[tripleblack]

China is now turning its back on the Kyoto/Global Warming agreement, and taking sides with the United States in the upcoming IPCC round of Global Warming debates at the UN.

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/t...04301736233772

This was VERY predictable, of course, given that China can no longer claim membership among the "underdeveloped" nations of the planet. Now that it will be THEIR water buffalo getting gored (pun intended), its a whole new situation.

Chinese and American studies now seem to refute the popular theories floating around the UN of the ease with which the wealthier nations can scale back their economies (essentially entering a perpetual no-growth cycle) and transfer that growth to the "more deserving" third world.

It looks like the con game is about to unravel, and the nasty anti-capitalistic reality will be showing its fangs from beneath the veil. Look for the US to suddenly discover some new friends (China, Russia, Brazil, India and Eastern Europe) while losing some old ones (Western Europe, and various Island nations that are getting nervous as water levels rise).

Its amazing how this happens. We invade Iraq and see the unintended consequence of creating a tar baby to attract and (however briefly) hold the attentions of a huge portion of the planet's terrorist population - and we enable China to become an economic superpower, then discover them as key allies in the Global Warming affaire as a result!

Silver linings in dark clouds indeed.

[pcfrisch]

I would be interested to see if the Democrats and Republicans make this a purely political agenda, if so, what we need is "gridlock"
in a big way.

[Monkey Boy]

Its nice how things always seem to work out.

[BlueStreak03]

Amazing, a country that's in a rapid growth cycle, largely because of it's dependance on oil resources is refusing to stick with a plan that would seriously hamper it's growth. Just another case of someone not wanting to shoot themselves in the toe at the moment, only to shoot themselves in the head in a few years.

[dawrr]

Remember the Al Gore doll from the Simpsons?

...think about it for a second

[tripleblack]

...and China is at the top of the list.

Its another of those interesting ironies in dealing with China.

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/t...04301366423815

Unless they need you (or even WHEN they need you) they will steal you blind if you let them.

Now, lets not get excited about this - Bush hasn't actually DONE anything about it, he's just letting the rest of the planet in on the secret that HE knows about it.

Anyone mulling over his potential motive for abruptly discovering these arcane facts (along with gravity - I hear he's also now admitting to having heard about that natural law as well) should realize that he has a certain, well, reputation as not being overly bright. By publicly announcing that he's aware that the Chinese are stealing us blind, he elevates his apparent perceived IQ from somewhere in the Forrest Gump range to just south of the century mark.

If he ever expects to improve on this low performance, he might actually give some thought to DOING something about the highway robbery.

By complaining to the once-American-dominated WTO, he's both admitting to having lost control of THAT key organization AND his new friends in Beijing.

Not smart - ey?

[tripleblack]

China's recent loosening of its hold on the Yuan (their dollar), even to the tiny extent that has occurred, is a clear signal that the warning shot (paper import barriers) from the Bush Administration was understood.

Unfortunately, it is apparent they will do ONLY the least possible bit to placate us - so its time for Bush to personally stop being such a panzie and make the point that .0004% movement toward a sane middle ground is NOT progress - just insulting tokenism.

Don't hold your breath, though. It took him 6 years to get this far.