"The Democratic president signs a treaty with the leader of America’s greatest geopolitical rival. The two countries had once been allies, but they have stopped trusting each other.
Still, the U.S. president thinks that he can strike a deal on one particular issue—an issue that many of his supporters deem to be a matter of life and death.
... this presidential deal-making is controversial, because critics say that the other country simply can’t be trusted.
Yet the American president persists in his deal-quest, saying that not only is this agreement a good idea, but that further agreements should be made as well.
He says that his diplomatic dealing “allows us to continue on course toward a safer world with even more substantial limitations” in the future.
Not surprisingly, the foreign leader is delighted by this windfall deal; as he says, “In signing this treaty, we are helping to defend the most sacred right of every man—the right to live.”
At the summit, there is nothing but tidings of good cheer.
And so concerns about the bad terms of the deal—to say nothing of outright cheating—are brushed aside.
Does this sound a bit like the climate agreement that President Joe Biden has struck with Chinese leader Xi Jinping?
... while the preceding paragraphs might seem to be a description of the effort by the 46th president,
they are in fact taken from the actual record of the 39th president, Jimmy Carter.
Back in June 1979, Carter traveled to Vienna, Austria, there to to meet with Leonid Brezhnev, president of the Soviet Union.
The purpose of the summit conference was to sign a Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, known as SALT II.
For his part, Brezhnev was so happy with the deal that he actually kissed Carter.
... in December 1979, the Soviet Red Army invaded Afghanistan, thus underscoring Russian malevolence and duplicity.
At that point, even Carter had to give up on getting his precious treaty ratified. In January 1980, he withdrew the deal from senate consideration.
... Now, Climate Change
... At the April 22 virtual summit on climate change, President Biden said of the issue, “This is a moral imperative, an economic imperative.
A moment of peril, but also a moment of extraordinary possibilities.”
... “I’m confident that we are going to get this done together.”
Biden then pledged to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by between 50 and 52 percent by 2030—as in, a mere nine years from now—compared with 2005 levels.
As the Washington Post described it, Biden’s pledge is “significantly more aggressive than the target set by President Barack Obama six years ago.”
So while the U.S. is pledging to do all that—with all the dislocations and impoverishments sure to come—what are the Chinese pledging to do?
Before we come to their pledge, let’s consider some baseline data: Today, China accounts for 28 percent of all planetary CO2 emissions,
while the U.S. accounts for just 15 percent.
So one might think that in a fair negotiation, the Chinese would have agreed to substantial reductions.
And yet in point of fact, the Chinese have been busy increasing their CO2 output by burning ever more coal.
As Global Energy Monitor reported in February:
China now has 247 GW [gigawatt, or one billion watts] of coal power under development (88.1 GW under construction
and 158.7 GW proposed for construction) – a 21% increase over end-2019 (205 GW), and nearly six times Germanyʼs entire coal-fired capacity (42.5 GW).
... China’s Xi Jinping, the first national leader to speak at Thursday’s summit, reiterated the nation’s pledge to “strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.”
On coal consumption, Xi said China might “phase it down” during its 15th Five Year Plan, which runs from 2025 through 2030.
... Xi said that China will “strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030.”
... “peak” suggests that emissions will continue to rise between now and then.
... the phrase “strive to,” doesn’t exactly connote a rock-solid commitment.
Nor does the verb “might,” as in, the Chinese might “phase down” coal later in this decade.
Moreover, if we think back on the Beijing regime’s mendacity on other issues ... it should come as no surprise that this agreement, too, is likely to have no effect on Chinese behavior.
... If the U.S were to abide by Biden’s CO2 restrictions, our economy would be damaged, and perhaps crippled, while the Chinese are still building coal plants.
Yet in the meantime, Biden is basking in praise from the Main Stream Media; typical is this trilling headline from CNN:
“Biden’s remarkable success on climate.” With plaudits such as that, why would Biden pour rain on his own parade by allowing that the Chinese haven’t committed to doing much of anything–except to keep going in the wrong direction?
(We can also add that Russia accounts for some five percent of global CO2 emissions, and its leader, Vladimir Putin, promised little.)
... And so in 2021, in our dealings with China, we find ourselves in a situation akin to that of 1979.
Back then, Big Diplomacy, enraptured by champagne chats with the Russians in palatial settings, actively lobbied on behalf of a bad deal for Uncle Sam.
Yet this time around, SALT II supporter Joe Biden isn’t in the U.S. Senate;
rather, he’s in the White House, pushing yet another giveaway agreement, this time on climate.
... the April 22 commitments in and of themselves have little legal force.
So we shouldn’t underestimate the ability of Biden departments and agencies to write regulations—and even outright prohibitions—by executive fiat.
In fact, Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) is already accusing the Bidenites of climate “dictatorship.”
Yet unlike SALT II, the agreement Biden has just reached is not a treaty, and so he won’t be sending a document to the U.S. Senate for its advice and consent.
... Congress, which is not formally involved in any of the April 22 happenings, could vote to undo any and all of it.
... What we have here is a Biden deal, not a Congressional deal—and thus it’s not officially an American deal. "
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Monday, April 26, 2021
"Carter 2.0 — Joe Biden Gets Played by a Communist Dictator Just Like Jimmy Carter"
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