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Bush’s ‘Shameful Stance’ in Bali
Is the United States missing a chance to redeem its global reputation by obstructing a climate deal at a U.N. conference in Bali? Along with Al Gore, the editorial board of Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Gazette certainly thinks so.
“Of course, Bush was bought and paid for by the time he was elected President in 2000 … when it comes to the Bush Administration, the word ‘moral’ is one that doesn’t exist in its vocabulary.”
EDITORIAL
December 14, 2007
Saudi Arabia – The Saudi Gazzette – Home Page (English)
The United States has the world’s largest economy, the world’s mightiest military and the world’s largest media machine. It is also the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. And now, it’s the world’s greatest impediment to reaching agreements on stemming the increasingly frightening decline of the world’s environment.
Reports coming out of the U.N. climate conference in Bali are disturbing, to say the least WATCH . Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, fresh from his visit to Sweden to accept the Nobel Prize for his work on the environment, stated categorically in a speech delivered to delegates that, “My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali WATCH .”
And the European Union is threatening to pull out of U.S.- sponsored climate change talks unless the Bush Administration agrees to specific emissions targets, something it currently refuses to do. Such targets, the Bush minions say, would necessarily limit the scope of future talks and, incidentally, wreak havoc on the U.S. economy.
Of course, Bush was bought and paid for by the time he was elected President in 2000, and the secret meeting his Vice President, Dick Cheney, held with U.S. energy moguls at the start of the Bush presidency was further proof that profits – not the health of the planet – are the main focus of this administration.
The Bush Administration has been clueless on virtually every issue the country and the wider world have faced over the past seven years. From Iraq to stem cell research to health care to the environment, George Bush has shown the sensitivity and insight that only a person who has lived his life in affluent isolation could. In other words, he has the capacity for neither.
The problem here is that personal wealth will do little to save anyone from what could be a true environmental disaster lurking just around the corner.
12 Responses to “Bush’s ‘Shameful Stance’ in Bali”
We live in a time where it can be truly embarrassing to be a US citizen – our global warming stance is one such example. Instead of dragging our heels and whining about excuses, we of all countries should be taking the lead. I look forward to the day when my government no longer turns it’s back on science and stops shirking it’s responsibilities.
I don’t know about you but I’m always irritated when the foreign press trashes my country. Even if I agree with what they say I still don’t like it. (Anyone who has read anything I’ve posted on here surely knows how much I hate the Bush administration and think they’re in government for power and money). I take the attitude of, “Hey, it’s my country- I may not agree with everything but leave us alone and we’ll get rid of Bush in another year.”
It’s also, in a way I think, the same basis as my argument for not being in Iraq. Iraq does not pose a threat to the US and Bush is only meddling in their country. Bush puts his own interests (and not just money) first and does not allow the Iraqis to come to any solutions on their own. Bush would like us to believe that failure in Iraq means that US is threatened. I respond by asking, “The US is threatened by what? The mighty Iraqi army? A few terrorists in Iraq who are actually from other countries? The Iraqi oil supply that is producing rivers of oil flowing freely to tankers and our shores which is keeping our gas costs so low we can drive SUVs around the block to visit the neighbors?” It’s that meddling by others that drives me up the wall. Certainly if Iraq did pose a real threat to the US I’d love to volunteer for the army and kick their ass… but they don’t pose a threat and (as the posting said) Bush has lived in affluent isolation and has neither sensitivity nor insight.
Sorry, I have a bee in my bonnet…. it’s out now.
Anyway, I agree with everything the article says and it’s great that I get this affirmation from the foreign media! LMAO! Just don’t meddle. And I may agree with it but I still don’t want foreigners to trash my country.
Global Warming: The Myth
You know the United States is really getting it wrong when we’re getting called out on our neglect by frickin’ Saudi Arabia, one of the worst countries next to the USA when it comes to dealing with global warming.
Bush may be a donkey, but he’s our donkey.
Nice h/t to yourself Snooper, but may say the ice cap will completely melt in 25 years or less.
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jnqVxZzeP1OCEUK-8J_czsKABWtA
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071213/NEWS07/712130415/1009
I hold my own country to a higher standard than I do other countries, so when I see the leadership role being taken by others – while we wallow and make excuses, then I am inspired to criticize. If criticism from other countries can shame us into doing the right thing, then so be it – so long as that criticism is accurate. If I didn’t love my country and have high expectations for it, then I suppose I might react defensively every time I heard it criticized by others, or maybe I’d just be apathetic. Of course neither of those does anything to acknowledge the problem. If we take a lead in engaging GW with courage, resolve and strength, then the ones who are using us as an excuse to balk will be more likely to fall in line.
We shouldn’t permit the USA to be dragged down into political nonsense, and US-bashers are full of it, again, as usual.
DLS, I’m afraid you’re on the wrong side of the debate again. Because of pressure from people in Bali with the same sentiments I’ve been expressing here, the US just agreed to a compromise that will put us on the path toward international cooperation to control GW. There is a long way to go, but it’s a beginning. Who knows, given enough time and exposure to good information, maybe even you’ll come around.
The foreign press is not that full of it on this issue. Bush, as is his norm on most issues, is trying to look like he’s doing something when he isn’t. I’m not going to defend Bush on his wrong-headedness no matter who is pointing it out.
Jim Satterfield- I agree with you 100%. On issues that Bush could care less about (and that’s a whole lot of issues) but knows he needs to respond to for political reasons he does a whole lot of talkin’ but not much else.
Quantity and quality must be there, politics-free. This issue is enormously blighted by leftist politics, making microscopic the rightist politics the Bush people have engaged in. It is stupid, repeat, stupid to feel there is a “need” to take “rapid, vigorous” action here.
Air pollution is serious. Global-warming politics and lunatic demands on policy are not.