The Obama administration wastes over $2 billion on climate change aid

The US federal government recently avoided going broke by the decision to raise the debt ceiling. But that does not the least deter the Obama administration from wasting taxpayers´s money on (bogus) climate change projects abroad. Nobody seems to know the entire amount of money spent on global warming projects in other countries, but according to this information by foreignassistance.gov, only the Department of State and USAID core climate assistance this year will be almost two billion USD.

Climate change is one of the century's greatest challenges, and will be a priority of our diplomacy and development work for years to come. USG funding to combat global climate change will help the most vulnerable countries respond to the growing impacts of climate change, hasten the world's transition to a low-carbon economy, and help forge a global solution to the climate crisis. 

The U.S. government's international climate change financing in FY 2010 was a total of $1.7 billion, consisting of $1.3 billion of Congressionally appropriated assistance and $400 million of development finance and export credit. The U.S. government's FY 2011 budget request included $1.9 billion in assistance and additional support from development finance and export credit. Core funding to the Global Climate Change Initiative through USAID, the Department of the Treasury, and the Department of State increased from $316 million in FY 2009 to approximately $1 billion in FY 2010. The FY 2012 core funding request to Congress of $1.3 billion is slightly less than the FY 2011 core request of $1.4 billion. Other government programs, including development finance and export credits also contribute to the climate change effort.

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Please Note: The numbers below do not cover all of the U.S. government's international climate change financing, but only the Department of State and USAID core climate assistance.

Read the entire article here

Contrast the above with this sad reality:

The national debt broke the $1 trillion mark for the first time in 1982. It topped $2 trillion in 1986, $3 trillion in 1990, $5 trillion in 1996, $6 trillion in 2002 and $10 trillion in 2008. The current US debt is $14.46 trillion, or about $44,000 for every person in the United States.
Government spending over the next five years is expected to exceed tax revenues by about $1 trillion per year. The interest alone on the national debt accounts for nearly 1 out of every 5 dollars collected in taxes.
This clearly isn’t a problem that developed overnight. For decades, Americans have simply become used to living on borrowed money.
The debt ratio — expressed as the percentage of the total outstanding debt compared to the gross domestic product of the U.S. — was under 40 percent during the economic malaise of the Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations. The debt ratio increased to over 60 percent under Reagan, dropped to under 60 percent during the Clinton administration, then it rose to over 80 percent under George W. Bush. Under Obama, the debt ratio has risen to over 98 percent of GDP.

Read the entire article here

PS

Clearly the US government cannot continue to increase the debt in the years to come. There must be real budget cuts in order to avoid bankruptcy. Cutting the wasteful "climate change aid" should be on the top of the cut list.

Obama´s climate orthodoxy: U.S. ambassadors as story tellers

The global warming/climate change orthodoxy of the Obama administration has now clearly also reached his top diplomats around the world. Here is what two of Obama´s  ambassadors have been busy doing this summer:

Thomas was an engaging storyteller, even mouthing sound effects like “Whooosh!” with flourish.

More than 60 elementary school students stepped on American soil on Saturday and gathered by the fireplace of the United States ambassador’s residence in Camp John Hay here as they listened to US Ambassador Harry K. Thomas Jr. tell the story of Simon the Sun, Wendy the Wind, Kurt the Cloud, Henry the Water and Mikko the Corn.
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But Thomas was here with the children to wage a different war—a war against fossil fuels and a fight for renewable energy.


