The Sad Sad Dance at Copenhagen

The sad patterns of human behaviour that have persisted over the past hundreds of years still govern our actions today, despite the veneer of of "education and civilisation" that many of us have put on.

In the good old days of the past, countries that had the might simply took what they wanted from other countries that could not resist them.

If a strong country needed a large, very cheap labour force, they went to other countries, and forcefully took those citizens as their slaves, and did what they wanted to.

If a strong country wanted a cheap supply of raw materials, well it just went ahead and "colonised" that country and simply took what it needed, in the way that suited it best.

Nowadays, however the world today has become a lot less simple. There are global bodies, free press, values like democracy - all of them preventing powerful countries from simply and directly doing what they need to do.

Therefore we witness the strange dances that take place at meetings like Copenhagen.

We see powerful countries that are very clear about what they want - low cost development and higher economic growth rates. Since they have the commercial means to manage most of the adverse impacts of climate change, they are not fundamentally concerned.What is however making them very upset is the fact that they need to make actual compromises and spend real money whereas they had been used to just talking and making grand gestures while forcing others to do their dirty work for them.

Therefore we see them making all the right statements, but resisting all real action.

We see desperate attempts to do anything, anything at all, to pass on the real burden to others less capable of resisting, while appearing to be doing everything.

Yes - indeed, the old mindsets still rule.

Shift dirty industries to developing nations.

Then force them to take on steep environmental targets.

Pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

Simple.

Sad.