Putin, Russia calls man-made climate change a “fraud”

Bizarrely Russia may yet slow the trainwreck in Paris. The irony — the former communist state may be the one to thwart the ambitions of the freeloading global  bureaucracy. We can’t relax though, because like the Chinese, Putin will have a price and if the equation changes so that Russia gains an advantage over the West (through generous exemptions or credits or some other trade deal) he’ll pay lip-service to the Climate extremists.

Putin calls climate change  a “fraud” :

[NY Times (Reuters)] Russia’s official view appears to have changed little since 2003, when Putin told an international climate conference that warmer temperatures would mean Russians “spend less on fur coats” while “agricultural specialists say our grain production will increase, and thank God for that”.

The president believes that “there is no global warming, that this is a fraud to restrain the industrial development of several countries including Russia,” says Stanislav Belkovsky, a political analyst and critic of Putin. “That is why this subject is not topical for the majority of the Russian mass media and society in general.”

Putin’s scepticism dates from the early 2000s, when his staff “did very, very extensive work trying to understand all sides of the climate debate”, said Andrey Illarionov, Putin’s senior economic adviser at the time and now a senior fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington.

“We found that, while climate change does exist, it is cyclical, and the anthropogenic role is very limited,” he said. “It became clear that the climate is a complicated system and that, so far, the evidence presented for the need to ‘fight’ global warming was rather unfounded.”

Who wants more cooling in Russia anyway:

Putin has been casting doubt on man-made global warming since the early 2000s, according to the Times. In 2003, Putin told an international climate conference warming would allow Russians to “spend less on fur coats,” adding that “agricultural specialists say our grain production will increase, and thank God for that.”  — Michael Bastach, Newsbusters

The gullible journalists at the New York Times wrote this up thinking they are highlighting the poor state of journalism in Russia and how it largely ignores the Western fetish for invoking Industrial factors as Weather Gods. Instead, on some topics the Russian media is just telling it like it is. The economic screws are tight in Russia, and there is no time for frivolous fantasies about controlling the weather.  Russians know that fires are caused by fuel loads and arsonists, not by car exhaust and air conditioners.

Galina Timchenko, former editor-in-chief of news site Lenta.ru, lays it out: “Unfortunately climate change is not very interesting to the public,” she says.

Note that the Russians are offering “Media-Ready” targets which are as meaningless as the Chinese.

In suggesting a reduction in its emissions to “70 to 75 percent” of 1990 levels by 2030, Moscow is actually proposing an increase from 2012 levels. Russian emissions are currently far below the levels produced by obsolescent ex-Soviet smokestack industries in 1990.

Even that offer is hedged. Russia has said reaching the target will require generous accounting for the role Russia’s forests play in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

So when the Russian targets get rewritten as “helping” to prevent climate change remember that, like China, Russia is still increasing CO2 emissions and they have no intention of winding them back.

h/t Albert, Daily Caller

8.9 out of 10 based on 120 ratings

139 comments to Putin, Russia calls man-made climate change a “fraud”

  • #
    thingadonta

    It takes one to know one.

    629

    • #
      Greg Cavanagh

      Incredibly rude and disrespectful. He is a lead of a nation, no matter your petty self-importance.

      51

      • #
        Roy Hogue

        Putin is indeed the leader of a nation, a Nation that, like China, is fighting for its place in the world. Unfortunately neither country has anything to fall back on for an example of how to do things except authoritarian rule (being kind to their history). So they are both quite a problem and the difficulty is in how the rest of us should deal with them to resolve those problems without making either one an enemy.

        Both are entitled to their place among nations, politically and economically. And I fear the transition to come will at best, be difficult for the rest of us. In fact it already is difficult in some respects.

        I don’t want hostilities of any kind with either one, even though both are doing all they can at the moment to provoke a hostile act. But neither am I willing to submit to unreasonable things such as China’s recent grab of what for along time has been international waters in the South China Sea or Putin’s adventuring in Ukraine.

        I suspect that a Republican president, if we manage to elect one, will not be so hesitant to take action as Obama has been. Now is the time for some American leadership again. Too bad we don’t have it

        62

  • #
    Robert O

    I understood that the Russian physicists did not think that the IPCC models were very accurate in explaining climate variation, the politics is something else. As there is no valid mathematical relationship between levels of CO2 and global temperature I would support their view.

    842

    • #
      Chris C

      Good point 😀 Yes, the politics IS something else!

