It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

KYOTO AND UNILATERALISM. Long before Iraq, the mantra that Bush acts unilaterally began with the American withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol. Never mind that Bush was simply acknowleding what the U.S. Senate had already voted 95-0 to do: not sign on to any climate treaty that didn't include China and India. Bush's decision to abandon Kyoto was taken as a sign of how out of step Bush was with the rest of the well-meaning world. Perhaps so. But Tyler Cohen notices this interesting development.

The European Union's environmental commissioner says 13 of the 15 EU members will not meet this year's emissions targets stipulated by the protocol. Only Britain and Sweden will comply; France, which lectures America about multilateral responsibilities, will not. Europe is failing to limit emissions even though its economy is stagnant, which makes compliance easier.

Better to talk about doing good things, and thus be multilateral, than to actually do good things I suppose.