Who is to blame for the failed talks in Copenhagen?

The very weak and dissapointing results shown at Copenhagen call for a change of the UN negotiating process...More links on the Copenhagen talks, from UK's "The Guardian"...

Copenhagen treaty was 'held to ransom', says Gordon Brown
UK's PM Gordon Brown calls for reform of UN climate talks after Copenhagen talks end in weak agreement(the Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/21/copenhagen-treaty-gordon-brown

The road from Copenhagen
UK Climate secretary Ed Miliband accuses China, Sudan, Bolivia and other leftwing Latin American countries of trying to hijack Copenhagen

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/20/copenhagen-climate-change-accord

How do I know China wrecked the Copenhagen deal? I was in the room
As recriminations fly post-Copenhagen, one writer offers a fly-on-the-wall account of how talks failed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/22/copenhagen-climate-change-mark-lynas

Copenhagen: The key players and how they rated
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/20/copenhagen-obama-brown-climate

Danwei interviews Jonathan Watts: "Copenhagen will shape our lives for years to come"
http://www.danwei.org/foreign_media_on_china/danwei_interviews_jonathan_wat.php

and other points of view about why the talks in Copenhagen failed:

If you want to know who's to blame for Copenhagen, look to the US Senate
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/21/copenhagen-failure-us-senate-vested-interests

Blame Denmark, not China, for Copenhagen failure
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/dec/28/copenhagen-denmark-china

INTERVIEW - Copenhagen blame game not helpful - U.N. climate chief
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091224/india_nm/india449579

Disappointment at Copenhagen deal 'justified': Obama
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091224/sc_afp/unclimatewarminguspolitics

news feeds: China VS the World

These few days there have been a few (at least 3) very interesting and thought provoking duel-like "spats" that seem to be putting China VS (at least some) Western democracies.

One is the deportation of the 20 Uighurs from Cambodia. (In apparent snub to international law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which China by the way is a signatory, but definitely doesn't act like one). The UN, the USA and EU have all expressed concern about this. Here are 2 links on the topic.

Deported Uighurs told UN of fears of China return
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091222/ap_on_re_as/as_china_uighurs_4#

Editorial (New York Times)
China, Cambodia and the Uighurs
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/opinion/22tue2.html

The second issue is the political trial of Liu Xiaobo.

Liu trial a travesty: Human Rights Watch (AFP)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091222/wl_asia_afp/chinarightsdissidentjusticeushrw_20091222072820
Chinese activists warned over dissident trial
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091222/wl_asia_afp/chinarightsdissidenttrialeuus_20091222072820
The Trial of Liu Xiaobo: A Citizens' Manifesto and a Chinese Crackdown
Perry Link
http://blogs.nybooks.com/post/293446113/the-trial-of-liu-xiaobo

Chinese Dissident Gets 11-Year Prison Term
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/25/world/asia/25china.html

Trial in China Signals New Limits on Dissent http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/24/world/asia/24china.html?em

video about Liu Xiaobo
http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/17275236;_ylt=Ar2u60H__VW8FKSDXUjLhxIBS5Z4

The third one is the failed talks at Copenhagen.

China blasts claim it 'hijacked' climate talks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091222/ap_on_re_as/as_china_britain_climate_2

Ed Miliband: China tried to hijack Copenhagen climate deal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/20/ed-miliband-china-copenhagen-summit

How China Stiffed the World in Copenhagen
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/12/21/how_china_stiffed_the_world_in_copenhagen

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A China related article in the New York Times I came across recently.