      Who remembers The Coming Ice Age – 1978 (Narrated by LEONARD NIMOY), and Part B.
      The 1970’s Global Cooling Compilation – looks much like today’s Warming Sensation
      A compilation of news articles on the global COOLING scare of the 1970’s
      During the 1970s the media promoted global cooling alarmism with dire threats of a new ice age. Extreme weather events were hyped as signs of the coming apocalypse and man-made pollution was blamed as the cause. Environmental extremists called for everything from outlawing the internal combustion engine to communist style population controls. This media hype was found in newspapers, magazines, books and on television.

      40

  • #
    pat

    Jenkins on NOAA’s massaged data:

    VIDEO: 2mins59secs: 30 Oct: WSJ: Opinion Journal: Rigging Climate-Change Data?
    Business World Columnist Holman Jenkins Jr. on the House investigation into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s climate data.
    http://www.wsj.com/video/opinion-journal-rigging-climate-change-data/9314B300-F9A2-44CD-8762-242A0C294926.html

    Guardian video sponsored by Ben & Jerry’s.
    hear that most of the money in solar & wind power comes as savings to the customer.

    VIDEO: 2mins20secs: 30 Oct: Guardian: The scary truth behind the climate change conspiracy
    Could those who theorize that climate change is a conspiracy actually have it right? The Guardian teamed up with CollegeHumor to bring you the real and frightening truth behind the conspiracy led by Al Gore, and its plans to use climate change fears to gain profit, power and world domination. Happy Halloween!
    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2015/oct/30/the-scary-truth-behind-the-climate-change-conspiracy-video

    151

  • #

    China and Russia both know that AGW is just pure politics. If they can in someway screw the developed countries for their own advancement then they will go along with the game. Otherwise like last time they will walk away and let the rest fight it out.
    It would be in Canada’s interest for the northern hemisphere to warm. Stephen Harper knew that but the voters did not think about the future. Maybe they thought global warming is not happening and they would be better off letting USA continue down the road to ruin.
    Regardless of COP their are problems in Europe. Merkel is unpopular and for her to agree to further cuts in CO2, which will cause problems in electricity costs and grid stability, could be the last straw to throw her out. That would mean the end of the socialist games throughout Europe.

    500

    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      China is currently very active in the Pacific, sowing fear, uncertainty, and doubt, amongst the Pacific Nations, on the one hand, and then offering them a lifeline, and cash in the other, to save the islands, and thus buy influence in the Pacific (and UN votes).

      We also have Fiji, with the guidance of Prime Minister Bainimarama, relocating villages away from the coast, because of the expected disasterous increase in sea levels in the Pacific. Of course, the vacated land will become prime real estate for luxury hotels, and casino’s, when the whole thing dies down. I wonder who will own the land at that point in time? Somebody who is fairly astute, I am sure.

      550

      • #
        KinkyKeith

        Brilliant,far reaching, analysis!!!

        190

      • #
        David Maddison

        Just follow the money trail.

        120

      • #
        Egor TheOne

        “I wonder who will own the land at that point in time?”

        I hear Al Gore is into Beach front property as are most of these pretenders , along with their Prayer Wheel interests !

        It seems his 20 foot sea level rise prediction doesn’t bother his beachfront investments !

        Put out a scare to buy up beach front property for a song and resell at huge profits at a later date when the scare is found to be BS …….. Wasn’t this similar to Lex Luthor scheme from Superman 1 ?

        These clowns are following a movie script , and at the base of their rainbow is a big pot of real estate gold !

        Onward goes the Al Gore GravyTrainExpress .

        Whatever their interests are , saving the planet from a non event would be their least !

        40

    • #

      China and Russia both know that AGW is just pure politics.

      I quite agree. Both China & Russia have made INDC submissions to the COP21 Climate Talks that play a game. Russia’s submission states

      Limiting anthropogenic greenhouse gases in Russia to 70-75% of 1990 levels by the year 2030 might be a long-term indicator, subject to the maximum possible account of absorbing capacity of forests.

      That sounds fantastic, until you look at the figures. From the UNFCCC Country Profile total GHG emissions in 1190 were 3352 MtCO2e and in 2012 1755 MtCO2e. The target level is 33% to 43% above 2012 levels. In MtCO2e that is 590 to 760 above 2012 levels. For comparison, the UNFCCC estimates Australia’s total 2012 emissions were 559 MtCO2e.

      70

  • #
    el gordo

    “We found that, while climate change does exist, it is cyclical, and the anthropogenic role is very limited,” Andrey Illarionov, Putin’s senior economic adviser in the early 2000s, told The New York Times. “It became clear that the climate is a complicated system and that, so far, the evidence presented for the need to ‘fight’ global warming was rather unfounded.”

    Infowars

    351

  • #
    Keith L

    I am in Vladivostok right now and, oddly enough, global warming paranoia does not feature much in conversations with Russians. It’s almost as if they have more important things with which to concern themselves.

