Question, When does Kerry goes to Poland or has he already gone?

[Mass]

I thought he was going this week, but I keep finding snippets saying he is in DC today. Does anybody knows whether he has already gone or when he goes?

http://www.reflector.com/news/nation/cracks-appear-in-obama-foreign-policy-team-282704.html

Also Monday, Clinton was to meet privately with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. and the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to a Democratic official. Kerry, once a contender for the secretary of state job, will oversee Clinton's confirmation. Kerry has pledged to hold "swift and fair" confirmation hearings for Kerry.

[TayTay]

1. I believe he will be there on Wed

For the start of the high-level negotiations.

From the http://unfccc.int/meetings/cop_14/items/4481.php">UNFCCC site:

11-12 December: High-Level Segment of COP 14 and CMP 4.

These are the meetings and events that Sen. Kerry would be attending.

Webcasts will be available at this site: http://copportal1.man.poznan.pl/ (High-level meetings.)

[karynnj]

2. Whoa - whoever wrote that likely had a liquid lunch

Clinton in meet with Kerry AND the incoming chairman and then says Kerry pledges swift and fair hearings for ... himself!

[Mass]

3. I did not even noticed the last one. This article is so full of garbage that

I did not really scan it (the supposed dispute between Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton because of offices??? Really?). I just noticed that it was supposed to be today, and just wondered when he would be in Poland.

Thanks, Tay Tay, for the answer.

This article shows to what point AP article are poorly written and proofread.

[karynnj]

4. But, it makes me feel better when I catch idiotic mistakes after the edit period

They are professional writers - I never was.

Assuming that this is not just idle gossip, I think they are speaking, not so much of offices, but of the fact that Susan Rice wants a DC location in addition to the NYC one - which signals that she intends to work closely with the President's people and HRC's people. This is a turf war. Obama has said he wants Rice in the cabinet, for which there are precedents - even with Albright and Holbroke.

It seems complicated because HRC feels that because Rice was in BC's administration - she was disloyal to have endorsed Obama. (Like they feel Richardson was - and even like they think Kerry and Kennedy were - because they had campaigned for them. By that standard, the entire party owed HRC the nomination - roughly because Bill was honored with the nomination twice.

I hope these rumors aren't true as they do not suggest that HRC does not get that she is not Queen Bee.

[TayTay]

5. Update to that trip: New Dehli

Obama’s special envoy John Kerry will reach New Delhi on Sunday with a message of grief and ministrations for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the Mumbai terror attacks.

Kerry’s presence in the Capital will be significant not only because he will take over as chairman of the US senate foreign relations committee, but because this is the first direct signal that the presumptive Obama administration is serious about looking at terrorism in the framework of India-Pakistan relations as well as in terms of domestic power politics between the elected government and the army establishment in Pakistan.

http://www.livemint.com/2008/12/09235616/Pakistan-must-do-more-US.html

Interesting. Says a lot, I think.

[karynnj]

6. That is interesting

I figured that given the circumstances he would add India. It is interesting that he is labeled "Obama's special envoy" in this article.

[beachmom]

7. Very interesting indeed.

Once again, Kerry is out front and laying the groundwork. This way, when Hillary is confirmed as SoS in early January, she won't have to start from scratch.

John Kerry is s true patriot is all I can say.

[MBS]

9. "out front and laying the groundwork"... yup, that's JK to a T! n/t

[YvonneCa]

8. It does say a lot. I think it goes almost without saying....

...that he has Obama's total trust. And yes, beachmom...he is the definition of a patriot. :)

[TayTay]

10. The stops on this trip may have changed to

Georgia, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kuwait.

Ah, after Poznan, of course.

[karynnj]

11. Gee, Tay - Your Senator gets to go to all the fun spots

That will have to be one of the most grueling trips he's taken - and there is a lot of competition for that designation.

[Mass]

12. Boston Globe article about the trip

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/12/10/kerry_says_talks_on_climate_must_remain_on_track/

WASHINGTON - Senator John Kerry, who leaves today for international climate talks in Poznan, Poland, says that the outgoing Bush administration and the economic crisis facing the country should not impede progress toward negotiating a new international global warming agreement in Copenhagen next year.

