The delusional are depressed.

The truth is this: China wrecked the talks, intentionally humiliated Barack Obama, and insisted on an awful "deal" so western leaders would walk away carrying the blame. . .

Why did China, in the words of a UK-based analyst who also spent hours in heads of state meetings, "not only reject targets for itself, but also refuse to allow any other country to take on binding targets?" The analyst, who has attended climate conferences for more than 15 years, concludes that China wants to weaken the climate regulation regime now "in order to avoid the risk that it might be called on to be more ambitious in a few years' time". . .

Copenhagen was much worse than just another bad deal, because it illustrated a profound shift in global geopolitics. This is fast becoming China's century, yet its leadership has displayed that multilateral environmental governance is not only not a priority, but is viewed as a hindrance to the new superpower's freedom of action. I left Copenhagen more despondent than I have felt in a long time. After all the hope and all the hype, the mobilisation of thousands, a wave of optimism crashed against the rock of global power politics, fell back, and drained away.

All of this was known and widely discussed before the Copenhagen bacchanalia. The hype was not about affecting the meeting, it was fund raising and revelry by the climate industry. No thoughtful person - Chinese or other - took any of it for more than particularly bad theater. If, as suggested above, the Chinese objective was to squelch the next delusional party, then we owe them thanks. Enough of this nonsense. The show stinks. The cast has no talent and the scripts are just plain bad.

This does not mean China is not serious about global warming. It is strong in both the wind and solar industries. But China's growth, and growing global political and economic dominance, is based largely on cheap coal. China knows it is becoming an uncontested superpower; indeed its newfound muscular confidence was on striking display in Copenhagen. Its coal-based economy doubles every decade, and its power increases commensurately. Its leadership will not alter this magic formula unless they absolutely have to.

I read a press release today about a study claiming that all of the posturing and money spent on various health campaigns missed the most severe threat to health: poverty. That study was about rich countries, so how much more is this the case for the non-rich? China may be a superpower but its people are still poor. China needs to do a great deal more developing to bring health to its people. The whole world has that need, so again, thanks to the Chinese for being less delusional.

Regulation is ineffective. It can't help with climate concerns but it can keep people in poverty. Obama and the Europeans humiliated themselves by advocating such nonsensical policies. They got themselves elected by fluffing up those who advocated such delusions, so their humiliation is well deserved. Had they held principled positions all along and stood for rational approaches to the whole suite of problems the world faces then we could have some sympathy for them, but they exploited the problems for local power and wealth. It is fitting that they have been bitch slapped by the Chinese. But really, the shame is ours. Why do we continue to elect such people and fund the whole venal climate industry?

The lesson for the rent seeking kleptocrats oppressing their own third world countries is that they need to suck up to a new boss now, one that doesn't even pretend to be all mushy and altruistic, one that is more like they are. It's a breath of fresh air in a way. Shaking off the stink of the corrupt Europeans and their American imitators may be seen as an improvement. Now if we could only do the same for ourselves. . .

The problem is that this may all be premature. I'm not confident that we really do have a new sheriff yet. We may have to endure the old regime for a while yet. If so, then we would be wise to clean house ourselves to improve our position in the world to come. We shouldn't count on the Chinese to make us do right in any event. How did we get so pathetic?