Divisions and confusion within the negotiating bloc of developing countries, which has long gone by the name the Group of 77 and China, were as much the cause of the diplomatic logjam as anything else, he said. Interviews with several other negotiators and observers supported his view.

“There was a certain feeling that maybe the U.S. could be the fall guy for this whole thing, that if G-77 couldn’t resolve its own issues, if it just held the line on a position they already knew the U.S. rejected, that the U.S. would be the one that stepped up and had to take the flak for collapsing the whole thing,” he said. “From Papua New Guinea’s standpoint, we couldn’t accept that.” (NYT)