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Obama Defends Presence at Climate Change Talks While Syria War Rages
Obama Defends Presence at Climate Change Talks While Syria War Rages
(about 7 hours later)
LE BOURGET, France — President Obama wrapped up his visit to the Paris climate talks on Tuesday by defending his decision to focus on the environment in the midst of a war in Syria and brushing off threats that his climate change efforts would be thwarted by Republicans in Washington.
LE BOURGET, France — President Obama on Tuesday said that despite repeated meetings with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on efforts to defeat the Islamic State, no one should be “under any illusions” that Russian forces would now start attacking the extremist group’s positions in Syria.
At a news conference on the second full day of the talks, Mr. Obama said that the United States was obligated to participate in efforts to reach a global agreement on limiting greenhouse gas emissions “because this one trend, climate change, affects all trends.”
The Russians have been deeply involved in propping up the government of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, Mr. Obama said, adding that he believed their commitment to Mr. Assad was not going to shift anytime soon.
“Climate change is a massive problem,” he said. “It’s a generational problem. It’s a problem that by definition is just about the hardest thing for any political system to absorb” because the effects are gradual and diffuse.
He added that weeks of Russian airstrikes in the region had not led to substantial changes in the Syrian conflict and he said that at some point, Mr. Putin would recognize that he did not want to be involved in another quagmire.
And yet, he said, “I actually think we’re going to solve this problem.”
On Mr. Obama’s last day at the international climate conference here, he and members of his administration also met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey at the residence of the United States ambassador here, a small palace that once was the home of Edmond James de Rothschild.
Mr. Obama made his remarks hours before Congress was to reconvene, and the Republican majority in the House was expected to send a signal to negotiators from the nearly 200 nations gathered here that it did not support the president’s climate-change policies.
Even though the two leaders had met two weeks ago at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Antalya, Turkey, Mr. Obama said another meeting was warranted in light of recent events in Syria and the shooting down of a Russian fighter plane by Turkey.
The House was expected to pass two bills blocking Mr. Obama’s major initatives on climate change, a set of Environmental Protection Agency rules to push energy providers away from coal-fired power plants.
Coal burning is a major source of carbon, which scientists say is driving up atmospheric temperatures around the globe with potentially catastrophic consequences. Many Republicans in the House dismiss scientific findings that climate change is exacerbated by such human activity.
The action in the House would come after similar votes in the Senate last month, and send the bills to Mr. Obama’s desk.
Mr. Obama has said he intends to veto the legislation, but the actions are symbolic and meant to undermine the stance of the United States during the two weeks of negotiations taking place in this suburb north of Paris.
Mr. Obama dismissed concern that Republicans would be able to make good on their pledge to block the United States from fulfilling financial pledges meant to help developing nations transition their economies so that they are less dependent on fossil fuels.
“This is not just one slug of funding that happens in one year,” Mr. Obama said. “This is multiyear commitments that in many cases are already embedded in a whole range of programs around the world. And my expectation is that we absolutely will be able to meet our commitments.”
Mr. Obama, who has about 14 months left in office, also seemed untroubled by the idea that a Republican successor might overturn anything he accomplishes in Paris.
“Let me first of all say, I’m anticipating a Democrat succeeding me,” he said, drawing laughter. He added that any president must consider the concerns of countries around the world, because the United States’ credibility and global leadership depend on them.
“The fact of the matter is that there’s a reason why you have the largest gathering of world leaders probably in world history here in Paris,” Mr. Obama said. “Everyone else is taking climate change seriously.”
Ignoring the problem would mean that much of the United States’ spending on the military and other matters would have to be devoted to dealing with rising sea levels and changing weather patterns, he said.
His comments echoed the findings of a Pentagon report released last year that said climate change posed an immediate threat to national security. The report identified increased risks from terrorism, infectious disease, global poverty and food shortages. It also predicted that there would be increased demand for military assistance as extreme weather created more humanitarian crises around the world.
Mr. Obama went on to tick off his requirements for a successful deal: an ambitious target that calls for a low-carbon global economy; transparency; and periodic reviews of whether emissions targets need to be adjusted.
Responding to criticism that current pledges to reduce growth in carbon emissions are not sufficient to head off the worst consequences of climate change, Mr. Obama said a new agreement would create the architecture and consensus needed to continue increasing those targets.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Obama met with the leaders of five island nations including Barbados in the Caribbean Sea and Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific north of Australia. The president, whose first two bilateral meetings in Paris were with the leaders of China and India, said that even small dots on the map deserved to be heard in international climate talks.
