The Navy has conducted training exercises off the Southern California coast for more than 40 years. It argues that its current training exercises have taken on added significance since the United States has been engaged in ongoing hostilities.

Concluding a pact could placate Washington by agreeing on tougher emissions standards while recognizing the importance of the tar sands, located in the western province of Alberta. Extracting oil from the sands produces huge amounts of greenhouse gases.

Canada is the largest single supplier of energy to the United States, accounting for around 9 percent of US oil consumption and 15 percent of US natural gas consumption.

The two nations have worked together before on green issues, most notably in 1991, when they signed a landmark agreement to cut acid rain.

“We do want to explore the possibility of a Canada/US agreement similar to what we did on acid rain in the early 1990s,” said a spokesman for Environment Minister Jim Prentice. He would not give further details.

Obama’s targets for emissions cuts are much tougher than those set by Canada’s Conservatives, who — like Bush — walked away from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

The energy industry in Canada is immensely influential and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who comes from oil-rich Alberta, has long stressed that any measures designed to clean up the environment should not overly harm the oil patch.

He said on Thursday that he believed the incoming Obama administration would adopt tougher green policies “but will do so in a way that balances the environmental concerns with economic and energy concerns”.

Harry Clarke’s ‘commentary on economics, politics & other things’ discovered an Obama policy that is already under challenge. He seemed attracted to the idea of community service though his source didn’t:

Gregory Mankiw points out that Barack Obama supports the conscription of youth into community service. I wonder how many aged lefties will now dump on Obama on the basis of past Vietnam Moratorium ideals. Well of course its not this aged lot who now face the prospect of being conscripted so that a certain amount of soundly-justified hypocrisy is plausible.

Maybe spending the last week in China has dented my democratic ideals but I think the Obama suggestion makes a lot of sense.
Obama supports conscription

Nicholas Gruen, CEO of Lateral Economics  who posts at Club Troppo focused on the one big thing which Obama has done since Tuesday:

Paul Krugman was always critical of Obama for not being more partisan. We’ll see what happens. In my ignorance I’m expecting Obama to be like Clinton - a pro when it comes to policy who hires the best advice he can get unlike Republicans who haven’t done that since - well perhaps someone can remind me. But I don’t expect him to be particularly bold. But who knows. The thing that always struck me as ridiculous about Krugman’s critique is that being all post-partisan was a good way to build a coalatition and get into power. You find out how people are going to govern after they get into power - or hasn’t Krugman noticed. FDR was elected on a platform of balancing the budget.

And now we get to see how Obama governs. And his first decision is to go for a hard man as a chief of staff - Obama plays the good cop and everyone is telling us that Rahm Emanuel gets to play the bad cop. I’ll be interested to see if Krugman has anything to say on this - I’ve not seen it yet. But it’s a first sign that Obama is under no illusions about how lovely the Republicans will be towards him.
Rahm Emanuel - the enforcer

Another economist, John Quiggin, whose blog presents itself as a ‘Commentary on Australian & world events from a social-democratic perspective’ looked forward to:

a revival of the progressive politics of the New Deal, in retreat ever since the 1970s. If Obama can combine an economic recovery with a new commitment to social equity, his election victory could prove more significant than any since that of Roosevelt in 1932.

He mentioned several policy areas, one of which is global warming:

… looming over all of this is climate change. Obama has promised a cap-and-trade scheme, and a return to world leadership at Copenhagen. But, as in Australia, there will be powerful voices calling for a continuation of the Bush policy of delay and denial, and putting the financial crisis forward as a pretext. Neither the world nor the position of the US as a world leader can afford this.
A tough road ahead

I feel a ‘three economists in a boat’ joke coming on. So let’s give Tigtog at Hoyden About Town the punch line. She speculated about what Obama’s priorities should be:

Just like a gazillion others, I’ve been thinking about what Obama could/should do, in his first 100 days in office, that would be small in terms of the effort required (falling within executive powers entirely, no Congressional courting/approval required) but that would make an immediate, huge, difference to many people.

I ended up deciding that there were so many things that needed fixing, that I would be better off focussing on what I would be horrendously disappointed to find that he was not going to do. So here’s my One Thing that I will be broken-hearted if he does not do it:

1. negate the Global Gag Rule (aka Mexico City Policy)

Our continuing research shows the gag rule is eroding family planning and reproductive health services in developing countries. There is no evidence that it has reduced the incidence of abortion globally. On the contrary, it impedes the very services that help women avoid unwanted pregnancy from the start.

What's your One Thing?

Just one thing

According to the blog, a hoyden (hoid’n) is a woman of saucy, boisterous or carefree behavior. A match for 3 economists anyday.

