Obama 'Burst' Into Meeting Of Chinese, Indian, Brazil Leaders

[impik]

A great story about the drama vehind the scenes in Copenhagen yeasterday:

President Barack Obama burst into a meeting of Chinese, Indian and Brazilian leaders to try and reach a climate agreement in late Friday negotiations in Copenhagen.


Chinese protocol officials objected to Obama's presence in the meeting, according to a senior administration official, who said that the president didn't want the leaders negotiating in secret.


The dramatic meeting came after a day the White House spent in a whirlwind of meetings trying to save the Copenhagen climate talks from complete meltdown.


President Barack Obama requested to hold bilateral talks directly with Chinese premier Wen Jiabao on Friday afternoon, after talks between chief negotiators couldn't make enough progress on key initiatives like transparency and monitoring. After nearly two weeks, it was largely left to China and the U.S. to craft a political deal.


Obama also wanted to meet with Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Jacob Zuma.


But by later afternoon, Singh and Wen had both left the convention center where the conference was being held —- possibly because the talks seemed to be heading towards a dead-end. Administration sources reported that they were told the Indian delegation was headed for the airport.


"Brazil tells us that they don't know if they can come because they want the Indians to come. The Indians, as I just said, were at the airport. Zuma is under the impression that everybody is coming," said the senior administration official. "Zuma at that point says, well, if they're not coming I can't do this."


But it turned out that the leaders were actually meeting together. “We're starting to get emails one by one, ‘hey Zuma is in this room, too;’ ‘hey, Singh is in this room, too,’ said the senior administration official. “So all of a sudden that's when we start to make sure we're walking up to the multilateral room.”


"The President's viewpoint was I'm going to make one last run," said the official. "They've got similar interests, there's no doubt about that."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30801.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/science/earth/19climate.html?hp

[DCBob]

1. Give em hell Barack!! Herding tigers comes to mind..

This agreement probably wont help much but its a start..

[Deja Q]

11. Tigers trained by Americans

:7

[AngryAmish]

2. Like Kramer?

[jefferson_dem]

5. Ha!

Hella image there. Barack plays Kramer.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Earlier in the afternoon

UK time he'd already left to return to the airport to fly to Hawaii. He then returned to the meeting presumably having decided that petulance didn't achieve its desired effect.

[Clio the Leo]

6. I had fun reading the thing play out on Twitter ..... in reverse...

.... I wasn't home last night and missed it live but when I was reading the day's updates I read them BACKWARDS in this order..... "Press pool report said Obama entered and called out from the door, Mr. Premier, are you ready to see me?" ..... "Obama apparently walked in on a gathering of Chinese, Indian, Brazilian and other leaders, saying he didn't want them meeting in secret.".... "President Obama announces a "meaningful and unprecedented" climate change deal with China and other key nations.".... "President Obama is close to a deal with China at the climate change talks" .... "Chavez suggests Obama is the devil. Brazil's Lula pissed." .... "Copenhagen Collapse. Ouch!"

:)

[dipsydoodle]

19. In the UK

we get continuous news coverage of such events on at least 2 stations - gets a bit boring after a while but never mind. :)

:hi:

[Cha]

31. Pres Obama doesn't do "petulance".

[DCBob]

4. It may have worked... UN chief says 'we have a deal' on climate change

COPENHAGEN – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says "we have a deal" after a climate conference in Copenhagen decided to recognize a political accord brokered by President Barack Obama with China and other emerging powers. But Ban says he's "aware that this is just the beginning" of a process to craft a binding pact to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. Still, Ban says the Copenhagen Agreement "will have an immediate operational effect." Many poor nations had bitterly protested the deal because it lacks specific targets for reducing carbon emissions.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091219/ap_on_sc/climate

[girl gone mad]

7. Doesn't sound too promising.

"The Copenhagen Accord is not legally binding and - apparently - does not specify either target emission reductions or monetary contributions of various countries. http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/climate-change/copenhagen-accord-4.30pm.pdf">Here is a copy of the actual Copenhagen Accord (notice that the Appendices for target emissions and monetary contributions are blank).

Friends of the Earth says of the Copenhagen Accord:

Climate negotiations in Copenhagen have yielded a sham agreement with no real requirements for any countries. This is not a strong deal or a just one -- it isn't even a real one. It's just repackaging old positions and pretending they're new.

A Greenpeace representative said:

This latest draft is so weak as to be meaningless.

And a representative of the anti-poverty group, World Development Movement said:

This summit has been in complete disarray from start to finish, and now appears to be culminating in a shameful and monumental failure ... The leaders of rich countries have refused to lead and instead sought to bribe and bully developing nations ...

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/12/friends-of-earth-climate-negotiations.html

[flyarm]

8. I saw on TV a Chinese interviewer say it was considered beyond rude and pissed off the Chinese

delegation, that they felt it was totally out of line and they were angry.

So it backfired on Obama.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

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[girl gone mad]

12. The European papers are reporting on it..

Looks like China was already upset.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/transport-environment/us-attack-on-china-hinders-copenhagen-talks-1.993320">US attack on China hinders Copenhagen talks

"The US will now have to reappraise its approach to global warming, to China, the rising Asian superpower, and to the limits of Mr Obama’s personal appeal.

