Impromptu Moments Shaped Copenhagen Accord

(CBS)  President Obama's marathon day at the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen was a more than 13-hour whirlwind of intrigue and confusion that cut across political, diplomatic and scientific lines, reports CBS News White House Correspondent Peter Maer.

The major environmental conference . Mr. Obama and other proponents of action on the issue hope their endeavors will eventually produce a formal treaty.

Attempting to find a dividend from his heavy investment in domestic and international political capital, the president described "a meaningful and historic breakthrough." The White House said it was the first time the world's major economies agreed "to accept their responsibility in confronting climate change."

In a brief session with reporters, the president repeatedly acknowledged the tentative nature of the agreement. Describing a "fundamental deadlock in perspectives," he said a legally obligatory pact was "not achievable at this conference."

The president appeared weary following an overnight flight to Denmark and non-stop negotiations with other leaders.

Because the White House imposed what amounted to a limited news blackout during Mr. Obama's meetings in Copenhagen, it would be hours before reporters and the nation learned details of what were often spur-of-the-moment diplomatic efforts by the president and his team.

There was an unimaginable scene as the president strolled into a meeting of other leaders, only to find there literally was not a seat for him at the table. He quickly said he would "sit by my friend Lula," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lzula da Silva.

Reporters summoned to a quick photo op of the session witnessed an unusually chaotic scene for a diplomatic setting.

Mr. Obama was heard raising his voice as he asked, "Mr. Premier, are you ready to see me? Are you ready?"

The question was aimed at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

There was an uncharacteristic edge to Mr. Obama's voice as he addressed the Chinese leader.

It reflected U.S. exasperation over China's decision to assign a lower-level official to summit talks even though the premier was in the conference center. The president had already met with Wen shortly after arriving in Denmark.

Aboard Air Force One on the flight home from Copenhagen, a senior official revealed an intriguing account of the climax to the president's long day in Denmark. The official described the president's irritation with the Chinese.

He told his staff, "I don't want to mess around with this anymore. I want to just talk to Premier Wen."

Chinese officials sent mixed signals. They said Wen was at a hotel as his staff waited at the Copenhagen airport. The U.S. was also under the impression that other key countries were ready to abandon the summit.

The Chinese sent word that Wen would meet again with the president.

When Mr. Obama arrived for that meeting, he found the Chinese leader conferring with his counterparts from Brazil, India and South Africa.

A senior official denied that the president and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton crashed the meeting. The official explained Mr. Obama merely showed up at the appointed time to confer with Wen and found the other leaders there too.

Top Obama aides learned of the meeting only moments before the president arrived.

The senior official was at a loss to explain why the U.S. was not fully aware of the activities of some of the other key players at the meeting except to note more than a hundred countries were involved. Officials say the impromptu side summit helped the five countries agree on options to verify pollution reduction efforts.

On Saturday, the president elaborated on the results. He said, "This breakthrough lays the foundation for international action in the years to come."

But the "years to come" formulation only underscores the tentative nature of the conclusion of the Copenhagen meeting.

For reporters covering Mr. Obama, it was a day of behind-the-scenes speculation and frustration.

Press secretary Robert Gibbs kept a very tight rein on information about the president's activities.

Throughout the long day, Gibbs sent a few details through aides or e-mails.

For veteran reporters, it was all reminiscent of a formal news blackout imposed at President Reagan's famous October 1986 summit with then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik, Iceland.

It wasn't until the end of the two-day meeting that the world learned how close the U.S. and Soviet leaders came to reaching an arms reduction deal before the talks collapsed.

(In a bit of historic irony, President Obama and Russian leader Medvedev announced major progress on a new arms reduction deal as they met on the sidelines of the Copenhagen meeting.)

International summits are usually orderly events. Planners called "sherpas" meticulously set the stage for presidents, prime ministers and other leaders to seal the deal on the issue or issues on the table.

That clearly was not the case in sometimes chaotic Copenhagen.

President Obama returned home from the global warming summit as a heavy snow blanketed Andrews Air Force Base early Saturday morning. He motorcaded to a whiter White House as the worst December snowstorm in history two days before the official start of winter.

