The US-China joint sellout on Copenhagen

The popular German magazine Spiegel wonders if the two nations didn’t deliberately cook up their APEC announcement that the Copenhagen climate summit would have no legally binding agreement, including accepting that each country would blame the other, for domestic consumption.

“China and the US have more room for maneuver than they are currently admitting,” Stefan Krug of Greenpeace Germany says. “Obama could actually already agree to legally binding objectives for CO2 emissions without waiting for Congress. He could also make financial promises to developing nations and make those commitments dependent on greenhouse gas reductions.”

If Krug is right, then we’re in for a long, hard battle on this issue.

And, non-conspiratorially, he does make sense. It would be easy for Beijing and Washington to think ongoing, scripted finger-pointing would be an easy "answer."