Kerry on Huff Po: Who Lost the Earth? [View All]

[beachmom]

Nice to see this theme from his National Press Club appearing on the blogs:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-kerry/who-lost-the-earth_b_248145.html

When Richard Nixon first visited China back in 1972, his journey seemed far longer than the seven thousand miles that actually separate Washington from Beijing. He was bridging the gap between two worlds separated for a generation.

President Nixon understood that such a moment demanded a dramatic signal to drive home a new diplomatic reality. To do that, he chose a simple gesture, but one laden with meaning. Zhou Enlai, China's premier, had nursed a grudge ever since Secretary of State John Foster Dulles refused to shake his hand back in 1954. And so, when Nixon walked out onto the tarmac in Beijing, he took several steps toward Zhou with his hand obviously, unmistakably outstretched. The message was clear -- and powerful -- and it marked a watershed in US China relations.

Our two nations have just met again at the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the most important forum in our bilateral relationship. Only this time, it's not just our geopolitics that are changing -- but the earth itself. Global climate change poses a real and present danger of environmental destruction and human dislocation on a scale we've never seen.

America and China must change the world again. But this time a handshake alone won't get the job done: nothing less than a complete and collaborative transformation of the global energy economy will be enough.

Very good article.

Oh, and I am still in shock reading on the other thread that Inhofe will join the SFRC. Now the committee will no longer be civilized. I mean, that says it all about the GOP leadership. I never heard of Reid, as a minority leader, ever pulling a stunt like this.