On the DotEarth blog, Andrew Revkin muses on the significance of Obama's election, writing…

President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 20 will become the most important leader of a species that has exploded in just six generations from a total population of 1 billion (around 1830) to a point today when teenagers alone number 1 billion, a species that is on a path toward more or less 9 billion people by mid-century. In numbers, think roughly of adding two Chinas on top of the one that exists today. Expectations that he will exert planet-scale leadership are high, as indicated in this letter from Nelson Mandela to the next president.

He is compiling a list of 10 best proposals to send to Obama's transition team. The proposals will be ranked by readers of his blog.

On the China Dialogue blog, reprints a 2007 Obama speech, reflecting on what Obama's presidency would mean for the environment.

What will a Barack Obama presidency mean for the global environment?

In a policy address delivered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in October 2007 – shortly after George W Bush hosted a Washington conference on energy security and climate change — Obama set out his plan. It included a strong focus on energy efficiency and the use of a “cap-and-trade” system. Obama also emphasised his commitment to investing in clean technology, saying that new technology from the United States can help countries like China to fight climate change.

“[W]e will share our technology and our innovations with all the nations of the world,” Obama said. “If we can build a clean coal plant in America, China should be able to as well.”

La Marguerite suggests channeling the magic of community organizing seen in the Obama campaign into tackling climate change.

Sarah Palin should not have mocked Barack Obama for being a community organizer. If anything, tonight’s results proved her wrong. Our new President has given new meaning, and strength to the concept of community organizing. And he has shown us what citizens can do, when given the means to organize towards a cause, that’s greater than themselves.

Tonight I am thinking of the thousands of Obama offices, volunteer networks, and fundraising organizations, along with the sophisticated Internet machine, and the organizing methodology, that went into getting Barack Obama elected. As the signs are coming down, the thank you emails go out, and the temporary offices go back to their original owners, I wonder, is that it? Will we go back to business as usual, each in our homes, going about our private lives?

Or will we use the skills learned during the Obama campaign to mount a national community effort, this time to address the threat of climate change? The last time I checked, we had less than ten years to get our act together. Citizens have a crucial role to play on the conservation end. As someone who has tried for the last year and a half, to curtail my consumerist and energy appetites, I can testify on the difficulty of accomplishing such changes at the individual level. Instead, we need to summon the power of community to help each other.

Omar Basawad of the Safari Notes blog says ‘Congratulations America!'

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.” So, said the next President of the US.

I, we, have no doubt any more about that. And I do, for the first time truly envy Americans for how you can rise and at what you can do. And how lucky and blessed you are, to have such a democratic system and such ideals! Truly, you are a great people. And that is the reason you will continue leading the World militarily, economically and technologically; and you have just proven too, that you are above the rest of the World, morally. And now you have sent such a great statement across the globe, which will cause ripples and shock waves for a long time to come.

Very hopefully, the ripples and shock waves - will be so powerful so as to bring too, the same kind of change that will, one day, allow our children too - to have such a kind of democracy working in our parts of the World; a democracy that is truly: true, enlightened and ideal.

Tracy Stokes in South Africa had tears of joy on hearing the news that Barack Obama is the next president of USA. She wrote…

I sprang out of bed this morning (very out of character for me) and rushed to the living room, grabbed the remote and had that TV on before you could say “election results”. Obama is the new president of the United States, Bush is on the way out. So here I am, miles and miles away from where it’s all happening, at the southern tip of Africa, a South African of European descent, and it moved me to tears. Why? Because from next January, the most powerful man in the world will no longer be a warmonger, bigot, and dare I say it, village idiot, but an intelligent, compassionate man who has brought to Americans the opportunity to join the rest of the world in working towards peace, upholding of human rights, and fighting climate change. So congratulations to the American people in choosing the right man for the job.

On the 350.org blog, Phil considers the signifance of Obama's win particularly regarding climate change.

It's up to us to make sure Senator Obama follows through with the vision of a world we desperately want that is now a little bit more within reach. Sending him to Poland is a needed first step towards rebuilding the world economy and solving climate change, tasks which will no doubt take years, if not decades, to accomplish.
At this historic turning point, it's up to us to shed the yoke of history and move forward by joining with our new leaders and pushing for a bold new solution to these dual crises. The world is counting on us.

On the GreenPeace Making Waves blog, amid thanks, a reminder of the promises Barack Obama made regarding the environment is stated.

Thank you, Barack Obama, for giving all of us new hope for a changed America.
We're non-partisan here at Greenpeace. We don't have any permanent allies or enemies. We support policies, not politicians. We endorse deeds, not words. So even while a lot of us (in our personal capacity as human beings and not Greenpeace employees) are jumping up and down this morning with glee, we want to take a moment to remind you of the promises you made in your election campaign.

