We can challenge India on Copenhagen goals: US – Global Warming – Environment – Home – The Times of India

We know how this place got so dirty

White House senior advisor David Axelrod told CNN that the Copenhagen Accord would allow US verification. “Now China and India have set goals. We are going to be able to review what they are doing. We are going to be able to challenge them if they do not meet those goals,” Axelrod said.

While this was probably intended to keep the enraged constituencies of US labour unions at bay, who had insisted that Barack Obama come back with a commitment from India and China for carbon cuts and their verification, these statements will only fuel a fire in countries like China and India. (via We can challenge India on Copenhagen goals: US – Global Warming – Environment – Home – The Times of India).

Like last time

This time around, based on similarly dubious research, India is being pressured to accept monitoring of climate change. Climate control and the Copenhagen meet is that fast growing octopus which is spreading out. It tentacles can be found in all kinds of places. One of its tentacles has reached India – which was any way the target. The Aspen Institute, India (AII).

Something doesn’t add up …

To ’soften’ up India, the AII organized a gab-fest. Who could be a good candidate for a gathering of such worthies? At least, Nobel Prize winners. Rajendra Pachauri? Al Gore? Any better candidates. Yes.

Amartya Sen – who ‘graced’ this gab-fest, hosted by Aspen Institute, India (AII) – an ‘associate’ of Aspen Institute, USA. Amartya Sen is tenderizing up the media, the academia, to accept Copenhagen outcome – which is primarily International ‘monitoring’ of India’s climate control and administration. Does Amartya Sen raise any of these questions? For his efforts to weaken Indian position and interests, Amartya Sen will soon qualify as a unique category of Indian passport holder – Non-Resident, Non-Indian, holding an Indian passport.

The AII-Board of Trustees reads more like Who’s Who of Indian industry – Bajaj, Birla, Godrej, Thapar et al.

The carbon credits ‘opportunity’

The rich fat-cats are already licking the chops. Estimates have been put out that the ‘carbon-credits business s worth Rs.28,000 crores.

Interestingly, note one thing very carefully. No one, but none, is talking up about cleaning up on pollution. No industry is being asked to reduce their pollutants (think of inks, dyes and chemicals), manage by-products (sulphur from petroleum refining), eliminate contamination (paper plants), decrease waste (electronics), recycle (just imagine the number of mobile phone batteries).

Dada Amartya, you got a memory lapse! How come you  don’t talk about any of this?

Polluter cleans – not pay

One of the fundamental flaws of the Kyoto Protocol was the principal of ‘polluter pays’. Based on retributive justice logic, it was something that was bound to fail. Instead it should have been based on the Indic justice principle – ameliorative and make good. The operating principle should have been ‘polluter cleans and does not pollute again.’

Camels … in the kingdom of heaven

Copenhagen is for the rich (from poor countries), by the rich (from rich countries) to the rich (from poor and rich countries) – and may the poor and common be damned. And one thing you can be absolutely, completely, definitely, positively, wholly sure of.

The poor will never, ever, at all, in any manner, benefit from climate control.

Copenhagen Talks End With Agreement, But No Binding Deal – AlterNet

Too much money ... creating too much of maya

Environmental writer and activist Bill McKibben of 350.org voiced his disapproval. (and) summarized what Obama accomplished:

He formed a league of super-polluters, and would-be super-polluters. China, the U.S., and India don’t want anyone controlling their use of coal in any meaningful way.

(via Copenhagen Talks End With Agreement, But No Binding Deal: So, How Screwed Are We? | Environment | AlterNet).

QED

On Aug 14, 2009, a Quicktake post wondered if this entire climate change and global warming had something to do with coal-fired power plants.

This is too close to my dis-comfort zone

Bill McKibben’s peeve does prove that this is indeed the case.

Now, coal is the cheapest way to generate electricity. Looking at the shortfall in electricity, and Indian consumers’ ability to pay, coal is the answer.

To low costs, add the fact that India has coal reserves that will last for the next 100 years – at least. But, coal-generated electricity, will also makes India industrially competitive.

And we don’t want that, do we? Right, Billy Boy!

Inside Indian bedrooms

60years ago, an assault was made by foreign ‘observers’ into Indian bedrooms. Foreign ‘observers’

1. Tied ‘development aid’ to India’s population control.
2. Trained Indian ‘health workers’ to control India’s human reproductive behaviour.
3. Paid for by Western Governments, soon after that, we had ‘health workers’ fanning out across the Indian country-side, conducting  vasectomies /tubectomies on India’s (especially poor) population.

Is this the science we are talking about?

