The final hours of the COP climate talks that finally ended a day late in Brazil on Saturday were even more brutal than usual, foreshadowing a tough year ahead for Australian Climate Change and Energy Minster Chris Bowen, who will preside over next year’s talks in Turkey.

Things got particularly ugly when Russian diplomats turned their guns on a handful Latin American countries, which in turn had delayed proceedings with a series of objections to the way the Brazilian COP president André Corrêa do Lago was managing the contentious negotiation over adaptation plans.

“Don’t behave like children who want to get their hands on all the sweets and stuff them down their throats,” said a Russian diplomat to his American colleagues on the floor of the plenary session at one point, before demandin

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