joshfulton.blogspot.com | Jan 4, 2010

by Josh Fulton

We last checked in with the British police state about two months ago. Let’s see what’s new.

British bus passengers could soon be forced to use electronic tags to get onto buses. This fits in with the British government’s move away from paper checks and toward an electronic system to be implemented by 2018. The best part of an electronic bus pass is that it will surely help prevent bus-based terrorism.

Britain is also making sure its schools are safe. Four-year-olds are being monitored for “radicalization,” and five-year-olds are being taught sexual education. After all, there is nothing worse than a sexually naive five-year-old who is also a terrorist.

British school teachers have also been given the authority to frisk school children and search their school bags for drugs without consent, because we know how seriously Britain takes drug enforcement.

British schools have not only been protecting students against drugs, but they’ve also been protecting them against obesity. Students in Greater Manchester have been forced to walk to school rather than getting dropped off by their parents to help keep the students in shape. …Better hustle up, fatties, or we’ll take you away from your mothers! Just kidding, of course.

Britain isn’t only making sure its schools are safe. It’s making sure everywhere else is safe as well.

A few months ago, Britain started to put CCTV cameras into the homes of 20,000 “problem families” to make sure that the families raise their children correctly. This is good for keeping people safe indoors, but what about outdoors?

Well, luckily, the government has been going into the homes of willing citizens and placing CCTV’s inside to be trained on the street to keep a watch for “anti-social behaviour.”

What about inside private establishments? Can we make them as safe as our homes? Well, luckily, now a pub can be closed down if it doesn’t have “sufficient” CCTV coverage. …And I was afraid I might actually be alone!

Also, if you are ever lonely, don’t worry, because new CCTV cameras have been outfitted with speakers, so they can talk to you. …I want them to tell me how pretty I am!

The best thing about these CCTV cameras is that they’re cost-effective. In fact, the top-earning CCTV speeding camera takes in over £420 thousand in fines a year. No wonder people love them so much.

Of course, CCTV isn’t Britain’s only tool against crime, pre-crime, and legal drinking. Britain is also still capable of that “personal touch.” That is why they’ve given 20,000 town hall bureaucrats the power to enter homes without a warrant.

Reasons these bureaucrats can enter include: checking to make sure a house has an “eco-friendly” refrigerator, making sure a hedge is not too high, and making sure no ‘unregulated hypnotism’ is taking place. …Regulated hypnotism, of course, is fine.

Cyberspace also got safer when Britain enlisted telecoms to help them spy on every phone call, email and web search British citizens make. This makes people safer because naturally now the government knows what they’re doing.

The information gathered will be available to such important agencies as: local councils, the Financial Services Authority, the ambulance service, fire authorities and even prison governors. …Finally, ambulance drivers will know what our Google searches have been even if we’re unconscious!

The best news for the police state, however, has been that the criminal code has expanded. Since 1997, 3,000 criminal offenses have been created, 1,472 of which are imprisonable. The number of people over 50 entering the criminal justice system has also risen by almost 50% in eight years.

Not only has the criminal code expanded, but the people who have arrest powers has also expanded. In Norwich, mall cops can now arrest people. …Sorry, Grandpa, but now it looks like you really are going to have to get out of the massage chair.

Despite all these victories, the police state did suffer one setback during the last two months. Britain was collecting the names, dates of birth and passport details of every passenger entering into and exiting from the country well before they got to the airport, just like any good police state would. But then the EU, which after the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon has authority to overrule member nations’ criminal laws, disallowed it.

This truly is a monumental loss. Britain’s tyrannical authority has been overridden by an even greater tyrannical authority. Why is it always thus to tyrants?

Don’t worry, Britain. As long as you exist as an independent country, however long that may be, we here in America will always have our eyes on you.

After all, we want to keep you safe.

Josh Fulton is a writer and comedian from around Boston originally. He currently lives in North Carolina where he is pursuing his MFA in creative writing.

