Analysis: Climate talks a halting step toward goal
The Copenhagen climate conference "failed" long before it even opened. It may not "succeed" until long after it ends. For the moment, then, negotiators must satisfy themselves with something in between, an "outcome," one whose shape Thursday was in the hands of the United States and China. A pivotal meeting in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007 set a two-year timetable for the world to produce a grand new agreement to cut even deeper into the greenhouse-gas emissions largely blamed for global warming. Every one of the thousands attending that U.N. conference saw the problem, however: The U.S. administration of President George W. Bush had blocked progress on climate change for seven years, and would do so for one more.
www.google.com


Obama will be in climate spotlight in Copenhagen
President Obama leaves for stalemated climate talks in Copenhagen today facing global expectations that he can salvage an agreement on greenhouse gases as well as heavy domestic pressure not to sign a deal that could kill American jobs. Obama will join more than 110 world leaders, who, barring a major breakthrough, will convene Friday with many of their core issues apparently unresolved and persistent rifts between wealthy nations and the developing world.
www.latimes.com