It did not matter then, who the ‘observers’ were – foreign or Indian. Neither does it matter now. What matters is someone’s monitoring. And I don’t like that at all.

Even if the monitors have brown skins (my liking for brown skin notwithstanding). Even if it comes with a recommendation from Nobel prize winner, Amartya Sen. How Indian power producers generate electricity is our business.

Getting a handle on the Indian  economy is the second and related part of the agenda.

An agenda, I don’t like.

All that nice, fresh, white newsprint …

Wasted!

Just the amount of newsprint that has been devoted to climate change and global warming must have raised temperatures (going by the ‘warmers’ calculations and estimates) enough to make this debate of questionable value. To that add, the amount of gimmickry and media overdrive (through slick PR) that raises many doubts and questions.

Hush, boy! Do not even mention ’scientific manipulation’.

Just look at the record.

The most prominent and vocal votary of Climate Change was Al Gore – who was promptly awarded the Nobel Prize. The recruitment of Maldives and the positioning of President Mohammed Nasheed was again a very slick operation. The underwater Maldives cabinet meeting had a interesting story.

Maldivian officials said the idea to hold the attention-grabbing underwater cabinet meeting came from President Mohamed Nasheed when he was asked by an activist group to support its “environmental day” action on October 24.

“The 350.org group asked if the Maldives can hold an underwater banner supporting environmental day,” an official from the president’s office said.

“The president thought for a while and then came up with the idea to have an underwater cabinet meeting.” (via Maldives cabinet rehearses underwater meeting).

Is this the problem?

Propping up Maldives as ‘fifth’ column was done over the last more than 20 years. Based on excellent PR and media management skills, the Maldives was the trojan horse loosed on the G77+Basic grouping.

350.org is rather well armed on the PR front – with a specific agency for South Asia itself. The PR agency for the Maldives Travel and Tourism Authority McCluskey International does  seem to either bask in reflected glory – or is hinting at the authorship of this stunt. The Maldives climate change campaign seems to be headquarted in Britain also.

Been there and done that

The hallmark of the Maldives’ climate  change campaign has been it slick PR. Dramatic statements, intriguing sound bites, the Maldives’ campaign was beyond the common bureaucratic ‘creature’ – much less a Maldives’ bureaucrat. This is consistent and in line with Al Gore’s media and public relations management – which won the PR agency, the campaign of the year award. And Al Gore the Nobel Prize.

All this is much like, how from the early 1950’s to the late eighties, the Western world created hysteria regarding ‘population explosion’  in India and China. Enormous pressures were brought onto the Chinese and Indian Governments to ‘control’ their populations.

Same game, different name! Doesn’t wash. Just like last time.

Related Posts

• Climate change – How India is falling for propaganda
• Climate Change at Copenhagen – Britain mounts a Trojan operation
• Indian cows were blamed for global warming!
• US Euro Clubs hobble Third Wold
• Climate head steps down over e-mail leak
• NASSCOM wakes after 15 months
• PR Stunts – The Maldives underwater meeting

Amartya Sen at the Aspen Institute India’s Conference in New Delhi – WSJ.com

This is what we are talking about ...

India’s approach should have been to push for what it considered to be a “fairer, juster deal” on climate change that all parties can agree to — and if that means mandatory cuts, then so be it. “To say under no circumstances will we accept mandatory restraints is ridiculous,” he said. “Our position should be we will accept a just agreement, an agreement that creates a better world.” He said he was particularly disturbed at one point during the Copenhagen deliberations to see African and other developing nations side with China on the ramifications of an increase in global temperatures and to see India on the side of the U.S. and western Europe when “we have been traditionally the spokesman of the underdog.” (via Snapshots from the Aspen Institute India’s Conference in New Delhi – WSJ.com).

Inside Indian bedrooms

60years ago, an assault was made by foreign ‘observers’ into Indian bedrooms. Foreign ‘observers’

1. Tied ‘development aid’ to India’s population control.
2. Trained Indian ‘health workers’ to control India’s human reproductive behaviour.
3. Paid for by Western Governments, soon after that, we had ‘health workers’ fanning out across the Indian country-side, conducting  vasectomies /tubectomies on India’s (especially poor) population.

It did not matter then, who the ‘observers’ were – foreign or Indian. Neither does it matter now. What matters is someone’s monitoring. And I don’t like that at all. Even if it done by a Brown.

Perverted logic

Mirror, Mirror on the wall

Who is the most dubious of them all? And Carbon emissions is a very dubious subject. Sometime back, cows (read that as India) were targetted for carbon and methane emission. Will it be Indians and human beings next? Rhetorical you think?

