Bill Clinton in Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter
On Energy & Oil:
Helped negotiate Kyoto Treaty on climate change
Both Pres. George H.W. Bush and Pres. Bill Clinton helped to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol, designed to establish a worldwide commitment to control atmospheric pollution and reduce the buildup of gases that are the cause of global warming.In 1992, the
largest group of world leaders in history met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in what became known as the Earth Summit. Pres. George H.W. Bush and others called on the world to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions by 2000 at the 1990 level, especially CO2.
The US and other nations ratified this convention. Importantly, Bush negotiated an agreement to allow developing nations to be excluded from the restriction, since industrialized countries are the overwhelming contributors to the troubling emissions.
[In 2001], newly inaugurated Pres. George W. Bush announced that the Kyoto agreement's mandatory reductions in greenhouse gases and short timetable would be too expensive and unwise when the US was facing energy problems.
Source: Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter, p.171-172
Sep 26, 2006
On Foreign Policy:
Approved expanding Israeli settlements in West Bank
American opposition to settlement activity prevailed during the previous 4 decades, beginning when Dwight Eisenhower was president and extending through the terms of his successors, until 1993, when
President Bill Clinton gave almost blanket approval to settlement expansion.
President George H.W. Bush had been especially forceful in opposing specific Israeli settlements between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, even threatening to cut off financial assistance to Israel.Israeli plans to retain far-reaching
West Bank settlements will likely spell the death knell for prospects for the "road map for peace," the keystone of President George W. Bush's Middle East policy.
Source: Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter, p.114-115
Sep 26, 2006
On Homeland Security:
Signed Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
In August 1957, President Eisenhower announced a proposal to ban the further testing of nuclear explosives, and faltering progress has been made since that time.
While I was president, there were strict global limits on the testing of any explosive above 150 kilotons, which at that time was the smallest that could be monitored.
Subsequently, it became technologically feasible to detect very small explosions, and a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was evolved.
Although President Bill Clinton signed the treaty and pledged that it would not be violated, the most recent American budget refers, for the 1st time, to a list of possible US tests that would violate the treaty.
Source: Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter, p.142-143
Sep 26, 2006
Page last updated: Aug 09, 2015