Business As Usual

I find it highly embarrassing that this country refuses to take part in any international efforts towards reducing green house emissions. We never signed on to the Kyoto Accord. The then Republican controlled Congress argued that to do so would affect our economy too much, by which it meant big business would have to spend money to clean up its act. That excuse has been hauled out again, this time with respect to a German proposal that is intended to carry on after the Kyoto Accord expires in 2012. From today's NY Times:

The United States has rejected Germany’s proposal for deep long-term cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, setting the stage for a battle that will pit President Bush against his European allies at next month’s meeting of the world’s richest countries.

In unusually harsh language, Bush administration negotiators took issue with the German draft of the communiqué for the meeting of the Group of 8 industrialized nations, complaining that the proposal “crosses multiple red lines in terms of what we simply cannot agree to.” ...

The United States has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol because of concerns about damage to the American economy. Bush administration officials have also balked because China and India are not part of it.

The push back by the Bush administration over the German proposal has left many European diplomats furious. “The United States, on this issue, is virtually isolated,” one European diplomat said on condition of anonymity under diplomatic rules, and then added, “with the exception of other big polluters.”

The US provides between 20 and 25% of all greenhouse gases. The other major polluters at this point are India and China, the new Asian powerhouses. The argument from the White House appears to boil down to "if they aren't going to play by the rules, then neither are we."

Apparently it hasn't occurred to the Bush administration that signing on to the German proposal just might put give the US the kind of leverage that would compel the other major polluters to fall into line. Is this an admission by Mr. Bush that he is incapable of providing the leadership necessary to prevent a global catastrophe?

Apparently it also hasn't occurred to the Bush administration that the US has long been a leader in technological innovation, and has the brain power to provide ways to cap the emissions we are spewing. Is this an admission by Mr. Bush that he has no confidence in the nation's capacity to find answers short of military thuggery?

Apparently.