Poor and Emerging G-77 States Stall Copenhagen Climate Talks COPENHAGEN - If the United Nations climate talks here are entering their final two days in virtual deadlock, it is in large measure because of delays and diversions created by a group of poor and emerging nations intent on making their dissatisfaction clear. The Group of 77, as it is called, has raised repeated objections to what its members see as the economic and environmental tyranny of the industrial world, often in florid language. "The rich are destroying the planet," said Hugo Chávez, the socialist president of Venezuela, on Wednesday. Perhaps they think they're going off to another one after they've destroyed this one. On Monday, African nations briefly brought the climate talks to a standstill. China, by far the largest economic power in the group, has dragged its feet throughout the week by raising one technical objection after another to the basic negotiating text. And on Wednesday night, the group refused to take part in negotiations that conference organizers had hoped would produce a definitive negotiating text by Thursday morning. Instead, many Group of 77 leaders spent the day hurling accusations at wealthier countries. President Obama and other world leaders have said that the Copenhagen meetings are unlikely to produce a binding treaty; some sort of interim political agreement is far more likely, they said. But few appreciated the depth of anger in the developing world and the height of grandstanding that would consume so much of the conference's time. Now it is hard to find someone who confidently predicts even that much success. The Group of 77 is a group in name only. Made up of 130 countries, it represents tiny island nations like Vanuatu and advanced middle-income states like Argentina. Its nominal leader is Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, a Sudanese diplomat who speaks on behalf of the group and who led a walkout on Monday, saying the developed nations" offer of $10 billion in "quick-start" financing after completion of a deal here was wholly inadequate. Many developing nations have united under the group's auspices of because there is strength in numbers, and because they can take advantage of the far greater negotiating power and resources of countries like China and Brazil. Many small countries have neither a big enough delegation nor the organizational structure to negotiate effectively on their own. China has been a natural godfather to many of the Group of 77 countries because its government has extensive investments in Africa and Latin America, often involving lucrative deals to bring oil and minerals home. The coalition is united on a few central issues. They include making sure that industrialized countries keep the emissions reductions pledges they made as part of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and that the Copenhagen conference produces enough money for poorer countries to adapt to climate change, said María Fernanda Espinosa, Ecuador's minister of cultural and ecological patrimony. But the group is neither a tight negotiating unit, nor particularly well organized. While larger countries like Brazil and China have well-appointed headquarters in one part of the Bella Center, where the negotiations are being held, the Group of 77 office itself is made up of two spartan rooms equipped with two computers, where some delegates from the poorest African nations sat Wednesday morning drinking soda and nibbling biscuits. "The G-77 is an incredibly diverse group," said Michael A. Levi, a climate change specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations who is attending the Copenhagen meeting. Its richest countries are 50 times as wealthy on a per-capita basis as its poorest ones. All of this makes a common yet constructive position very difficult. The easiest thing to agree on is to obstruct action. The cost of such obstruction is growing higher by the day. On Thursday and Friday, ministers and heads of government are expected to fashion a complex political agreement encompassing a host of issues that have divided them for years. Seldom, if ever, have national leaders engaged in negotiations as complex - and as poorly prepared - as these. The strain is showing both inside the Bella Center and outside. On Wednesday, hundreds of demonstrators tried to storm the hall, but were pushed back by truncheon-wielding riot police officers who made 260 arrests. Inside, numerous groups staged demonstrations, sit-ins and noisy disruptions of public sessions. Yvo de Boer, the United Nations official in charge of the conference, said that he was concerned about the safety of the arriving leaders and the rest of the participants. "The incidents that have taken place today inside the conference center test my courage to continue in this way," he said, suggesting he would sharply limit access to the hall for the final two days. Elisabeth Rosenthal contributed reporting.