Chutzpah in Copenhagen II

Since Obama cut his deal with China, India, Brazil and South Africa (see my earlier post here), a colleague who is attending the Copenhagen climate talks has been sending me some email updates. It appears that at one point, all hell broke loose. But things may be calming down a bit.

Here’s her first update:

Things are falling apart.  The COP reconvened at 3:08.  The president was ready to suspend the COP to allow countries to review the agreement.  Tuvalu intervened, followed by Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, and Nicaragua.  Here are some quotes:

Tuvalu:
Making announcement before acceptance by the COP is disrespectful
Cursory review suggests major problems
Looks like we are being offered 20 pieces of future to betray our people
Our future is not for sale
Tuvalu cannot accept this document

Venezuela:
Coup d’etat against the charter of the UN
Must we cut our hands and draw blood

Bolivia:
Most surprised and offended by being given a document we have not had time to read.
You have given us one hour to decide
Which part of the world were consulted?
Why haven’t we discussed this among ourselves
1 hour to decide about the lives of millions of people
Should be democratic

Cuba:
Obama is behaving disrespectfully
Cuba has decided not to accept the agreement
We do not have a consensus on this document

Somewhat later, my colleague sent this update:

Many people who are not sympathetic to the interventions we just heard now seem to see Obama as arrogant and insensitive for flying in, trying to get the COP to do what we want, and flying out before the deal was even done.  It was extremely unwise to announce an agreement at a press conference before sharing it with countries that had not yet seen it, but would be asked to endorse.

And lastly — evidently before my colleague was ready to collapse from exhaustion:

The tide may be turning once again.  Sudan made the mistake of comparing climate change to the Holocaust.  There was a strong reaction against it.  Papua New Guinea said the agreement is flawed, but we must come out with an agreement, and this is a start.  Most of the AOSIS states [AOSIS = Alliance of Small Island States] seem to agree.  [Papua New Guinea] also said that the G77 has to take part of the responsibility, because it often has opposed offers of emissions reductions, claiming they were inadequate.

Todd Stern made a good intervention for the U.S. saying that this was a transparent process, with 25-30 countries involved.

Norway was angry that the funding proposed was framed as a bribe.  As one of the strongest current funders, Norway takes offense.

I am falling asleep in alternate minutes.  Can’t imagine how the negotiators are feeling.  I have been up for 24 hours, but many of them have been up much longer.

Nineteen more speakers on the list.  Aargh.

That was the last email update I received from her.