[NYTr] Bali: Unprecedented US U-Turn Brings Unexpected Deal (but will the US follow-through?)

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[They said it. But will they DO it? Or will there be a secret "signing
statement" that will give the US the "right" to just ignore one more
international agreement??? -NY Transfer]

sent by MichaelP

Sydney Morning Herald - Dec 17, 2007
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/a-swift-daylight-mugging-in-steamy-bali/2007/12/16/1197740093012.html

A SWIFT DAYLIGHT MUGGING IN STEAMY BALI

TO A New York state of mind, it was as if the well-mannered halls of
the United Nations had been invaded by wrestling fans from Madison
Square Garden - global diplomacy with a raucous ringside audience.

Bali had its own house rules, where reverence surrendered to racket.

Boos, jeers, tears - and then a most unfamiliar noise: the sound of the
US saying "consensus".

George Bush's Washington -- home to the with-us-or-agin-us
administration -- had backed down in a dramatic, 11th-hour concession
that marked an end and a beginning. Delegates said the tension and
emotion of the summit's final moments was the culmination of seven
years of frustration with the US. That era of animosity ended in a
remarkable public capitulation.

"We want success here in Bali," the US Under-Secretary of State, Paula 
Dobriansky, told a gathering that had seemed primed for a lynching.

"We will go forward and join consensus."

The word seemed enough, and the room erupted with enough energy to 
convince a nervous planet it was no longer sitting still. It was going 
somewhere, and it now had a road map whose realistic virtue may be that
it did not entirely please anyone. In the end, getting that map drawn
at all seemed a minor miracle, as the rest of the world squared off
against a defiant US.

Deadlines came and went. Things were so bad on Saturday that at one
point the UN's chief negotiator, Yvo de Boer, fled the podium. He was
holding back tears.  That afternoon, well into extra time, the UN 
Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, made an unscheduled return, walking in 
alongside Indonesia's Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. It was too late for 
cajoling;  time instead for rebuking and pleading. Ki-moon spoke of 
disappointment, and urged compromise on "everybody".  The host
president said: "The world is watching anxiously and I beg you not to
let them down."

Their words "electrified the room", de Boer said. The European Union - 
having earlier bowed to American pressure to tone down wording on 
emissions targets - swiftly kicked over another roadblock, acceding to 
demands from developing countries for promises on technology sharing.

Still the Americans held out. No, Dobriansky said once more, to more
boos and jeers.  The deadlock remained, but with a difference: no
nation, not Australia, nor Japan, nor Canada, backed them.

Going down to the wire, Bali rules applied, and those rules meant
niceties could be stomped on. The most powerful man in the room could
be mugged in broad daylight by one of the weakest. Kevin Conrad, the
delegate from Papua New Guinea, did not waste time taking the Americans
down a dark alley. He wanted billions of witnesses.

"We seek your leadership," he said. "But if for some reason you are not 
willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us. Please, get out of the
way." The room was silent as he said it, and drowned in explosive
applause as he returned the shiv to its sheath.  Dobriansky
surrendered.  A deal could be done, propelling the world forward to
negotiating a new accord by 2009.

There was rejoicing. "A historic breakthrough," said Gordon Brown in 
London.  "A pivotal first step,"  said Ban Ki-moon. "An incredible
drama" that ended in a "brilliant strategy to unite the world", said
the Union of Concerned Scientists. America had been "humbled", said
Bill Hare of Greenpeace.

It was clear that divisions and problems remain. Far from the US being
the biggest problem, one Western delegate pointed the finger at Russia,
which he said had killed off a footnote that would have explicitly
Treferred to a 50 per cent cut in emissions by 2050. "That is why it is
weak," a source told London's Sunday Telegraph.

For its part, the US gave critics little time to gloat. All week, its 
negotiators had expressed surprise at the hostility it faced and its 
portrayal as the villain of the summit. But at its end, after the deal
was sealed, it allowed itself a tentative Texan swagger, reasserting
its belief that developing countries had to share more of the load on 
emissions targets.

The White House said it had "serious concerns" about the negotiations 
still to come - a statement that confirmed the belief of many observers 
that a true, natural international consensus awaits the inauguration of 
George Bush's successor in January 2009.

                          ***

Reuters via The Guardian - Dec 16, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7155608

US U-Turn Bring Bali Climate Deal

Dec 15 (Reuters) - Following is a chronology of a dramatic 90 minutes
on Saturday at 190-nation climate talks in Bali, Indonesia, that led to
a deal to launch two years of talks on a broad new climate treaty
involving all countries.

1:00 p.m. (0500 GMT) - The two-week talks, meant to end on Friday, are 
deadlocked long into overtime.  Developing nations led by India and
China are demanding that rich countries do more to lead the way in
fighting climate change. The demands arose overnight, partly after the
European Union bowed to U.S. pressure and toned down calls for the
final text to lay out clear 2020 guidelines for rich nations to axe
greenhouse gas emissions.

1:20 p.m. - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, making an unscheduled 
return after leaving Bali on Friday for East Timor, enters the
conference hall with Indonesian President Indonesian President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono.

 	"I am disappointed at the lack of progress," Ban said.
"Everybody should be able to make compromises." "The worst thing we can
do is for this project to crumble because we can't find the right
wording," Yudhoyono said. "The world is watching anxiously and I beg
you not to let them down." Delegates strongly applaud both speeches.

1:44 p.m.  - The European Union, which had opposed the developing
nations' demands, immediately backs down and accepts the developing
countries' text that gives stronger promises to share green
technologies. Delegates applaud.

1:55 p.m.  - Paula Dobriansky, under secretary of state for democracy
and global affairs leading the U.S.  delegation, reaffirms U.S.
opposition, bringing boos.

1:56 p.m. - Speakers from countries including Brazil and South Africa
then make pleas on behalf of the developing countries. And neither
Australia nor Japan side with Dobriansky. Papua New Guinea delegate
Kevin Conrad wins wild applause by addressing Dobriansky and saying:
"We ask for your leadership, we seek your leadership ... if you can't
give us what we want, please get out of the way." 2:19 p.m. -
Dobriansky backs down, saying "We will go forward and join consensus,"
triggering applause.

2:31 p.m. - Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar announces 
consensus on a deal to launch two years of talks on a new global treaty
to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

AFTERMATH

 	-- Dobriansky said she changed her mind because the developing 
country speakers convinced her that they were serious about acting to 
fight climate change.  She said she did not consult Washington before 
changing her mind.

Other delegates hailed the U.S. reversal: "The mood in the room
exploded. The secretary-general and the president -- that just
electrified the room," said Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate
Change Secretariat.

Bill Hare of environmental group Greenpeace said he believed it was the 
first time since 1996 that Washington had won applause at a U.N.
climate meeting.