Thomas read the “R.E. Troopers” for the Inquirer Read-Along. It is the first of a series of stories developed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to educate young Filipinos on renewable and clean energy.
The ambassador turned out to be a lively reader with a booming voice.
He told the stories of Wendy, who signifies wind energy; Simon, for solar energy; Henry, or water for hydroelectric energy; Kurt, the cloud; and Mikko, the corn who talked about biomass and deriving energy from waste.
Thomas was an engaging storyteller, even mouthing sound effects like “Whooosh!” with flourish.
The “R.E. Troopers” revolved around friends John, Paulo, Gemma and Myra as they fly a kite and talk to Kurt about wind energy, and listen to Simon talk about solar energy. They eat sweet corn and get an introduction about biomass energy.
“But wait! Hear me! Hear me!” Thomas read and repeated the words as he talked about Henry, “your hydro friend,” and his contribution to renewable energy.
“Go! Renewable Energy! Let us all be friends and call ourselves the R.E. Troopers. Go! R.E. Troopers!” Thomas read at the end, engaging the children to repeat the call.

Read the entire article here

 U.S. ambassador Oreck has a plan to prevent Europe from becoming a desert

Bruce Oreck, the wealthy Obama supporter (at least $500,000 to the Obama campaign) and founder of the Zero Carbon Initiative, turned U.S. ambassador in Helsinki, had his own climate change story for the people of Finland:

"If I were to decide, Finland would survey its freshwater resources, work out a plan to preserve the resources and then start extracting and selling the water.

Oreck suggests the construction of a water pipeline to Central Europe through the Baltic sea.

- There is a risk that Southern Europe will turn into a desert, not to speak of Africa.

The original interview in Swedish here

PS

Here is a suggestion to the Obama administration:

Maybe the State Department and USAID could send the "R.E. Troopers" to build the huge Baltic water pipeline in order to save Europe from becoming a desert due to global warming?

Another astounding statement by a global warming "witch doctor"

Another astounding statement from a leading climate model enthusiast:

Lawrence Buja, the director of the Climate Science and Application Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., said climate models had moved quickly from “Climate 1.0” to “Climate 2.0.”
In Climate 1.0, the main issue was to prove that human-caused climate change was happening. “For that we needed models developed over 40 years to understand and address this question,” he said.
The last review of international climate science by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 concluded that warming was “unequivocal” and primarily the result of human activities, mostly the burning of coal, oil and gas.
With that, Climate 2.0 began.
“Almost overnight, the question changed to ‘What is the impact of this climate change on our human and natural systems?’ ” Buja said.
As computers improve, climate scientists can make increasingly better models, Buja said.
“We can do finer-scale modeling with more powerful computers and address these Climate 2.0 questions,” he said.
The National Center for Atmospheric Research today hosts one of the world’s top computers for climate models, used by Kinter’s group and many other scientists. Next year a better computer will open in a new facility in Cheyenne, Wyo. The current site couldn’t house the next generation of computing, Buja said.

Read the entire article here

Buja´s statement about moving from "Climate 1.0" to "Climate 2.0" clearly shows that he is living in a fantasy land. To allege that "models developed over 40 years" and the IPCC´s reports are "unequivoical" proof of human induced global warming is, of course, sheer nonsense, and discredits the entire work of his institution, the Climate Science and Application Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.

Of course, nobody should be surprised by Buja´s views. A look at the Center´s web page shows that this is one of  the Climate Science and Application Program´s focus areas:

"Training traditional healers in the West Nile region of Uganda to recognize plague as part of a decision support system"

PS

It seems that Dr. Buja and his disciples have been deeply influenced by the Ugandan witch doctors, and are basing their "science" on their teachings. That is why the Climate Science and Application Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder is in urgent need of renaming. How about National Center of Witchcraft or National Voodoo Center?

Name change suggestions can be mailed to:

BUJA, Lawrence: | CSAP DIRECTOR

southern@ucar.edu

Obama continues his kowtowing to communist China: Taiwan not allowed to buy F-16 fighters

China´s communist leaders must be celebrating. It now appears clear that president Obama has decided that the US will not sell F-16 fighters to its old ally, democratic Taiwan:

Taiwan will not be getting the 66 F-16C/D aircraft it has been requesting since 2007, a Ministry of National Defense official has confirmed, and fewer of its older F-16s will be retrofitted, news that could strike a blow to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration as it heads into elections next January.
“We are so disappointed in the United States,” the official told Defense News on the sidelines of the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition (TADTE), which ended on Saturday, blaming the decision on pressure from Beijing.
The article, released last night and written by the magazine’s Asia Bureau chief, Wendell Minnick, said a US Department of Defense delegation had arrived in Taiwan last week to deliver the news to Taipei and that as an alternative it had offered to secure the upgrade package for Taiwan’s ageing fleet of F-16A/B aircraft.
“The US Pentagon is here explaining what is in the upgrade package,” a US defense industry source told the magazine. “They are going to split the baby: no C/Ds, but the A/B upgrade is going forward.”
“The switch is meant to soften the blow of denying new planes to Taipei,” a source at Lockheed Martin, maker of the F-16, told Defense News.
Part of the deal, which sources said would be made toward the end of this month, would include an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, Defense News said.
The AESA radar will likely be Northrop Grumman’s Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) or the Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar (RACR), although a source told the Taipei Times last week that some components of the SABR may yet to have cleared export licensing from the US government.
According to the magazine, the upgrade would make Taiwan’s F-16s among the most capable variants of the aircraft, “perhaps second only to the APG-80 AESA-equipped F-16E/Fs flown by the United Arab Emirates.”
However, in a follow-up conversation with the Taipei Times, Minnick said it now appeared that, contrary to initial plans to have the entire 146 F-16A/Bs upgraded, fewer aircraft would be retrofitted.
“My sources now indicate the A/B upgrade could be limited to only one of the two F-16 wings” that comprise the Taiwanese air force, he said.

Read the entire article here

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Republican chairperson of the US House of  Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs is deeply worried about the Obama administration´s policy towards Taiwan:

US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairperson of the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, has issued a stern warning to US Vice President Joe Biden not to discuss arms sales to Taiwan while he is in China this week.
The warning came in a letter that was hand-delivered to Biden just before he boarded a plane to Beijing from Washington on Tuesday.
It followed a firm promise issued earlier in the week by the White House that arms sales would not be discussed and reflected suspicion in Congress that the administration of US President Barack Obama is being unduly influenced by Chinese sentiment on the arms sale question.
Ros-Lehtinen also used her letter to express support for Taiwan in its request to buy 66 F-16C/D aircraft from the US.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has already promised that a decision on the sale will be announced before Oct. 1.
Despite recent reports from Taipei to the contrary, US officials continue to insist that as of this week no decision has yet been made.
“I wish to address an issue of utmost concern to the Congress as you prepare to depart on your Asian trip, with a first stop in Beijing,” Ros-Lehtinen wrote to Biden.
“It involves the pending question of arms sales to Taiwan, as congressionally-mandated in the Taiwan Relations Act. The immediate issue involves the provision of the next generation of F-16 fighters and diesel [-electric] submarines to Taipei,” she wrote.
She said there had been considerable press speculation that Biden would discuss the arms issue in Beijing and that some in Taipei could perceive such talks as “undermining an old friend and ally.”

Read the entire article here

PS

The apparent decision not to sell F-16 fighters to Taiwan is another sign of a weak president´s kowtowing to China´s authoritarian communist leaders. Shame on Obama, if the report about the refusal to support a long time ally is true!

Putin´s house of cards

                   Putin recently took his puppet on a fishing trip to the river Volga

RFE/RE:s Brian Whitmore offers an excellent characterization of Vladimir Putin´s Russia:

Vladimir Putin isn’t going anywhere.

All other analysis of where Russia is headed post-2012 must proceed from this basic assumption.

Putin may very well end up returning to the Kremlin, as much of the Moscow punditocracy seems to expect at this point, in which case Medvedev would become an interesting historical footnote.

Or, he could continue to rule as Russia’s informal national leader essentially extending the tandem's shelf life -- and Medvedev's presidency -- for another six years. In this case, the only question remaining would be which official post he occupies.

