My favorite headline of the G8 so far, “Bush, Merkel vow to fight poverty, disagree on climate“. This follows what was apparently a very nice lunch meeting between the two of them. From the article:
But Bush made no reference to Merkel’s demands that G8 leaders commit to cutting global greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 and limiting the worldwide temperature rise this century to 2 degrees Celsius.
Merkel, for her part, recognized that while the US and Germany agreed on combating poverty in Africa, there were other “areas here and there” which needed further discussion.
In perhaps not unrelated news, today German police boarded the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise – even though it was well outside the summit security zone. The police boarded without a search warrant and confined the 24 crew before seizing Greenpeace equipment including engines from inflatables, making the boats unusable, and the hull of a Greenpeace hot air balloon.
I wonder if, at any point during the lunch, Merkel and George “there ought to be limits to free speech” Bush touched on how far a government should go to ensure that leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations can meet without the inconvenience of protest.
Greenpeace statement in response Merkel/Bush comments today.
From the BBC: Who are the G8 protesters?