soviet level of 1992 or so). Russia will make heavy profits on selling quotas. Could be more than 20bn dollars. If Russia reaches the quota limits in 5 years or later... we'll talk again. First the billions... and WTO Putin's no fool |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-10-17 2:44:47 AM |
| #1 Pussy. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-10-17 2:12:09 AM |