It's delivering on these promises, or bettering them, that will be the true mark of your leadership. …

On ‘Its Getting Hot in Here' blog, Teryn Norris writes of reinventing America.

Few moments in history feel this monumental. It’s the feeling of renewed hope and immense possibility.
Barack Obama has once again tapped America’s power of invention. It’s the same power that led us to invent the first modern democracy. To invent the systems and technologies that continue to drive human progress. To constantly reinvent ourselves in the face of insurmountable hardship and division.
Invention is our greatest power — the very heart of the American spirit. It’s what can renew our promise once again and make this century the next American century.

Teryn concludes the post with:

Obama has rekindled the American spirit. Now he must lead this nation to fully reinvent itself and the world — to lead us in what will be the greatest American project.

Let’s get started.

From South Africa, The Urban sprout blog offers kudos to the the American public for electing Barack Obama.

…how often do we ask ourselves what difference the leaders of New Zealand, Denmark, Germany or Iceland, for instance, will make to us all? But you have to give credit where credit is due and kudos to the American public for electing Barack Obama!

But what can we expect from Obama’s environmental direction, and can he be held accountable to his campaign promises?

We end this post with a quote from the Urban sprout blog.

Obama’s administration has 4 years to turn these visionary promises into something tangible, and that's the real challenge - but right now, there's plenty to be optimistic about.

-It is the end of a dark circle
- It won't be easy to forget
-What will happen to Bush?
- What Bush?

Republishing the cartoon above from a local Portuguese newspaper, Diário de Notícias, Frosado is hopeful that Obama will indeed bring changes:

Como se diz aqui, Bush já não “existe”. Quanto ao futuro, só podemos esperar. Oxalá Obama consiga capitalizar o entusiasmo que conseguiu agregar à sua volta, entre os jovens e pelo mundo inteiro, para a paz e a prosperidade, tão necessárias ao mundo actual. Pessoalmente eu tenho esperança, sem grandes triunfalismos, claro.

As they have said here, Bush no longer “exists.” As for the future, we can only hope. If only Obama manages to capitalize the enthusiasm he kept around him, among young people, around the world, for peace and prosperity, so necessary in the current world. I hope so personally, with no great triumphalism though.

On the other hand, tunku from Malaysia is not very hopeful:

there is so much hope on obama that he will bring changes but knowing the zionist behind the white house administration, it won't happen.the changes will be just good for them not for the rest of the world.now we will see the real obama.

Marcos Tchôla says Obama will represent the interests of any imperialist president, regardless of whether the color of his skin is “white, brown, pink or orange.”

When it comes to Brazil, the blogger is actually worried:

Em meio a campanha e a todas as besteiras que os candidatos prometem e inventam li uma opinião do novo presidente que me deixou preocupado. Ele acredita que a Amazônia - o pulmão do mundo- é área internacional e que o Brasil não tem condições de cuidar de seus interesses sozinho. Com isso ele já antecipa de forma sutil, mas real, o desejo de fincar pé - através de uma base militar na região- para proteger que acha ser dele também. Há algum tempo atrás cicurlava na internet um e-mail que mostrava que nos livros americanos a área da floresta não aparecia pertecente ao Brasil. Esse fato foi no governo Bush!

During the campaign and among all the nonsense that candidates promise and come up with, I read a viewpoint of the new president that got me worried. He believes that the Amazon - the lungs of the world - is an international area and that Brazil is unable to care for it on its own. With this, he anticipates a subtle but real desire to set his foot in, through a military base in the region, to protect the area he believes belongs to him too. Some time ago there was an email making the rounds on the Internet showing that in American books, the forest did not belong to Brazil. This was during the Bush administration!

Green activist and writer and economist from the UK, Derek Wall asks whether things will get better under an Obama presidency.

Well now he has won my fear is that he will disappoint ‘hope', I remember an inspiring young politician who over turned right wing rule and promised that ‘things can only get better', he never convinced me but if there had been a blog o sphere the bloggers would have worshipped him. Obama is no Tony Blair, however my fear is that he will have neither the intention nor the power to break with neo-liberalism, sadly the American dream which is pretty much every one else nightmare will continue…I hope I am wrong!

From Thailand, Jing Reed says that the U.S. and the entire world have at least one reason to celebrate this victory - it is the end of the Bush Era:

Tonight's victory proclaims the end of the dark years of the Bush regression. Obama's victory speech was inspiring and eloquent, as befitting a President of the U.S.