Posted by permission of joshfulton.blogspot.com

France to introduce new law banning ‘psychological violence’ in marriages

Sociologist Pierre Bonnet said: ‘The next step will be to make rudeness a criminal offence.’

Daily Mail | Jan 5, 2010

By Peter Allen

France will become the first country in the world to ban ‘psychological violence’ within marriage later this year.

The new law, which would also apply to co-habiting couples, would see people getting criminal records for insulting their loved ones during domestic arguments.

Electronic tagging would be used on repeat offenders, according to the country’s prime minister, Francois Fillon, who announced the law.

If it proves successful, it could be introduced in other European countries including Britain.

But critics dismissed the measure as a ‘gimmick’ which would be impossible to implement.

The law is particularly aimed at protecting women who currently suffer the worst attacks of this kind, ranging from off-hand comments about their appearance to threats of physical violence.

Mr Fillon said: ‘It’s an important step forward as the creation of this offence will allow us to deal with the most insidious situations – situations that leave no visible scars, but which leave victims torn up inside.’

He added that his government would also be experimenting with electronic surveillance measures to ‘monitor the effectiveness of restraining orders against a violent spouse’.

Psychologist Anne Giraud said: ‘Squabbling couples will allege all kinds of things about each other, but they won’t necessarily be true.

‘The police are likely to be called out more and more when this law comes into force this year, but often it will be a case of one person’s word against the other.

‘Psychological violence is a very serious matter, but punishing it through the courts is a very different matter altogether.’

Critics have also said the government should not be intervening in private domestic arguments in which no one got hurt.

Sociologist Pierre Bonnet said: ‘The next step will be to make rudeness a criminal offence. The police and courts will be over-stretched trying to deal with the numerous cases.’

A TV advertising campaign was used last year to try and highlight domestic violence in France. It showed a husband who regularly insults his wife, leaving her mentally traumatised.

In 2008, 157 French women were killed by their husband or partner, with hundreds more suffering domestic physical violence.

A spokesman for Mr Fillon said the new law was supported by the government, and was likely to come into effect within six months.

Body scanner at Manchester Airport

The full-body scanners are up to 10 times more expensive than the usual metal detectors, which cost up to $15,000 (£9,400) Photo: AFP/Getty Images

The full body scanners being introduced to Britain’s airports risk breaking child protection laws against making indecent images of children, campaign groups have claimed.

Telegraph | Jan 5, 2010

By Heidi Blake

Airport staff member demonstrating a full body scan at Manchester Airport in Manchester, north-west England: Passenger profiling needed as well as scanners, airlines chief warns

The pictures created by the scanners are so graphic they are tantamount to “virtual strip searching”, according to privacy campaigners who oppose the use of the security devices.

Ministers may be forced to consider making under-18s exempt from the scans and civil liberties campaigners are demanding measures to ensure the images, which will include those of celebrities, are not leaked onto the internet.

Airport officials say the images from the £80,000 scanners are only seen by a single security officer in a remote location before it is deleted.

But a 12-month trial at Manchester airport of scanners which reveal naked images of passengers only went ahead last month after children were exempted.

The decision came after Terri Dowty, of Action for Rights of Children, gave warning that the scanners could breach the Protection of Children Act 1978, under which it is illegal to create an indecent image or a “pseudo-image” of a child.

A spokesman for the Department for Transport told The Guardian: “We understand the concerns expressed about privacy in relation to the deployment of body scanners. It is vital staff are properly trained and we are developing a code of practice to ensure these concerns are properly taken into account.

Gordon Brown gave the go-ahead at the weekend for the scanners to be rolled out across all Britain’s major airports, and said travellers would see the gradual introduction of full-body scans and hand luggage checks for traces of explosives.

The Prime Minister told the BBC that the Government would do everything in its power to tighten security following the attempt by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to detonate a bomb on a plane bound for the USA on Christmas Day.

BAA, which runs six UK airports, said it would now install the devices “as soon as is practical” at Heathrow.

