Rudd Privately Admits: Climate Deal A Dud

By Andrew Bolt

TonyfromOz prefaces …..

This made big news here in Australia. Our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, is touting on the big stage how something needs to be done, and done soon about this Climate Change thing, but as this (supposedly) unheard conversation was picked up , it shows that he has doubts. Those doubts are about the two largest of those emerging Countries, China and India not agreeing to the draconian cutbacks. The ‘party line’ will be ’suggested’ (but not overtly) that they are unwilling because they are environmental vandals, but what will not be even mentioned by any of those wanting an agreement for their own political purposes is that nearly 1 Billion people in each of those two Countries have no access at all to electrical power, let alone a regular and constant supply, and that all China and India are doing is trying to bring to their people that access to electrical power that we take for granted. The great pity with that is that it will not even get a mention, because it does not fit in with what these great grandstanding leaders want so they can look like saviours in their home Countries, looking out only for the environment.

An open mic, and a caught-out Kevin Rudd, have exposed the fantasy that the world is on the brink of a deal to slash the emissions we’re told are heating the world to hell.

Until yesterday, media reports tended – typically – to oversell the G8 claims of a breakthrough this week in agreeing to limit temperature rises to 2 degrees. Downplayed this time by many was that the G8 leaders made no firm promises, agreed to no sacrifices, excluded giant emittors China and India, and came up with a wording that Russia promptly seem to disown.

So you tended to see shiny-eyed reports like this:

President Obama and other leaders backed historic new targets for tackling global warming last night in an agreement designed to pave the way for a world deal in the autumn.

And this:

THE world’s biggest economies have called on developed countries to slash greenhouse gas emissions, putting pressure on Australia to beef up its target… Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, who is in Italy for the Group of Eight climate talks, welcomed the G8 statement that the world should restrain global warming to two degrees.

But if many in the media could not see just what a complete failure the G8 deal was, Kevin Rudd sure could – well, at least privately:

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has been overheard pouring cold water on world leaders’ chances of hammering out critical climate change limits in Copenhagen – just hours after US President Barack Obama called for global optimism.

In an embarrassing gaffe, Mr Rudd’s comments were picked up by Australian TV microphones that had been allowed in briefly to film bilateral talks with Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who is to host the Copenhagen summit in December. This is the vital meeting at which world leaders aimed to hammer out a united agreement with developing nations for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

“Right now I don’t think we are on track to get an agreement at Copenhagen,” Mr Rudd told Mr Rasmussen. “There are too many problems.”

So if there is no real agreement in Copenhagen, why Rudd’s rush to pass laws before then to set up our own colossal emissions trading scheme, to slash gases that are insignicant?

Andrew Bolt is a journalist and columnist writing for The Herald Sun in Melbourne Victoria Australia.

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