Uneasy Engagement: China’s Export of Labor Faces Scorn
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/world/asia/21china.html?bl

A day Before the Copenhagen Talks :pessimism and concern

The unprecedented gathering of politicians in Copenhagen shows the urgency of the question, but frankly things seem far from optimistic about the global climate change summit dubbed "Hopenhagen", as a play of words between the name of the city the meeting takes place and the hope this meeting will actually have a meaningful outcome...A hope for a Fair, Ambitious and legally binding deal to protect our climate, but, unfortunately, there is enough reason to be pessimistic about the possibility for such an outcome. The two major emitters of CO2 gases which are one of the main reasons to blame for the raising global temperatures caused by man's negative interference with the Planet are USA and China. The current "superpower" and the emerging one. One of the countries with "historical" burden of blame for the build up CO2 in the atmosphere and the current (and by all predictions to be the major future) one Number One polluter in the World, China. The problem is, the consequences of the rising carbon emissions are not a question of "per capita", or "state of economical development", the burden of pollution that is emitted is huge and it will have huge impact on the whole Planet, in fact because of the rising ocean level some small (and politically "insignificant") island countries are faced with not so far in the future fate of being completely submerged... It is really hard not to get angry at the arrogant, short-sighted and stubborn position of the Chinese government on the "issue" of responsibility. They talk loudly about historical responsibility, but the irony is that at this very moment China single handedly is building new historical responsibility, and is de facto the biggest polluter of this planet, with predictions that its polluting role will rise more, even double. And while we can say that indeed the western developed economies have contributed much to the accumulation of CO2 and there is a clear negative impact of their economic development,it was largely done out of ignorance for the consequences.The present situation of China, however is different, China is fully aware that this is bad, but refuses to act responsibly...and instead of thinking and acting responsibly and wisely, is pointing at others. An immature and insane behaviour only guided by self -interest that unfortunately influences the whole world. It is high time other countries realise that China is NOT a developing country in the same sense as they are. And they will only lose if they continue to be sided in the same category with it. Because China while indeed in a stage of development is in a far different league with any other so-called "developing country". It is arrogant, greedy and improper for China to ask for money from developed countries and at the same time be the current Number One polluter of the world who has no intention to cut it's emissions. It is immoral and irresponsible.And in this case China has no right to finger point at others, since it itself finds it impossible to face up to hard truths.The truth is that the Chinese government doesn't care at all about if Tuvalo islands or other such ("insignificant" in their view) island countries completely disappear from the face of the Earth. They say that the "interests" of the "Chinese people" are paramount and "come first". Actually the truth is that those politicians have little right to even talk about the so-called interests of the Chinese people, for the simple fact that the insanity of the way that China is "developing" is not only poisoning the rest of the world, it is poisoning its own people. And while the Chinese representatives in Copenhagen arrogantly ask for accountability for past historical responsibility they should be ashamed, and face the reality of the present and future historical responsibility of China, and while they ask the west to do some soul searching it is also they too who should actually think more deeply about the price of the Rise of China...the price that ordinary Chinese people pay, and the price everybody else will pay, because political borders are no much more than a temporary illusion, the Earth is a interconnected organism, that we don't even come close to actually understand. Just on the eve of the start of the Copenhagen summit China announced a pledge to slow down it's emissions intensity (not cut down or reduce), it is better than nothing, but a very legitimate worry (and my worry too) is how will the Chinese hold on to this pledge in reality. The reason why there exists doubt and controversy is that this pledge is not legally binding, and with a very poor history in rigged reports and tempered statistics I seriously doubt that the Chinese will be able to pull even this through...

Autumn in Kyoto - photos

I selected some photos which I took for the past month (i.e. November) in Kyoto, and also in the nearby Ohara and Nara during a few one day excursions. They are mostly of Buddhist temples and temple gardens, but there are also some of Shinto shrines, or of some places or images in Kyoto that impressed me.

Here is the link to the web album with the photos I selected.

Even though the quality of those photos is really not good (they were taken with my mobile phone), it is the only way I can share with you digital images of what I'm seeing...Meanwhile I'm of course also taking photos with my camera, but since I use film, it will take a while before I develop the films and make prints and can be able to show you some "real" pictures...Meanwhile this is, in the present circumstances, what I can show you...although with no great image quality (in fact it is really not good), I hope some of the feeling and some of my way of seeing things can be felt even through these images...

the album link again, just in case...
http://picasaweb.google.com/d.karmapolice/KyotoInAutumn?authkey=Gv1sRgCP6hhu7S1eOdZA#

P.S. I'm getting really very discouraged by the lack of feedback...it is pointless to share without any reaction...