A spokesman said: “It is our view that a combination of technology, intelligences and passenger profiling will help build a more robust defence against the unpredictable and changing nature of the terrorist threat to aviation.”

But he added that nothing had yet been decided on exactly which passengers would undergo the full body scans, and declined to comment on how soon BAA would be extending the use of scanners to other airports.

Experts say disguised bomb could elude inspector

Screeners use the backs of their hands when touching the groin area and breasts

Associated Press | Jan 3, 2010

by Michael Tarm

CHICAGO – With all the screening technology at U.S. airports, the last line of defense is still the human hand: the pat-down search.

But aviation experts say the pat-down is often ineffective, in part because of government rules covering where screeners can put their hands and how frequently they can frisk passengers. As a result, even if the man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound U.S. jetliner on Christmas Day got an airport pat-down, it probably wouldn’t have found the explosives authorities say were hidden in his crotch.

“To have people hold up their arms and just pat them – like I’m really going to carry a bomb there,” said industry analyst Michael Boyd, arguing that pat-downs are often of little value. “You know where you’re going to put it, and no one’s going to go there.”

One woman who filed a formal complaint after she was patted down before a flight in 2004 said such searches don’t make anyone safer.

“The pat-down searches represent a needle-in-a-haystack approach, and I still believe they wouldn’t stop anything from happening,” said Lisa Lynch, 49, of Edmonds, Wash.

And, she said, “to see elderly women in wheelchairs patted down … it is heartbreaking. It is just so invasive.”

Lynch, who flies regularly and just returned home from a trip on Friday, said she has not been patted down since the day it happened as she was rushing to catch a flight.

In fact, most travelers at U.S. airports never get a pat-down when they pass through security. A metal detector must be set off first and then screeners would need to find out what triggered the alarm. That often amounts to screeners just lightly tapping on a passenger’s arms, legs and clothes.

But even if they go ahead with a pat-down, it likely would not turn up something nonmetallic, small and well-hidden.

Unlike the frisking of suspects conducted by police – which involves officers running their hands firmly up and down the body, including sensitive areas like the groin, buttocks and breasts – the pat-downs at airports usually involve, well, patting.

A flood of complaints by women, including one by Lynch, led the Transportation Security Administration in 2004 to list do’s and don’ts on pat-downs, including barring screeners from touching female passengers between their breasts. The TSA hasn’t publicly released that list.

But a report by the Government Accountability Office, which said federal investigators were able to smuggle liquid explosives and detonators past security at U.S. airports, appeared to cause some changes last year in pat-down policies.

In one instance cited in the report, an investigator placed coins in his pockets to ensure he’d receive a secondary screening. But after a pat-down and use of a hand-held metal detector, the screener didn’t catch the prohibited items the investigator brought through a checkpoint.

The TSA last year decided to permit what it describes as “enhanced pat-downs” that include breast and groin searches. But these could be done only under limited circumstances and only after the use of metal detectors, less invasive pat-downs and all other tools had been exhausted.

Still, even in those cases, screeners must use the backs of their hands when touching the groin area and breasts, according to the TSA.

“This new procedure will affect a very small percentage of travelers, but it is a critical element in ensuring the safety of the flying public,” the agency said in a statement on its Web site.

Since the Dec. 25 incident, some have been calling for more pat-downs at airports. But sensitivities on all sides mean any push for more frequent, thorough pat-downs would likely meet fierce resistance.

“People just wouldn’t stand for it. You wouldn’t. I wouldn’t,” said Gerry Berry, a Florida-based airport security expert.

Fearful of lawsuits or allegations of molestation, many screeners at airports would be the most resistant of all, Boyd said.

“You’ll have people yelling, ‘He grabbed me! He groped me!’” he said. “You don’t want that job.”

Lynch said scanning machines would render such searches unnecessary.

“That is way less invasive than somebody putting their hands on you,” said Lynch, who was so bothered by what happened that she lay in bed that night sweating and unable to sleep.

TSA spokesman Greg Soule declined to discuss the agency’s pat-down rules or any directives to airports, including whether the agency has ordered stepped-up pat-downs at U.S. airports since last week.

