Copenhagen gets moving – [“We are now using [square] brackets”]

At last – progress! There has been significant movement on those all important “brackets” in the draft negotiating text – these are the words than go between ‘and’, ‘but’, and ‘Geezus that bloke from Saudi Arabia is being a pain in the arse’ – and deal with the important bits like emissions cuts and money.

In the lead up to Copenhagen, E.U. President Jose Manuel Barroso quipped that the draft text was so full of brackets that it was destined to become “the longest suicide note in history.” Thankfully, The Guardian’s Jonathon Watts has reported one insider as saying “We are now using square brackets, which signify something solid, instead of squiggley brackets, which were far less substantial.”

In other good news, it looks like civil society may be having a little impact. The forces of God were back with the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams hosting mass in Copenhagen while church bells tolled 350 times across the country (in support of a 350 parts per million C02 target).

There were also 200 more arrests, with new improved cuddly-image concern Chinese negotiating supremo Su Wei contending that the huge protests may be considered “constructive, as it shows the interest of the general public in climate change.”An interesting call from a Chinese diplomat, though he hopped safely back onto the fence, saying, “you can also say they disrupt the negotiations and the freedom of other people.”

As the end of the conference draws nearer, however, the pressure is beginning to show. It’s getting to that stage where impassioned pleas from island nations induce tears in the compassionate, a little choking in the guilty, and constant checking of the watch from US negotiators.

The Australian, redeeming itself after reporting tabloid babble about the size of the Australian delegation, has described how bow tie wearing Queanbeyan dandy and Tuvalu negotiator Tom Fry almost broke down defending Tuvalu’s draft proposal which requires deep cuts form the U.S. and China.

“I woke this morning and I was crying, and that is not easy for a grown man to admit,” Fry was reported as saying in his conference address, “The fate of my country rests in your hands.”

The Australian also reported that K-Rudd is rumoured to be pressuring Tuvalu to drop their proposal (supported by 90 island and poor nations) for a 1.5 degree temperature rise target. Further unsubstantiated rumour has it that Tuvalu is planning to punish Rudd by making him look even more uncomfortable in the brightest shirt ever seen at next year’s South Pacific Forum photo shoot. If there is one thing Rudd will fear more than condemning neighbours to oblivion it’s being subject to an uncontrolled press conference.

The African Union is also not taking the obstructionism of developed nations lying down. Ethiopian Prime Minister and AU negotiator Meles Zenawi has throw down the gauntlet, saying “If Copenhagen is going to be about an agreement that simply rides roughshod over Africa, then we will try to scuttle it, and I think we have reasonable assurance we can scuttle it if our concerns are not addressed.”

The official COP15 site also reported that Zenawi has sought assurances from India and China that they won’t support any deal that doesn’t addressed African demands for funding.

Al Jazeera has also stocked up on the real business of climate change, with several stories detailing some pretty shocking impacts that people in the developing world are wearing. Disastrous Kashmiri saffron harvests and the oxygen starvation and death of most life in the Manaquiri River in the Brazilian Amazon provide a poignant counterpoint to debates about squiggly or square brackets.The English transition Towns pin-up child of Totnes also gets a look in to show that not all the news is bad. The show rolls on…..

Cartoon: Mark, HERE