Carlos Serra, from Mozambique, had predicted Obama's victory and now predicts changes:

os fatalistas estruturais dirão que nada irá mudar na história americana, que Obama será, apenas, mais um presidente ao serviço do Capital e do predadorismo militar. Os optimistas estruturais dirão que muita coisa irá mudar, que Obama irá introduzir uma página substancial de Estado social no livro do neo-liberalismo e reduzir o predadorismo. Mas escutem: nunca a história avança com as grandes coisas, mas com as pequenas. A história muda quando, no sovaco da vida, germinou uma diferença, pequena que seja. E Obama é essa diferença, a sua eleição foi e é essa diferença. Ele vai ser uma diagonal entre as duas teses. Pouco a pouco, contra racistas e racializantes. Com África inteira dentro dele, cumprindo seu destino queniano. N'Kosi sikeleli Africa!

The structural fatalistic people will say that nothing will change in American history, that Obama is, simply, another chairman to serve the capital and military predators. The structural optimists will say that many things will change, that Obama will introduce a substantial page of the welfare state in the book of neo-liberalism and reduce predators. But listen: history never moves with the big things but with the small ones. History changes when, in the armpit of life, a seed of difference germinates, even if a small one. And Obama is this difference, his election was and is that difference. He will be a diagonal between the two theses. Little by little, against racists and racialists. With the whole Africa inside of him, fulfilling his Kenyan destiny. N'Kosi sikeleli Africa!

Elsewhere in South Africa, on 6 November, the last and largest batch of ivory stockpiles will be placed on the block in the ongoing CITES-backed one-off auction between southern African states and China/Japan. They waited 9 years for this and no matter who becomes the next president of the United States, the auction will go on.This is not good news.

It is indeed sad news because selling ivory under the guise of raising funds for elephant conservation just doesn’t make sense. South Africa is not poor. As Paula said in her previous blog at Baraza, the South African proponents of “sustainable” utilization of ivory will be rubbing their hands with glee as they salute what is to them a victory. “We won! we sold Ivory!” is not a phrase that you and I should be surprised to hear being spat out of their grinning mouths. For them it’s more of a statement to the effect that ivory can be exploited sustainably. It has nothing to do with conservation.

It is indeed a bounty in southern Africa this week. Zimbabwe sold 4 tons of ivory on Sunday 2 November raking in a tidy 480,000 American dollars. Namibia which was first to sell its stockpile auctioned 9 tons making $1.2-million. Botswana, which auctioned 44 tons made $1.1-million mostly because their ivory is of lower quality (since the country has the lowest humidity) and is relatively difficult to work. South Africa, with 51 tons in the offing, is hoping to raise more than that. All this money, coming from Chinese and Japanese ivory traders, “will be used in conservation work”, they say.

Kenya, the country of Obama’s late father, is mourning the elephant. They campaigned fervently before and during the CITES Conference of Parties held at the Hague this year for a 20 year moratorium on ivory sales: they got 9. And even before they got the 9, the CITES elite had already given the go ahead for this year’s one-off auction. Now the Kenyan conservationists watch helplessly as the southern African nations bath in wads of cash. Blood money if you ask the Kenyans.

Perhaps an Obama victory will lift their spirits tomorrow. A prize bull has been tethered outside the home of Obama’s paternal grandmother. It will fall when Obama rises. The people of Kogelo will sing, dance and make merry. But after this, they will go on with their life. And on the 6th day of November, 51 tons of ivory will be auctioned in South Africa. The people of Kogelo may not get wind of this. But another group of Kenyans, whose business is to conserve wildlife, will be reminded that it is time to swallow yet another bitter pill of sorrow for the elephant. They will ask themselves what will happen in the next nine years. What will happen tomorrow. Will other African states ask CITES if they can sell their ivory?

Perhaps Barack Obama’s message of change and hope: more specifically “change” will get to CITES. They badly need to change their approach to trade. Some people say that they worry more about the trade than the wildlife. It’s all about the money.

The relationship between bad weather and lower levels of voter turnout is widely espoused by media, political practitioners, and, perhaps, even political scientists. Yet, there is virtually no solid empirical evidence linking weather to voter participation. This paper provides an extensive test of the claim. We examine the effect of weather on voter turnout in 14 U.S. presidential elections. Using GIS interpolations, we employ meteorological data drawn from over 22,000 U.S. weather stations to provide election day estimates of rain and snow for each U.S. county.