“Pat-downs are one layer of security in a multifaceted security system,” he said.

The TSA, he added, was aware of concerns surrounding pat-downs.

“I would say that security is TSA’s No. 1 priority while balancing the privacy of all passengers,” he said.

It’s possible that pat-downs may become more frequent in airports as the use of full-body scanning machines expands. The high-tech machines are in use at a handful of airports; the TSA just bought 150 and plans to buy 300 more. But passengers can opt for a physical pat-down instead of being scanned.

Pope Benedict XVI used his traditional New Year address to call for a revolution in personal lifestyles in order to safeguard the future of the planet.

Telegraph | Jan 1, 2010

By Nick Squires in Rome

Pope Benedict XVI used his traditional New Year address to call for a revolution in personal lifestyles in order to safeguard the future of the planet

He said people needed to change how they live their lives and called for “ecological responsibility” to be taught in schools.

The Pope said individuals and families had as important a role to play in preserving the environment as governments meeting at international summits such as the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen last month.

Related

Pope Benedict XVI urges pilgrims to fight climate change and reject consumerism

He told thousands of faithful who had gathered in St Peter’s Square that environmental responsibility was essential for global peace.

“I would like to underline the importance of the choices of individuals, families and local administrations in preserving the environment.

“An objective shared by all, an indispensable condition for peace, is that of overseeing the earth’s natural resources with justice and wisdom,” he said.

Calling for an end to war and in particular the suffering of children, the 82-year-old, German-born pontiff said there was “a close link” between respect for mankind and respect for nature.

“If humanity shames itself, it damages its environment”, Benedict said.

He appealed for “investment in education with the objective not only to transmit technical and scientific concepts, but also a broader and deeper ‘ecological responsibility’ based on respect for humanity, human rights and fundamental duties”.

The Pope has built on the legacy of his predecessor, John Paul II, in putting the environment high on the Vatican’s agenda.

Last month, in a message sent to heads of state and international organisations, Benedict called on rich nations to acknowledge responsibility for the environmental crisis and to rein in consumerism.

He gave his address a week after a 25-year-old woman with a history of mental problems knocked him to the ground during Christmas Eve mass.

He was unhurt in the fall and has kept up his busy holiday schedule.

Full body scanners will not eliminate the terrorist threat to flying, the world’s leading airlines have warned, calling for security checks to be focused on groups of passengers perceived to present the greatest risk.

Telegraph | Jan 1, 2010

By David Millward, Transport Editor

Security can only be guaranteed by making a risk assessment of people before they are even board an aircraft, said Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association.

“Instead of looking for bad things—nail clippers and rogue bottles of shampoo—security systems need to focus on finding bad people,” he said.

Mr Bisignani’s warning came as airlines face additional security demands following the unsuccessful attempt to blow up a transatlantic flight on Christmas day by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a former London University student and known Muslim extremist.

The intervention from one of aviation’s most influential figures comes as passengers and airlines wait to hear the results of a comprehensive review of airport security announced by Gordon Brown.

Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, will unveil the Government’s plans when he is expected to demand for the increased use of body scanners and order a swift increase in the use of explosive-detecting swabs at departure gates.

Airlines fear that over-reliance of scanners and pat down searches of all passengers could bring airports grinding to a halt and “waste resources”.

Mr Bisignani added: “The air transport system cannot support 100% pat-down searches over the long term.”

Airlines have urged Governments to combine hi-tech screening with intelligence about terrorist threats and evaluation of the risk posed by individual passengers, to pick out potential terrorists who would be subjected to more detailed searches.

“Adding new hardware to an old system will not deliver the results we need. It is time for governments to invest in a process built around a check point of the future that combines the best of screening technology with the best of intelligence gathering. Such a system would give screeners access to important passenger data to make effective risk assessments,” Mr Bisignani said.

Targeting travellers seen as a potential threat – known as passenger profiling – remains controversial, with some critics arguing that it is potentially racist with Asian and Arab travellers more likely to be picked out than others.

