US Making More Enemies Than Friends: E. African Newspaper

Recent actions by the US government have made it increasingly clear that President George W. Bush is set on a course that will make him and America a lot more enemies in the international arena than friends, said a commentary carried on The EastAfrican weekly, a major regional newspaper in East Africa, on Monday.

Amid the spy plane spat with China and foreign policy squabbles with such U.S. allies as South Korea and the European Union (EU) last week, Bush still managed to infuriate the rest of the world by refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on Global Warming, the said.

The fallout from the decision was immediate, it commented, as several European Union leaders have warned that it would further strain U.S.-EU relations, and China, Japan and a host of developing countries have also decried the U.S. decision not to ratify the treaty.

"The indignation shown by the rest of the world is not without basis," the article said.

The article quoted scientists as warning that if the Kyoto treaty is not implemented, the world will in the near future be buffeted by unprecedented weather changes and extremes due to global warming.

According to the scientists, developing regions such as East Africa will be especially vulnerable to catastrophic droughts and floods.

"Given these eventualities, we are constrained to agree with a statement by the European Parliament that the decision by U.S. to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol is both 'appalling and provocative'," said the article.






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