"We need to keep it on track, we need to make sure that the slow pace of the administration doesn't downgrade people's sense of possibility," he said in an interview in his office on Monday, as he prepared to join a congressional delegation at the Poznan talks today.

...

Kerry is not going to Poznan as a negotiator but rather as incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which would eventually have to approve any international treaty.

"It is critical, absolutely essential, that the United States show its bona fides on this issue and others immediately," he added.

In the interview, Kerry said the US must commit to mandatory emission reductions. A critical question is how much: Environmentalists are calling for reductions of 25 percent to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, which the International Panel on Climate Change has said is necessary to keep global temperatures from rising more than 3.5 degrees - the tipping-point temperature change the panel said would cause significant environmental and societal destruction.

[beachmom]

13. Hmmmm:

Kert Davies, research director for Greenpeace, said the discussions had gotten off to a slow start and that he hoped Kerry's arrival would send "a strong signal that US senior leadership stands ready to help the world tackle global warming."

But Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, said she believed it would be "very challenging" at this point to reach a full and final agreement in Copenhagen.

"I agree it is worth trying, but at the same time, I think it's important to figure out how you can make enough progress in Copenhagen so you could complete it soon thereafter," she said.

I didn't realize people thought the world couldn't negotiate a treaty. I guess, because of how it went last time, I thought the issue would be the U.S. Senate ratifying something.

[Mass]

14. I heard her yesterday on NPR and she thought it was very dubious something could be done.

However, if was the first time that I heard of her, so I do not know where she falls.

Obviously, a treaty like that is very hard to reach, because it is all a question of quid pro quo. Developing nations like China or Brazil have to give something, but they may not be able to give as much as developed nations like the US or Europe, because it would hurt the development of the country. The US and Europe are probably able to offer more, but with the economical crisis, what they can offer without counterpart may be more limited than it would have been a couple years ago.

Hopefully, it will have a better chance to go somewhere with the US and Europe wanting to do something, but the real question is what concessions will be made and whether the developed countries will be ready to make MORE efforts than less developed ones, even if those are starting to catch up when it comes to CO2 emissions. Then, once such a treaty will be accepted, the challenge will be to have it ratified by the different parliaments, US Senate included.

It is a really difficult question, and even more difficult given the current crisis.

[beachmom]

23. There is something strange about the Pew Center on Climate Change

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/12/12/pew-center-problem/

[TayTay]

15. There are a lot of the same problems that were encountered with Kyoto

There are a lot of countries that are balking at the cost of reducing emissions. For example, some Eastern European countries don't believe than can economically reach a 20% reduction target. (Ah, one of the possible stumbling blocks to this is the actual host country of this UNFCCC conference, Poland.)

There is a good blog account of the events going on each day at Poznan at Prof Hugh Bartling's blog: http://hughbartling.com/blog/

[beachmom]

17. That's a cool blog. Did you see that Kerry's French cousin is there?

Then the blogger links to this article:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-03-30-kerry-france_x.htm

Kerry's relatives in France say Dem candidate is 'all-American'

ST. BRIAC-SUR-MER, France (AP) — John Kerry's relatives in France bristle at jabs from across the Atlantic that the presidential contender has a French connection.

They say Kerry has no link to France other than the home his grandparents bought here. "John Kerry is incredibly American," says Brice Lalonde, Kerry's cousin and mayor of this seaside village in Brittany. "He has absolutely nothing French about him."

Another cousin, Christopher Curtis, says, "This is an American story. John is an all-American guy with the benefit of having spent some time overseas."

With the race for the White House turning nasty — and France-U.S. ties not quite mended from the Iraq war — Kerry's Gallic clan, when questioned, talks up his American-ness. Some are keeping a low profile, saying too much talk about France could be political arsenic. As Lalonde puts it, "I'm afraid to hurt him."

But that hasn't stopped the Frenchman from pasting Kerry bumper stickers on his car — hardly a common sight in this 16th-century village.

MORE at the link.

