Wriggling Presidents

Copenhagen beckons. The crucial political negotiations on a global deal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and broker a deal to replace the Kyoto protocols with a substantial, serious and enforceable treaty is fast approaching. The conference is in December and there is much political wriggling going on ahead of then.
Key to success is the Obama administration coming good to deliver the emission cuts in the U.S. previously proposed. Guess what? They're starting to wriggle. Pressure from the right and their oil producing benefactors are giving the presidency the jitters and overtures to dilute the original proposals are being orchestrated.
The U.S. has submitted to the U.N. their "implementing agreement"ahead of Copenhagen which includes the statement that emissions reductions would be subject to "conformity with domestic law". In other words a piece of wriggle designed to protect the U.S. from being forced to implement international action.
Ban Ki-moon (why do UN secretary generals always have great names? Must be a prerequisite for the role) has much to do ahead of the conference to drive home the point, which he clearly and deeply understands, that failure is not an option.
The UN's intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change state that World emissions of greenhouse gases need to peak by 2015 to give any chance of gaining less than a 2 degree Celsius average global temperature rise. Phew!
Meanwhile the Global Humanitarian Forum led by Kofi Annan has made it clear that climate change already kills 300,000 people per year (as many as killed by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004). Most of the deaths are due not to extreme weather events but gradual (yet accelerating) environmental degradation, such as flooding, droughts and crop failure leading to malnutrition. Climate justice means pollution has a cost, and those costs must be borne by the polluters.