

A pragmatic look at the Copenhagen summit - anigbrowl
http://government.zdnet.com/?p=6550

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reedlaw
_Perhaps the biggest news coming out of Copenhagen: Presidents and Prime
Ministers recognize that greenhouse gases are a problem they have to deal
with._

Shouldn't that read "...an opportunity for more taxation and control"?

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billswift
"Is Global warming an economic or a enviromental issue?"

Neither, it's a political issue.

And from a commenter on ESR's latest:

# Some Guy Says: December 20th, 2009 at 6:57 am

I think that the main thing history will take note of from the copenhagen
conference, is that _China_ saved the world from a global, communist
government.

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CapitalistCartr
"Perhaps the biggest news coming out of Copenhagen: Presidents and Prime
Ministers recognize that greenhouse gases are a problem they have to deal
with. The naysayers of global warming are finished."

I suspect its more likely that this is the last hurrah of the Global Warming
believers' power struggle.

~~~
hga
One would hope so, but many observe that AGW/CC is Too Big To Fail. 5 billion
plus US$ annually is a lot of "research" money to give up and the potential
for power and money is just too tempting for a number of governments and
businesses. E.g. any bets on the U.K. or NZ repealing the laws they've passed
on this?

~~~
DanielBMarkham
This is a political comment, not a scientific one. And I know it sounds
cynical.

Once you started framing the political discussion around the idea of giving
money to dozens of corrupt third-world regimes the jig was up: the U.N. will
push and push until _something_ happens, if for no other reason than it lines
the pockets of hundreds of little petty bureaucrats and warlords all over the
globe. We're already seeing some countries pay for and organize "protesters"
at the summit. The west is like a big piggy-bank, and this is a lot of folks'
chance to cash in. If it takes twenty years they're not going to give up on
this. The idea of free money is extremely difficult to give up.

I don't think where the science goes has anything at all to do with the
political discussion at this point.

