Thread: G7 nations close to agreement on tackling Amazon fires: Macron

G7 nations close to agreement on tackling Amazon fires: Macron

BIARRITZ, France (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday the leaders of the world’s major industrialized nations were close to an agreement on how to help fight the Amazon forest fires and try to repair the devastation.

“There’s a real convergence to say: ‘let’s all agree to help those countries hit by these fires’,” he told reporters in Biarritz, which is hosting the annual summit of leaders from the Group of Seven nations.

He said the G7 countries comprising the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Britain and Canada, were finalizing a possible deal on “technical and financial help”.

Macron shunted the Amazon fires to the top of the summit agenda after declaring them a global emergency, and kicked off discussions about the disaster at a welcome dinner for fellow leaders on Saturday.

An EU official, who declined to be named, said the G7 leaders had agreed to do everything they could to help tackle the fires, giving Macron a mandate to contact all the countries in the Amazon region to see what was needed.

“It was the easiest part of the talks,” the official said.

A record number of fires are ravaging the rainforest, many of them in Brazil, drawing international concern because of the Amazon’s importance to the global environment.

Macron last week accused Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s government of not doing enough to protect the area and of lying about its environmental commitments.

Macron said on Sunday world powers needed to be ready to help with reforestation, but acknowledged there were different views over this aspect, without going into details.

“There are several sensitivities which were raised around the table because all of that also depends on the Amazon countries,” he said, adding that the world’s biggest rainforest was vital to the future of the planet.

“While respecting sovereignty, we must have a goal of reforestation and we must help each country to develop economically,” he said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-b...-idUSKCN1VF0QH

Originally Posted by Klondyke

Macron shunted the Amazon fires to the top of the summit agenda

I wish there were more leaders like him

^The decision was surely worth of the gathering...

Yup, I agree . . .

Originally Posted by Klondyke

^The decision was surely worth of the gathering...

yes, though, what action can be taken?

Originally Posted by Klondyke

An EU official, who declined to be named, said the G7 leaders had agreed to do everything they could to help tackle the fires, giving Macron a mandate to contact all the countries in the Amazon region to see what was needed.

with boris in as pm,

at the G7, a closer economic relationship between the u.s. and the uk (post brexit) looks promising:

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/25/trum...st-brexit.html

Johnson said he was similarly looking forward to future trade deals with the United States and praised Trump’s work on the American economy.

“We’ll be having some pretty comprehensive talks about how to take forward the relationship in all sorts of ways, particularly on trade and we are very excited about that,” Johnson said. “And I just want to actually congratulate the president on everything that the American economy is achieving, it’s fantastic to see that,” he added.

Originally Posted by Farangrakthai

at the G7, a closer economic relationship between the u.s. and the uk (post brexit) looks promising:

Good luck leaving a protecting group to give the US a blowie whenever they want one

Originally Posted by panama hat

Good luck leaving a protecting group to give the US a blowie whenever they want one

maybe, though the us and uk have the anglo/saxon and free market capitalism "blood" ties.

might be better than "blowing" germany, too.

;-)

Originally Posted by Farangrakthai

maybe, though the us and uk have the anglo/saxon and free market capitalism "blood" ties.

A very large number of the US population has German ethnic roots . . . and the anglo/saxon issue = Saxons are German.

The whole 'special' relationship myth is just that, a myth. The US has always used the UK and that won't change. It's as though there's a psychological need for the UK to be 'loved' by the US over all else.

Better to have blown and lost than never to have blown at all, I guess

Merkel over Trump any day . . . even in reference to a blowie

Originally Posted by panama hat

'special' relationship myth is just that, a myth

Yup. Nobody (well, none of the leaders) give a damn about ties and yesterdays, all they are concerned with is today leading into tomorrow and just what they can do to improve their lot in life as we, the world, move forward.

The past is the past and cannot be changed - all that counts is tomorrow. Who among todays "Leaders" have a firm grip on power and are certain of what tomorrow will bring?

Anybody important missing? Please close the container ports we do not need that supplier......



However, there was one player who thinks otherwise:

G7: Trump's demands for Russia's readmission cause row in Biarritz

US president argues Putin should be included in discussions on Iran, Syria and North Korea





Donald Trump has rowed with his fellow G7 leaders over his demand that Russia be readmitted to the group, rejecting arguments that it should remain an association of liberal democracies, according to diplomats at the summit in Biarritz.

The disagreement led to heated exchanges at a dinner on Saturday night inside the seaside resort’s 19th-century lighthouse. According to diplomatic sources, Trump argued strenuously that Vladimir Putin should be invited back, five years after Russia was ejected from the then G8) for its annexation of Crimea.

Of the other leaders around the table, only Giuseppe Conte, the outgoing Italian prime minister, offered Trump any support, according to this account. Shinzo Abe of Japan was neutral. The rest – the UK’s Boris Johnson, Germany’s Angela Merkel, Canada’s Justin Trudeau, the EU council president, Donald Tusk, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron – pushed back firmly against the suggestion.

“On that point … it became a bit tense to say the least,” a European diplomat said. “Most of the other leaders insisted on this being a family, a club, a community of liberal democracies and for that reason they said you cannot allow President Putin – who does not represent that – back in.”

“That is not such a very important thing for [Trump]. He doesn’t share that view,” the diplomat added. According to this account Trump argued that on issues such as Iran, Syria and North Korea, it made sense to have Russia in the room. “So he had a really kind of fundamental difference about this.”

The summit is being hosted on Biarritz’s Atlantic seafront, which has been entirely sealed off for the event. Encouraged by warm breezes and mostly sunny skies, several of the leaders chose to walk from their grand hotel to the venue for the talks along the deserted and heavily guarded beach in front of the city’s casino.