    601

    • #
      James Murphy

      A survey of 1600 people in 46 regions lead to an 89.9% approval rating for Putin, according to this article in the Moscow Times.

      120

      • #
        gai

        Putin is sane and intelligent and cares for the welfare of his country. I would give him a high approval rating too. As for Obama….[self-snip] Jo would toss my comment if I were to freely say what I think of him.

        Isn’t nice that we no longer have free speech and now have to self-censor? That alone tells us we are no longer a free people in the EU, Australia and increasingly in the USA.

        90

    • #
      Matty

      I have to say its much the same in rural Sussex, as well as with most normal people the World over.

      20

  • #
    RoHa

    But remember, you’ve got to hate Putin, no matter what. And why? Because the MSM tell you he does bad things. (Yes, the same MSM that tell you AGW is real.)

    460

    • #
      PeterC

      surprisingly, or not, no one I met in Russia had a bad word to say about Putin!

      390

      • #
        KinkyKeith

        It may be bad for your health to do otherwise.

        143

        • #
          Rereke Whakaaro

          Under the old Commissars perhaps, but not in the new order. Putin is generally well regarded, and in fact, something of a cult hero, in Russia.

          250

          • #
            KinkyKeith

            That’s good to hear.

            Obviously the right people are being “looked after”.

            103

          • #
            Rereke Whakaaro

            Actually, now you mention it, I don’t seem to have received this months bank transfer, into my rubles account.

            170

          • #
            Oksanna

            He is becoming a hero in the West. Retired US generals, ordinary Americans, even Trump, basically acknowledging he has called the West’s bluff on our phony war on an ISIS that it appears is of our own making. Arms funneled through Turkey and Benghazi to the “good” terrorists fighting Assad, who then give or sell them to ISIS, reports of ISIS wounded being treated in Turkish and Israeli hospitals… Our bombing campaigns that went nowhere… In one fell swoop ‘Vlad’ has stopped the Oded Yinon plan to balkanize the Middle East, and humiliated Obama, and the neocons who constructed the Syria crisis, to boot. If Putin is now doing an Abbott and calling climate change “crap”, then he is doubly the hero.

            261

            • #
              Mark D.

              I’d vote for him if he ran for US president if Hillary gets the Democrat Party nod. I think he’s more trustworthy and transparent than any Democrat and most of the Republicans…….unfortunately…..

              140

        • #
          Aaron M

          Yes, lead poisoning.

          28

      • #
        Leo Morgan

        I asked my Russian friend how life was under Putin. He said “I can’t complain”.

        120

    • #
      Bill

      Putin is a crook and an ex KGB thug, but that doesn’t preclude him being correct on this.

      184

  • #
    Reed Coray

    It’s a sad day when the leader of the largest country in the former Soviet Bloc takes the correct side of a policy-influencing argument and the President of the United States takes the incorrect side. It makes you wonder what is the world coming to?

    651

    • #
      King Geo

      Correct assessment Reed Coray. The “very leftist” Russkies are treating AGW with a “rightist” view, ie it is economic poison and can only ruin one’s economy. No doubt “leftist” China think the same way. It is the West e.g. mainly USA & EU that are treating AGW with a “leftist idealistic” view. The “Theory of AGW” has resulted in “leftist” countries thinking “rightist” and “rightist” countries thinking “leftist”. As a consequence expect a changing of the guard, ie the USA & EU to move towards 3rd World Status (following economic ruin brought on by the AGW belief system) and Russia & China (and India too) to become the “economic powerhouses” on planet Earth by treating the “Theory of AGW” with the scorn that it deserves.

      501

    • #
      Peter Miller

      Reed

      I am highly amused by how Putin continually outsmarts western leaders, most notably in Syria. The West’s sanctions against Russia are as pointless as they are ineffective in getting Putin to change his policies towards the Ukraine.

      We now have the ridiculous situation of the West championing the cause of Ukraine, one of the most corrupt countries on the planet, all because of the EU’s obsession with growth, regardless of cost.

      Putin’s popularity at home has soared and we now have the insane situation that he, possibly he alone, has the potential to save the West from itself at the Parisites’ meeting in a few weeks time. To support the Parisites’ agenda, Putin is likely to demand a heavy political price in terms of lifting sanctions, recognition of the rights of Ukraine’s separatist groups, etc.

      Obsessed with his legacy, it would be no surprise to see Obama acquiesce to all Putin’s demands and then claim victory, just to get an agreement designed to hobble the western world economies and stuff the bank accounts of the leaders of the world’s dictatorships, kleptocracies and ineptocracies.

      In any event, Russia will not take a blind bit of notice to whatever is agreed at Paris, unless there is a political advantage to be had.

