India and China are obstructing an agreement on global warming because they refuse to agree to be bound by a treaty that requires their countries to emit less one-quarter as much greenhouse gas per person as people in the United States. That is President Bush's contention. NPR was polite enough not to point out that President Bush thinks that people in India and China (and other developing countries) should be required to never come close to emission levels in the U.S.. Governments in these countries will not agree to such restrictions without substantial compensation from the wealthier countries who emit much more. It is impossible to have a serious discussion of global warming without noting this disparity in per capita emissions. (Btw, no one has yet explained why President Bush thinks that people in developing countries should forever be held to lower per capita emission levels than people in the U.S. Is it race-based or is it due to the fact that he thinks that people in the U.S. have earned the right to pollute more based on the fact that they have polluted more? Serious reporters would ask such questions.)
--Dean Baker