Israel Steals Gaza’s Gas

As suspected, the State of Israel has declared the Natural Gas off the coast of Gaza as theirs, and are seeking to develop it, for their own profit, naturally :-

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gyOgkiUE3uul0OXEW-VL-E9k6aKgD9E6JMI80

“Energy exec: Israel could end natural gas imports : By KAROUN DEMIRJIAN (AP) : TEL AVIV, Israel — A U.S. energy company announced Tuesday that a project it is developing off the Israeli coast could soon end the country’s longtime dependence on natural gas imports. Noble Energy Chief Executive Charles D. Davidson said the Tamar gas field — set to become operational in 2012 — will allow Israel to meet its own energy needs, and potentially even become an exporter of fuel. “Our thoughts are that will exceed what the market will need,” Davidson said. “It’s significant to Israel and what it can do for this country in terms of lowering energy costs.”…A national supply of natural gas could mean major energy savings for Israeli citizens, as well as revenue for the government from corporate taxes and profit royalties, Davidson said…”

So, we could ask the Israeli Ambassador in London, was it worth expending all that expensive military hardware from your considerable foreign-funded assets, just to make sure nobody would have the strength to complain that you are taking control of Gaza’s gas ?

Gaza is not in a fit state to exploit the fuel itself ? Why would that be, Mr Israeli Ambassador ? Could it have anything to do with the illegal carpet bombing of the open prison on the Western shore in Christmas 2008 ? The gas finds are a little too conveniently described as taking place in “early 2009″. I find myself feeling queasy.

Even Israel does not have the engineering capacity to exploit the Natural Gas – they need the assistance of an American company…”Noble Energy”. I think they should be re-christened “Ignoble Energy”.

Not content with appropriating the water, land, wells, olive trees, liberty, children, health and livelihoods of the Palestinian people of Gaza, the State of Israel now has to steal a resource that could have provided them some form of Economic Development.

Democracy : Alive & Kicking

Sheepishly creeping in late, (well I got lost, right, because my Google Map was on the wrong scale without the street names, OK ?), I attended my second Copenhagen de-briefing meeting of the year, with strong signals of properly functioning democracy all the way through.

I learned a lot more about the poor state of international negotiations, how disadvantaged peoples and nation groups were not heard, how the official news feeds were edited, how attempts to communicate from the public assembly at the Klimaforum into the Bella Center using video streaming were met with empty delegate seats, how the elite negotiating teams from the industrialised world failed to collect enough support for their position, how people got left queueing in the freezing cold…

Read the rest of this entry »

Anthony Giddens : Demonising Environmentalism

The further I read into Anthony Giddens’ “landmark study” on Climate Change politics, the more I want to offer it to a fuel-poor elderly neighbour :-

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/807821-pensioners-burn-books-for-warmth

“Miles Erwin – 5th January, 2010 : Pensioners burn books for warmth : Hard-up pensioners have resorted to buying books from charity shops and burning them to keep warm. Volunteers have reported that ‘a large number’ of elderly customers are snapping up hardbacks as cheap fuel for their fires and stoves…”

I have taken a fat orange highlighter pen to his more tendentious and incensing statements, and am scratching comments in the margins to indicate my extreme displeasure.

What is it about Anthony Giddens’ phraseology that so irritates me ? I’ll pass over the more nebulous, inaccurate rubbish like his mention of “political scientists” – politics is no more science than the study of fine art. And I’ll try really hard not to call him ideologically-challenged, based on his references to unproven economic theories as if they were axiomatic facts.

My key dislike to his approach seems to be crystallising around his dismissiveness of other peoples’ points of view; his loose, callous talk is likely to alienate a good many people, and he needs repudiation.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wheel Progress

Watch out for some bike action at Copenhagen on Wednesday 16th December 2009 :-

http://www.climate-justice-action.org/mobilization/reclaim-power-pushing-for-climate-justice/

http://www.climate-justice-action.org/

http://www.climate-justice-action.org/news/2009/11/05/fun-between-%20your-legs-bike-bloc-will-storm-cop15/

Show Us Your Emails

Now, I believe in fairness, fair play and being a good sort, a good sport.

And so for that reason, I’ve been toying with the idea of suggesting that if you’ve been in email contact with a Climate Change denier, and you think the information exchanged would be interesting to others, to post that email correspondence here in a comment.

Truth is, I’m intrigued to know what Climate Change deniers (or “sceptics”) say to each other in private correspondence, and how it is that they have managed to coordinate over the “Climategate” affair when they are in different countries. I’m guessing it’s all been done by email, of course, so I would be interested to read what they’ve been saying to each other.