      290

      • #
        ExWarmist

        Peter,

        You could be right about Obama “acquiescing to all Putin’s demands”. He has form, e.g. Iran Nukes.

        I think that there might be a struggle b/w the Wolfowitz doctrine brigade and the Global Warmers behind the scenes.

        My POV, The west will not relax on sanctions/Ukraine, however WDIK.

        We will soon find out.

        40

        • #
          Greg Cavanagh

          I’ve kinda made guesses at Obama’s direction of rule. So far I’ve assumed that he will make every possible wrong decision there is to make, and make it the worst possible outcome. So far I’ve scored 10/10.

          So in this I say; He won’t capitulate to Putin, because a good will come out of it.

          20

    • #
      Rod Stuart

      Don’t lose sight of the objectives of the UN and its elitist backers.
      a) Set Western Civilisation up for an economic catastrophe
      b) Homogenise nation states and obliterate borders, both physical and psychological
      c) Always work toward the destruction of at least five billion people. Encourage the existence of two or more militarised and diametrically opposed cultures.
      d) Confuse the populace by creating a fake reality that is bizarre
      e) Stamp out individual initiative. Promote dependence on the Global State.
      f) Feminise the male gender, discouraging any sort of revolutionary spirit. Eunuchs, even if only figuratively are much easier to control.
      g) Ensure that weapons of all kinds remain the property of the authorities. A revolution of some sort is inevitable and cannot be successful if the populace is disarmed.
      h) Maintain facilities appropriate for the incarceration and execution of conscientious objectors and other radicals who do not toe the line.
      i) Never relent on the repetition of the Big Lie.
      Essentially the same recipe employed by Adolf and Joe, with some modifications to suit current aspirations.

      Does this put current events in perspective?

      270

  • #
    John F. Hultquist

    We have a bit of land with trees, shrubs, grass, and weeds. Further, I thin some of the trees and make piles of the smaller limbs for wildlife. This also sequesters the Carbon because of the near desert-like climate. The remaining trees get more light and water and grow faster. I plant a dozen new Pines every year, also, not to mention the natural new stems that form as there are several Aspen clonal colonies. The bigger pieces are used as renewable biomass – an alternative green energy source.

    What perks can we get? “Generous accounting,” please.

    280

  • #
    pat

    to clarify:

    the NYT article is actually a Reuters article, and is marked as such at top and bottom of the piece. this is the original:

    29 Oct: Reuters: Russian media take climate cue from skeptical Putin
    By Andrey Kuzmin
    (Additional reporting by Alister Doyle in Oslo; Editing by Bruce Wallace and Kevin Liffey)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/29/us-climatechange-summit-russia-media-idUSKCN0SN1GI20151029

    Andrey Kuzmin’s twitter page, with polar bear:

    Twitter: Andrey Kuzmin, Reuters metals&mining editor\reporter in Moscow
    https://twitter.com/inwakeofquake

    like all Reuters’ writers, the usual suspects get quoted or mentioned: Carbon Action Tracker, Greenpeace, WWF:

    23 Sept: ThomsonReuters: Andrey Kuzmin: Russia rejects criticism of greenhouse gas plan, will not amend – top Putin adviser
    Green groups say Russia’s emissions pledge lacks ambition
    http://sustainability.thomsonreuters.com/2015/09/23/russia-rejects-criticism-of-greenhouse-gas-plan-will-not-amend-top-putin-adviser/

    90

  • #
    Dennis

    Please send the story to Chairman Mal and his offsiders.

    140

  • #
    pat

    spinning away on several levels here:

    30 Oct: ReutersCarbonPulse: Stian Reklev: Concerns grow that Australia will rely on cheap CERs to meet emissions targets
    The recent Australian rush to buy millions of cheap, soon-to-be-cancelled CP1 CERs has fuelled concerns that the government plans to use them to cover any shortcomings of its Direct Action Plan, even though using international units goes against its long-standing policy…
    As part of the deal, the CERs will be transferred to the government, but Environment Minister Greg Hunt’s office has so far not responded to questions about whether the units will be used for Kyoto compliance or cancelled…
    Australia will easily meet its KP1 target, but if they surrender 40 million newly bought CP1 CERs next month, a corresponding number of other units can be carried over to the next Kyoto period, making the 2020 target easier to achieve…
    The Liberal government has for years been against using international units to meet their emissions target, with former Prime Minister Tony Abbott famously saying it would be sending money to “dodgy carbon farms in Equatorial Guinea and Kazakhstan”.
    Policies appear to be changing under new PM Malcolm Turnbull, as the Australian Financial Review reported in Sep. that the government may allow CER purchases from next year and on Friday the Sydney Morning Herald wrote that Australia has launched a bid to co-chair the Green Climate Fund, a body despised by Abbott…
    http://carbon-pulse.com/concerns-grow-that-australia-will-rely-on-cheap-cers-to-meet-emissions-targets/

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    • #
      ianl8888

      Policies appear to be changing under new PM Malcolm Turnbull …

      That’s the point of palace coups, adding yet another episode to Game of Thrones

      100% policy reversal without an election. It deliberately devalues the vote

      Oh, for the Swiss system here …

      290

    • #
      handjive

      We’re Saved!