But supporters of profiling say that techniques are more sophisticated and would include taking into account how tickets were bought – a cash purchase would trigger concern – previous travel and even behaviour at the airport itself.

A number of measures are expected to follow the urgent security review. In addition to introducing extra machinery capable of detecting whether explosives have been handled, the Government is likely to call for the reactivation of four full body scanners which have been in storage at Heathrow for some time.

The machines, which are now six years old, will have to be updated before they can be brought back into service – although industry insiders say this could be done within 24 hours.

New scanners cost in the region of £100,000 each. One design entails a passenger walking slowly through an arch and turning, while another requires an individual to stand briefly between two wardrobe-sized cabinets.

Should anything arouse concern the passenger is pulled aside for a further inspection.

In both cases the image is transmitted to a screen elswhere in the airport, where it is monitored by security staff. It is this which has led to some privacy fears. However software is being developed that could read the image and pick up suspect objects without the need for human inspection.

BAA, Britain’s largest airport operator, believes it could get machines in place swiftly once it was told to do so by the Government.

Theresa Villiers, the Tory transport spokesman, said the Government needed a better co-ordinated approach to airport security.

“Gordon Brown is scrambling to catch up on this issue. Labour have serious questions to answer on their slow response to the security issues which were apparent long before the Christmas Day bomb plot.

“Labour must also recognise that no matter how sophisticated scanning technology becomes, it cannot solve all airport security issues. An intelligence-led approach to security is vitally important if we are to do the best we can to keep people safe then they are flying.”

The memo states that airline personnel should perform a “thorough pat-down of all passengers at boarding gate prior to boarding, concentrating on upper legs and torso.”

myfoxspokane.com | Dec 28, 2009

By FRANK CARNEVALE

(MYFOX NATIONAL) – Following the failed terrorist attack on Christmas Day, authorities have added more security measures for air travel, including limiting carry-on bags, restricting movement during the last hour of flight and implementing pat-downs before boarding planes.

Travel Web site Elliott.org has posted a memo reportedly from the Transportation Security Administration sent to US Airways employees regarding stepped-up security measures.

The memo states that airline personnel should perform a “thorough pat-down of all passengers at boarding gate prior to boarding, concentrating on upper legs and torso.”

Another measure addressed in the memo states that during flight “passengers may not conceal their hands under blankets, pillows, or personal belongings held on their lap beginning one hour prior to arrival at destination.”

After a two-day clampdown, some in-flight security rules have been eased. The Associated Press reported that at the captain’s discretion, passengers can have blankets and other items on their laps or move about the cabin during the tail end of flight, two industry officials briefed on the situation said Monday.

The New York Times reported that passengers on international flights coming to the United States had to remain in their seats for the last hour of flight without any personal items on their laps.

On Saturday Jennifer Allen was on a Northwest Airlines flight on the same route as the plane that was disrupted by the attempted bomber. She said she was well-searched before boarding the flight.

“They patted you down really well,” said Allen, 41, to The Canadian Press . “It wasn’t just a quick rub, it was a slow pat. They went through everything in your bags, went through the pockets in your pants, the pockets of your coat.”

The Canadian Press also reported that young children were pat-down before boarding a flight.

The Department of Homeland Security released a statement stating that “passengers flying from international locations to U.S. destinations may notice additional security measures in place. These measures are designed to be unpredictable, so passengers should not expect to see the same thing everywhere.”

The Associated Press reported that a woman returning from an international flight in Philadelphia said that security screeners in Santo Domingo asked her to lift her long hair so they could look at her back.

The tougher security measures were imposed after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, flying from Nigeria to Amsterdam then to the U.S. on a Northwest Airlines flight, tried to ignite an explosive as the plane prepared to land in Detroit.

WSJ | Dec 27, 2009

By Sudeep Reddy

Body scanner at Manchester Airport

Several lawmakers on Sunday called for a broader deployment of full-body scanning equipment at airport security checkpoints, after a Nigerian national allegedly tried to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day.