Read the rest of this entry »

White Supremacist’s Revenge

Super-double irony : Nick Griffin, the anti-immigration right-wing nationalist is going to the Copenhagen Climate Talks as a representative of the European Union, where, no doubt, he will probably attempt to exact a white supremacist’s revenge – throwing whatever spanners (wrenches) he can in the works to stop a global deal to protect the poor and vulnerable from Climate Change :-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/29/nick-griffin-bnp-copenhagen-summit

“…Griffin, who was elected to the European parliament in June, confirmed last night that he would attend as the representative of the parliament’s environmental committee. World leaders, including Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, are hoping to forge a new global agreement to curtail greenhouse gas emissions. Without such a deal, scientists warn that world temperatures will increase by more than 2C by the end of the century, triggering ice cap melting, sea-level rises, widespread flooding, the spread of deserts and devastating storms. In a speech in the parliament last week, Griffin denounced those who warn of the consequences of climate change as “cranks”. He said they had reached “an Orwellian consensus” that was “based not on scientific agreement, but on bullying, censorship and fraudulent statistics. The anti-western intellectual cranks of the left suffered a collective breakdown when communism collapsed. Climate change is their new theology… But the heretics will have a voice in Copenhagen and the truth will out. Climate change is being used to impose an anti-human utopia as deadly as anything conceived by Stalin or Mao.” Griffin will be one of 15 representatives chosen to speak on behalf of the EU in Copenhagen…”

I agree with inclusion and tolerance, but this is a step too far ! Griffin’s agenda and purpose seems to consist entirely of exclusion, intolerance, might-is-right, anti-science and inequality. I don’t know how he can represent the European Union in any way…He might as well wear a Ku Klux Klan outfit for all the anti-democratic flames he carries around inside him.

I doth protest.

Doing Business at Copenhagen

The Daily Telegraph seems most keen that the business sector should be at the Copenhagen Climate Change negotiations :-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/kamal-ahmed/6605608/Copenhagen-Climate-Change-summit-do-businesses-need-to-be-there.html

“Copenhagen Climate Change summit: do businesses need to be there? : The Copenhagen Climate Change summit is fast approaching. There’s going to be an army of negotiators in the Danish capital but do businesses need to be there? By Kamal Amed : Published: 19 Nov 2009 : …while there’s been an awful lot on the politics of Copenhagen…there has been relatively little on what the business sector is supposed to be saying or doing. Many big players are privately indicating that they need to be there for political reasons rather than business reasons and that the whole thing is, ahem, a load of hot air. Looking more broadly, [...] there is a danger that the whole event becomes little more than a photo-opportunity…that might give us all time to consider exactly the business and finance sector is supposed to be doing to tackle climate change…”

Read the rest of this entry »

Stop Consuming For Christmas

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/10617

I know a couple of people who are not eating because of Climate Change.

It’s not that their country is experiencing drought, flood, famine, storm, trade disruption, economic seizure or war.

It’s because they believe in Climate Justice.

We have consumed, and we will be consumed.

All our Fossil Fuel burning and plunder from the forests and intensive agriculture has eaten up the Earth’s ability to maintain its cool.

The sky will rain down disaster, plague, heatwaves, hurricanes. The sea will rise up and drown our cities.

We have eaten too much, and now it is time to stop.

Just in time for Christmas.

http://www.buynothingday.co.uk

What Would Jesus Buy ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGi21YQFjMM

Rights. Fair shares. It’s time for a Global Carbon Budget.

David Miliband : Expecting Someone Shorter

To be honest, he was taller than I expected, and more Eastern in appeareance, a kind of lanky version of Mehmet behind the deli counter at my local Turkish International Food Emporium.

David Miliband was also considerably thinner than I would have liked, considering he might one day rule the New Labour Party, who might just rule my country again. We wouldn’t want him blown away by the slightest breeze, surely, would we ? He needs feeding in my opinion.

Read the rest of this entry »

New Nuclear Is Not A Climate Policy

The rumour mill about the propsects for new Nuclear Power is quite active, a kind of underground semaphore.

About a year ago, the idea that the United Kingdom would be burdened with eleven new Nuclear Power stations entered the mill and popped out all over the shop, being greeted with ridicule, dismissiveness, anger and despair.

When the Energy Supply companies started going into “free capital” meltdown over new investments, owing to issues concerning insurance and the general Economy, there was concern that they wouldn’t come along with the new Nuclear plan.

The Government kept pumping out the information that we should have at least four new Nuclear Power stations. How critical this project was ! How bright and shiny new Nuclear would be ! The unwritten back room understanding that any new Nuclear Power plant could expect State support in one form or another. However, the public statements were that there would be no Public Money for new Nuclear build.

Read the rest of this entry »

What Will You Do On 350 Day ?

The Grist magazine is recommending people take actions of civil disobedience on 24th October 2009, in support of “350 Day” :-

http://www.350.org

Read the rest of this entry »