I love this story in the New York Times about a UN conference on the clear and present danger of global warming. Bush, of course, refused to sign off on the Kyoto Protocol or even take the opportunity when more than a hundred nations were poised to act and come up with a plan that the U.S. could agree on. Now, when we're merely OBSERVING a discussion on that accord and what's next, Bush spitefully blocks efforts for other nations to begin more substantive discussions. In other words, we don't want to take part and we don't want any of YOU to take part either.
"This is a new low for the United States, not just to pull out, but to block other countries from moving ahead on their own path," said Jeff Fiedler, an observer representing the Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council, to the NYTimes. "It's almost spiteful to say, 'You can't move ahead without us.' If you're not going to lead, then get out of the way."
Needless to say, the rest of the world is annoyed.
But you haven't heard the best part yet. The one action that Bush DID support was Saudi Arabia's demand that it be paid a lot of money for any switch by nations from environment-destroying oil to other forms of energy!
"Delegations and observer groups also criticized what they described as an effort led by Saudi Arabia and supported by the United States to hamper approval of so-called adaptation assistance. That term refers to payments that richer countries would make, mostly to poor, low-lying island countries to help them cope with the impacts of climate change," reports the NYTimes.
"But the issue was complicated by Saudi Arabia's insistence that the aid include compensation to oil-producing countries for any fall in revenues that may result from the reduction in the use of carbon fuels. The European Union, which had announced its intention to provide $400 million a year to an assistance fund, strongly opposed any such provision."
Can you imagine? Saudi Arabia keeps more than half its population enslaved, with a small minority living in inimaginable luxury and does nothing to improve the lot of its nation with money literally pouring in for generations. And they want to be compensated if the world turns its back on oil for safer, cleaner, renewable energy sources? Astonishing.
