Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is meeting with President Bush at the White House this morning, where he'll tell Mr. Bush face to face that Australia will withdraw their 550 troops from Iraq later this year.
The two leaders, after their first meeting as heads of state, will do a press conference at 11:30, where they are expected to reaffirm that, hey, everything is still cool between the U.S. and Australia.
"The challenge for the future is how do we partner with American and our other friends and allies in providing other forms of assistance to the government of Iraq," Mr. Rudd told reporters last night after arriving in the District, according to news reports.
Mr. Rudd, who last November ousted a strong U.S. ally in previous prime minister John Howard, also broke with the Bush administration on climate change when he ratified the Kyoto Treaty, which imposes mandatory emissions caps.
Nonetheless, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley insisted two days ago that the bilateral relationship is still strong.
Mr. Bush has gone out of his way to show Mr. Rudd a warm welcome, inviting the prime minister and his wife to stay for not one, but two nights at Blair House, the traditional guest residence for heads of state, which is across the street from the White House.
Mr. Rudd, for his part, is pitching his 17-day trip to five countries as a mission to promote Australia's economy in the midst of a global downturn.
"A primary reason for this visit is to communicate to the economic and business leadership of the U.S., the U.K. and China the continuing fundamental strength of the Australian economy in the face of international turbulence," Mr. Rudd said, according to the Herald Sun, one of Australia's largest daily newspapers.
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
Comments (4)
Australia's decision on the Kyoto treaty may have a serious impact on Australian economic "fundamental strength", especially while China and India ignore Al Gore and the global governance IPCC report while the rest of the world begins taking a closer look at the real analysis. If the world get cooler instead of warmer, a lot of economies are destined to lose more than just their strength.
Posted by Larry Stone | March 28, 2008 2:12 PM
Nature normally has it's own way of cleaning and purifying the air. It is common knowledge that the photosynthesis cycle converts carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and releases oxygen into the atmosphere.
The more trees that grow naturally or planted in a given area , the better the quality of oxygen in the air.
The indiscriminate cutting down of trees has significantly had a NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT and seriously damaged it in places like the AMAZON FORESTS and in AFRICA overgrazing has upset the delicate ecosystem balance.
The massive destruction of huge forests in the Amazon Jungle has resulted in powerful winds "spawning" or giving "birth" to Hurricanes that sweep across the America's.
The overgrazing of Land in Africa has resulted in the rapid desertification of Africa which has brought about drought and famines and sandstorms.
The massive open cast mining in CANADA , AUSTRALIA , AMERICA AND CHINA and elsewhere has also damaged the environment.
The underground testing of nuclear weapons (Hopefully now banned in all countries) has resonated the tectonic plates and caused TSUNAMIS and EARTHQUAKES in divers places.
The mass scale production of motor vehicles ans aeroplanes and thermal power stations contributes significantly to global warming.
NATURE tries to correct all these maladjustments and then the earth has what you may call a reflex action of earthquakes, violent storms (hurricanes and tornadoes) flooding in some areas and heat waves in others . In Africa, desertification and internationally, GLOBAL WARMING.
We can help in a significant way by switching to ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF ENERGY , planting more and more trees that blend with the natural fauna so that the natural ecosystem is not disturbed or disrupted any further.
THE KYOTO TREATY will also help if there are more signatures and more restrictions as nature dictates.
ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF ENERGY will also help to reduce nature's reflex action.
Heat waves, rampant flooding, hailstorms, hurricanes and tornadoes hopefully will reduce on a sliding scale depending on the seriousness to adhere to the protocols of the KYOTO TREATY.
We only have one planet to live on and if we destroy it we destroy all mankind. IT IS NOT TOO LATE but we must ACT QUICKLY and stop CLIMATE CHANGE AND GLOBAL WARMING.
MEN AND WOMEN everywhere that call for ways to reduce CLIMATE CHANGE and to STOP GLOBAL WARMING and STOP DESERTIFICATION , are to be commended for their efforts. BUT DECISIVE ACTION NEEDS to be done URGENTLY to save PLANET EARTH from destruction by man's IRRESPONSIBLE ACTION in pursuit of ECONOMIC DOMINANCE .Errol Smythe.
Posted by Errol Smythe | March 29, 2008 3:38 AM
There is nothing wrong with environmentalism or alternative forms of energy, especially when it may relieve us of our dependency on oil, a national security issue. The case for global warming is not deterministic enough to say we can manage the climate with one variable, carbon dioxide. The "hockey stick" is broken, you can't mix tree rings (linear data) a hot spots (non linear data) and come up at an exponential explosion at the end. Additionally you can't violate 72 of 140 forecasting principles and arrive at a valid prediction (Green and Armstrong - GLOBAL WARMING: FORECASTS BY SCIENTISTS VERSUS SCIENTIFIC FORECASTS) The real truth behind global warming or climate change or whatever they want to call it today is global governance (Jacques Chirac). They want to eventually tax us on energy consumption. That will limit economies, allow socialism to redistribute the earths economic wealth according to their elitist decisions and control populations (how about a carbon tax on how much you will consume in your lifetime). Bottom line don't sell environmentalism wrapped up in a state of fear global governance package, sell it for what it is, the protection of human health and national security. Y2K is over.
Posted by Larry Stone | March 29, 2008 8:05 AM
Point taken,but please note that underground mining,desertification,deforestation,resonating tectonic plates causing earthquakes and Tsunamis,climate change etc etc etc are serious cause for concern and when coupled with global warming,what do you have? So called civilized man brutalizing and destroying the planet,why? I don't know.
The air is polluted. We have acid rain from factory smoke etc.The rivers and seas are polluted and we are having genetic mutation,some say through a combination of chemicals and ultra violet light etc etc. When something is not right,something is wrong.
Scaremongering? No a voice of reason.A Voice of sanity in a world of pollution, earthquakes,tsunamis,climate change,desertification,etc etc We can try to stop the trend of destruction by taking urgent corrective measures. Errol Smythe
Posted by Errol Smythe | April 4, 2008 2:26 PM