      Gov’t tried to acquire huge amount of carbon credits with carbon tax money
      30 OCT 2015
      News has emerged that the Government will use money raised from the carbon price to acquire a very large number of international carbon credits in order to achieve its 2020 emission reduction target.

      The initiative makes a mockery of the Environment Minister’s prior claims about his confidence in the Direct Action policy alone to achieve the government’s emission reduction targets.

      http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2015/10/30/carbon-markets/govt-tried-acquire-huge-amount-carbon-credits-carbon-tax-money

      80

  • #
    Leo Morgan

    It’s not merely the price that’s a worry.
    Admittedly the price itself is a big worry. With a hundred billion dollar per year bribe on the table for undeveloped countries to vote in support of the bureaucrats and freeloaders, the chance of them voting against our interests is huge. Enough of that going to Putin and he’s likely to jump on the bandwagon. Even if they settled on gouging a hundred million a year off us instead of their ambit claim, they’ll be singing ‘betrayal’ not ‘extortion’.
    But even if not one cent gets transferred, they can do immense harm just by agreeing to ‘motherhood statements’ like the so-called ‘precautionary principle’. Each of these conferences is a risk to all the people of the world, and they must be stopped.

    210

  • #
  • #
    Staphie

    Strange ally to pick. I wonder of Kim Jong-Un feels the same way?

    51

  • #
    Barry

    Readers might remember that when the socialist governments of Europe needed to get Russia to sign the original Kyoto Protocol in order to have the 55 industrial countries needed for the treaty to have effect they bribed Russia with a treaty that did not require Russia to cut ’emissions’ and in fact allowed them to cash in by selling ’emissions’ credits to the Europeans.

    National GHG reduction targets for the first commitment period (2008-2012) of the Kyoto Protocol are based on the amount of GHGs the country emitted in 1990. Due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and its industries in the early 1990s, Russia emits less GHGs today than in 1990. This situation produces an opportunity for Russia to sell its excess emission allowances to other countries whose emissions exceed their targets.

    Which one again demonstrated the obvious: that the Left, out of pure hatred for their own consumer societies, simply wanted to punish industry and consumers, rather than actually reduce so-called ’emissions’.

    Russia will sign another commitment in Paris this year, but it will be one that allows them to cash in on the scam, and, once again, our leftists will be only too happy to agree to it as it will allow them to put the boot into us and make us all a little bit poorer.

    312

  • #
    el gordo

    There is widespread scepticism among Russian scientists, this is a healthy sign and methinks Putin won’t back down.

    180

  • #
    Richard de Lacy

    Please treat this news with the same degree of scepticism merited by much of the alarmist CAGW nonsense.

    1. We’ve been trawling the Russian-language media and cannot find a source for these claims.
    2. Russia’s position on global warming is one of quiet scepticism. The academy of sciences notes that most of Russia has been warming (and also noted that this warming has slowed/paused globally. When it comes to mankind’s alleged contribution, they note the IPCC claims but do not confirm or rebut them. Their efforts are (properly) directed at dealing with real fluctuations in climate and its effects on the poluation across a vast territory.
    3. The New York Times might, at some point, have published accurate reports about Russia, but it would be unwise to spend a lot of time searching for them.

    Anyway, keep up the good work and thank you for a superb blog.
    Richard (Moscow-based translator and evil CAGW sceptic)
    ——————–
    Thanks for that local expertise. Much appreciated. Please do report to us if you get any other insight into Russian’s views — Jo

    230

  • #
    Peter C

    I spent part of the day watching this video by Christopher Monckton 2014 (Viscount of Brenchley) titled; “Our Last Year of Freedom.”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n32xl9fy0Wo

    It has been referenced here before but I mention it again because he talks about some very serious threats to our democracies and because he predicted (correctly) both the downfall of the Harper Government in Canada and also the threat to Tony Abbott here in Australia! Both have come to pass!

    Monckton sees it a as a battle between the Legalists (lefty world control types) and Confucians ( Chinese philosopher who epitomises a the libertarian ideal).

