De defensa

Le Washington Times termine son éditorial par un glacial «The American Century is over». L’intérêt des détails qu'on y trouve nous conduit à revenir sur la conférence de Copenhague, au travers de cet éditorial du 23 décembre 2009. On y voit, décrit avec des détails étonnants, comment Barack Obama fut une “vedette” inattendue de la conférence en ce sens qu’il fut celui qu’on évita le plus dans les couloirs et dans les entretiens, à qui l’on posa des lapins, dans le dos duquel on improvisait des conférences...

Ainsi, lisez le récit de cette conférence à quatre (Brésil, Chine, Inde, Afrique du Sud) à laquelle Obama s’invita de force après s’être vu refusé diverses rencontres avec les uns et les autres de ces participants sous des prétextes fallacieux… Etonnant et révélateur.

«After Mr. Obama's bilateral meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the Chinese began sending lower-level functionaries to the multilateral meetings. A frustrated Mr. Obama pressed for another bilateral meeting, which was scheduled for Friday at 6:15 p.m. Other leaders of the countries known as the “BASIC” bloc were harder to pin down.

»The Obama team tried to schedule a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and was told he was at the airport readying to leave. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also was unavailable. South African President Jacob Zuma said there was no point meeting without India and Brazil. Then the Chinese pushed the bilateral meeting back to 7 p.m.

»“We were told they were at the airport,” a senior administration official said. “We were told delegations were split up. We were told they weren't going to meet.” So imagine Mr. Obama's surprise when he arrived for the bilateral powwow and found all four leaders in the room already in deep discussion. “Are you ready for me?” he said with an “uncharacteristic edge” to his voice, according to a CBS News report.

»“We weren't crashing a meeting,” an Obama flack later explained defensively. “We were going for our bilateral meeting.” But that didn't stop him from walking in where he wasn't invited. Clearly, Mr. Obama learned a few things from his own White House party crashers.

»There was no chair at the table for Mr. Obama so he announced he would sit next to his “friend Lula,” whose staff had to scramble to make room for the president and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. On Monday, Mr. da Silva used his weekly radio program to rebuke the United States for its stance at Copenhagen.

»After Mr. Obama arrived, the BASIC group was basically held hostage. They had tried politely to keep Mr. Obama at arms length, but since he showed up, decorum mandated that they find a way to save face…»

Le reste à l’avenant, la tentative d’Obama de sauver la face, sa conférence de presse, l’accord historique que personne n’est obligé de signer et qui n’est aucunement un accord, qui n’impose rien du tout et ainsi de suite. Le Washington Times ne prend pas de gants pour dire son fait au président des USA, dont il est l’adversaire politique, et qui le reste même lorsqu’il s’agit de rencontres internationales où l’humiliation du président revient à l’humiliation des USA… «The Copenhagen conference was a lesson in power and humility. […] Mr. Obama did make history at Copenhagen, but not in the way he expected. It says a great deal about American power and prestige when international leaders go to so much trouble to avoid meeting with the president of the United States. The American Century is over.»

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