“I think we have to head in that direction,” New York Rep. Peter King, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program. “Yes, there is some brief violation of privacy with a full-body scan. But on the other hand, if we can save thousands of lives, to me, we have to make that decision and we have to come down on the side of saving thousands of lives.”

The suspect, 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, apparently set off a device strapped to his body as the plane was approaching the Detroit airport, according to passengers. The device appeared to have been designed to set off an explosive material, PETN, which the suspect had allegedly carried on board the plane, but it only caused a small fire that was quickly put out by passengers and crew.

Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania said on “Fox News Sunday” that “the full body-examining device is with us and it should have been used. There could be a simple pat-down and this fellow could have been detected.”

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I., Conn.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said on “Fox News Sunday” that “we’ve got to constantly be thinking like the terrorists here.”

He also noted that there have been “privacy concerns expressed” about the use of whole-body imaging devices, “But I think those privacy concerns, which are, frankly, mild, have to fall in the face of the ability of these machines to detect material like this explosive on this individual,” he said.

U.S. personnel in the north could face court-martial, jail for failing orders

NBC News | Dec 18, 2009

The Army general of U.S. forces in Northern Iraq has banned pregnancy among military personnel in his command, NBC News reported on Friday.

Anyone who becomes pregnant or impregnates another servicemember, including married couples assigned to the same unit, could face a court-martial and jail time, according to an order issued by Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo.

The order, which went into effect on Nov. 4, was first reported by the military publication Stars and Stripes.

No one has been punished or accused under the policy, according to Col. David S. Thompson, the inspector general for all soldiers in Iraq.

Military officials say the order was issued because Army policy requires the force to remove a pregnant soldier from a war zone within 14 days of learning of the pregnancy, creating a hole in a unit that makes it more difficult to complete its mission.

“It is a lawful order,” Thompson said Friday during a phone interview with Stars and Stripes.

Thompson, who has served 29 of the past 39 months in Iraq as an inspector general, told the publication that it’s the first time he can recall pregnancy being prohibited.

So far, there have been no known violations of Cucolo’s order, NBC reported.

euractiv.com | Dec 17, 2009

An attempt by developing and emerging countries to create “a new world order” in which Western industrialised nations are no longer dominant is threatening to scupper an agreement on climate change in Copenhagen, warned EU delegates. EurActiv reports from the Danish capital.

As more than 130 world leaders arrive in Copenhagen for the final two days of the UN climate conference – US President Barack Obama is due to arrive tomorrow (18 December) – negotiators have warned that the risk of failure has never been higher.

“The final negotiations will be tense and strenuous,” said Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who is chairing the conference after Climate Minister Connie Hedegaard resigned from the role to move the negotiations up a notch.

‘New world order’

Jo Leinen, who leads the European Parliament’s delegation in Copenhagen, told EurActiv that the conference has been rigged with mistrust between rich and poor nations over emissions reduction targets and aid to the developing world (EurActiv 16/12/09).

Leinen’s interpretation of the current state of play is that developing countries were trying to use the conference as a way to force a new world order in which industrialised countries are no longer the dominant power.

“I think we are at the beginning of a new world order,” the MEP said. But he warned that it would be “a pity to sacrifice the climate conference for unsolved global governance problems”.

His alarm was echoed by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who said on Wednesday (16 December) that negotiators were set for an “uphill struggle” to bridge the gap in the negotiations. “If you don’t get an agreement this week, people will doubt whether you can get an agreement at all,” Brown told the BBC.

Rich-poor divide

Tensions have tended to concentrate on emissions reduction targets for industrialised countries.

On Monday, the G77-China bloc, encompassing 130 developing and emerging nations, suspended the talks for a few hours in protest against the Danish host government, which they said was favouring the interests of developed countries.

The EU expects other developed nations to make firm commitments on emissions reductions targets in order to raise its own target of reducing greenhouse gases by 20% by 2020 to 30%.

