[governance] FW: [A2k] Snowden revelations of NSA spying on Copenhagen climate talks spark anger

Thu Jan 30 17:36:48 EST 2014

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From: A2k [mailto:a2k-bounces at lists.keionline.org] On Behalf Of Thiru
Balasubramaniam
Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2014 2:11 PM
To: a2k at lists.keionline.org
Subject: [A2k] Snowden revelations of NSA spying on Copenhagen climate talks
spark anger

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/30/snowden-nsa-spying-copenh
agen-climate-talks

Snowden revelations of NSA spying on Copenhagen climate talks spark anger
Documents leaked by Edward Snowden show NSA kept US negotiators abreast of
their rivals' positions at 2009 summit

   - John Vidal <http://www.theguardian.com/profile/johnvidal> and Suzanne
   Goldenberg <http://www.theguardian.com/profile/suzannegoldenberg>
   -
   - theguardian.com <http://www.theguardian.com/>, Thursday 30 January
   2014 17.54 GMT

Developing countries have reacted angrily to revelations that the United
States <http://www.theguardian.com/world/usa> spied on other governments at
the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009.

Documents <http://www.information.dk/databloggen/486321> leaked by Edward
Snowden <http://www.theguardian.com/world/edward-snowden> show how the US
National Security <http://www.theguardian.com/world/us-national-security>
Agency (NSA <http://www.theguardian.com/world/nsa>) monitored communication
between key countries before and during the conference to give their
negotiators advance information about other positions at the high-profile
meeting where world leaders including Barack Obama, Gordon Brown and Angela
Merkel failed to agree to a strong deal on climate
change<http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/dec/18/copenhagen-deal>
.

Jairam Ramesh, the then Indian environment minister and a key player in the
talks that involved 192 countries and 110 heads of state, said: "Why the
hell did they do this and at the end of this, what did they get out of
Copenhagen? They got some outcome but certainly not the outcome they wanted.
It was completely silly of them. First of all, they didn't get what they
wanted. With all their hi-tech gizmos and all their snooping, ultimately the
Basic countries [Brazil, South Africa, India and China] bailed Obama out.
With all their snooping what did they get?"

Martin Khor, an adviser to developing countries at the summit and director
of the South Centre thinktank, said: "Would you play poker with someone who
can see your cards? Spying on one another like this is absolutely not on.
When someone has an upper hand is very disconcerting. There should be an
assurance in negotiations like this that powerful players are not going to
gain undue advantage with technological surveillance.

"For negotiations as complex as these we need maximum goodwill and trust.
It is absolutely critical. If there is anything that prevents a level
playing field, that stops negotiations being held on equal grounds. It
disrupts the talks," he said.

The NSA would keep US negotiators abreast of their rivals' positions, the
document says. "Leaders and negotiating teams from around the world will
undoubtedly be engaging in intense last-minute policy formulating; at the
same time, they will be holding sidebar discussions with their counterparts,
details of which are of great interest to our policymakers ...
Signals intelligence will undoubtedly play a significant role in keeping our
negotiators as well informed as possible throughout the negotiations,"
it reads.

The document shows the NSA had provided advance details of the Danish plan
to "rescue" the talks should they founder, and also had learned of China's
efforts to coordinate its position with India before the conference.

The talks - which ended in disarray after the US, working with a small group
of 25 countries, tried to ram through an agreement that other developing
countries mostly rejected - were marked by subterfuge, passion and chaos.

Members of the Danish negotiating team told the Danish newspaper
Information<http://www.information.dk/486360> that both the US and Chinese
delegations were "peculiarly well-informed" about closed-door discussions.
"They simply sat back, just as we had feared they would if they knew about
our document," one source told Information.

British negotiators at the summit declined to say whether their negotiating
positions had been informed by US intelligence. "It is a longstanding policy
that we do not comment on intelligence matters," said a spokesman for the
Department of Energy and Climate Change, the UK government department that
led the negotiations in Copenhagen.

Ed Miliband, who as energy secretary led the political negotiations for
Britain, declined to comment. However, at the time, he was furious that the
Danish text which the US had received advance information about,had been
leaked to the
Guardian<http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/dec/08/copenhagen-clima
te-summit-disarray-danish-text>
.

But one key negotiator for the G77 group of 132 developing countries, who
asked not to be named, said at the time that he strongly believed that the
US was eavesdropping on his meetings and would only talk in a secure back
room that he thought was not bugged. "I was well aware that they seemed to
know what our position was before we did," he told the Guardian.

But Ramesh said that he had no idea that the US was spying on him. "I didn't
get a sense that I was being followed. I didn't get a sense that my phones
were tapped," he said.

Civil society groups from around the world condemned the US. "The UN climate
talks are supposed to be about building trust - that's been under threat for
years because of the US backward position on climate action - these
revelations will only crack that trust further," said Meena Raman,
negotiations expert from the Malaysian-based Third World Network.

"Fighting climate change is a global struggle, and these revelations clearly
show that the US government is more interested in crassly protecting a few
vested interests," said Brandon Wu, senior policy analyst with development
organisation ActionAid in the United States.

US climate activist and founder of 350.org, Bill McKibben, called the spying
revelations "insane and
disgusting".<https://twitter.com/billmckibben/status/428720779673346048>

US diplomatic cables made public by WikiLeaks in
2010<http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/dec/03/wikileaks-us-manipul
ated-climate-accord>
showed
that the CIA had sought intelligence from UN diplomats about the
negotiations in advance of the summit, and Snowden documents published last
year revealed the US had spied on Indonesia at the Bali climate summit in
2007<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/02/nsa-australia-bali-confere
nce-spy-indonesia>
.
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