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Tue Dec 02, 2008 at 13:00:00 PST
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The Washington Post reports Nuclear or Biological Attack Called Likely.
The odds that terrorists will soon strike a major city with weapons of mass destruction are now better than even, a bipartisan congressionally mandated task force concludes in a draft study that warns of growing threats from rogue states, nuclear smuggling networks and the spread of atomic know-how in the developing world.
 The sobering assessment of such threats, due for release as early as today, singled out Pakistan as a grave concern because of its terrorist networks, history of instability and arsenal of several dozen nuclear warheads. The report urged the incoming Obama administration to take "decisive action" to reduce the likelihood of a devastating attack.
"No mission could be timelier," says the draft report of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, which spent six months preparing an assessment for Congress and the new president-elect. It adds: "In our judgment, America's margin of safety is shrinking, not growing."
The report, ordered by Congress last year, concludes that terrorists are more likely to obtain materials for a biological attack than to buy or steal nuclear weapons. But it says the nuclear threat is growing rapidly, in part because of the increasing global supply of nuclear material and technology. Another Bush administration failure. Hopefully, Congress and Obama will take positive, corrective action before its too late.
Four at Four continues with news from the UNFCCC, James Jones connection to climate change deniers, and Europe's plan to save the honeybee. |
| Magnifico :: Four at Four |
Die Welt reports on A change of climate in Poznan. Poland. The United Nation's Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) would be headline news in much of the world (aside from the U.S.), but it is being displaced by the financial crisis, Mumbai terror attacks, Somali pirates, and other news stories.
The financial crisis will certainly have a major impact on the climate proceedings in Poland, focusing attention on the ongoing debate of whether 'green projects' will help or hurt short-term economic health of countries.Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, addressed the impact of the financial crisis one day ahead of the meeting. "The financial crisis will have an impact on climate change. You already are seeing around the world a number of wind energy projects being pushed back," he said. The main threat to the climate protection agenda, de Boer said, is that investors will miss the "opportunity for green growth" as power generation capacities are bolstered over the coming years, and that cheaper and dirtier power sources will be built instead.
Reuters reports Developing nations urge cash in UN warming fight. "Developing countries urged rich nations on Tuesday to provide cash quickly to help them cope with global warming and safeguard tropical forests". According to them, "they need more financial help to combat warming that could bring more droughts, floods, more powerful cyclones and rising seas."
Several tropical nations, including Democratic Republic of Congo, Surinam and Papua New Guinea, said rich nations had to help them safeguard forests.Trees soak up greenhouse gases as they grow, and burning forests to clear land for farming accounts for about 20 percent of warming from human activities. Governments have agreed that slowing deforestation will be part of the 2009 deal. The LA Times reports James L. Jones' energy views worry some environmentalists. President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Jones as his national security advisor stressing the retired Marine general's understanding of "the connection between energy and national security."
Some environmentalist groups "view Jones' environmental record with suspicion... Jones sits on the board of Chevron Corp., and since March 2007 has been president and chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy, which has been criticized by environmental groups."
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is actively advocating climate change deniers and opposes curbs on greenhouse gas emissions. For example, "the chamber opposed global warming legislation backed by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John W. Warner (R-Va.)."
A spokesperson for Obama said, once again, that the president sets the policy. The CS Monitor reports Europe hopes havens will give bees a break.
Hoping to avert a growing catastrophe, the European Parliament has approved the creation of bee "recovery zones" across the Continent.
 Intended to boost plummeting bee numbers - as well as stave off further agricultural losses - the measure garnered the support of an overwhelming majority of members when they voted on the measure late last month. The recovery zones will provide bees places to buzz that teem with a diversity of plants rich in nectar and pollen, as well as free of pesticides.
Despite their ponderous bureaucratic moniker, the zones are based on a simple, age-old idea, says Raffaele Cirone, president of the Federation of Italian Beekeepers.
"They are just grassy lands left uncultivated and unfertilized, where flowers can grow freely, to the benefit of insects who feed on them," Mr. Cirone says. "Leaving areas uncultivated is part of the farming and beekeeping tradition in Italy and many other European countries."
The idea is not just good for the insects. Intensive agriculture can impoverish the land. Bee-friendly production calls for alternating fields of crops with uncultivated grassy areas. These grassy swaths are ideal places for apiaries.
No one could have predicted that areas left natural keep our shared environment healthier. |
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