We find that, when compared to normal conditions, rain significantly reduces voter participation by a rate of just less than 1% per inch, while an inch of snowfall decreases turnout by almost .5%. Poor weather is also shown to benefit the Republican party's vote share. Indeed, the weather may have contributed to two Electoral College outcomes, the 1960 and 2000 presidential elections.
The Republicans Should Pray for Rain: Weather, Turnout, and Voting in U.S. Presidential Elections

Pedro Dória [pt] tries to answer these questions. He mentions that McCain is the candidate that most mentions both Brazil and Latin America, and that he is the candidate who has opposed the 54-cent-a-gallon tariff on imports of ethanol made from sugar cane, mostly from Brazil. However, Dória believes that should McCain be elected, he would not be able to live up to his promises, considering that he would not have support from many legislative chambers, whose majority is Democrat controlled. Considering this, the blogger concludes that Obama would be a more interesting candidate for Brazil:

Que tipo de política energética interessa ao Brasil? Não somos uma república de bananas que vive de uma indústria só e nossos interesses, nessa história, não são apenas comerciais. O Brasil sai ganhando mais com uma política que favoreça o nascimento de uma indústria mundial e de larga escala de combustíveis alternativos. Se os EUA investirem pesado neste tipo de indústria, haverá um mercado maior em todo o mundo. E o Brasil já tem tecnologias prontas na mão para vender. O fomento de uma grande indústria de combustíveis não-fósseis é o ponto chave do governo Obama. Este será seu principal compromisso quando, logo após jurar fidelidade à Constituição, fizer seu discurso inaugural. Se ele for capaz desta mudança, é uma revolução no mundo.

What kind of energy policy would matter for Brazil? We are not a banana republic that survives on a single industry and our interests here are not just trade issues. Brazil will get more from a policy favoring the birth of a global, and large, alternative fuel industry. If the U.S. invests heavily in this type industry then there will be a bigger world market. And Brazil has already technology in hand, ready to sell. The promotion of a major non-fossil fuel industry is the key point of Obama's agenda. This will be his primary commitment when, soon after swearing allegiance to the Constitution, he makes his inaugural address. If he is capable of changing this, it will be a world revolution.

Ana Paula Freitas [pt], on the other hand, strongly disagrees that Obama would bring any positive outcome to Brazil, specifically, considering that his policy on Latin America proposes an expansion of “the partnership with Brazil to share technology, develop markets for biofuels, and create greener methods of energy consumption. Other important measures that the Obama administration must deal with include the preservation of the Amazon rainforest and the fight against deforestation through economic incentives”. She believes in this sense, Brazil would benefit more from a McCain government:

Deu para entender a idéia? Barack Obama não quer etanol brasileiro. Ele acredita que estimular a produção de etanol pode estimular a plantação de cana na Amazônia, desmatando florestas que ele considera ‘recurso global’ no combate ao aquecimento. ‘Recurso Global’ é estranho, um pouco megalomaníaco. Então, se Obama for eleito, esqueçam as promessas de que o Brasil é o paraíso futuro do etanol. Ele quer dar incentivos à produção americana desse combustível e torná-los auto-suficientes. A moral: Obama é fofo, alegre, sorridente, tem carisma e uma série de outras coisas que fazem ser quase irresístivel não votar nele (no nosso caso, torcer por ele). Parece ser o tipo de cara que vai fazer as coisas mudarem. E ele vai, mas não para nós.

Did you get it? Barack Obama does not want Brazilian ethanol. He believes that stimulating the production of ethanol may increase the sugarcane plantation in the Amazon, deforesting areas that he believes to be ‘global resources' to combat global warming. ‘Global resources' is strange, a little megalomaniac. So if Obama is elected, you should forget the promise that Brazil is the future ethanol paradise. He wants to encourage American to become self-sufficient in its production of the fuel . The moral: Obama is cute, happy, smiling, has charisma and a lot of other things which makes voting for him almost irresistible (in our case, supporting him). He sounds like the kind of guy who will bring change. And he will, but not for us.

Some people do hope Obama wins, just because a McCain victory would not bring anything new for the US or for the rest of the world, but are still scared of the prospect of him as the US president. Daniel Duende is one of them. In a way agreeing with the blogger above, he believes Obama will be such a great US president that this alone is a reason to fear him:

Mas é justamente nestes destes pontos, na genialidade e no poder carismático de Obama, e no país que o elegerá e o qual ele irá governar, que reside o meu medo. Como eu disse, Barack Obama será um presidente muito bom, muito bom mesmo, para seu país. Mas não podemos esquecer que país é este, e como ele enriqueceu. Se não é o mesmo país que explorou a pobreza e doutrinou o mundo com seu discurso de consumo e globalização; o mesmo país que interveio nas questões políticas e sociais de metade do mundo, sempre em proveito próprio, e que depois de dizimar os próprios índios, destruir as próprias florestas, massacrar a própria sociedade debaixo de sua mass-mídia brutal e inescapável, decidiu que seria o árbitro do mundo nestes e em outros assuntos. Barack Obama será o presidente, um dos melhores de todos, deste país. E na mesma medida que sua competência será enorme, o poder dos Estados Unidos da América de ajudar ou destruir o mundo será igualmente maior.

