Obama's whistle-stop visit criticized

Jyllands-Postenreports that "the world's most powerful man will be coming to the Copenhagen climate conference," but regrets that he will not be there at the right time. According to the Danish daily, Barack Obama has opted to attend the conference on 9 December "when no other heads of state will be present," before continuing on to Oslo where he will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. "The risk is that other major leaders like Chinese President, Hu Jintao, and Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, will be reluctant to come to the event," warns Jyllands-Posten, which worries that a no-show by such big hitters "will undermine the possiblity of an agreement on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions." No such criticism can be said to apply to French President Nicolas Sarkozy who has announced that he will not accept a "face-saving agreement." He is also visiting Brazil on 26 November in a bid to obtain the support of the countries of the Amazon region for the European position. "Although he lacks a mandate to negociate on behalf of his European colleagues," Le Figaronotes Nicolas Sarkozy is determined to push through a deal". And not ruin his chances of being hailed as the architect of a climate deal.