I loved it! They refer to him as "Johnny". Ha! Those French.

[Mass]

18. Yes, I read somewhere Brice Lalonde was there (may be on a French site).

He was a very early environmentalist, when it was not yet fashionable in France to be green. He actually started when the Green Party was fairly lefty, and working on issues like sustainable development in Africa (I loved the leader then, Rene Dumont), then he was among those who got the Green Party out of the lefty fringed and made the green ideas mainstream in France, ran for president in the 81 (not a chance in the French system) worked for various governmental offices under Mitterrand and Chirac.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brice_Lalonde

I guess being serious civil servant goes in the family.

[karynnj]

20. And he was describes as EU's chief negotiator and John Kerry's cousin

It was interesting that it was the uncle who referred to him as "Johnny" when the others used "John". Family is often the last to abandon nicknames of childhood.

Very nice article.

Here's a description of the town:
"St Briac sur Mer - close by the sea and Dinard and St Lunaire and on the estuary of the Fremur, St. Briac has a lively seafront area which sports interesting restaurants. Looks very pretty at nightime and has lots of little lanes to fascinate the visitor. Festival of Breton music is held here in September of each year. Very pretty and full of tiny streets, St Briac has been the inspiration of may artists including Renoir, Nozal, Rivière, Signac and Bertrand. "



http://www.gitesandmore.co.uk/Places%20to%20visit%20in%20Brittany.htm

It looks like this was a lovely place for "Johnny" and his cousins in summer. No wonder he and his cousin both are environmentalists.

[karynnj]

16. Last year it was conventional wisdom that there would be no

agreement that included the US - but at the end there was and agreement and we were on board. Even Kerry in the video on his web site speaks of the difficulties. Part of the problem is the world economic situation which makes it harder to compensate or transfer technology to third world nations. (I don't understand how it affects the latter - if the technology exists.) I wonder if Claussen is just trying to lower expectations - it seems a very strange thing for someone with a position called what hers is to be doing this a year ahead of time.

[beachmom]

19. More on Pakistan here:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h1aBshjF1CnfJ4noaEXA_Vb8dm-gD9503AF80

Much will now depend on whether Pakistan's U.S.-backed government keeps up the pressure on the militant groups that are believed to have been fostered by the country's powerful security agencies.

Pakistan has targeted militants in the past, detaining some leaders only to quietly release them later, bolstering critics who claim Islamabad is not serious about fighting extremists.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, currently in Afghanistan, is expected to visit Pakistan to continue the watchful U.S. response to the attacks.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said Wednesday he too will soon visit leaders of India and Pakistan, as well as neighboring Afghanistan, to discuss comprehensive anti-terrorism strategies.

"The dastardly attacks in Mumbai were the latest reminder of the region's fragile security situation," Kerry said.

Kerry next month will become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He had been frequently mentioned as a candidate for secretary of state under President-elect Barack Obama, but that job went to fellow Senate Democrat and former Obama rival Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Kerry is traveling on his own, and not as any kind of emissary for Obama, his office and the Obama transition office said.

"There is one president at a time," said Brooke Anderson, a spokeswoman for the transition office. "The president-elect will be very interested to hear about the trip from Sen. Kerry, whose insight he values greatly."

I like that last sentence. And actually, Kerry represents a nice "loophole". He is representing himself as a Senator, but can be seen as being quite close to Pres. Elect Obama. That works.

[karynnj]

21. nice article - and I like your explanation of the last sentence

It actually is a very nice "loophole", keeping everything legitimate.

[karynnj]

22. The choice for the energy department really makes me more optimistic that they can find the new

energy solutions. This was posted on another thread. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-7gWsoXtUw

He seems exactly the kind of person you need to lead what will be an exciting, stimulating scientific wave that will produce what is needed.

(I loved his discussions of everything especially (for personal reasons) his description of Bell Labs. He was in the basic research group that was the most incredible part of the company. But, even in the more plebeian groups, somethings were the same, including having people of different fields working together on problems and the fantastic intellectual energy - and lunches where you sometimes found a way around a problem you had.)