But it is precisely these points, Obama's ingenuity and charismatic power, and in the country which will elect him and which he will govern, that my fear lies. Like I said, Barack Obama will be a very good president, very good for his country. But we must not forget what his country is, and how it got rich. If it is not the same country that exploited poverty and indoctrinated the world with its talk of consumption and globalization, the same country that intervened in half of the world's political and social issues, always to their advantage, and that after decimating their own indigenous peoples, destroying their own forests, massacring their own society through their brutal and inescapable mass-media, they decided that they would be the world referees in these and other issues. Barack Obama will be the president, one of the best of all time, of this country. And to the same extent that his competency will be great, equally bigger will be the United States' power to help or destroy the world.

Acantus79 blog publishes an article by journalist and Director of Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, in Washington, Paulo Sotero, who balances the two candidates against one another and concludes that:

Seja quem for o sucessor de Bush, não será fácil restabelecer o consenso sobre política de comércio exterior em Washington e abrir o caminho para a conclusão da Rodada Doha - o objetivo mais urgente da diplomacia brasileira. Não se deve subestimar, tampouco, a possibilidade de um governo McCain desencadear ações no Oriente Médio ou em relação a Cuba que acirrariam a instabilidade internacional, contrariando os interesses do Brasil. Em contraste, a promessa de renovação do papel dos EUA no cenário internacional representada por Obama poderia ser mais interessante para o Brasil. É verdade que na questão mais premente do comércio ele condicionou a retomada da pauta a uma negociação de políticas domésticas capazes de responder aos problemas que alimentam a sensação de insegurança econômica dos americanos. Entre estas estão considerações sobre o impacto ambiental e social do comércio. A lógica sugere que um presidente democrata teria maiores chances de negociar tais acordos com um Congresso controlado por seu partido e reativar a agenda de comércio exterior - um componente essencial de um reengajamento construtivo dos EUA com o mundo. Nesse cenário, a questão é como responderá o País governado pelo Partido dos Trabalhadores, que proclama a superioridade ecológica do etanol de cana e afirma ser de seu interesse nacional preservar a Amazônia.

Whoever the successor of Bush is, it will not be easy to restore the consensus on foreign trade policy in Washington and pave the way for a conclusion to the Doha Round  - the most urgent goal of Brazilian diplomacy. We should not underestimate the possibility of fierce international instability triggered by a McCain government's action in the Middle East or in relation to Cuba, which would be contrary to Brazil's interests. In contrast, the promise of renewal of the U.S. role in the international arena represented by Obama might be more interesting to Brazil. It is true that when it comes to the most pressing issue of trade, he has conditioned the resumption of a re-engagement with a negotiation of domestic policies which would be able to respond to problems that feed the economic insecurity of Americans. Among these, there are considerations about the environmental and social impact of trade. This logic suggests that a Democrat president would have more chance to negotiate such agreements with a Congress controlled by the same party and reactivate to the agenda of foreign trade - an essential component of a constructive re-engagement between the U.S. and the world. In this scenario, the question is how Brazil, the country ruled by the Labour Party, which proclaims the superiority of ecological ethanol from sugar cane and claims it to be in its national interest to preserve the Amazon, will respond.

A. Global warming is real and

B. Humans contribute to it

I’ve got to admit that I share a lot of the concerns expressed by Claudia Rosett in her latest column for Forbes.com.

Rosett argues that climate change debate has been hijacked by politics, and that even scientists have felt the need to cave in to the demands of politicians and activists, fearing that if they would dare adopt a critical attitude they may lose their job, grants and miss out on important promotions and other career-enhancing opportunities.

Writes Rosett:

So the plan now is that America, along with its bailouts and other burdens, will sacrifice to the global climate gods. Nevermind that an emissions cap-and-trade bill died in the Senate in June, sunk by the titanic price tag and regulatory overload it would have entailed. America’s top politicians, not entirely averse to finding ever-new ways to control and plunder the electorate, are still chugging the climate-change Kool-Aid. Once this starts, where does it stop? Carbon is the basis of life itself; carbon dioxide is exhaled with every breath. Regulating and taxing such matters is a road map to state meddling in every aspect of daily life.

And is the alarm even justified? U.N. proclamations to the contrary, there are numerous dissenting scientists. Among the dissenters is MIT professor of atmospheric sciences Richard Lindzen. In a recent, richly documented paper, he warns that the huge shift over the past half century toward government funding of scientific research has “led to extreme vulnerability to political manipulation.” He argues that today’s climate “consensus” is much more a product of politics than of science. Big government begets a push toward more of the same. Grants, prizes and jobs go chiefly to those who produce what eco-activists and U.N.-o-crats want to hear.

