“They shouldn’t have to be bribed to do what is right. ” – I’d hardly call it bribing, the Third World can’t afford to stop cutting down its forests, it’s how it keeps their economy going. The Third World, Keith, aren’t ever really “free” to cut their emissions, and if they are going to do so, they need help. They need help from the nations primarily responsible for human-induced climate change, responsible for the huge burden on developing nations. And as for China and India being free to pollute, there’s a good reason for it – how about you look at PER CAPITA emissions in their countries, compared to the US. Another thing is that China and India are both developing nations, and are in a period of transition to development, meaning that if assisted, they’ll soon enough become an Annex I country and then believe it or not will have limits put upon them. The US isn’t cooperating with a global effort because it won’t face up to the fact that there are basic ethical responsibilities that it’s ignoring, that it will be responsible for the deaths of millions of people by hindering this effort. So if you think that this was an “Anti-American bash fest”, you’re probably right, the rest of the world is, quite frankly, sick of it.

“Then occurred one of the most remarkable sounds that has perhaps ever been heard in the annals of international diplomacy–like a collective global groan–descending then to a murmur, then increasing in volume to a full-throated expression of rage and anger and booing and jeering, lasting for a full minute, so that finally the Minister had to call the meeting back to order.”

The full, riveting account is here: http://solveclimate.com/ blog/ 20071215/ eyewitness-bali-jeering-assembled-nations-humbles-bush-delegation-join-fold

One can only try to imagine how this overwhelming international backlash will be spun by the neocon machine. Can Fox news make a palatable “red fact” out of this, or not? We’ll see…

I take your point about the writer’s strike: the sharp sarcasm of The Daily Show is sorely missed. We all just have to think: “what would John Stewart say about this if he were back on?”