Regardless, at the end of the day, this is Putin’s show.
I recently spoke to Nikolai Petrov of the Moscow Carnegie Center about the source of Putin's indispensability to the current system (sorry, no link since the interview is still unpublished):

Putin designed a system of managed conflict. There is no competition in public. But he created different clans and groups who are fighting against each other. This is the way Putin keeps control over the system. He is a judge and arbiter who is keeping the balance among them. It is impossible for him to leave. It is impossible to imagine this system without him because all of the agreements are guaranteed by him. Without him, all of these clans would fight each other, like after Stalin's death.

Kremlin-watchers say this system of interlocking and competing clans that is managed by Putin comprises the core of Russia's ruling elite. The key players, the people with decision making power, number about thirty. The inner circle, most agree, comprises about twelve people.

Read the entire post here


PS

Wiltshire is right about Putin going nowhere - for the time being. But it should not be forgotten, that Putin´s house of cards is built on a fundament of  Russian oil and gas exports. That is also its weakness. When the stream of money from energy exports begins to dry up - as it will, due to the shale gas and LNG revolution -the house of cards will fall down. That is why Putin and his inner energy circle are desperately trying to prevent Europe from seizing the opportunity to get rid of its energy dependence. Now it is up to Poland and other European states to make sure that Putin and his Russian friends will fail. By doing this, they will also pave the way for democratic forces in Russia.

British admirals to command wind turbines instead of ships



Admiral  Nelson´s successors  will be in charge of wind turbines instead of ships. The Cameron government´s cuts could reduce the size of the Royal Navy to it´s smallest level since the time of Nelson.


David Cameron´s "the greenest government ever" keeps on subsidising unprofitable wind power projects while at the same time endangering British trade interests ,which are increasingly dependent on keeping international sea lanes safe and open. British admirals, commanders and captains are now expected to command wind turbines instead of ships as the Royal Navy is facing extensive cutbacks:

British, Dutch and Danish Royal Navy are just some places where the traditional military training programs contain many of the key criteria an offshore employer seeks. Thousands of hours of offshore work experience, check. Educated to a good standard of higher learning maybe even with specific electrical engineering skills sets, check. A built in sense of teamwork and respect for authority and command, check.

These men and women have worked to deadlines for most of theiradult lives. They have been in harsh weather conditions and very likely been away from home comforts and their families for weeks at a time. They have worked in tight spaces. They are brave and work with a purpose.
So it is no surprise to hear and read that wind turbine OEM’s on both sides of the Atlantic such as Gamesa, are actively employing ex-military. Nor should it be a shock to learn that the UK national skills academy power sector is actively seeking out connections between the offshore wind community and a variety of military institutions

Read the entire article here

While the heavily subsidised wind power industry is poaching on the Royal Navy, both trade and security experts say that both the ships and the officers would be sorely needed in the fight against piracy and terrorism:

The Centre for Economics and Business Research think-tank has predicted that the amount of international trade Britain conducts by sea could soar as we forge stronger links with emerging markets.
It believes sea trade will grow  in value by more than six times over the next 20 years – making Britain a ‘maritime nation’  once again.
But industry experts warn this seafaring renaissance will only be possible if the Royal Navy is strong enough to keep shipping lanes open and fight piracy  and terrorism.
International trade is vital to the health of the UK economy, with ministers pinning their hopes on exports to drive the current recovery.
But pirate attacks rose sharply to 266 incidents in the first half of this year, up from 196 in the same period of 2010, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
The hot-spot for pirates is not the Caribbean but the Arabian Sea, where most attacks by Somali brigands take place.
At the end of June, Somali pirates were holding 420 crew members across 20 vessels, and demanding millions of pounds in ransoms for their release.
Pottengal Mukundan, the IMB’s director, said these groups are attacking more ships than ever before – and taking even more risks.
‘This June, for the first time, pirates fired on ships in rough seas in the Indian Ocean during the monsoon season,’ he said.
‘In the past they would have stayed away in such difficult conditions.’
According to the Chamber of Shipping, 95pc of UK trade by volume – and 90pc by value – is carried over the waves.
‘We are highly dependent on trade by sea,’ said John Dowden, a senior manager at the trade association.
‘We need a strong Navy to protect our interests. Whether we have enough naval ships to do that is a serious concern.’
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But the Royal United Services Institute warned that the Navy is ‘dangerously weak’, and international trade by sea was at risk ‘unless the future fleet is restored and adequately sized’.
The Navy, along with the other armed forces, is facing cutbacks following the Government’s Strategic Defence and Security Review last autumn – including the scrapping of the iconic Ark Royal aircraft carrier and the loss of 5,000 jobs. In addition, the historic Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon, which has trained officers since 1905, may face closure.
Ultimately, the swingeing cuts could reduce the service to its smallest level since the time of Admiral Nelson.
Dr Lee Willett, a research fellow at RUSI, cautioned: ‘The role of the Royal Navy has been forgotten about because the trade keeps coming.’
In a recent report, Vice Admiral Sir Jeremy Blackham, an associate fellow at the institute, said: ‘Any trading nation has a critical interest in the secure use of the seas and the preservation of good order at sea.
‘The dependence of the West, but especially of Britain, on use  of the sea for its survival and  prosperity is a geopolitical fact  of life.’

Read the entire article here

PS

This is another sad example of what happens when politicians close their eyes to the real world and instead base their actions on politically correct hoax "science". And there is a clear danger that,due to defense cuts, there will be a similar development in the US

Another alarmist study with predictable results - This time it´s about trout

The reality: “We are not yet seeing the trend in the trout populations themselves,”


A fresh study about the impact of  predicted global warming on trout habitat in the Western US is a good example of what´s wrong with most similar studies. If the researchers - in this case biologists Seth Wenger and Dan Isaak - base their studies on erraneous climate models, they are bound to get results that fit into the alarmist agenda:

When Seth Wenger and Dan Isaak release a scientific paper that predicts hard times for the West’s trout, they know a lot of people are skeptical.
“Fundamentally, skepticism is a good thing in science,” said Wenger, a fisheries researcher with Trout Unlimited in Boise.
Both Wenger and Isaak, a fisheries biologist at the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station in Boise, were a part of a team of 11 scientists who said trout habitat could drop by 50 percent over the next 70 years because of a warming world. The paper, published Monday in the peer-reviewed science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, predicts native cutthroat habitat could decline by 58 percent.
The two men, who have devoted their lives to scientific research, say they depend on the scientific method and peer review to judge the quality of the research that underscores their findings. The climate predictions are based on 10 of the 20 climate models developed independently worldwide that all show the world is getting warmer.


“The climate models have been right for 30 years and they are getting better all the time,” Isaak said. (!)

The most dire climate models show temperatures in Idaho rising an average of 9 degrees in 70 years, Wenger said. “That would make Boise pretty unpleasant,” he said. “None of us want to believe that.”
But Wenger is a scientist. He may hope the models that predict only a 4- to 5-degree rise over 70 years are more accurate, but he has to use the science that is available.
“I have to set aside my feelings and use the best data,” he said.
The best data says it’s going to get warmer, but there remains a lot of uncertainty in the numbers, especially past 2050, Wenger said. So there is a range of possible impacts on cutthroats. The scientists forecast reductions in habitat ranging from 33 percent to 58 percent.
But these findings are only predictions.
“We are not yet seeing the trend in the trout populations themselves,” Wenger said.
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But what if all the climate models are wrong?
“There just is not a lot of data supporting the alternative view,” Wenger said.
There are natural events that could change the trend, Isaak said.
A large volcano eruption could cool global temperatures for years or even decades.

