This must be a sad day for Vladimir Putin´s German friend, former chancellor and present chairman of the board of the Nord Stream pipeline, Gerhard Schröder. The left leaning jury members, who had decided to reward former German based KGB agent Putin with the (at least previously) highly esteemed Quadriga Prize, have now announced that he will NOT be given the prize. Only a few days ago, the jury members were still clinging to their unbelievably stupid choice, but the growing criticism finally made them think again.
Read the entire article in Der Spiegel (in German) here
... a Hobbesian world, where life for far more people is ‘nasty, brutish, and short’
Holly- and Bollywood film directors have recently been complaining about the lack of good script writers, particularly with regard to horror movies. Without scary enough scripts, no horror blockbusters!
No need to despair anymore, dear directors! Help is on its way. An hitherto unknown new British horror screen writer has produced the first outline of what many people think will be the horror movie of the century:
... a Hobbesian world, where life for far more people is ‘nasty, brutish, and short’.
Imagine a state on the brink of dissolution. Fresh water supplies, scant to begin with, are critically low. Crop yields are down. Failing harvests are the norm, not the exception. The country’s staple grain no longer grows well.
Unyielding poverty and inadequate sewerage mean disease tears through towns and cities. Outside the population centres, things are hardly better. Arable land is turning to dust, as the desert claims what was once fertile land.
Desperate people take desperate measures. Instability is now a national problem; soon it will be a regional one. Migrants surge outwards, searching for survival.
‘The twenty-first century will see a fight for resources, and Russia should not be defeated in this fight ... NATO has sensed where the wind comes from. It comes from the North.’ (Russian ambassador)
Many countries will be tempted to raise their defences against fleeing people. Barriers that will undermine a liberal world order that has served Britain well. This is the nightmare scenario.
The British Council is finally going to stop wasting money on useless climate change programmes, which do not have anything to do with its real purpose.
Instead the BC will "focus on its core business areas of arts, English and education and society",saysAnne Wozcencraft, BS:s acting director of education and society.
This is, of course, something British taxpayers welcome, and rightly so. Why should British taxpayers finance expensive world wide eco-tourism like this?:
Over 35 Climate Champions from 16 Countries (Northern Ireland, Ireland, UK, USA, Finland, Slovenia, Japan, Greece, Bangladesh, Norway, Sweden, Uganda, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and India) will come together at the Third International Climate Champions Camp in Goa, India from 15 – 21 January 2011. At the camp, these Climate Champions will be exposed to various facets of the fragile ecosystem of Goa and will get the opportunity to learn, network, share and better understand local impacts to this ecosystem due to Climate Change.
They will be interacting with the local scientific, technical and social experts and will also be visiting scientific Institutions like the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) and Goa Science Centre
The British Council´s " International Climate Champions" programme is only a small part of the megalomaniac BC "Climate Generation" project. A major beneficiary of the programme is Dr. R. Pachauri´s TERI:
International Climate Champions is a youth oriented programme run by the British Council in partnership with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). This programme is part of British Council's global project called 'Climate Generation' which is delivered through a network of Climate Champions across 60 countries and eight Regions.
No wonder, Pachauri thinks that the Climate Champions programme is a great idea:
However, the sensible decision to cut the expensive climate change programmes has - not surprisingly - been criticized by a group of greenie artists and authors:
A group of some of Britain's best-known authors and artists has condemned the British Council's "extraordinary" decision to all but end its groundbreaking international work on climate change and demanded the decision be reconsidered.
Neither is it a surprise that a minister in David Cameron´s "green" government also is joining the critics:
The move has also been criticised by Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) minister Jeremy Browne who, in a letter leaked to the Guardian, admonished the council's chief executive for his apparent "termination" of one of the council's "success stories".
One must hope that the British Council stands by its decision to focus on its core activities, in spite of the pressure from the alarmists in the artist community and the Foreign Office (which probably would do well to focus on its own core activities - not climate change). UK tax payers - as indeed tax payers in many other countries - are hit by severe government imposed austerity measures. It is an outrage that their money is used to finance wasteful eco-tourism in the name of bogus human caused global warming.
