UN chief damps climate treaty hopes

Source: Financial Times | By Ed Crooks

A new international climate change treaty is very unlikely to be signed at the Copenhagen talks next month, Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, signalled on Tuesday, saying people had to be “realistic” about what could be achieved.

He said he hoped for a “very strong binding political commitment” that could be turned into a treaty in the first half of next year.

Lisbon passed: Will there be real change in Brussels?

Source: European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) | By Daniel Korski

The much-awaited Lisbon Treaty is now finally in place. Any moment now, the EU will emerge from its pre-Lisbon cocoon and show itself as fully-fledged global actor. Expect an emergent China, an assertive Russia and a declining U.S to stand back in awe. Any minute now. Waiting. See it yet? No? That’s because while the ratification provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the EU to improve the efficiency of its foreign policy apparatus — and is cause for celebration — its implementation could be fraught.

Towards a post-American Europe

Source: European Council on Foreign Relations

Europe has the US president it wished for, but Barack Obama lacks the strong transatlantic partner he wants. As European Council on Foreign Relations analyst Nick Witney and Jeremy Shapiro from the Brookings Institution warn in ECFR’s latest report, ‘Towards a post-American Europe: A Power Audit of EU-US Relations’, national governments in the EU must shake off illusions about the transatlantic relationship if they want to avoid irrelevance on the global stage.

Global crisis: a conversation with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

Source: The Seattle Times

U.N. Secretary General — it’s a position that seems both enormously important and also largely thankless, but nonetheless a job that very few people are actually qualified to do. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, 64, has had mixed results, but as he acknowledged in an interview, he is facing an unprecedented onslaught of global crises all at once. The success of the United Nations is determined by the political will of its 192 member states, not just the man at the helm.

Why the Nobel to Obama?

By Andreas S. von Warburg

Yes, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 to US President Barack Obama for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

This year, the Nobel Committee, according to the official website, received 205 nominations for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, of which 33 were organisations. This is the highest number of nominations ever. The last record was in 2005 when the Committee received 199 nominations.

US refuses to include Kyoto targets

Source: The Guardian | by John Vidal

The US threatened to derail a deal on global climate change today in a public showdown with China by expressing deep opposition to the existing Kyoto protocol. The US team also urged other rich countries to join it in setting up a new legal agreement which would, unlike Kyoto, force all countries to reduce emissions.

Book review: Stories that need telling, a nonprofit’s guide to social media

By Andreas Sandre von Warburg

“Congratulations. Maybe. You just decided that social media is worth checking out. Maybe.” This is how Sam Davidson and Stephen Moseley, the two minds behind CoolPeopleCare.org, begin their new book, what they call a nonprofit’s guide to social media.

The publication, titled “Stories that need telling: saving the world online”, is available for free. “Seriously,” as Davidson states on his blogsite, the book is for free! The authors have decided to make the digital version of the book available to the public at no costs through the end of the month.

Think again, G20 sceptics

Source: The Guardian

Kofi Annan*, Amartya Sen** and Michel Camdessus*** believe that “the world’s leaders can give Pittsburgh a truly global vision – if they address four key issues.”