W.P. The Insiders: Another UN global climate warming report, AR5, may fuel Democrats’ defeat

Click here for this in full @: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2013/08/05/the-insiders-another-un-global-climate-warming-report-ar5-may-fuel-democrats-defeat/

The Manhattan skyline — now. (Seth Wenig/Associated Press)

If you think your summer reading is deficient, maybe you could get your hands on an advance copy of the 2013 Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Its 2007 assessment report, AR4, weighed in at 20 pounds and was more than 3,000 pages long. I wonder if anyone in America, much less in the Obama administration, even read that report. And, apparently, this year’s report, which will be released in September, will be even longer and heavier.

The causes and consequences of global warming remain uncertain, but that’s not even the point. If all the dire predictions and the left’s wildest fantasies come true, it just might be President Obama’s failure as a diplomat that we’ll all reflect on as we’re standing in knee-deep water on the third floor of a high-rise in midtown Manhattan.

BBC NEWS: UN 'should take blame for Haiti cholera' - US House members

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More than 100 Democrats from the US House of Representatives have called on the UN to take responsibility for introducing cholera to Haiti. 

It is the latest twist in the allegation that UN peacekeepers unwittingly introduced the disease.
The United Nations' envoy to Haiti, Bill Clinton, has accepted UN soldiers may have brought cholera.
But with more than 7,000 deaths so far, the UN said tackling the disease is more important than attributing blame.

Outbreak source
 
In a letter to the US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, the 104 members of Congress stated clearly: "Cholera was brought to Haiti due to the actions of the UN."

They call on Ms Rice to pressure the UN to "confront and ultimately eliminate" the disease.
The letter says the UN should help Haiti mobilise enough money to build water and sewage systems to tackle the disease.

While members of Congress often weigh in on foreign policy issues like Iran or Israel, it is unusual for so many members to sign a letter about a small Caribbean state like Haiti.

I gathered strong circumstantial evidence that UN peacekeepers brought cholera to Haiti during a visit late last year:

• The epidemic started near a Nepalese UN base
• The UN base dumped raw sewage, which spreads the disease, near the country's main Artibonite River
• Cholera spread down the Artibonite River and into the slums of the capital Port au Prince
• Cholera was endemic in Nepal but had not been present in Haiti for a century

Mr Clinton has acknowledged that UN soldiers were the "proximate cause" of the cholera.

But UN officials shy away from taking full blame or issuing an apology.

They say tackling the disease is more important than apportioning blame.

They may also be reticent because Haitian and US lawyers are trying to sue the UN for financial compensation for the victims of cholera.

Stearns wants cut funds for U.N. remodel

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By Bill Thompson
Staff writer

The public will know shortly how much of the House Republicans' $61 billion in proposed spending cuts will survive, or if the largely partisan battle over the budget will force a shutdown of the federal government.

In the mix of the coming debate in the Senate is U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns' effort to force the $1.9 billion renovation of the United Nations' headquarters building in New York City to go forward without any further help from American taxpayers.

The Ocala Republican's amendment to short-circuit U.S. funding of the overhaul of the 39-story building was adopted by the House Friday night in a largely party-line vote of 231-191.

Sixteen Democrats joined 215 Republicans in supporting the funding ban, while 21 GOP members went with 170 Democrats in opposition to the amendment, which Stearns also had introduced as a stand-alone bill at the beginning of the year.

"The cost for renovating the headquarters of the U.N. has doubled from the original estimate and my amendment prohibits taxpayer funds from being used for the design, renovation or construction of the headquarters," Stearns said in a statement.

"The architect originally selected to complete the renovations was later terminated, and given $44 million. The leadership at the U.N. must learn fiscal discipline, especially when using money from American taxpayers."

Several factors figured into the renovation of the 49-year-old, 2.6-million-square-foot U.N. complex: concerns about asbestos; roof leaks; a lack of sprinklers in case of fire; outdated electrical and mechanical systems, including its heating and cooling systems, thus allowing for the introduction of energy-efficient technology.

Much of the renovation is expected to be completed next year.

The cost of the project was to be rationed among U.N. members according to the percentage of their individual dues to the organization.

For the U.S., that comes to about 22 percent of the U.N.'s operating costs.

The Obama administration's proposed budget for fiscal year 2011, which was the subject of last week's political brawl in the House, allotted $75.5 million toward the renovation, the same as was spent in fiscal year 2010, according to the United Nations Association of the United States of America, an American group that promotes the work of the U.N.

In a July 2005 Senate committee hearing Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., noted at that time that the U.N. was seeking a $1.2 billion loan from U.S. taxpayers — a request that meant a direct cost to the American public of $600 million or more over the life of the loan.

One critic at that hearing was renowned developer Donald Trump, who estimated the project would one day cost $3 billion.

"You have yourself a mess on your hands, and it is only going to get worse," Trump told the Senate panel, noting he could do it for a fraction of that amount — something Stearns alluded to in his statement.

"I am not opposing creating a safe environment for U.N. workers and visitors," Stearns said, "but I do want the U.N. to focus on fiscal reform and better procurement practices."

"Donald Trump testified that the true cost would far exceed the estimate and that he could complete the renovations for $700 million, nearly half the [original] cost."

Another Stearns' proposal will also get heard when the Senate takes up the spending plan.

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., introduced on behalf of Stearns and other GOP members a budget-bill amendment that blocks funding to implement the Federal Communications Commission's net-neutrality rules.

Contact Bill Thompson at 867-4117 or bill.thompson@starbanner.com.