“I am an island boy,” Mr. Obama said, referring to his upbringing in Hawaii and Indonesia. “Some of their nations could disappear entirely,” as water levels rise “and as weather patterns change, we might deal with tens of millions of climate refugees in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Mr. Obama was asked about efforts against the Islamic State. He said that, despite repeated meetings with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, “I don’t think you should be under any illusions now that Russia will start targeting only ISIL targets.”
The Russians have been deeply invested in propping up the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, Mr. Obama said, adding that he believed their commitment to the Syrian leader was not going to change anytime soon.
But he added that weeks of Russian airstrikes in the region had not led to substantial changes in the Syrian conflict and he said that at some point, Mr. Putin would recognize that he did not want to be involved in another quagmire, Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Obama and members of his administration also met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey at the residence of the United States ambassador here, a small palace that once served as the home of Edmond James de Rothschild.
Even though the two had met two weeks ago at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Antalya, Turkey, Mr. Obama said another meeting was warranted in light of recent events in Syria and the shooting down of a Russian fighter plane by Turkey.
“I want to be very clear: Turkey is a NATO ally,” Mr. Obama said. “Along with our allies, the United States supports Turkey’s right to defend itself and its airspace and its territory. And we’re very much committed to Turkey’s security and its sovereignty.”
“I want to be very clear: Turkey is a NATO ally,” Mr. Obama said. “Along with our allies, the United States supports Turkey’s right to defend itself and its airspace and its territory. And we’re very much committed to Turkey’s security and its sovereignty.”
Mr. Obama said that he and Mr. Erdogan discussed how to ease tension between Russia and Turkey, to address the threat posed by the Islamic State and to bring about a political resolution in Syria. Mr. Obama also praised Turkey, which is estimated to have taken in more than one million Syrians, for its “extraordinary generosity” in its support of refugees.
Mr. Obama said that he and Mr. Erdogan discussed how to ease tension between Russia and Turkey, to address the threat posed by the Islamic State and to bring about a political resolution in Syria. Mr. Obama also praised Turkey, which is estimated to have taken in more than one million Syrians, for its “extraordinary generosity” in its support of refugees.
In his remarks, Mr. Erdogan said the two leaders had discussed the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL; establishing a transitional government in Syria; protecting the lives of Syrians of Turkish descent; and the tension with Russia.
In his remarks, Mr. Erdogan said the two leaders had discussed the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL; establishing a transitional government in Syria; protecting the lives of Syrians of Turkish descent; and the tension with Russia.
“We want peace to prevail at all costs,” Mr. Erdogan said.
“We want peace to prevail at all costs,” Mr. Erdogan said.
As meetings unfolded in France, there was widespread speculation that the next round of talks aimed at ending the Syrian civil war could occur next in New York in mid-December, diplomats here said, as long as the latest tensions between Russia and Turkey could be eased.
The Vienna talks, named for the city where they began, were hailed as an example of a new resolve to hammer out a peace deal.
The momentum for an accord was spurred by the Paris terrorist attacks in mid-November but threatened by Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian military jet last week. Diplomatic tensions followed, and Mr. Obama has spoken with the leaders of both countries in Paris in recent days.
“We have not seen this kind of momentum around the diplomatic and political track in a very long time, and arguably ever,” Samantha Power, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon. She would not confirm if the meeting would take place in New York, saying only that the United States wanted the next round of talks to take place in December and that it was “open to a number of different venues, one of which is New York.”
If the talks can take place, diplomats said, they would send an important signal that tensions between Russia and Turkey have not quashed the newfound momentum against the Islamic State. The parties at the table in two rounds of talks in Vienna in late October and mid-November included the United States and Russia, along with the regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as Turkey. All have deep stakes in the war. The next session is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 18.
Russia has proposed a Security Council measure to strengthen restrictions on those who trade in oil and other goods with the Islamic State. Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly I. Churkin, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the resolution would be a follow-up to a Russian-sponsored resolution, adopted unanimously Feb. 12, that was aimed at halting illicit oil sales, trading in antiquities and ransom payments for hostages, all crucial methods used by extremist groups to finance terrorist operations.