Mr Obama’s attempt to paint China as the bogeyman stalling the talks rebounded badly. He came to town late, arriving yesterday morning after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had put an (unspecified) US pledge on the table to support the $100 billion climate change finance deal.

The off-hand American approach, late to the table, late with the offer, was already a signal to the developing nations, led by China, and to poor countries, that their support was being taken for granted.

The poor nations of the world had actually played the conference well until they were locked out by the hard talk of the past 24 hours, but China is not such a pushover.

In his speech early on Friday, Mr Obama said the ability of the world to act together was in doubt but he failed to acknowledge the advances China has already made to tackling global warming and cutting emissions and berated delegates to get agreement to international monitoring of emissions.

...There was a short, inconclusive meeting between China’s President Wen Jiabao and Mr Obama in the morning but it was the speech by the US leader that humiliated the Chinese on the world stage."

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Karenina]

25. "how dare that poster call me a liar.."

That poster's information sources have obscured the "big picture" from his line of sight. Bitte, regt Dich nicht auf. Inhofe spoke yesterday and a reporter called out "That's ridiculous!" :rofl:

Obama did his duty for his domestic audience. Perhaps it will win him some political bad-ass creds that will allow him to tip the trajectory ever-so-slightly. But he fucked-up seriously with China. :eyes:

[flyarm]

20. i did damn it..I was in my nail place getting a pedicure and it was on the big screen TV..

is that enough info for you???????

How dare you call me a liar ..because that is what you just did..do you now monitor what i watch and what i see????????

I reported what i SAW..TOUGH SHIT IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT THE CHINESE REPORTER SAID..i DIDN'T SAY IT..SHE DID! AND IT WAS ON BBC TV.

[eppur_se_muova]

16. Yeah, he caught them in a bald-faced lie. How rude is that? nt

[flyarm]

23. excuse me..I didn't say Obama was rude..the Chinese reporter on BBC News said the Chinese delegation

said it was rude and against protocol!

[eppur_se_muova]

28. I caught the distinction. Was using sarcasm mode. nt

[flyarm]

30. opps sorry i missed that sarcasm mode!! thanks for bringing it to my attention!! eom

[Ikonoklast]

26. Screw the Chinese, they are trying to game the system.

They will pollute with abandon, and we will get to pay for it.

[AllentownJake]

9. Just to be clear

From all reports on what was agreed, Copenhagen was a complete failure, the rest of the world did not want to meet with our President, and due to the 6 month Health Care debate there is no political will in the US Senate to take this up in an election year.

[Captain Hilts]

13. Good on him. nt

[noamnety]

14. I don't think it's a good thing

I think it's a poor history we have, especially given the last 8 years, to be so arrogant as to decide that other countries don't have the right to meet in private - in another country, no less. Because we have the reputation as the bully, it's a bit like a majority/oppressor representative refusing to allow minority groups to speak in private. Like nonfeminist men trying to dominate a thread in the feminists group here, or a manager refusing to allow unions to meet without them being present.

I don't believe that's the sort of diplomacy-change we should be shooting for (US presidents acting entitled to barge into meetings where they aren't wanted). If the US were hosting the conference and we wanted a private meeting with China and India, and Chavez just barged in because he felt his presence was crucial, people would be talking about what an asshole Chavez is. The only difference I see in that scenario is that people in the US have a sense of paternalism and entitlement to be in charge of the whole world.

[Captain Hilts]

17. I see your point, and I'd like to know more details of the meeting. But, the US has...

has a very strong role in the economies and relations with China and India. We've been a very strong backer of India.

I get your drift, though. I guess I was excited to see the Prez excited about something.

[timo]

15. if i were him

would stay the hell out of Copenhagen, that town is a black cat,laying on a hat on a bed, in front of a broken mirror in a new house with an old broom !!

[Cha]

32. Well, you're not him.

[timo]

35. duh

????? boy you sure showed me!!!
copenhagen was a totalt fail!!

[BlueMTexpat]

18. Now if he would only burst in on the Blue Dogs and

hold their feet to the fire on HCR! I can always hope.

************
Frankly, I like that he did this. Far from seeming arrogant, he actually showed leadership. This was not done in a John-Bolton-like way. THAT would have been arrogance.

[MilesColtrane]

22. He's a ninja.

[ShortnFiery]

24. Yes, the world now HATES the USA and we are no longer powerful enough to FORCE our will

with regard to every damn WHIM.

[bevoette]

29. the world hates us *now*?? 'now' started about 7 years ago (nm)

[GreenArrow]

27. Whoopie ky yi yo

motherfuckers! Rope them dogies! Whoooooooo! Not so fast, varmints!

[AnnieBW]

33. Why doesn't he do this to the Repubs?

He needs to get tough with Congress, not other world leaders!

[Cha]

34. Do what? This is our Environment we're talking about..

Glad he was there and doing what he thinks will help.