The 34th G8 Summit, which brought together the leaders of the world’s eight richest industrialized democracies, wrapped up today. Here’s what happened.The eight countries agreed on a goal of cutting global carbon emissions by 50% by 2050. Awesome. Unfortunately, no “base year” was set, so what “50%” means is vague. And how the burden of these cuts will be distributed was undecided. And the five “emerging economies” (including China) refused to sign on because there weren’t shorter-term mandates. We once set a goal of flying like a pterodactyl by just flapping our arms.More substantively, the eight agreed to move against Mugabe and his inner circle for holding sham elections in Zimbabwe, advised North Korea and Iran to simmer down, and made new aid commitments to Africa.The BBC has a concise roundup of each leader’s performance at the big dance. Bush didn’t disappoint: he called Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi “amigo.” That’s our pendejo.
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