Who are these folks setting the climate agenda?

Most Americans have never heard of Yvo de Boer, and certainly never voted for him. De Boer is a Dutchman, appointed by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2006 to head the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

De Boer is not a scientist; his bio says he has a “technical degree in social work.” Before joining the UNFCCC in the 1990s, he worked in the Dutch ministry of housing. These days, de Boer jets around the world presiding over conferences–such as last year’s two-week climate summit at a Bali beach resort–aimed at creating a global “climate change regime.” This regime rests on schemes for massive international wealth transfers, with multilateral bureaucracies calculating who owes, who pays and who gets special breaks–while related arms of these proliferating outfits crank out reports in which “science” is invoked to justify the entire set-up.

But didn’t the Nobel Peace Prize go last year to Al Gore and the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for their eco-warnings? Yes. And the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by a committee of five Norwegian politicians, appointed by the Norwegian parliament. They may be nice people, but their judgment seems an odd basis for sweeping new controls on the U.S. economy.

And lets not forget that European leaders have broken with the (carbon) limits agreed upon earlier, due to the current economic crisis. Their reaction is a clear indication that doing what was agreed upon in order to fight global warming, will have tremendous economic impact, possibly ruining hundreds or thousands of businesses, creating more unemployment, and driving up costs for production considerably, while limiting the potential for growth in other areas considerably.

What is missing from the global warming debate at this moment is a sane voice, a sane, reasonable, intelligent approach to the problem - recognizing it to be a problem, but proposing solutions that would have an actual effect first and foremost, and, second, that would not ruin entire economies.

©2008 PoliGazette. All Rights Reserved.

Since then, according to the Peace Corps Wiki, over 190 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in Azerbaijan and as was the case in Armenia, a number set up blogs from the beginning of 2006. Operating outside the capital, Baku, the blogs detail life in the regions of an oil-rich country that few would otherwise experience.

One new PCV in the country this year is Chris Sensei in Azerbaijan. In an extended post accompanied by photographs, the blogger introduces readers to his work site.

We are staying in and around Sumgait. A place that could have been a beautiful resort town on the Caspian but instead the Soviets built refineries and chemical factories here. It was one of the most polluted place on Earth for 20+years, with cancer and child mortality at astronomical rates but Independence brought the collapse of those industries. Its gotten much cleaner since then. Many crumbling factories and pipelines remain but the streets are cleaner than those I saw in India and rural China and the water is clean enough to drink without filtration. […]

In the suburbs most of the roads are unpaved and lack drainage so. It had been raining that morning so as we were being dropped off we had to deal with mud roads and puddles like small ponds. Most of the housing around here is brown concrete Soviet built apartment complexes and family compounds surrounded by walls built from brown concrete, limestone, and rusted scrap metal. The outsides seemed depressing at first but years of Soviet oppression taught people to let the outside look drab and uninviting while the insides are generally very nice and inviting.

In addition to writing about the problems, however, PCV bloggers such Eric's Peace Corp Adventure In Azerbaijan have also detailed what steps are being taken to address them.

Things have been going well lately. Yesterday the trainees took part in an environmental clean-up initiative sponsored by a new recycling company in the area. Until now, there has been no system set up for the recycling of plastic bottles in the Sumqayit region. Bottles, along with most other waste, has been disposed of by burning. With the help of this new company, however, there will be an opportunity for people to dispose of their plastic trash in an environmentally safe way.

The trainees met yesterday near the beach by the Caspian Sea, armed with rubber gloves and garbage bags, with the goal of picking up plastic bottles. Although the large truck was filled up quickly, we made only a small dent in the overall plastic problem near the beach. But the important thing is that it was a start, and media coverage of the event might publicize the dangers of plastic to the environment. […]

But, with patriarchy prevalent throughout the South Caucasus region, posts can irk some Azerbaijanis. At the beginning of October, for example, Jeff at 27 Months in Azerbaijan describes one of the better students attending his English-language class.

My student’s name is Fidan. She’s awesome. […] After she scolded a boy in the class for actin-a-fool, I told her she needed to calm down a little bit. She responded by saying “Mr. Jeffrey, today I am calm like a cat.”

“Wow. What are you like when you’re angry?”

“Like a tiger.”

