Agence France-Presse reports:
World climate talks struck a sour note on their third day Wednesday as Japan was accused of weakening the campaign for a post-2012 treaty by retreating from the landmark Kyoto Protocol.
With negotiators laboring to unblock a complex, interlinked two-track process, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meanwhile predicted the 12-day meeting "won't result in anything."
"No big leader is going, only environment ministers at best. We don't even know if foreign ministers are going. So there won't be any progress," Lula, who himself decided not to travel to Mexico, told reporters in Brazil.
Green groups reacted with concern after Japan on Monday spelled out its opposition to renewing pledges under the Kyoto Protocol, the cornerstone U.N. pact on global warming. It said it did not plan to renew its carbon-cutting pledges when Kyoto's current roster of promises expire at the end of 2012. ...
U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres said Japan's statement was "not new" and underscored the long and complex process of negotiations. ...
Asked to react to Lula's predictions of a failure, Figueres said the Cancun meeting had not been designed to be "a summit," while U.S. chief delegate Jonathan Pershing said, "I personally think that the process will reach results. I think that there will be conclusions coming out." |
citisven has a Cancun diary here.
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2008:
While I won't argue that Barack Obama's vast email list isn't going to be a powerful tool during his presidency, this article seems to miss the obvious: the 13 or so million people on that list don't march in lockstep.
The millions of donors who enabled Barack Obama to shatter campaign-fundraising records and build a nationwide network of supporters may also help him rewrite the rules for governing. [...]
"When President Obama says, '21 members of Congress are standing in the way of my health plan,' one out of 10 voting Americans start to go to work on those members of Congress,'' said Democratic consultant Joe Trippi...
We're not the Republican Party, Joe. We're not, as a group, going to jump onboard whatever policy President Obama pushes. Anyone who thinks so hasn't been paying attention. |