But Jo Leinen, the European Parliament’s negotiator, cautioned that this would be a last-minute decision which now seemed unlikely due to insufficient commitments from other parties.

Killing Kyoto?

The Group of 77 and China yesterday warned against attempts to dismantle the Kyoto Protocol, which binds nearly 40 rich nations to limit carbon emissions.

The United States in particular has never ratified Kyoto due to concerns over the economy.

But developing countries want rich nations to be held to their Kyoto obligations, and sign up to a second round of tougher commitments from 2013.

“We have seen that developed country parties to the Kyoto Protocol are seeking to dismantle the protocol itself,” said NafieAli Nafie, head of the Sudanese delegation, who spoke on behalf of the G77 and China at the high-level segment of the conference.

Industrialised countries are in favour of a “single undertaking” which is much weaker than the protocol and would undermine and reinterpret the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, Nafie said.

He said developed countries intended to undermine the principles of “equity, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities” by throwing away the Kyoto Protocol.

Negotiations to extend the Kyoto pact have stalled, India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh warned on Wednesday. He said many developed countries were “vehemently opposing” the protocol and some of them wanted a single new accord obliging all nations to fight global warming. “The sense we get is that [the] Kyoto [Protocol] is in intensive care if not dead,” Ramesh told reporters.

Two-track approach

But developing countries want to maintain Kyoto as an essential part of the negotiations. “The G77 wishes to stress the need to maintain the two-track outcome of which the Kyoto Protocol is an essential instrument,” Nafie said.

The two-track negotiation mechanism was established in the Bali Action Plan, adopted two years ago. According to the action plan, developed countries should come up with emissions reduction targets for the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol after the first period expires in 2012, and discuss how to help developing countries with their mitigation and adaptation efforts under the UNFCCC.

Jo Leinen MEP, head of the European Parliament’s delegation in Copenhagen, told EurActiv that what he had seen so far “is not very encouraging”. He said he was still hoping that the US, Russia, Canada and Australia would up their offers.

“Without a deal on reduction targets, then probably in this conference there will not be a deal on long-term financing,” Leinen said. He warned that the question of financing now seemed to be pushed back until after Copenhagen, which would signal a failure for the conference.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso was still confident that an ambitious deal with targets “is within our grasp”. “If, as I hope, everybody is now ready to overcome the procedural obstacles, I believe we now have a basis for a real negotiation in the closing days towards a meaningful and ambitious deal, which we must transform into a binding legal agreement next year,” he told the high-level segment in Copenhagen yesterday.

Back from Copenhagen, MEP Lena Ek (Sweden, ALDE) stressed the need for action from all sides. “To reach a deal we need three things above all: China must start reporting; America must start financing; and the EU must be committing to a 30% cut in emissions by 2020. No muss, no fuss – just real action now,” she said.

Green MEP Rebecca Harms (Germany) urged European leaders to realise that there is no longer any time to waste. “Reports that EU is preparing to abandon its 30% reduction target by 2020 are extremely worrying at such a crucial stage in the negotiations. The EU has waved this promise under the noses of all other negotiating parties for two years: to revoke it now could jeopardise the talks irreparably. The EU presidency must drop any draft ‘back-up’ plan that would abandon former promises,” she said.

WWF, the global conservation organisation, warned that there was little substance in the texts that are to be presented to heads of states upon their arrival. “In many ways the final sessions have produced more disagreement rather than less on key issues as national negotiators dig in,” said Kim Carstensen, leader of WWF’s global deal. “As the really hard decisions go forward to higher levels, it becomes more likely we will end up with high words on principal and less likely we will get detailed words that will work in tackling climate change.”

Oxfam, the development NGO, called on developed countries to deliver financing, reminding them that poor countries are ready to act on their side. “Like court magicians rich country negotiators are conjuring up a deal for their political masters which provides the illusion of action but delivers next to nothing of substance. Poor countries will not be fooled by spin – as they have already made clear they will not sign a suicide pact in Copenhagen,” said Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International.