Another example of Hollywood stars acting as "useful idiots":
The photos of Hollywood stars have been plastered all over the city for weeks, Dustin Hoffman looking down on Nikitsky Bulvar, Woody Allen and Steven Seagal, paired together on a billboard for probably the first time ever, on the Garden Ring. This Saturday and Sunday the stars actually came together, apart from an absent Hoffman, at an event organized by the controversial charity Federation fund at a specially constructed outdoor stage at a closed-off Vorobyovy Gory, where Seagal danced, actor Kevin Costner played guitar and Woody Allen the clarinet before signing a black Hummer. It was that kind of event. The gala did not have the surreality of the Federation fund’s previous celebrity event, a night in St. Petersburg where Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sang “Blueberry Hill” as Sharon Stone and Goldie Hawn, among other celebrities, watched on fawningly. Dionne Warwick, Francis Ford Coppola, Sophia Loren, Andy Garcia and Isabella Rossellini were among the others who flew in despite recent accusations that the fund is more focused on publicity than raising money as well as a worrying lack of transparency.
Charity director Vladimir Kiselyov has said the fund does not raise money but links donors to hospitals. However, Russian media reported that many of the hospitals listed on the fund’s site do not have any connection with the fund. Kiselyov said the charity has donated more than $12 million to hospitals. None of this has gone down well with many charities who have fought in the last decade to build trust among a cynical public suspicious of charity. The fund’s reluctance to release documents and its aversion to transparency goes against the basic principles of modern Russian charities, they say. “Without documents these words do not mean anything,” said Yekaterina Bermant, director of the Children’s Hearts charity. “All our reputations are at risk, those who worked for years and got respect of the people.”
Could this save humanity from catastrophic global warminng?
Old American Standard Afwall with Low Consumption Flush Valve Replacement
The Telegraph´s alarmist environment correspondent Louise Gray reports that the UK Government´s climate change adviser, Lord Krebs (Chair of the Adaptation Sub Committee), has invented a new, revolutionary way of fighting global warming:
Water saving devices in the toilet will help UK fight climate change says Government adviser
Households should be encouraged to fit nozzles on taps and put water saving devices in the toilet, the Government’s climate change adviser has warned.
Lord Krebs called for water meters to be installed in all homes over the next decade. He also said water companies and Governments agencies should be offering more advice on water saving devices. This can include fitting aerator nozzles to taps and putting a “hippo” or other deplacement device in the toilet to reduce flush. Households can also fit rain water butts, fix dripping taps and fit a water efficient shower head.
PS This should be good news for the enviro-fundamentalists. Even if the successor to the Kyoto agreement goes down the drain, it will be amply compensated by the new British innovation for fighting global warming ....
Today´s news from Brussels is that EU has declared war on credit ratings agencies. The charge of the EU heavy brigade was led by a number of top eurocrats:
CommissionerMichel Barnier: The commissioner in charge of the EU's single market, French politician Michel Barnier, alternately sneered and threatened the three big agencies who dominate 90% of the ratings industry: Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch.
--- Barnier said he would announce "stiff measures" in November aimed at taming the power of the agencies.
CommissionerViviane Reading: His remarks followed a broadside on Monday from fellow commissioner Viviane Reding, who said the ratings agencies' "cartel" should be "smashed up" as they were seeking to determine the fate of Europe and its single currency.
The President of the CommissionJosé Manuel Barroso:
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said the bloc was looking at getting away from its reliance on the mainly U.S.-based ratings companies and weighing possibilities for legal redress.
The European Union is now considering to ban rating agencies from doing what they are supposed to do:
On Monday, EU market regulation commissioner Michel Barnier suggested banning credit rating agencies from assessing countries under EU-IMF bailout programmes. In addition, the EU commission is working on regulation to increase transparency and competition between the credit rating agencies' market, which is dominated by just three players.
It also suggested that a rival European agency could be created.
This blog has obtained a top secret copy of the soon to be announced official EU credit ratings agency´s first test ratings for Greece, Ireland and Portugal. For comparison, we have added the ratings of the three American (anti-European) ratings agencies.
Official EU credit rating agency:
Greece AAA- Ireland AAA Portugal AAA
Moody´s, Standard & Poor´s, Fitch (compilation):
Greece
CCC
(Junk)
Ireland
Ba1(Junk)
Portugal
Ba2-
(Junk)
As can be seen, according to the objective and trustworthy new official EU ratings agency, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the credit worthiness of euro group members Greece, Ireland and Portugal. All recent problems have been caused by speculators relying on the totally false ratings provided by foreign agencies.The euro is still the most stable currency in the world. President Barroso and Commissioner Barnier are said to be extremely pleased with the new test ratings.
