And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
T.S. Eliot The Hollow Men
Motion: “We are running out of time. The time for talk is over. It is better for us to act than to talk. The question is whether we move forward together or split apart.” Obama on Friday.
Act: "This breakthrough lays the foundation for international action in the years to come." Obama, on his way back from the summit.
Falls the Shadow:
Today rich countries led by the United States are pressuring poorer nations to ditch the UN process and sign onto the Copenhagen Accord. They are threatening poor nations that refuse to sign on with the loss of their share of the $100 billion that rich countries have pledged to compensate for climate impacts the rich countries themselves have caused.Obama's approach sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it? Obama has his own coalition of the willing and this time, Stephen Harper is in a position to jump on board.
UN officials are struggling to figure out what the Accord even means and how it's related to the UN process, but what's is clear is that it was not approved by the 192 countries that are members of the UNFCCC.
By signing onto the Accord, poor countries risk displacing the legitimate negotiation process taking place under the auspices of the UN.
The US is so desperate to claim a Copenhagen success that it is now attempting to destroy the existing climate process and sideline 20 years of real multilateral negotiation.
Nnimmo Bassey, Friends of the Earth International Chair, said:
"First the US came to Copenhagen with nothing new to offer, and now it's trying to package the weak, flawed, unjust 'Copenhagen Accord' as a replacement for the UN process -- and armtwist poor countries into signing on.
"President Bush ignored the UN process, now President Obama risks to torpedo it.
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
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