Australia proves how this logic works. For Australians this has become a habit. They decided recently, in Australia to kill thirsty camels. Some time back, they were killing cane toads. Before that it was kangaroos. Before that it was dingos. And before that were humans.

Like last time

This time around, based on similarly dubious research, India is being pressured to accept monitoring of climate change. Climate control and the Copenhagen meet is that fast growing octopus which is spreading out. It tentacles can be found in all kinds of places. One of its tentacles has reached India – which was any way the target. The Aspen Institute, India (AII).

To ’soften’ up India, the AII organized a gab-fest. Who could be a good candidate for a gathering of such worthies? At least, Nobel Prize winners. Rajendra Pachauri? Al Gore? Any better candidates. Yes.

Amartya Sen – who ‘graced’ this gab-fest, hosted by Aspen Institute, India (AII) – an ‘associate’ of Aspen Institute, USA. Amartya Sen is tenderizing up the media, the academia, to accept Copenhagen outcome – which is primarily International ‘monitoring’ of India’s climate control and administration. Does Amartya Sen raise any of these questions? For his efforts to weaken Indian position and interests, Amartya Sen will soon qualify as a unique category of Indian passport holder – Non-Resident, Non-Indian, holding an Indian passport.

The AII-Board of Trustees reads more like Who’s Who of Indian industry – Bajaj, Birla, Godrej, Thapar et al.

The carbon credits ‘opportunity’

The rich fat-cats are already licking the chops. Estimates have been put out that the ‘carbon-credits business s worth Rs.28,000 crores.

Interestingly, note one thing very carefully. No one, but none, is talking up about cleaning up on pollution. No industry is being asked to reduce their pollutants (think of inks, dyes and chemicals), manage by-products (sulphur from petroleum refining), eliminate contamination (paper plants), decrease waste (electronics), recycle (just imagine the number of mobile phone batteries).

Dada Amartya, you got a memory lapse! How come you  don’t talk about any of this?

Polluter cleans – not pay

One of the fundamental flaws of the Kyoto Protocol was the principal of ‘polluter pays’. Based on retributive justice logic, it was something that was bound to fail. Instead it should have been based on the Indic justice principle – ameliorative and make good. The operating principle should have been ‘polluter cleans and does not pollute again.’

Camels … in the kingdom of heaven

Copenhagen is for the rich (from poor countries), by the rich (from rich countries) to the rich (from poor and rich countries) – and may the poor and common be damned. And one thing you can be absolutely, completely, definitely, positively, wholly sure of.

The poor will never, ever, at all, in any manner, benefit from climate control.

India, China, Brazil walk out – Copenhagen dead

In a development that took almost all observers by surprise, India, China, and Brazil walked out the plenary session of the climate summit at Copenhagen, making it certain that the summit will end in abject failure. (via domain-b.com : Copenhagen dead as India, China, Brazil walk out).

Pollutor cleans – not pay

One of the fundamental flaws of the Kyoto Protocol was the principal of ‘polluter pays’. Based the retributive justice logic, it was something that was bound to fail. Instead it should have been based on the Indic justice principle – ameliorative and make good. The operating principle should have been ‘polluter cleans and does not pollute again.’

If the ‘Developed World’ (I have no idea what that term means), made its wealth by pollution, waste and environmental degradation, do the world’s poor want that tainted money? Instead, the ‘Developed World’ should have been asked to clean up and mechanisms put in place to ensure that these ‘offenders’ do not repeat.

For, by, to the rich

Instead, Copenhagen has become a carnival where 20,000 delegates are fighting over the spoils of environmental degradation, pollution and climate hazard. The Indian Government has, of course, lost touch with Indian ideals – and are trying out their hand at Hammurabic justice.

The poor or the ‘common’ man, in whose name Copenhagen Climate Change meet is underway will not see any benefits. Copenhagen is for the rich (from poor countries), by the rich (from rich countries) to the rich (from poor and rich countries) – and may the poor and common be damned.

LatAm Bloc and GCC initiatives to end dollar monopoly

nine Latin American nations said Saturday they plan to use a new currency dubbed the ‘’sucre” for trade among themselves starting in January.

No sucres will be printed or coined, but the virtual currency will be used to manage debts between governments while reducing reliance on the U.S. dollar and on Washington in general. (via Leftist LatAm Bloc to Begin Using Its Own Currency – NYTimes.com).