It is likely that the new agency will be located in Athens, although Barroso is known to have favoured Lissabon.
The Greek government already has a site for the new EU ratings agency
When the official truth has descended on the financial world, the European Union will again be able to fully concentrate on fighting (imaginary) human caused global warming and American-led shale gas exploration in Europe, a source in the Commission told this blog today.
Piebalgs in the Pacific - He who pays the piper calls the tune.
In March this blog highlighted EU Commissioner Andris Piebalgs´s grand tour of the Pacific islands, where he was preaching bogus EU climate change propaganda for the native peoples of these "sinking islands". There is reason to pay attention to one more aspect of the Commissioner´s journey:
Pacific island states on the frontline of climate change are to receive €90m (£76m) in EU cash for climate-related projects in return for siding with the European bloc at international climate negotiations. The European Union’s development commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, headed to Vanuatu Wednesday to unveil funding for climate-related projects. The funding comprises redirected resources, according to the European Commission, and will back projects such as mangrove replanting, watershed reforestation, rainwater harvesting, soil retention, raising of infrastructure, disaster preparedness and moving hospitals to higher ground. The cash may appear small in EU terms, but represents as much as 19.5% of the nominal GDP of Vanuatu, and more than 12 times the GDP of the Pacific Islands Forum’s poorest member, Niue. Such an injection of cash does not come without strings attached however. Piebalgs is to make the funding announcement at a high-level climate conference on Vanuatu organised by the European commission where the he will present an EU-Pacific action plan for the island states to sign. The document requires the states to embrace “joint positions on the international stage” as part of a “stronger Pacific-EU political dialogue on climate change”. Climate negotiations have been at a stalemate with only moderate advances made since the global UN conference in Copenhagen in 2009, as Western countries try to convince the developing world to commit to binding emissions reductions. Since 2009, the EU has revamped its climate diplomacy strategy, with France and the UK dispatched to try to pry some African states away from what Brussels officials describe as an “awkward squad” of refusenik nations. Germany has been tasked with the Pacific. Isaac Valero-Ladron, the EU’s climate spokesman, said that the bloc has had a lot of success in the region, which contains countries with some of the lowest GDP per capita in the world. “If we put money on the table, it really creates a constructive atmosphere and good policies.”
Previously the EU climate change bribery has been disclosed in the Wikileaks cables:
In a cable about a conversation with European Union climate boss Connie Hedegaard, the prospect of bribing nations to support the agenda was revealed even more clearly, though this time, it was the EU making suggestions. Hedegaard wanted to know, first of all, if the United States would need to engage in "creative accounting" to meet its climate-financing pledges.
Next, EU climate chief Hedegaard “suggested the AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States) countries ‘could be our best allies’ given their need for financing,” according to the cable. And indeed, given the AOSIS’ vocal and aggressive demands for more money, the analysis is probably correct.
The European Union never misses an opportunity to position itself as the "global leader in the combat against climate change". The unelected, overpaid eurocrats, like Piebalgs, travel all over the world in order to spread this false message of " climate leadership" (often reminding others about the failings of the US in this regard).
However, myth and reality seldom meet, particularly when it comes to the European Union:
The reality is that the EU (with several members in dire straits economically) is spending hundreds of millions of taxpayers´ euros in order to bribe poor countries to join its bogus crusade against (illusory) human caused global warming. Some eurocrats even seem to take pride in this bribery: “If we put money on the table, it really creates a constructive atmosphere and good policies”. (In Brussels they seem to know the message of the old saying "He who pays the piper calls the tune").
It is easy to understand why poor countries, like Vanuatu, are going along with the EU climate corruption; who would say no to free money (worth almost 20% of the country´s GDP)? But it is more difficult to understand why European taxpayers should accept this corruption and enormous waste of money.
And just imagine what an uproar there would be in the leftist and liberal media, if a private company would be caught bribing foreign governments! But when the EU and its unelected bureaucrats do it, nobody seems to care.
Ireland AAA