[chrisbieber]

brick by brick, stolen taxdollar for stolen taxdollar, conference by conference and INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST LAW AND REGIMENTION by INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST LAW AND REGIMENTION the Socialist scheme of One World Government(governance) is marching towards the culmination of decades CENTURIES of plans and deaths.

the "failure" of the League of Nations and the "failure" of the United Nations are just semantic DoubleSpeak to cover up that they were NOT "failures" but milestones on the road to control.

Copenhagen and the rhetoric that follows will be poo-poo'ed by critics...but it was means to an(THE) end...

Fabian Socialist "gradualism" on a global scale....

Not much time left.....a PLANNED "false flag" and then the chorus of bipartisan frightened "leaders" demanding power to "fix" the problem.

It will be very ugly.....

[joseluisbelmar]

by pnut134 December 20, 2009 7:41 AM EST. I wish you had a name and not only an alias. But just for your information, I know more about climatology than you could ever imagine. Your "That same mechanism is at work now, with the leading indicators showing up as the melting of glaciers, the separation of gigantic flows in Antarctica, and the death of coral reefs, among many other things." just shows that you are one of those who are in the payroll of All More Lies. Perhaps you are another Mann, Hansen, Jones or whatever. Go back to school and stop your campaign to change the climate, something that has ocurred for millions and millions of years in the Universe, not only in our little, tiny planet. By the way, you forgot to mention about the polar bears dieing, the tigers, the monkeys and the Atlantic engulfing Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and the little tiny, tiny island of Tuvalu(?). How was your day? Up here in the North Pole we are facing temperatures of minus 40 and we are up to our noses with pure white snow. Most of Europe is covered with snow, thanks to Al Gore and his incredible hoax.So, I wish you and your global waring mates, a Merry Xmas and many colder New Years to come.

[FauxNews]

This was a party, not a summit. It was sightseeing, good accomodations and food. More progress could have been made using the phones in their office.

[koolaid256]

This was not a deal, it was an agreement to "take note" or, go ahead and do it but I won't sign it agreement. China agreed to "international consultations and analysis", when asked what that was, the negotiator replied, we are negotiating what that means. When you agree to give away billions of dollars on an agreement and you do not actually know what that agreement means, you are a fool. And you know the saying, A fool and his money are soon parted. This was a last minute deal to save face. The Chinese are still laughing, at us not with us. Overseas news is reporting that Obama's speach is the reason China walked away and met with Brazil and others, that Obama was not invited. I tend to beleive them over our fake news services.

[strictlylogical]

"There was an unimaginable scene as the president strolled into a meeting of other leaders, only to find there literally was not a seat for him at the table. He quickly said he would "sit by my friend Lula," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lzula da Silva."
'Nuff said about the 'respect' the world has for Mr Obama

[sjc_1]

The world leaders do not want to be upstaged, that is the nature of ego. President Obama does not mind, it is results that matter. We can lead by example with combined cycle power plants and biofuels. Five years from now when we emit 5% less than today, we can go to China and say "how are you doing?".

[bubbadubba]

So what do you say now Obama haters?
Forget about this Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck?
"CONCORD, N.H. -- In his final push for a primary victory, Senator John McCain arrived here this afternoon and made a pitch that might have surprised voters: He cast himself as the environmentalist of the presidential campaign.

"I will clean up the planet," McCain said. "I will make global warming a priority."

[joseluisbelmar]

Some days ago, I wrote the following comment in the Examiner: "Without being Nostradamus, COP15 will be a flop, a complete flop, thanks GOD! I have never read and heard so many stupidities in my whole life as the ones I read and
heard around Copenhagen. I insist: Al Gore should be put behind bars. He is the greatest terrorists of all times. People are scared, children are terrified because of the dieing polar bears and African countries are looking for a way to receive money they can use for other things but to reduce pollution. Phil Jones, Mann, Al Gore, Obama, Calderon and the nincompoops Danes, should go to school to learn something about Climatology and not participating in a worldwide conference without knowing what they are going to face there. I wonder i any of then has read one, just one of the 4,558 e-mails hacked by a Russian hacker and distributed via a Russian server way up there in the wildernes of Siberia."