Closely behind

Quick on the heels, was the initiative by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The Wall Street Journal reported,

A Gulf monetary council will be tasked with deciding on the peg of a proposed single currency among Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait and timeline to launch the currency …  The launch of the currency will be preceded by coordination of monetary and fiscal policies and the creation of a regional Central Bank, Kuwait’s foreign minister said … The United Arab Emirates, the second-largest Arab economy, pulled out from the project in May, citing dissatisfaction over the choice to base the regional central bank in Saudi Arabia … The U.A.E. is the second Gulf state to abandon the monetary union plan after Oman’s exit three years ago. Kuwaiti officials have said they will work toward convincing the United Arab Emirates and Oman to rejoin the project. The monetary union project, which has been in the works since 2001, has been dogged by delays and debates over technical issues such as the currency peg.

A proposed name for the GCC currency, Khaleeji, was shot down.

Half success

To start with, full and complete success should neither be expected, planned or projected. The aim should be for a ‘half-success’ – just like ‘half life’ in physics, for radioactive substances. Just like half-life can continue, technically, to nearly infinity, so also, currency systems will need to innovate and modify continously.

What will be a half-success, for the ‘Sucre’ /GCC Currency, is if these :-

1. Last for five years.
2. Are used on at least 50% of intra-Latam /GCC transactions.
3. Currencies are regularly traded – even if, initial volumes are low.
4. Other trading blocs, banks, currency exchanges start offering futures  and options contracts, trades and settlements.
5. Initiatives ‘inspire’ other blocs to start work on another similar currency.

They got da jaundice

2ndlook had proposed a global virtual currency which would work on trading platform, based on weighted exchange value of all member currencies.The ’sucre’ and the ‘Khaleeji’ is good first step in that direction – even if it fails. Western press has seen it with a jaundiced view.

Anything surprising with that?

China central banker says harder to buy U.S. Treasuries

… on the global role of the dollar, Zhu told an academic audience that it was inevitable that the dollar would continue to fall in value because Washington continued to issue more Treasuries to finance its deficit spending.

He then addressed where demand for that debt would come from.

“The United States cannot force foreign governments to increase their holdings of Treasuries,” Zhu said, according to an audio recording of his remarks. “Double the holdings? It is definitely impossible.”

“The U.S. current account deficit is falling as residents’ savings increase, so its trade turnover is falling, which means the U.S. is supplying fewer dollars to the rest of the world,” he added.

“The world does not have so much money to buy more U.S. Treasuries.” (via China central banker says harder to buy U.S. Treasuries | Reuters).

Reuters slips in a dud

Interestingly, Reuters tried talking up the dollar by making out as though China was scrambling for dollars which were not available. Post the Lehman-collapse, after initial panic over the dollar has subsided – and most economies have continued on the dollar bearing – with a slight change in course. Unlike Britain (or most of Europe), US debt and deficit are still well within ‘reasonable’ limits.

Where did all this money go

Also, must be remembered, that most of this deficit and debt has been rung up for consolidating alliances and de-fanging potential adversaries (like China). For instance, in case of the USA,

The deficit for the fiscal year 2009 came in at more than $1.4 trillion-about 11.2 percent of GDP, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). That’s a bigger deficit than any seen in the past 60 years-only slightly larger in relative terms than the deficit in 1942 … having the fiscal policy of a world war, without the war … war in Afghanistan and Iraq … are trivial conflicts compared with the world wars.

According to the CBO’s … projections, (US) federal deficit will decline from 11.2 percent of GDP this year to 9.6 percent in 2010, 6.1 percent in 2011, and 3.7 percent in 2012 … (and) stay above 3 percent … Meanwhile, in dollar terms, the total debt held by the public (excluding government agencies, but including foreigners) rises from $5.8 trillion in 2008 to $14.3 trillion in 2019-from 41 percent of GDP to 68 percent.

While the above picture is not rosy, it’s not a cause for alarm. For any peace-loving nation, that is. For the Empire of the USA, seeking to maintain its hegemony. This is a bad financial situation to be in.

If war is what USA wants!

You cant cheat a honest man – Carbon credits are a Rs 28,000-cr ‘opportunity’

For the rich, by the rich, to the rich

The Indian government has approved more than 1,400 projects as part of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that could attract around $6 billion(Rs 28,000 crore) into the country by 2012 through sale of Certified Emission Reduction (CER) certificates, according to Environment and Forests minister Jairam Ramesh.

The National CDM Authority (NCDMA) in India has accorded Host Country Approval to 1,455 projects. These projects have seen an investment of more than $33.7 billion(Rs 1.6 lakh crore). If all these projects get registered at the CDM executive board, it will earn developers over 600 million CERs by 2012. At a conservative price of $10 per CER, the figure works out to a little over $6 billion. (via Carbon credits offer us a Rs 28,000-cr opportunity).

