This is a very interesting 15 minute interview with Bill McKibben - creator of the 350.org movement and well known Canadian activist and author Naomi Klein shortly after Obama's press conference at Copenhagen where he announced the "accord" between the U.S., China, Brazil and India.
A number of interesting points are made:
Bill McKibben states that perhaps the most significant thing to come out of Copenhagen is not its affect on climate but the body blow the "accord" dealth to the ideals of internationalism, multi-lateralism and the UN system itself. Rather than try to negotiate a deal with input from all countries four major carbon emmitters simply decided amongst themselves what will be agreed on. He states that it laid bare the true architecture of global power which declares the planet and most countries simply don't count. We saw with the Iraq invasion the UN could not stop a powerful country going to war and now it seems it can't have much input into stopping the use of fossil fuels. Mckibben also makes the interesting point that if George Bush had brought the same policies as Obama to Copenhagen he would have been condemned around the world and at home but Obama gets away with it. He also asks that it now appears that it is not clear what is the role of civil society in the Climate Change movement and we need to go back to the drawing board in terms of strategy.
Naomi Klein turns the blowtorch on Obama and the U.S. She states that the the conference would have gone very differently if the U.S. had brought real cuts to the table instead of the miserly %4 on 1990 levels cuts. She says its time to take the "gloves off" in terms of dealing with Obama who has failed on Climate as he has in so many other ways to bring progressive change.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbjtpg_klein-mckibben-take-off-the-kid-...