Canada seems set to join the US in reneging on the Kyoto protocol on climate change - unless it is granted key concessions that the European Union adamantly opposes.

I do like the way they put that, don't you? I mean, how can you possibly "renege" on a treaty you haven't even ratified yet? In every country, signing a treaty is meaningless until it's ratified internally by whatever process.

I'm somewhat surprised that Canada actually signed, given that their emissions were actually increasing at the time. I wonder how effective it will be if yet another major emissions producer joins the US, Canada and Australia in refusing to ratify the treaty. Is there some mechanism for running around bullying nonsignatory emissions producers? I mean, the thing is missing almost an entire continent, here. And there can't be any industrialized nation where the producer industries aren't absolutely frantic about this thing and lobbying hard against it.

In any event, I expect the Europeans are saying truly nasty things about the ugly North Americans about now.

IIRC, Japan is also refusing to ratify.