You can’t cheat a honest man!

This is a line from a 1939 movie of the same name.  It is a very interesting thought – and it is sometimes relevant.

Carbon credits is similar. The Developed World has spring a trap for the poor countries by dangling the carrot of ‘carbon credit’. Two years ago, 2ndlook had warned about the hazards of ‘token carbon credits’. Three months ago, a Quicktake on Climate Change detailed a part of the Climate Change game plan.

Indic justice versus Desert Bloc

One of the fundamental flaws of the Kyoto Protocol was the principal of ‘polluter pays’. Based the retributive justice logic, it was something that was bound to fail. Instead it should have been based on the Indic justice principle – ameliorative and make good. The operating principle should have been ‘polluter cleans and does not pollute again.’

If the ‘Developed World’ (I have no idea what that term means), made its wealth by pollution, waste and environmental degradation, do the world’s poor want that tainted money? Instead, the ‘Developed World’ should have been asked to clean up and mechanisms put in place to ensure that these ‘offenders’ do not repeat.

The carnival of spoils

Instead, Copenhagen has become a carnival where 20,000 delegates are fighting over the spoils of environmental degradation, pollution and climate hazard. The Indian Government has, of course, lost touch with Indian ideals – and are trying out their hand at Hammurabic justice.

The poor or the ‘common’ man, in whose name Copenhagen Climate Change meet is underway will not see any benefits. Copenhagen is for the rich (from poor countries), by the rich (from rich countries) to the rich (from poor and rich countries) – and may the poor and common be damned.

India – you cant win this game. The dice is loaded against you.

PR Stunts – The Maldives underwater meeting

The 'science' of global warming

Maldivian officials said the idea to hold the attention-grabbing underwater cabinet meeting came from President Mohamed Nasheed when he was asked by an activist group to support its “environmental day” action on October 24.

“The 350.org group asked if the Maldives can hold an underwater banner supporting environmental day,” an official from the president’s office said.

“The president thought for a while and then came up with the idea to have an underwater cabinet meeting.” (via Maldives cabinet rehearses underwater meeting).

Its been done before

From the early 1950’s to the late eighties, the Western world created hysteria regarding ‘population explosion’  in India and China. Enormous pressures were brought onto the Chinese and Indian Governments to ‘control’ their populations.

The West succeeded in China – and failed in India, thanks to the healthy disrespect that desi Indians had for ‘phoren’ ideas. This entire theory on population explosion was based on wrong ethical, economic and political bases. Above all, it was based on a fear that China and India could raise an army bigger than the entire population of the West put together. Much like the climate control campaign, the population explosion campaign was sustained over the years – and called for great ‘foresight’ from the West.

The Maldives trojan

Propping up Maldives as ‘fifth’ column was similarly done over the last more than 20 years. Based on excellent PR and media management skills, the Maldives was the Trojan horse that India was blind-sided on.

The hallmark of the Maldives’ climate  change campaign has been it slick PR. Dramatic statements, intriguing sound bites, the Maldives’ campaign was beyond the common bureaucratic ‘creature’ – much less a Maldives’ bureaucrat. This is consistent and in line with Al Gore’s media and public relations management – which won the PR agency, the campaign of the year award. And Al Gore the Nobel Prize.

350.org is rather well armed on the PR front – with a specific agency for South Asia itself. The PR agency for the Maldives Travel and Tourism Authority McCluskey International does  seem to either bask in reflected glory – or is hinting at the authorship of this stunt. The Maldives climate change campaign seems to be headquarted in Britain also.

Maldives is now tied up with a the ‘Vulnerable 14′ to actively create pressure on (especially) China and India.

If it was not such a delicious fraud, I could have even admired this operation.

Climate head steps down over e-mail leak

Professor Phil Jones, director of the U.K.’s University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit said he stands by the science produced at the center but while the investigation takes place it was important that the CRU “continues its world leading research with as little interruption and diversion as possible.” (via Climate head steps down over e-mail leak – CNN.com).

Coming together at Copenhagen

More than 20,000 official delegates are converging today to major international conference. Venue – Bella centre, Copenhagen. Sponsor – United Nations. Conference subject – Climate Change, managed by Yvo de Boer, the UN climate head. What about the climate change, could be so important to draw more than 20,000 people to one city from nearly 200 countries (192 to be exact).

What makes this more curious and intriguing is that “never in peacetime history has the government-media-academic complex been in such sustained propagandistic lockstep about any subject.” The motivation for this campaign is (as per Washington Post) is to fix on the “world’s … population … the saddle of ever-more-minute supervision by governments.”

