I wasn't going to write another diary before Christmas, however for once I will write one that directly supports President Obama.
You want to know who really derailed the talks in Copenhagen?
Now China has money to spare and has created its own global power base, for example it has paid Sudan billions over the year [yes that wonderful genocidal government in Africa] and Sudan was one of many of their puppets to scream in Copenhagen.
China played the game better than we did and moved its pieces around the board with more skill and taking a leaf out of other authoritarians play-book loudly cried its rallying cry:
NO!!!
Blaming this debacle on President Obama as so many have is grossly unfair, we have no leverage over China.
Expect more mess in Mexico.
Don't believe me?
Copenhagen was a disaster. That much is agreed. But the truth about what actually happened is in danger of being lost amid the spin and inevitable mutual recriminations.
Hop over the break.
To those who would blame Obama and rich countries in general, know this: it was China's representative who insisted that industrialised country targets, previously agreed as an 80% cut by 2050, be taken out of the deal. "Why can't we even mention our own targets?" demanded a furious Angela Merkel. Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, was annoyed enough to bang his microphone. Brazil's representative too pointed out the illogicality of China's position. Why should rich countries not announce even this unilateral cut? The Chinese delegate said no, and I watched, aghast, as Merkel threw up her hands in despair and conceded the point. Now we know why – because China bet, correctly, that Obama would get the blame for the Copenhagen accord's lack of ambition.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
Please read the whole article.
All this raises the question: what is China's game? Why did China, in the words of a UK-based analyst who also spent hours in heads of state meetings, "not only reject targets for itself, but also refuse to allow any other country to take on binding targets?"
Copenhagen was much worse than just another bad deal, because it illustrated a profound shift in global geopolitics. This is fast becoming China's century, yet its leadership has displayed that multilateral environmental governance is not only not a priority,
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan coupled with decades of awful fiscal policy; and you can thank St Ronnie and Bush for outsourcing and impoverishing the US; have all severely weakened our hand.
President Obama cannot get the blame for this as China held all the cards and played them to everyone's detriment.
India also should not get out of this with a free ride even though they have serious domestic poverty issues.
Climate Change will impoverish us all, and nobody will be spared.