1. I wanted to try my best here to show how climate change was the initial cause for political action. Personally I found the information provided by the leaks to be difficult to include in the assignment but I believe I have a grasp on how the information was meant to be used here. The key points here being that the Kyoto Agreement and the Copenhagen Accords were a function of climate change and in order to address the issues and to ensure that action was taken, there was some what I like to call, political maneuvering. As it turns out the real world does not work where you can rouse all nations with bolstered speech and rhetoric, but the world is a very complicated place where something that is seen as a necessity for the entire world, or for the human population can be used as leverage to get some sort of means to an end. For example like discussed in the article, some countries such as the Maldives which backed the Accords after financial aid was introduced as a resource. Then there is the more harsh view of the negotiations with the leader of Ethiopian Prime Minister which served as a sort of ultimatum to withdraw support for the country (The Guardian 2010). These actions are examples of how the United States was determined to gain support for the Copenhagen Accords and how the necessity for action was determined by the looming threat of climate change. Overall it should show progress and shows positive action from climate change, and ideally if the Accords are enacted and followed, could show significant impact towards climate change.
2. These actions shown in the leaks come down to ethics and show a determination to make positive changes. Climate change is a significant factor in determining the future of the human race, I do not believe that these leaks show a lack of ethics and honestly do not have an opinion whether they should have been released or not. There is a necessity for transparency in government, that is something most people today will agree upon, however these seem to be normal political dealings and do not imply unethical behavior. These leaks are not damaging and do not affect my opinion of the US government. The dealings themselves are how I believe political dealings to occur. That may be a slightly sardonic view of political dealings but the world is a complicated place, perhaps financial backing for foreign countries to entertain the idea of furthering renewable energy projects is something that the US government should invest in, and maybe not, but I see this as a means to very noble end. Now perhaps if there was something more sexy and thrilling like political intrigue like an assassination attempt or something of that nature that you could see in a movie, I would be singing another tune, but I believe the actions were ethical and just, and this is the way international politics occur. As far as what should be done, the only thing this article shows me is that something has to be done, leadership shows making hard decisions and the United States is a world leader, you lead from the front and pick your metaphorical battles hoping to get the right (calculated) outcome.

References

The Guardian. “WikiLeaks cables reveal how US manipulated climate accord.” Last Updated December 3, 2010. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/dec/03/wikileaks-us-manipulated-climate-accord