June 30, 2007 — A founder of NETeller PLC, a payment processor for gambling Web sites, pleaded guilty to the illegal transfer of billions of dollars from U.S. citizens to overseas gambling companies. Stephen Lawrence, 47, a former director of the Isle of Man-based company, pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy before U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in New York. He agreed to forfeit $100 million and to help prosecutors with their investigation of the transfers. Lawrence and John Lefebvre,...
Analysis: Global problem, global solution
June 30th, 2007
By ROSALIE WESTENSKOW
UPI Correspondent
WASHINGTON, June 13 (UPI) — A U.S. effort to cooperate with global partners presents the only viable way to mitigate climate change and ease national security threats, experts say.
As global temperatures rise, the array of dangers facing the United States will also increase, triggered by foreign forces and natural disasters. A surge in sea levels could cause flooding in America’s coastal areas, where more than half of the population lives, and other side effects may result in international mass migrations and geopolitical turmoil.
In order to lessen climate change and avoid these disasters, the United States must join forces with other countries, said William Danvers, former senior director for legislative affairs at the National Security Council.
“Let’s say the U.S. cuts down on carbon emissions,” he said. “That’s not sufficient to end global warming. You need partnerships with other countries.”
Possible allies include the European Union, China, India and Russia, said Gen. Charles Wald, former deputy commander for the U.S. Headquarters for European Command.
“We all have common economic interests,” Wald said Tuesday at a Center for American Progress conference.
One of the interests that could bind these countries together is a shared desire to decrease dependence on oil imported from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
“It’s almost the anti-OPEC approach,” Wald told United Press International. “The consumer nations make sure we have an equal counterweight to the nations that produce.”
The United States has the largest appetite for oil in the world, using about 25 percent of the oil consumed worldwide every day. Of the 20 million barrels eaten up by American industry each day, 12 million come from abroad. These consumption patterns make the United States vulnerable to political decisions in OPEC countries.
An alliance of countries could help secure oil lines that reside in tumultuous areas of the world, Wald said, decreasing the potential for catastrophes. For instance, if the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf, were shut down by terrorists, a conflict in the region or Iran, which borders the waterway, millions of barrels of oil would be pulled off the market.
The resulting increase in prices would crush the world economy, Wald said.
“It’s a globally shared security issue,” he told UPI.
Because of the international nature of the problem, focusing on total energy independence from other countries is both impractical and dangerous, said John Deutch, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former CIA director.
“Talking about energy independence is not constructive,” he said. “We’re going to remain dependent on energy imports, and, most importantly, our allies are going to remain dependent on imports.”
Interdependence, then, should become the focus of U.S. policy, Deutch said. But before America can join other nations in a mutual effort to mitigate climate change and its effects, the country needs an effective, specific plan on how to control greenhouse gas emissions at home, he said.
“It’s not going to be solved by a simple piece of legislation,” he said. “(The executive branch) needs to put forward a comprehensive program for controlling greenhouse gas emissions covering all fuels.”
Implementing such a plan will remove barriers between the United States and other countries, said Catherine Zoi, chief executive officer of the Alliance for Climate Protection, a non-partisan environmental group.
“It is impossible to get anywhere with the Indians, the Chinese or the Brazilians without the United States taking meaningful, real actions to reduce climate change,” Zoi said.
Forging relationships with other countries may also help the United States and its partners kick the oil habit.
An international partnership could encourage the development of renewable and alternative technologies, said William Antholis, director of strategic planning at the Brookings Institution.
“Without question the most important thing they can do is set up a common emissions target and commit themselves to meeting that target in their own countries,” he said. “That in itself will make it much more economically feasible and attractive for the private sector to invest in energy-saving technologies.”
An effective means of gathering countries to create such policies could come in the formation of an E8: a body of leaders from the highest-emitting countries that would meet once a year to discuss solely environment-related issues, Antholis said in a report he co-authored, “Climate Change: Creating an E8.”
The Group of Eight nations often gets sidetracked by other issues and the right countries aren’t at the table, Antholis said, making it difficult for that body to adopt effective climate-change policy.
“The leaders wouldn’t be diverted from the topic of the environment if that was the only topic on their agenda,” he said.
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(e-mail: energy@upi.com)
« BUSINESS BRIEFS
June 11, 2007 — Gas down The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. fell a little more than 7 cents in the past three weeks, marking the first drop since mid-Jan uary, an industry analyst said yesterday. The na tional average for self- serve, regular unleaded gas was $3.1090 a gallon last week, which was 7.37 cents per gallon cheaper than in the past three weeks, according to the nationwide survey of about 7,000 gas stations. The average price for a gallon of gasoline bot tomed out...