Forbes magazine published an important article, The West's Goals in Copenhagen are tantamount to Suicide." (HT: HotAir) A few paragraphs near the end especially caught my eye:
Hegemony-seeking communist capitalists in China might fancy seeing America and the West decline to the point that they can no longer compete or fund their militaries. A weakened European Union or U.S. also won't be able provide a model of a more democratic version of capitalism to counter China’s ultra-authoritarian version.
The Chinese may win a victory in Copenhagen greater than anything accomplished so far in the marketplace--and our leaders will likely thank them for it. Forget bowing to the emperor in Tokyo; like vassal states at the height of the old Middle Kingdom, the new requisite diplomatic skill for Westerners will be kow-towing to Beijing.
Yet most people in the developing world will not benefit from the suicide of the West. The warmists' vision is not one of growing prosperity, but of capping wealth at a comparatively low level. De-industrialization means the West falls back while emerging economies grow a bit. The "prosperity gap" may close, but ultimately everyone is left with less prosperity.
In the long run developing countries gain less from harvesting guilt than enjoying a bounty of customers, capital and expertise. The West's experience and technology can assist developing nations in improving their far more greatly threatened environment. Turning the West into a spent force will leave the world poorer, dirtier and ultimately less hopeful. [more . . .]