A diplomatic storm

This week, in yet another demonstration of diplomatic acumen, Germany's government wasted no time in blaming Hurricane Katrina on U.S. refusal to ratify the Kyoto Treaty. \nIn Frankfurter Rundschau, a newspaper allied with the reigning Social Democratic Party-Green Party coalition, Environmental Minister Jürgen Tritten wrote: "The Bush government rejects international climate protection goals by insisting that imposing them would negatively impact the American economy. The American president is closing his eyes to the economic and human costs his land and the world economy are suffering under natural catastrophes like Katrina and because of neglected environmental policies" (Der Spiegel, Aug. 30).\nBut global warming didn't cause Katrina.\nDon't take my word for it. Instead, see what that notorious Bush-administration-mouthpiece, The New York Times, wrote Aug. 30:\n"Because hurricanes form over warm ocean water, it is easy to assume that the recent rise in their number and ferocity is because of global warming. But that is not the case, scientists say. Instead, the severity of hurricane seasons changes with cycles of temperatures of several decades in the Atlantic Ocean. The recent onslaught 'is very much natural,' said William M. Gray, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University who issues forecasts for the hurricane season." \nNow this is not to suggest global warming isn't a real problem. Evidence shows Earth is getting warmer, and we humans will somehow have to deal with it. Nor is this to say Bush and his administration have governed responsibly on environmental issues. Speaking as a Republican, I have no idea why they take industry flacks at their word. or why they seem irrationally compelled to destroy natural areas. Are ATV owners such a critical voting bloc that they had to be allowed to tear up the national parks?\nHowever, this underscores the growing gap between Kyoto \nsupporters and reality. Despite good intentions, the treaty's negotiation produced a twisted disaster. While developed economies face damaging caps on carbon-dioxide emissions, their rapidly developing competitors -- such as China and India -- do not, despite vast populations and reliance on more highly polluting technology. Pollution credits -- licenses to exceed the cap purchased by developed countries from developing countries -- would be administered by an international bureaucracy which, as U.N. observers know well, could never be subject to corruption or abuse (wink, wink). And the payoff? A whopping 5.2 percent reduction of greenhouse gases below 1990 levels by 2008, according to Wikipedia.\nBut unfortunately Kyoto is no longer a treaty. It has become a totem, to be held high when forced to justify anti-American scapegoating. As people the world over suffer double-digit unemployment, stagnant economic growth, even underdevelopment, brought about by their own governments' inability to avoid meddling in markets, they can at least revel in their hatred for the United States. And when forced to answer why, they just say: "Uh, you know -- 'cause of Iraq, the International Criminal Court. And, oh yeah, the Kyoto Treaty ..."