The conventional wisdom that it's the United States against the rest of the world in climate change diplomacy has been turned on its head. Instead it turns out that it is the Europeans who are isolated. China, India, and most of the rest of the developing countries have joined forces with the United States to completely reject the idea of future binding GHG emission limits. At the conference here in Buenos Aires, Italy shocked its fellow European Union members when it called for an end to the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. These countries recognize that stringent emission limits would be huge barriers to their economic growth and future development.Who's out of the mainstream? That's right...Europe.
Insta-Update
In other news, Jonah Goldberg reports that FDR is dead too.Mark's Remarks
And for those of you wondering, Arafat is STILL DEAD.Ding Dong! Kyoto's dead! Stupid thing, wicked thing! Ding dong kyoto is dead! UN's dumb, yes it's dumb! Ding Dong the stupid thing is dead! Hi ho the merry o, sing it high sing it low, let Europe know their stupid thing is dead! ( to the tune of the Wizard of Oz Classic)
Seriously, this was a bad idea. There are other ways of doing the environmentally correct thing. Of course, we know why the developing world is joining us. As they advance, (esp. China) will outproduce the US in terms of emissions with all their populations getting electricity and cars, etc. And, as we have pointed out in the past, without Kyoto the US has managed to quite nicely reduce the negativity of the air quality and negative aspects of the environment overall. I am so glad we have a friend in Italy....Let's hear it for the land of Pasta Fajul, rigotoni, and marinara! I love these staunch allies!