At least three threads seem to be running through the climate change cloth of debate. One thread is oil. The other is the competitive hobbling – like the false debate on population explosion. The third is the scientific skullduggery which seems to be rampant in the climate change debate – “the complex climate politics between the US, China and India.”

The most interesting is Maldives.

1. The Maldives jigsaw

The Maldives Government staged a dramatic PR coup to draw world media attention on climate change, by holding an underwater cabinet meeting. Nepal Government followed up with a cabinet meeting at the Himalayan foothills. These were in a long line of various other such PR stunts.

The PR agency for the Maldives Travel and Tourism Authority McCluskey International does  seem to either bask in reflected glory – or is hinting at the authorship of this stunt. Apparently, Maldives has been at the forefront of climate change trip for some time. One journalist, from New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin, recounts his first encounter with Maldives representatives in

Toronto in 1988 to report on the First International Conference on the Changing Atmosphere. Most of the discussions centered on devising strategies to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases from automobiles, power plants, and the burning of tropical forests. Among those in attendance was Hussein Manikfan, who holds the title Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative to the United Nations from the republic of Maldives. At first it seemed odd to find a representative from the Maldives at the meeting. The country, a sprinkling of 1,190 coral islets in the Indian Ocean southwest of Sri Lanka, has no tropical forests, hardly any automobiles, and little industry beyond the canning of bonito.

Well coached, when Manikfan was asked what was he doing in Toronto, a slick and dramatic answer was available.

Why was he in Toronto? “To find out how much longer my country will exist,” was his simple reply.

In response to this article in NY Times, significant data was shown, how Maldives will not go under.

High noon in Maldives

Interestingly, the current President of Maldives came to power, in rather unusual ‘circumstances’. In the 2008 Presidential elections, in the first round, Nasheed were placed second with 44,293 votes (24.91%), behind President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of the long-ruling Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), who received 71,731 votes (40.34%). In the second round, Nasheed (supposedly supported by the unsuccessful first round candidates) won 54.25% of the vote against 45.75% for Gayoom.

Displaying penchant for excellent PR, Nasheed promptly declared himself as “the world’s first democratically elected president of a 100 percent Muslim country”.

Media management and Maldives

The hallmark of the Maldives’ climate  change campaign has been it slick PR. Dramatic statements, intriguing sound bites, the Maldives’ campaign was beyond the common bureaucratic ‘creature’ – much less a Malives’ bureaucrat.

For sometime, Nasheed was in Britain, a ‘political refugee’. The Maldives climate change campaign seems to be headquarted in Britain also.The New York Times report mentions how

Officials in the Maldives made the decision after soliciting a report on how to cut fossil fuel use and otherwise trim the country’s climate footprint from  Chris Goodall and  Mark Lynas, British environmentalists and authors of books on energy and climate.

The British press has been quite liberal in its coverage and published his writings. President Mohamed Nasheed, declared with saturation media coverage, that Maldives will be the first country in the world to be carbon neutral. This is quite in line with Al Gore’s media and public relations management – which won the PR agency, the campaign of the year award. And Al Gore the Nobel Prize.

Much like how the population explosion report by the ‘Club of Rome’ was released from the Smithsonian, the climate change

“announcement was made in the Maldives, but synchronized with the London premiere of ” The Age of Stupid,” a new film on global warming and oil that is a mix of documentary, dramatization and animation.

One comment simplified the Maldives riddle very well.

If the Maldives are doomed why spend $1.1 billion on the place. Abandon the islands. Move to higher ground. Ans.: They won’t get many $$ if they ask for any other reason. And they know better than anyone they are not sinking!

Of course, this begs the question, why Maldives? That brings us to the next part of the climate change factors.

2. What if

The entire global warming debate is just a facade to keep up demand for oil from India and China. What is the biggest item on the climate change talks? Coal based power plants. Does it seem far fetched that the opposition to coal fired power plants is to stop India and China from reducing the growth in oil consumption.

After all practically all of British GDP today is declining North Sea oil and British Petroleum. Apart from Chinese money, the other source of liquidity, which keeps the US afloat is petro-dollars. And, remember, US future is so closely linked to Arctic oil. Looking at the speed and persistence with which the 123 Agreement was done by the US, it’s use as a lever against Indian negotiating position cannot be underestimated or ignored.

Coincidentally, along with the Copenhagen Summit, the India-Africa Hydrocarbons Conference started in New Delhi. If Africa, the Caribbean and South America start producing their own oil, where does that leave the Oil-West-Dollar Axis? If China and India reduce their growth in oil consumption, what happens? If India and China were to reduce their reliance on oil, leading to a price collapse, the biggest losers will be the Anglo Saxon bloc.

