Quote Originally Posted by LittleFuzzy View Post
Nope. In fact, that was Loki's reaction even to the idea that Bush Jr. might withdraw the signature from the Kyoto Treaty, something which Clinton had never even bothered to submit to Congress because the Senate had made it clear they would reject the treaty by 98-0. It's quite amazing, really, the number of actions states undertake which Loki declared were flatly impossible because no one would ever trust that state again.
The status of the USA as a dependable high contracting party was damaged though by Kyoto. Not because it didn't ratify Kyoto, but because it never had an intention to make steps for ratification. It's the difference between not being able to ratify according to your own constitutional rules (which is a legitimate reason to withhold ratification) and having no intention to ratify to start with (which basically makes you a cheat).

Now, nobody will forget that the US is the pre-eminent power in the world. But the fact that Kyoto still hasn't been forgotten also tells us something about the extent to which other high contracting parties trust the US.