COP15 was a complete fiasco because they were trying to fix the changing of the climate, something that has ocurred for millions and millions of years, instead of concentrating in how to prevent more pollution, and that is all. Besides, all the conference circled around money and only money. Many countries were demanding more money from the rich countries: money that I am completely sure would be used to increase some politicians bank accounts and nothing else. Next year in Mexico, I predict the same story: climate change conference will be a flop again because the countries are only looking for their economic benefits. Just today I read that Ecuador demands many billions of dollars for not exploiting the oil reserves just found in a national park. That is the moral created by Obama and other stupid leaders who are offering tax payers money to solve the "global warming". Nincompoops! Climate change has ocurred in the Universe for millions of years and no one, not even God, has been able to do anything about it. If something happens, it will certainly happen when everybody has passed away. Obama, Merkel, Sarkozy and others, including my Mexican president, Felipe Calderón, do not know a thing about climatology and they will never understand that the Sun is behind the changes in the climate. By the way, to all of those who believe in Al Gore´s lies: How is the weather where you live? Don't you have blizzards? Are you not under one feet or more of snow?If you have them, blaim the global warming. The world will face a new mini ice age and almost everybody is trying to hide the Sun with one finger. Good luck!
Jose Luis Belmar, a CO2 lover.

[pnut134]

I believe you just argued for a point against your anti-intellectual beliefs. Also, your comments about "blizzards" and "snow" show just how much you truly do not understand the mechanism of climate change.

"COP15 was a complete fiasco because they were trying to fix the changing of the climate, something that has ocurred for millions and millions of years, instead of concentrating in how to prevent more pollution,..."

[joseluisbelmar]

Some days ago, I wrote the following comment in the Examiner: "Without being Nostradamus, COP15 will be a flop, a complete flop, thanks GOD! I have never read and heard so many stupidities in my whole life as the ones I read and
heard around Copenhaguen. I insist: Al Gore should be put behind bars. He is the greatest terrorists of all times. People are scared, children are terrified because of the dieing polar bears and African countries are looking for a way to receive money they can use for other things but to reduce pollution. Phil Jones, Mann, Al Gore, Obama, Calderon and the nincompoops Danes, should go to school to learn something about Climatology and not participating in a worldwide conference without knowing what they are going to face there. I wonder i any of then has read one, just one of the 4,558 e-mails hacked by a Russian hacker and distributed via a Russian server way up there in the wildernes of Siberia."

VOP15 was a complete fiasco because they were trying to fix the changing of the climate, something that has ocurred for millions and millions of years, instead of concentrating in how to prevent more pollution, and that is all. Besides, all the conference circled around money and only money. Many countries were demanding more money from the rich countries: money that I am completely sure would be used to increase some politicians bank accounts and nothing else. Next year in Mexico, I predict the same story: climate change conference will be a flop again because the countries are only looking for their economic benefits. Just today I read that Ecuador demands many billions of dollars for not exploiting the oil reserves just found in a national park. That is the moral created by Obama and other stupid leaders who are offering tax payers money to solve the "global warming". Nincompoops! Climate change has ocurred in the Universe for millions of years and no one, not even God, has been able to do anything about it. If something happens, it will certainly happen when everybody has passed away. Obama, Merkel, Sarkozy and others, including my Mexican president, Felipe Calderón, do not know a thing about climatology and they will never understand that the Sun is behind the changes in the climate. By the way, to all of those who believe in Al Gore´s lies: How is the weather where you live? Don't you have blizzards? Are you not under one feet or more of snow?If you have them, blaim the global warming. The world will face a new mini ice age and almost everybody is trying to hide the Sun with one finger. Good luck!
Jose Luis Belmar, a CO2 lover.

[pnut134]

It is the warming of the ocean, and the resulting changes in the O2 levels and direction of currents that created the last major ice age. That same mechanism is at work now, with the leading indicators showing up as the melting of glaciers, the separation of gigantic flows in Antarctica, and the death of coral reefs, among many other things. Your reference to a singular event such as blizzards is inane and shows the shallow intellect that most deniers have towards this subject.