    The problem is that the legalists (lefty centralist control freaks) have captured the media and almost all of our political institutions (including now the Liberal Party in Australia). And mostb especially the United Nations Organisation

    The critical issue is that any agreement they manage to stitch up at the COP21 (Conference of the parties – Paris Dec 2015) has an escape clause like Clause 21 at Kyoto, which enabaled Canada to repudiate any further responsibility to the Kyoto protocol , by giving notice. Which they did under the Harper Government.

    I will of course write to the PM (Maocolm) and Greg Hunter and Julie Bishop. May not do any good. Are there any other options?

    251

  • #
    doubting dave

    To understand the difference between Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama on the climate you have to first look at the difference between the Oligarchy in Russia as compared to the Oligarchy in America. In Russia the rich industrialists that have made their billions since the wall came down owe their success to the Russian president and absolutely do not dare to step out of line with Putin , its why Roman Abramovich bought into a foreign football club ( Chelsea ), it gives him a bolt hole incase he falls out with Putin. Whilst in the States its the wealthy and powerful bankers and industrialists that control politics and Obama is their puppet, so if the American Oligarchy want to have a world wide serfdom to increase their control over food , energy and the masses its no surprise that they are yanking furiously on Obama’s strings.

    141

  • #
    Turtle of WA

    I’d say Putin probably knows propaganda when he sees it.

    190

  • #
    Ruairi

    Putin is not overawed,
    By the ‘warming’ he thinks is a fraud,
    As extreme snow and ice,
    Is not very nice,
    And he’d even prefer if some thawed.

    280

  • #
    handjive

    That we have to go to Pravada for the truth is telling:

    Errors and frauds of global warming science
    01.09.2014

    100

  • #
    FIN

    I would urge caution hitching your wagon to Putin. If it’s honesty and credibility you’re after then I’d have quite strong reservations given his past record.

    The irony of siding with Putin surely can’t be lost given how everyone on this blog is always banging on about communist plots vis a vis climate science.


    Your concern about our credibility is touching FIN. If only you had a real name we might believe you. — Jo

    426

    • #
      Glen Michel

      I’d urge you not to hitch up to Al Gore.

      170

    • #
      James Murphy

      I don’t see how this can be claimed to be a case of hitching ones wagon to Putin by any sane and reasonable person. Nowhere did I see Jo wholeheartedly endorsing Putin and everything he stands for.

      I guess in your little regressive anti-science world, it’s still a case of ‘either you’re with us, or you’re against us’, there is only black and white, right, and wrong, there is no middle ground…?

      160

    • #
      AndyG55

      “If it’s honesty and credibility you’re after “

      From an AGW cultist.. that is quite hilarious 🙂

      162

    • #
      llew jones

      We may make too much of the Communist plot in foisting AGW on the West. An alternative view is that the post Christian West in need of a religion has embraced Paganism (think Sir James Lovelock’s Gaia and religiously taken up by alarmists like Tim Flannery), which underlies AGW presuppositions e.g. a fragile Earth climate system.

      Notice Putin is thanking God for the good side effects of (natural) global warming which if taken literally and is not a slip of the tongue, sort of rules out anthropogenic. Of course the Russian people have been given back a God who as far as they are concerned is obviously more powerful than the poor old Pope’s impotent god when it comes to climate.

      So it does seem the issue re Russia is not so much political as religious (as well as scientific).

      110

    • #
      Tel

      Putin has spoken often about the failure of communism. Why people insist on still calling him communist is beyond me.

      50

  • #
    Mark Fraser

    why doesn’t he call Mann a fraud and get sued?

    130

  • #
    Anton

    Putin is right but the quesetion is why is he bothering to say this? He is concerned at all attempts by European nations to wean themselves off Russian fossil fuels. He gains massive political leverage thereby and the revenue keeps his corrupt regime going.

    The Secretary-General of NATO asserted (on 19/6/2014) that, as part of its sophisticated information and disinformation operations, Russia engages actively with Western so-called non-governmental organisations, environmental organisations working against shale gas – obviously to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas:

    http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/field/field_document/20140619RasmussenQ%26A.pdf (p.10)

    Suspiciously professional protestors violently prevented a Romanian village mayor from pursuing fracking in a collaboration with a Western energy company:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/01/world/russian-money-suspected-behind-fracking-protests.html

    The Russians are also putting money into the Green movement in the USA:

    http://freebeacon.com/issues/foreign-firm-funding-u-s-green-groups-tied-to-state-owned-russian-oil-company/

    110

    • #
      TdeF

      Exactly. Russia Inc. is the major supplier of energy to Europe. Wind and solar are a joke. Fracking removed the US dependence on Middle Eastern oil, prompting a halving of oil prices and a crippling of oil based economies.