In breaks in the negotiations, they have been treated to the best of the Basque region’s cuisine, prepared by top local chefs and kitchen staff from the Élysée Palace.

Below the pleasantly gilded surface, however, there has been an undercurrent of bitterness and anxiety at the summit. Boxed in by multiple global crises, the group of major industrialised democracies is arguably at its most divided since its founding in 1977.

Trump has been arguing for Russian readmission since the G7 summit in Quebec last year and appeared determined to revive the demand, bringing it up in a discussion about Iran policy and taking his counterparts by surprise with the vehemence of his views on the subject.

There was nervousness about Trump’s arrival, in the midst of a trade war with China and his reported reluctance to attend, arguing it was not a good use of his time. At the previous summit in Quebec, Trump left early and ordered US officials to withdraw his agreement to a joint communiqué. As a precaution this year, Macron decreed there would be no communiqué to withdraw from.

In an attempt to win over Trump, Macron staged a benign ambush as the US president arrived, whisking him off to an unscheduled lunch, where the two men talked without officials or aides for nearly two hours.

Trump later tweeted that it was “the best meeting we have yet had”, though he misspelt the French president’s name and accidentally linked to a parody Macron account, which has since been suspended.

Macron’s tactics infuriated some US officials, who called several members of the travelling White House press on Saturday afternoon to leak against the French host, claiming he had filled the summit agenda with “niche” subjects such as climate change and equality with his own domestic audience in mind, rather than sticking to global economics and trade, which have traditionally been the focus of G7 meetings.

Speaking anonymously, the officials also claimed it was only on US insistence that there would be a summit session on economics and trade at all, a claim denied by the French, and undermined by the existence of earlier drafts of the agenda, which all had such a session included.

When the time came for the leaders to gather outside the 1830s lighthouse, dating from the reign of King Louis Philippe, a scheduled group photo was unexpectedly cancelled. The reason for the cancellation was not explained, though officials pointed out there was a bigger family photo, including invited guest leaders from India, Australia, Spain, South Africa and several other African states.

Not included was a surprise guest who flew in on Sunday afternoon: the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, at the invitation of his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian. France has been pursuing an initiative to defuse tensions in the Gulf, and French officials said Zarif’s sudden appearance was a continuation of those efforts. They insisted Trump had been informed of the unexpected arrival. The US president refused to comment.

Next year it will be Trump’s turn to choose outside guests as he takes his turn at hosting the G7 against the backdrop of his re-election campaign. European diplomats on Sunday were betting that Putin would be on top of his list.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...ow-in-biarritz

Originally Posted by bowie

The past is the past and cannot be changed - all that counts is tomorrow.

yep, and the u.s. is looking to tomorrow: trump signed a new trade deal with japan at the G7 and talked with boris about a new trade deal.

"tomorrow" and way into the future, the e.u. will drag itself down with all the laws and regulations that are made in brussels, IMO.

Why aren't China and Russia members of this phony exclusive core group, instead of playing "alternate"?
Are they threatened in some manner?


Actually, we should all be extremely cautious and cynical by this highly establishment-based good old boys club.
Their spoken rhetorical intentions and goodness has very little to do with the real evil agenda.

Always amazed as to the innocence of individuals and collective that buy into it.
Must be some powerful Kool-Aid.

Originally Posted by HuangLao

Why aren't China and Russia members of this phony exclusive core group,

Must be some powerful Kool-Aid.

they should be, IMO.

russia was kicked out after invading/protecting crimea.

Originally Posted by HuangLao

Why aren't China and Russia members of this phony exclusive core group, instead of playing "alternate"?

Because they are dictatorships Jeff. Don't be such a Klondyke.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Because they are dictatorships Jeff.

Really.
No more dictatorial oligarchical plutocracies than anywhere else in the world - especially, the variety that fawn over their "free and democratic" existence.
The illusion is great and terribly septic.


Your base observations are common, fanciful and vacant - akin to most of the dumbed down individuals and population.

Originally Posted by HuangLao

Really.
No more dictatorial oligarchical plutocracies than anywhere else in the world - especially, the variety that fawn over their "free and democratic" existence.
The illusion is great and terribly septic.


Your base observations are common, fanciful and vacant - akin to most of the dumbed down individuals and population.

agree to a point, though you don't see this happening in the west: a woman wanting to run for the local council who isn't a member of the ruling party.

i recall this vdo from a few years ago:

press conference on right now with macron and trump: quite interesting.

Trump and Macron doing fantastic

Charlatans and scallywags.

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

Macron

why is he so low in the polls?

i was impressed: very articulate and sincere, IMO.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Originally Posted by HuangLao
Why aren't China and Russia members of this phony exclusive core group, instead of playing "alternate"?
Because they are dictatorships Jeff. Don't be such a Klondyke.

(A right clue, as usually...)

How the "dictators" could join the bunch of really democratic leaders? They are just asked for their supplies onto empty shelves and oil pipes...

Originally Posted by HuangLao

Really.
No more dictatorial oligarchical plutocracies than anywhere else in the world - especially, the variety that fawn over their "free and democratic" existence.
The illusion is great and terribly septic.


Your base observations are common, fanciful and vacant - akin to most of the dumbed down individuals and population.

What a fucking load of waffle. Who misses Ohoh?

the solo performance (news conference) by trump after the trump-macron was pure trump brilliance.

like that macron was trying to set up a trump meeting with the iran leader.

might happen in the future (like with nk).

obama or dubya would never do it.