The Bali accord is the latest episode in the long running saga of the United States government’s shaky grasp on reality and consequent conflict with the main stream of global opinion. Apologists for America-appeasement should take note: it took the experience of isolation, facing the rest of the world community alone in its intransigence, for the behemoth to back down and join consensus.
Perhaps that consensus would have formed a more effective agreement, retaining targets in the main document, if it had not been able to take some comfort in the support of countries such as Australia and Canada. Climate change is a moral imperative that must overrule a desire to curry favour by appeasement. It should cut across partisan boundaries: if it floods, we all drown; if our agribusiness fails, it hurts the economy and we all suffer.
While I’m profoundly relieved that deputy sheriff Howard was not representing the country I’m currently living in, let’s not congratulate the Rudd team too heartily for the mixed messages they sent out at Bali. Pragmatism is a necessary virtue, but triangulation in an arena when all our futures are at stake will not be remembered with pride.
Recent Comments