Makes one think!

India’s pharma exports

3.Three things…

First, many of the regulatory bodies (like IMF, World Bank, OECD, et al)are actually a US-Euro Club – to fool the world, with token actions and steps to demonstrate inclusion and fairness to the developing world.

And second, these token actions divert the attention of the developing world. For instance, World Bank list of banned entities were significantly, from two sectors - Software and Pharma.

These are the two sectors where the US still has a lead – and the Indians are its biggest challengers. Generic pharma firms from India have become world beaters - and the Indian software companies have built up US$50 billion a year business, in less than 10 years. These 50 billion dollars have come out of (arguably) US pockets.

At least, the actions against Wipro and Nestor Pharma were pathetic excuses to ban a business – and no third party arbiter will uphold these actions.

Third, on January 9, Standard & Poor’s announced that Greece, Spain and Ireland were on review for a possible downgrade, indicating that a Euro-zone country could default. The cost of the US bailout is likely to exceed US$3 trillion. Current US budget deficit is likely to break all records and estimates.

Not so long ago …

In 1999, an employee of an auto-components manufacturer, Autolite, was arrested in France for trademarks and copyright infringement – based on a complaint by the car manufacturer PSA Puegeot Citroen. The French police, on similar complaints, arrested two other nationals, a Belgian and a Taiwanese woman also.

The Belgian was of course granted bail – and the Indian and the Taiwanese were denied bail - ‘The lawyers representing the Indian businessman offerred to deposit his passport and the sum of 100,000 French Francs claimed by Peugeot in the custody of the court as bailbond, pending the trial of the case on November 12′.

French court procedures took nearly 1 month and the Indian executive was finally granted bail after being in prison for 1 month. After two years of appeals and expensive litigation, the complaint was found to be without any merit – and dismissed.

More recently …

A shipment of medicines destined for Brazil, from India, was detained at Rotterdam. The Dutch Customs used a complaint from a local Dutch company, to detain this shipment, based on local patent laws. After a few months of ‘negotiations’, the shipment was sent back to India. An expert writes, what

‘EU is doing is using Council Regulation (EC) No. 1383/2003 to impound drugs that are suspected of violating patents registered in member-countries even if these are simply in transit. The regulations permit customs to hold these goods for a minimum of 10 working days while informing the patent holder of the seizure. The patent holder then applies to a civil court to initiate legal proceedings in order to prove that infringement has taken place.’

Again coincidentally, India decided to proceed against the EU on the same day as the beginning of the Copenhagen meeting.

Public sector or oblivion?

During the Great Depression, more than 19 auto companies (similar to the number of banks today) were folded into the Big 3. The Big 3 lived to fight for another 70 years. In their death throes, the US Big Auto is likely to go the way European auto sector has gone – public sector or oblivion.

What is on the table

Two out of the G-7 countries are bankrupt – US and Britain. Their industrial base was supported by raw materials and captive markets – acquired by genocide, and the loot of centuries.

France, Germany, Canada, Italy  and Australia (not in G7) are tethering on the brink – under the weight of their social security system, and most of their business is in the public sector. A geriatric Japan is dependent almost entirely on exports to these declining seven. Japan’s investment in India and China has been negligible.

Unhappy negotiators

When certain negotiators in India were ‘worried’ about the conditionalities – Indian played up the Kakodkar card. Kakodkar was supposed to be unhappy with the deal. After much speculation and ‘negotiations’ Kakodkar gave the go-ahead.

Just before the Copenhagen meeting, another Indian negotiator, Chandrashekhar Dasgupta, ‘outed’ the impending Government Of India’s surrender. His analysis and logic was well presented in this post, on the morning of the Copenhagen meeting.

Crooked scientists

As the Climate Change talks came to the actual date, it was discovered that the ‘chief repository’ of data and information was hacked, released to the world. What this ‘leak’ showed the world, was how the scientists are playing dirty.

In June, however, he became a sudden celebrity with the surfacing of a few e-mail messages that seemed to show that his contrarian views on global warming had been suppressed by his superiors because they were inconvenient to the Obama administration’s climate change policy. Conservative commentators and Congressional Republicans said he had been muzzled because he did not toe the liberal line. (via Furor Over Alan Carlin, a Climate Change Skeptic – NYTimes.com).

When data from Indian scientists was released, it showed that the Himalayas have been retreat for nearly a 50 years. The most glaring of it was when

In its 2007 report, the Nobel Prize-winning Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said: “Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high if the Earth keeps warming at the current rate.