I almost fell down it was so good. For context, no one in my school speaks English this well. Not only did she know the words she was saying, but she spoke them with an ease and attitude that was missing from my other students. […]

She also had a great attitude. Most young Azerbaijani women are shy and reserved, following the be-seen-and-not-heard mentality (this is true at least for young women around men, which by definition how they are around me. […]

[…]

[…] Fidan’s family falls on the more ‘rusified’ part of that mix which makes them, and her, seem to have a more western mentality. She listened to different music, is critical of injustices in society, and has a strong intellectual curiousity. […]

An Azerbaijani male reader, Atilla, took exception to the post and attacked the PCV blogger.

Hey dude, I would suggest that you be a little careful about the language you use in describing the Azerbaijani culture and women. Yes my way of living, life style and understanding of honor is much different than American men (thanks to God), but it doesn’t make my culture or way of living abnormal. […] I would suggest you to refrain from assesing cultures and women of other nations. I am proud of being Azerbaijani and being a real men vs. the girly men like creatures in USA who can’t have no understanding of honor and extremly immoral. Soo keep your morale and propoganda for American women. Nobody here wants to listen your “precious” and highly subjective and illogical advise. […]

27 Months in Azerbaijan responded in a separate post and highlights why information from the regions of the country is so important.

[…] I could be completely wrong about this, but I’m 95% sure that this Atilla character is a Bakuvian. When I go to Baku, especially after having spent a long time in the regions, that I’m going to different country. People move differently. They act differently and have access to more information, entertainment, and opportunities that those in the regions. Because Atilla comes from such an environment (again, that’s my assumption), my description of Azerbaijan doesn’t fit the one that he has. […] Still, I stand by the claim that I don’t think that everyone in Baku is in touch with the situation in the regions. If the entire country was like Baku, they wouldn’t need Peace Corps Volunteers. Things are quite different out here,and that not only goes for the development that has taken place over the past few years, but also the mentality of the people and the culture. So while it may be alright in Baku for young women to do something like go outside by themselves, or use the internet, or take a test to see if they are qualified to study in America for a year, it can be very different situation in the regions.

The issue of gender in Azerbaijan also cropped up on another blog run by a PCV volunteer in Azerbaijan, KZ in AZ.

[…] the project is basically informing women about the Azerbaijan Family code funded by the Norwegian Embassy. To briefly explain if women get divorced here the law states that the husband gets 100% of everything. It doesn’t matter whose fault it was or who asked for a divorce (which in this culture is only men anyways.) Women who have experienced divorce often have to orphan their children and move back in with their parents. This is because they don’t have money to support their children and a divorced woman is “spoiled” and will never be able to be married again. It’s a very tragic situation and although taboo happens much more often then people would like to believe.

Our project aims to reach over 150 young women from Khachmaz, Mingachevir, Zagatala and Lankaran regions on the Family Code and incite discussions of this issue within the regional population. […] We talk about family and marriage explaining the juridical aspects. We inform these women about Family Code and Marriage Contracts. […] We hope this will lead to participation in the restoration of the violated women rights and create sense of self-confidence among women. […]

Veemo in the Azerbaijan also touched upon the subject.

Discussions with other volunteers about blogs have made me feel that I say very little about my perception of the local culture. In truth, there are so many nuances I'm still trying to understand about Azeri culture and we've had it drilled into our heads that it isn't our place to change or judge their culture (not that I want to anyway, if I were a local I wouldn't be too kind to some foreigner coming in and telling me I am wrong about everything I know), and yes there are a lot of things that for me as a fiercely independent, single woman raised in the Western world that I have a hard time digesting.

[…]

I recently met a young woman, probably younger than I am, whom I tried to comfort in Baku. A fellow volunteer and I were walking behind her and her male escort (which we determined to be her brother or her husband by the “protective” way he treated her) and as soon as he left, she burst into tears, and rightfully so. […] I tried my hand at comforting Azeri but she spoke English well and she told me that he was her husband and she did not love him at all, her parents forced her to marry him and she was unhappy. […]

[…]

That is not to say that all Azeri men have unchecked behavior towards women, my current host family has me living in a home with a married couple and their 2 young boys. The boys call me aunt since their parents are so close to my own age, my host brother treats his wife quite well and is affectionate with his sons. […] It makes me hopeful for an improvement on Azeri gender relations and roles for future generations.

Of course, PCV blogs are not only full of posts on gender or the environment. Indeed, in among the reflections on life in the regions of transitional countries such as Azerbaijan there are posts on the cuisine and also reflections on their stay when the time comes to leave.

I learned that we live WAAAAAY in excess in the States and am sure I will feel that for a long time to come and hopefully live a little more within what I know is fine for me.

The people of AZ are amazingly kind, friendly and caring people and I am extremely grateful for their hospitality-they made trip unforgettable

There is a list of past and present PCV blogs from Azerbaijan at http://www.peacecorpsjournals.com/aj.html.