      Wouldn’t any reasonable oil business or oil dependent country seek to undermine or slow fracking? Is the Green movement an international conspiracy? Perhaps but it is certainly funded by businesses with a myriad of interests, big Carbon taxes, big Wind, big Solar and now we have a real expectation it is funded by big Oil and big Gas.

      If you suggested the Green movement was funded by Oil and Gas and coal, people would laugh. The oil, gas and coal will be sold eventually. What they want today is the highest price for their product for the least sales and making oil, gas and coal expensive is in their interests too.

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        ExWarmist

        Fracking is a temporary, short term solution.

        The big issues are that wells do not last very long, and are not profitable at (least) $90-100USD to be profitable.

        The fracking companies are under dire financial stress. I would except that within 6 to 12 months, unless oil prices improve markedly they will all start to collapse (it has already begun).

        Remove fracking and so goes oil independence.

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  • #
    Richard Ilfeld

    Overthinking this folks, no great chess move necessary:

    Vlad has a win-win.

    Can’t afford to fight warming? Then don’t. Save the rubles.

    If it warms? No nation on earth benefits more than Russia. Look at a map.
    Lots of new farmland, lots of more livable cities. Less snow and cold.

    If it doesn’t. Let Europe make its economy worse. Russia keeps a finger on its energy spigot, profits, and improves relatively.

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  • #
    Renato

    As for the poor state of journalism in Russia, I have an interesting contrast to what would supposedly is the “good” state. I have been over in Italy for three months, and I have friends here who are really into astronomy in particular, and science in general – including climate science.

    It transpired that it was total news to them when I mentioned that the satellites show no global warming for over 18 years. I was met by astounded and highly skeptical looks. I had to show them Lord Monckton’s graph, and assure them that the RSS satellite data is used by the IPCC. And I kept being told – but what about the polar bears that are dying?

    Plainly, people in non-english speaking countries have more difficulty accessing information, especially when the media don’t alert them that there is a debate.
    Cheers.

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    • #
      el gordo

      Yesterday I spoke to a reasonably intelligent Australian and mentioned the plateau in temperatures for almost 19 years, but she hadn’t heard of it.

      Western media is a disgrace.

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      • #
        farmerbraun

        The barrage of scheit is fairly intense in recent times ; check out this bilge.
        The comments are great . The “forecasters” have got no bloody idea , but 97% agreement.

        http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/73178148/hot-or-cool-our-el-nino-summer-will-certainly-be-dry.html

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        Peter

        when I try to talk to people aout the pause they say it has gone into the oceans. Everyone knows that where the warming has gone. At a party yesterday there was two of us talking about the wasted money on wind mills and solar. He was a farmer. We were both quikly put in our place and told how old fasioned we are and it is the way of the future. There always is a mojority of people everywhere you go that beleave in global warming and there is no debating them on the subject because they know it to be true.

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      • #
        Retired now

        When I talk of the 18 year plateau with certain members of family and social group I am told categorically that I’m wrong and that assertion of the skeptics has been proven otherwise. The IPCC says so, they say.

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        • #
          Anton

          You have to (a) tell them that the satellite record says otherwise and is more reliable because it can sample the whole earth at once, then (b) ask them how to reconcile their beliefs with the plateau in the satellite record. You win when you ask a question that the other can’t answer and you have to be better prepared. When someone is stumped by a question it makes them think (at long last).

          40

        • #
          Angry

          Tell them HOW you are wrong when Real World Observations do not show any warming…..

          I’d love to hear their answers !

          [Turn down the volume a bit thanks Angry. – Jo]

          10

    • #
      gai

      hand your friends the site : http://polarbearscience.com/

      by Dr. Susan Crockford.
      Dr. Susan J. Crockford is a zoologist with more than 35 years experience, including work on the Holocene history of Arctic animals. Like polar bear biologist Ian Stirling, Susan Crockford earned her undergraduate degree in zoology at the University of British Columbia. She is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria, B.C. Polar bear evolution is one of Dr. Crockford’s professional interests, which she discusses in her book, Rhythms of Life: Thyroid Hormone and the Origin of Species. She writes a science blog about polar bears at PolarBearScience.com

      …I am a zoologist with more than 35 years experience, including published work on the Holocene history of Arctic animals. I am currently an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria, British Columbia and work full time for a private consulting company I co-own with two colleagues…

      Like Ian Stirling, grand-daddy of all polar bear biologists, I earned my undergraduate degree in zoology at the University of British Columbia. Polar bear evolution is one of my professional interests, which I discuss in my 2006 book, Rhythms of Life: Thyroid Hormone and the Origin of Species (based on my Ph.D. dissertation earned in 2004 at the University of Victoria, B.C. Canada), see http://www.rhythmsoflife.ca.

