Bush Left in the Cold by Climate Allies

by Geoffrey Lean

George Bush's two closest allies in his attempt to sabotage international action to combat global warning last week dramatically distanced themselves from him. Saudi Arabia announced that it had approved the Kyoto Protocol, the treaty on climate change which President Bush has been trying to kill. And Australia, while still rejecting it, parted company from the United States by saying that it was prepared to negotiate its successor. The moves follow a tense international negotiating session in Buenos Aires where, as The Independent on Sunday reported last week, the US brought the talks to the brink of collapse by obstructing even anodyne proposals. This breached an assurance given by President Bush in 2001, when he pulled out of the protocol, that America would not try to stop other countries reaching agreement. The rest of this article can be found here: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1226-01.htm