These are the words that the TradMed will not speak in the United States:
Even now the world finds itself at the mercy of American domestic politics, for the president cannot fully commit to the action required [on climate change] until the U.S. Congress has done so.
General interest readers in America, apparently, can’t be expected to face the fact that our dysfunctional Congress is not only ruining our own country, it is ruining the globe.
I’m speaking of the Guardian editorial that was published in 56 papers, in 45 countries, in 18 languages.
Today 56 newspapers in 45 countries take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. We do so because humanity faces a profound emergency.
Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security. The dangers have been becoming apparent for a generation. Now the facts have started to speak: 11 of the past 14 years have been the warmest on record, the Arctic ice-cap is melting and last year’s inflamed oil and food prices provide a foretaste of future havoc. In scientific journals the question is no longer whether humans are to blame, but how little time we have got left to limit the damage. Yet so far the world’s response has been feeble and half-hearted.
[snip]
Few believe that Copenhagen can any longer produce a fully polished treaty; real progress towards one could only begin with the arrival of President Obama in the White House and the reversal of years of US obstructionism. Even now the world finds itself at the mercy of American domestic politics, for the president cannot fully commit to the action required until the US Congress has done so.
But the politicians in Copenhagen can and must agree the essential elements of a fair and effective deal and, crucially, a firm timetable for turning it into a treaty.
Here are the papers in which it was published. Note that just two in the States–McClatchy’s two Miami properties–bothered publishing the editorial at all.
Asia: 16 papers from 13 countries and regions
Economic Observer, China Chinese
Southern Metropolitan, China Chinese
CommonWealth Magazine, Taiwan English
Joongang Ilbo, South Korea Korean
Tuoitre, Vietnam Vietnamese
Brunei Times, Brunei English
Jakarta Globe, Indonesia English
Cambodia Daily, Cambodia English
The Hindu, India English
The Daily Star, Bangladesh English
The News, Pakistan English
Daily Times, Pakistan English
Gulf News, Dubai English
An Nahar, Lebanon Arabic
Gulf Times, Qatar English
Maariv, Israel Hebrew
Europe – 20 papers from 17 countries
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany German
Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland Polish
Der Standard, Austria German
Delo, Slovenia Slovene
Vecer, Slovenia Slovene
Dagbladet Information, Denmark Danish
Politiken, Denmark Danish
Dagbladet, Norway Norwegian
The Guardian, UK English
Le Monde, France French
Libération, France French
La Repubblica, Italy Italian
El Pais, Spain Spanish
De Volkskrant, Netherlands Dutch
Kathimerini, Greece Greek
Publico, Portugal Portuguese
Hurriyet, Turkey Turkish
Novaya Gazeta, Russia Russian
Irish Times, Ireland English
Le Temps, Switzerland French
Africa – 11 papers from eight countries
The Star, Kenya English
Daily Monitor, Uganda English
The New Vision, Uganda English
Zimbabwe Independent, Zimbabwe English
The New Times, Rwanda English
The Citizen, Tanzania English
Al Shorouk, Egypt Arabic
Botswana Guardian, Botswana English
Mail & Guardian, South Africa English
Business Day, South Africa English
Cape Argus, South Africa English
North and Central America – six papers from five countries
Toronto Star, Canada English
Miami Herald, USA English
El Nuevo Herald, USA Spanish
Jamaica Observer, Jamaica English
La Brujula Semanal, Nicaragua Spanish
El Universal, Mexico Spanish
South America – three papers from two countries
Zero Hora, Brazil Portuguese
Diario Catarinense, Brazil Portuguese
Diaro Clarin, Argentina Spanish
Yet the Miami Herald and the Nuevo Herald left out that sentence (as well as the words, “and must” in the following sentence).
Few believe that Copenhagen can produce a treaty; real progress toward one could only begin with the arrival of President Obama in the White House and the reversal of years of U.S. obstructionism. But the politicians in Copenhagen can agree on the essential elements of a fair and effective deal and, crucially, a firm timetable for turning it into a treaty.
Pocos creen que en Copenhague se alcance un tratado; el verdadero progreso hacia un tratado sólo podía empezar con la llegada del presidente Obama a la Casa Blanca y el cambio del obstruccionismo que practicó Estados Unidos durante años. Pero los políticos en Copenhague pueden acordar los elementos esenciales de un acuerdo justo y eficaz y un cronograma firme para implementar el tratado.
And so it is that the American climate change denialists have succeeded in censoring critical news even more effectively than if there were a state censor. And the one radical upstart–and don’t get me wrong, I cherish McClatchy papers’ willingness to buck conventional narratives–avoided blaming America and instead threw responsibility back off onto those nameless, foreign politicians in Copenhagen, who, if they feel like it, are invited to fix the mess the American lifestyle had significant role in causing.
Fixing the ravages our lifestyle has inflicted on the globe is a task for the rest of the world, I guess the TradMed would like to think. Nevermind that the corporate puppets in our Congress are holding the rest of the world hostage. That’s not important for Americans to know.