Careful reading of the report by

Professor Cogley has found a 1996 document by a leading hydrologist, VM Kotlyakov, that mentions 2350 as the year by which there will be massive and precipitate melting of glaciers.

“The extrapolar glaciation of the Earth will be decaying at rapid, catastrophic rates – its total area will shrink from 500,000 to 100,000 square kilometres by the year 2350,” Mr Kotlyakov’s report said.

Mr Cogley says it is astonishing that none of the 10 authors of the 2007 IPCC report could spot the error and “misread 2350 as 2035″.

India ‘arrogant’ to deny global warming link to melting glaciers, was Dr.Pachauri’s response.

When the levee breaks

A few days ago, some hackers broke into the East Anglia HQ, where most of the climate change data was being ’studied’ and ‘analysed’.

This data was released by these ‘data thieves’ a few days before the Copenhagen meeting. The effect was electric.

This scientific bunker holds the world’s largest trove of climate-change data, gleaned from Siberian tree-ring counts, Greenland ice-layer measurements and centuries-old thermometer readings.

Now the pirating of thousands of e-mail messages from within its walls has revealed a dangerous bunker mentality among the scientists who guarded those records and a data-fudging scandal that has created a crisis of confidence in global-warming science that is threatening to destroy the political consensus around next week’s carbon-policy summit in Copenhagen.

Said one scientist working at the institute: “It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this has set the climate-change debate back 20 years.”

Al Gore’s docu-drama, An Inconvenent Truth, was based on this faulty, fudged and corrupt data. The PR team for that film won the PRSA award for that year. Al Gore’s team won the Nobel Prize. Now some academy members want to take back the Academy Award given to Al Gore, the former vice-president and a carbon-cap advocate, for his climate documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

Al Gore has cancelled the US$1200 dinner at Copenhagen.

Whats the climate change

These seem like offensive actions from the EU and the US – to undermine their competitors and to bolster Euro-US businesses. It makes me doubt the Satyam saga. To carry the conspiracy theory thread forward, was there a Merrill Lynch-Ramlinga Raju ‘deal’?

Modern day protectionism, huh?

This also furthers the importance of having non-Western bodies, which are sponsored by the Third World, which will regulate and govern international laws. To depend on the West, is to further dig the hole that the Third World finds itself in.

And in case you forget, remember that for some time Indian cows were blamed for global warming!

The African model

Dot have children – but have Christian children, if you must!

Africans!! Why have children, at all? If you must, at least have Christian children!

August company

A worried Bill Gates cant sleep at night. He is spending billions (ok … ok … not billions for now … just hundreds of millions) to solve this problem. An equally worried Ted Turner has already given away billions – and waiting in line to give away more. Ted Turner ‘thinks’ that people will eat people - instead of food, which will become scarce. David Packard (of Hewlett Packard) was an equally worried man. His foundation has given hundreds of millions each year.

What’s worrying them? Linux? Mobile phones OS. Google? Naah Why worry? Is anyone else making money?. They are a long way off. Let them get closer.

So, what is it? It is the thought of all the Asians, Browns and the Blacks in the world having sex. And the children they will have. The Packard family, Bill Gates, Ted Turner are not alone in having the population crisis and the people bomb on their mind. All these paranoid thinking based on bad economic theory!!

cartoon is a study in arrogance and contempt.

Arrogance in that the West knows best – and the poor Africans must not have non-Christian children. Contempt – for freedom of (personal) choices for Africans. Economic aid is tied to population control measures – or abusive relationships with aid receipients. Or they can go to the nearest Church for aid.

All this while the Italians are scared that kebabs and curries will destroy Italian cuisine.

Public debt imperils world economy

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has warned that the world’s 30 leading industrialized economies will see their indebtedness grow to 100% of output in 2010, a near doubling from the percentage 20 years ago. (via Public debt imperils world economy – International News – livemint.com).

Till the fat lady sings

The debt spiral is not ended yet. Like the Dubai crash shows, the world economy is not yet out of the woods. Struggling firms, in the face of a weak consumer and industrial markets, may just keel over. A domino effect may set off yet another round of closures, bankruptcies, mergers, and defaults.

The Western welfare state is not going away – except upwards. Welfare bills are getting more ambitious – and the domestic lobbies want more ambitious schemes. High cost economies are being protected by barriers and stockades.

Run … hide … but you cant turn your back

The political constructs of the West have hit a wall – and there is no way but down! Since the West is busy hiding elephants in the room, the need for a different political ideology remains unaddressed.