Climate negotiators meeting in Lima, Peru have come to an agreement over the outline of a treaty on climate change. The deal comes after weeks of wrangling over the responsibilities of rich countries and poor countries. Basically, the negotiators decided to punt the specifics for a later date while agreeing to general principles on what the treaty will contain.

What is known is that rich countries - i.e.e, the "developed world" - will pay poorer countries in atonemnet for our sin of heating up the planet. It is to be a massive transfer of wealth between industrialized and third world countries where there is no guarantee that the money handed over to the thugs and kleptocrats of the world will even be spent as intended.

CNN:

Nations working on a global treaty to combat climate change and handle its ill effects have come to a basic draft agreement at conference in Lima, Peru.

The elements hammered out in two weeks by about 190 countries at the 20th Conference of Parties (COP20) will serve as the basis for an international climate treaty to be signed in Paris next year, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change said Sunday.

That treaty, which is supposed to detail nations' responsibilities in the fight against climate change, will come into effect in 2020.

The Lima draft announced Sunday determines that developed countries and developing nations will take on differing responsibilities in the fight against global warming "in light of different national circumstances."

The details of those responsibilities are to be determined later.

It also calls on richer countries to help poorer ones finance their goals -- especially countries hurt most by the "adverse effects of climate change" that are working to mitigate that damage.

Initial disagreement between nations over the distribution of responsibilities and costs had brought negotiations to a deadlock, causing the conference to be extended by two days.

If there's one thing we've learned about giving foreign aid to most of these countries is that no matter how careful we are in seeing that the cash goes to its intended purpose, the "Presidents for life" and other thugs always manage to take a healthy cut for themselves. No matter the circumstances, cash for climate change is a ridiculous notion because we will ostensibly be paying for droughts, storms, and other natural disasters that may - or may not - be related to climate change.

As usual, China and India have exempted themselves from the treaty, giving them a decided advantage in manufacturing and energy production. This,transferring wealth from the American taxpayer to third world dictatorships should be rejected out of hand by the Senate.