Security Tight In Sydney For Global Talks

Trade, Global Warming To Be Discussed At Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum

(AP)  Police tightened security Sunday as senior officials from Pacific Rim nations began meetings to prepare for a summit of regional leaders that will tackle trade and global warming.

The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum - with its focus on trade and a membership that includes powerhouses China, Japan and the United States - is a magnet for anti-globalization and environmental protesters. U.S. President George W. Bush, who arrives Tuesday, and anger at the Iraq war are also drawing protesters.

Parts of Sydney began to resemble a besieged camp, with police erecting a 10-feet-tall security fence, dubbed by local media the Great Wall of APEC near the summit site.

Police arrested 11 activists from environmental group Greenpeace for painting anti-APEC slogans on a coal ship in the port of Newcastle, 100 miles north of Sydney, the New South Wales state police said.

New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma warned groups preparing to incite violence that police will respond forcefully. "The police will be out in force and they'll enforce the law and they'll do so with strength and authority," said Iemma.

APEC, founded in 1989 to promote trade and investment in the fast-growing region, has broadened its mission over the years to include security, political, health and environmental issues.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, the host, has said tackling climate change will be a top priority, though APEC members have been divided over previous efforts to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.

On Sunday, senior officials began putting the finishing touches on a declaration that will be passed on to government ministers for revisions midweek and then endorsed by the 21 leaders at their Sept. 8-9 summit at the Sydney Opera House overlooking the city's scenic harbor.

The officials were to first focus on the Doha round of global trade talks and ways to promote regional economic integration, David Spencer, the Australian ambassador to APEC, said opening the meeting.

Much of APEC's business, however, is not about the declaration but about giving regional leaders a chance to hobnob.

Bush is scheduled to hold a series of one-on-one meetings over subsequent days with Howard and other leaders, including Chinese President Hu Jintao, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

APEC members, which include the world's top three greenhouse gas emitters in the United States, China and Russia, are not expected to announce any specific targets to cut carbon emissions.

Instead, in keeping with APEC's consensus-based nature, the leaders will likely adopt a statement calling for members to voluntarily make "measurable and verifiable contributions to meeting shared global goals," according to a draft obtained by Greenpeace and shown to The Associated Press.

While environmental groups have criticized this approach as empty, observers say any consensus reached in Sydney could help chart the course for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, which expires in 2012.

On trade, APEC leaders are expected to issue their ritual call for the successful conclusion of the Doha talks, which have foundered amid bickering between rich and poor nations, largely over farm trade.

They will also discuss a longer-term proposal to create a Pacific-wide free-trade zone, dubbed the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, stretching from Chile to China and enveloping nearly half the world's trade. The idea has gained momentum since it was first floated three years ago as a possible alternative to the Doha talks, but is widely seen as a long-term project that still faces serious questions.

[sgtrds]

Bush should show how confident he is in his bloody murderous war by asking to hold this meeting in Iraq. Just so he gets the chance to fly into Baghdad airport, with plenty of advance notice, on a brightly lit up Air Force One, low and very very slowly, very very very slowly......

Oh and he needs to bring along Cheney and his mistress Condi too.......

[ubrew12]

I''m glad Bush is going to this. A belated recognition by Bush that the rest of the world matters, and seeks American advice and even leadership.

Condi Rice was a good choice for Sec of State. Hope he keeps following her advice, he may forge a proper legacy out of all this yet. Recognition of the dangers inherent in Global Warming is a start. As well as the idea that not all those who espouse the idea of nations working together globally are ''one world'' fanatics.

lars008, I really don''t think global islamism is something to worry about, at least not until the Shia and the Sunni stop shooting at each other (and that hasn''t happened in 1000 years). We have a chance to show them how the civilized world reacts to real crisis (like the warming problem). That''ll make more converts to ''western secularism'' than fighting them will.

[lars008-2009]

it is fascist nazi terrorislam stupid%u2026.

non muslims of the world unite... fight against the tyranny of the fascist nazi terrorslam imperialist empire of the darkside...

I was a fanatic...I know their thinking, says former radical Islamist
By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair''s bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.
More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465570&in_page_id=1770
Bless the Beasts and Children
Fascist nazi terrorslam kills every man woman and child in the village again%u2026 typical mo for terrorslam%u2026
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm

Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan

the truth about fascist nazi terrorislam...
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/

[oakishpines]

'' ... theres heaps of free stuff in the world, people want that free stuff, why''s all the media about the stuff that isn''t free that most folk most time don''t want cause they can''t afford it anyway ... where do people go to find free people with free media seeking and sharing free stuff for free (or an occasional tip in the tip jar?) ... ''


'' ... most traditional get sick tax world authorities most time remind all that most folk most time dance porno get sick tax world get well feed world songs rallied round sick beds drifting tens millions spore bloom wee d dragon trail ficle first aid lunch farm cottache studio trail groups ... ''