Props to Blair and Schwarzenegger

He may have gotten things disastrously wrong on Iraq, but Tony Blair is showing he's quite capable of doing the right thing on other issues -- even if it means crossing George W. Bush. The Guardian reports:

Tony Blair yesterday sidestepped the Bush administration's refusal to act on climate change by signing what was hailed as a ground-breaking agreement with California, the world's 12th largest carbon emitter, to fight global warming.

Downing Street made no attempt to disguise the fact that the deal is designed to get round Republican objections to states imposing mechanisms to cut carbon emissions. With other US states also interested or involved in carbon trading markets, the path is being opened to bring US business into international efforts to fight climate change, even though international progress has been stymied by the Bush administration's refusal to sign up to binding targets in the Kyoto protocol.

In another good move, Blair is working to create a closer link between British and American scientists working on stem cell research.