It’s Chicago ’68 redux: While the Enlightened huddle inside the convention center to figure out a way to save the world, the cops go nightstick-crazy on radical lefties outside.
No worries, though. The One’s getting ready to fly in and put all the pieces together. Like he did with health-care reform.
The Copenhagen climate change conference appeared to be imploding from within and exploding from without on Wednesday.
Police fired tear gas, brandished batons and detained more than 200 protesters who tried to push through the security cordon around the Bella Center, as negotiations inside bogged down, for the second time this week, over differences between China and the West over emissions, funding issues and transparency…
On Tuesday, Hedegaard made an emotional appeal for countries to put aside their differences to finalize a deal — after the G-77 bloc of developing nations accused her of trying to ram through an agreement amenable to the U.S. and other big industrialized nations.
But no sooner had Rasmussen assumed the presidency than those tensions burst out in the open again, with China, India, Bolivia, South Africa and Sudan saying they would block attempts by the Danish delegation to produce a draft text favored by most Western countries.
There was movement late today among African countries to relax their payoff demands, so there might conceivably be some sort of breakthrough tomorrow. Or not:
“I still believe it’s possible to reach real success, but I must say that in that context the next 24 hours are absolutely crucial” for coming up with a new agreement on how to limit global warming, [UN climate czar] Yvo de Boer said late on the ninth day of negotiations…
Officials expressed concern that the conference will have little to show when world leaders are supposed to convene to ratify a final outcome on Friday.
“We have no more time to lose,” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a press conference Wednesday, as he joined the talks.
Follow the link and scroll down to the end for the wit and wisdom of Hugo Chavez. This is the transnational version of ObamaCare, isn’t it? A long-sought, fantastically expensive progressive utopian vision runs smack into the logistical nightmare of a legislative body that’s too greedy and ideologically diverse to agree. But since the dream cannot die, they resolve themselves to pass anything they possibly can and thereby force through a piece-of-shinola compromise that no one’s happy with. Voila: Hopenchange in action.
Via Breitbart, here’s a selection of what’s going on outside the building. The second video is especially, shall we say, “Iranian-flavored.” Exit question correction: Remember this post about the massive carbon belch being emitted at Copenhagen by VIPs who insist on traveling in style? I suggested at the time that they’d try to make amends by buying offsets. Wrong, as it turns out: According to the AP, “Sweden was one of the few to announce plans to offset those aviation emissions – something it does routinely. Most are doing nothing to boost their green credentials and some saw no reason to treat their trip to the U.N. climate talks any differently.” Just so you know.
Update: Phelim McAleer, the filmmaker responsible for “Not Evil, Just Wrong,” questions the orthodoxy. And for that he must pay.
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