Read the entire article here


On can only wonder why scientists like Isaak and Wenger still blindly believe in the alarmist climate models, which have been proven wrong so many times, most recently by Roy W. Spencer and William D. Braswell:

On the Misdiagnosis of Surface Temperature Feedbacks from
Variations in Earth’s Radiant Energy Balance
Read the research article here

Another article here
And here

Even one of the lead writers of the IPCC reports admits that the climate models fail:

Yet even Kevin Trenberth, a lead author of 2001 and 2007 IPCC report chapters, has admitted that the IPCC models have failed to duplicate realities. Writing in a 2007 “Predictions of Climate” blog appearing in the science journal Nature.com he stated, “None of the models used by the IPCC are initialized to the observed state and none of the climate states in the models correspond even remotely to the current observed state.”

Read the entire article here

If you would like to remind Isaak and Wenger e.g. about the Spencer and Braswell
study, here is where to write:
Daniel Isaak, Fisheries Research Scientist

email: disaak@fs.fed.us

 Seth Wenger, Staff Scientist
 swenger@tu.org

Another useful link:
http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2011/06/top-10-reasons-why-climate-model.html

Haiku Herman to save the euro - and Europe

Finally Frau Merkel and M. Sarkozy show some real leadership! Their bold and visionary decision to nominate Haiku Herman (van Rompuy) as the leader of  Europe´s new economic government will most certainly end any speculation about the future of both the euro and the European Union!

PARIS–Moving to quell financial market turmoil and boost confidence in the euro, the leaders of France and Germany said Tuesday they would shore up the governance of the euro zone and proposed EU council President Herman van Rompuy to lead a new euro zone council for a period of two and a half years.

Calling it a "veritable euro zone economic governance," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the body will meet twice a year, and more if necessary.
"We want to state our absolute will to defend the euro," said Mr. Sarkozy after a meeting in Paris with German chancellor Angela Merkel.

Read the entire article here

PS
The markets are looking forward to even more haikus like the one discussed here:

Shale gas and LNG terminals will end Putin´s ability to blackmail Europe

Flashback January 2009:

"Each new LNG terminal decreases Vladimir Putin’s ability to blackmail his neighbours and much of western Europe"

The Economist focuses on the gamechanging shale gas and LNG revolution:

THE juxtaposition of “gas” and “boom” conjures misfortune: mining disasters, Zeppelins in flame and the like. But the gas boom that the world is currently experiencing is a conflagration to be celebrated. The development of previously unexploitable shale gas as a resource in America and other countries, and the growth in the liquefied-natural-gas (LNG) market, between them promise a future in which more gas is traded more freely, to the benefit of the world at large.

Shale gas, as well as gas from other unconventional sources, will swell the ranks of gas producers. Existing producers will gain from more markets opening up as the fuel’s appeal spreads. Consumers will be less likely to find themselves tied to single producers through specific pipelines, with the unpleasant possibilities for political pressure that such arrangements bring with them (see article). Each new LNG terminal decreases Vladimir Putin’s ability to blackmail his neighbours and much of western Europe.

If the boom persists gas may take coal’s place as the world’s second-favourite fuel in just a few decades, and millions will breathe easier as a result. This is because, even were it not cheap and plentiful, gas would be attractive simply on the grounds of cleanliness. It is true that there are questions about the harm that may be done by the “fracking” process that liberates shale gas; there is an urgent need for systematic before-and-after environmental audits. But once the gas is out of the ground, it is a great deal cleaner than coal. It does not distribute neurotoxic mercury around the planet; it does not clog city air and the lungs of those who breathe it with soot and sulphur. Gas is a boon to public health.

Read the entire article here

PS

The European envirofundamentalists have joined forces with Vladimir Putin´s Gazprom and its subsidiary, the Russian-German Nord Stream (led by a former Stasi spy Matthias Warnig and former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder) in order to destroy the American-led shale gas revolution. But the Poles, together with other Europeans who have recent experience of what it means to be dependent on Russian energy, will not allow these dark forces to succeed.