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Castro slams Bush
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CUBAN leader Fidel Castro on Saturday criticized the United States for "completely spurning" global interest with its unilateral rejection of the Kyoto Protocol, a worldwide effort to combat global warming.
"It is selfish and irresponsible of the government presiding over the country that consumes 25 per cent of the world's energy to unilaterally reject a global compromise effected in Kyoto to reduce the release of contaminated gases," Castro said in front of a crowd of 200,000, assembled in Havana's municipal square.
"It reaffirms its absolute disrespect for the opinion and the interests of the world, including its own people," Castro said.
EU Commission President Romano Prodi on Saturday sharply criticized George W Bush for pulling out of the Kyoto climate change treaty, saying he should think of the planet's needs and not only those of US industry.
"If one wants to be a world leader, one must know how to look after the entire earth and not only of American industry," said Prodi, a former Italian prime minister.
The White House said on Wednesday that the Bush administration would not submit the 1997 Kyoto treaty to the US Senate for ratification as it was not in the economic interest of the United States.
The decision, which went back on a campaign promise made by Bush, has brought shocked reactions from all over the world, including from staunch US allies.
The treaty limits emissions of so-called greenhouse gases, which scientists widely blame for the phenomenon of global warming.
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