      You’ll find a list of my publications (with a brief introduction) further down….
      http://polarbearscience.com/about-2/

      20

  • #
    Bill

    Even though Trump is an idiot, and blames the Chinese, even he recognises that CAGW is nonsense.
    https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/sciwatch2016?source=feed_text&story_id=696108157192629

    101

  • #
    Egor TheOne

    Putin calls cagw /cacc “fraud” !

    At least someone calls a spade , a spade !……..Calls it exactly what it is !

    Unlike the junk journalists here , the USA and in particular the UK and Euro !

    One single graph explains it all https://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/clip_image002_thumb1.jpg?w=597&h=279

    But if something can be flogged for a dollar , it sure is .

    Its both the latest get rich quick scam and great big new tax theft .

    Anybody that sees it as anything else is either an idiot , part of the rip-off or both !

    The next time I vote , I will be tempted to cross out all the cagw/cacc duds we have here and vote for Putin ……..one of the very few political leaders that calls the ‘Grand Hoax’ what it is .

    A vote for a Communnist leader of another country would be more appropriate than a vote for a Propagator of this cagw/cacc rubbish we are being fed .
    Who would have thought that our present leader/s are now prepared to sell us out to global totalitarian interests over CONsensus politicized false science ?

    No AlpgreensBC over there with BS true b’lver shows like ‘The Dumb’ !

    No True B’lver , conservative or not , will ever get my vote .

    I will vote informal , rather than knowingly vote for an idiot and /or a liar .

    I count out the Greens , the Alp , and 75% of the Coalition , our new unelected PM in particular , anxious to give taxpayer funds , our money , away at the upcoming Paris true b’lver Hajj ………and all for what? Useless U.N. browny points !

    I would guess that Putin is now officially crossed off the Paris True B’lvers guest list !

    Putin must be laughing at true b’lver clowns like El Presidente O’Bummer and the EuroFlop .

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  • #
    Roy Hogue

    Well, at last there’s something for which I can say, good for Vladimir Putin, not that it’s likely to do the rest of us any good. 🙁

    I have to suspect he has geopolitical motivation. If I’m any judge of things, this man never says anything unless he thinks it will give him an advantage, one way or another.

    I hope Jo is right and I’m wrong. But a failure in Paris may not stop the climate change train any more than the failure in Copenhagen did. They just pull the throttle back another notch and proceed ahead faster than before. I think they don’t even know where the brake lever is.

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    • #
      Roy Hogue

      And at last, the word fraud is out in the open. I heartedly agree with Putin on the matter.

      80

    • #
      KinkyKeith

      Roy

      I am so ticked off at our “democratic” system that I will do as Egor describes and put in a protest vote against.

      Write in and give number one to PUTIN.

      Je suis Vlad.

      KK

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      • #
        Dennis

        No joy for us on either side with the possible exception of the National Party but they do not contest seats in the cities. At this point the thinking Australian voter has nowhere to go, we can only vote for a politician and most of the present crop are hopeless and only interested in themselves.

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      • #
        Roy Hogue

        Ouch! A vote for Putin? You must be pretty sore at the powers that be. 🙁

        Can’t say I blame you though. I’d sure like something better to vote for myself. But not Putin.

        70

        • #
          KinkyKeith

          That IS how bad it is Roy.

          Totally disenchanted with my chances of voting in anybody remotely uncontrolled by the two or three major parties.

          They are all bad news.

          The only decent thing done by any of them recently (Liberals) is to deport some of the criminal bikies who are not citizens of this country. Finally.

          KK

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          • #
            Yonniestone

            Disenchantment is the state of Australians enchanted by the idea 2 or 3 major parties act as one ruling class, what a magical vote we cast.

            As many can appreciate Putin’s old world no nonsense charisma they have quickly forgotten the anger directed towards Russia over the supply of weapons to pro Russian insurgents resulting in the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 on 17/07/14, I’m not sure the 283 passengers, 15 crew and their families are in love with Vlad and his forthright decisions.

            Just saying.

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            • #
              Roy Hogue

              KK, Yoni,

              All humor aside, I look around at the world and it seems more troubled everywhere than at any prior time in my life.

              I have no idea how to stop it, much less reverse it. But disenchantment is a reasonable description of my situation, as well as yours. I’ve often wished there was a name on the ballot for each office spelled, “NONE OF THE ABOVE,” because I think that guy would win sometimes and there’d be no one in that office until another election could be held with a new slate of candidates. I would sure vote for Mr. NONE this coming primary election if I could but instead I’ll be trying to find the least of 8 or 10 evils. I’ve been voting for the least evil candidates for a long time and I don’t like it.

              Much of the trouble would seem to come from our fast, easy electronic communication because the written word is so powerful. But for the rest of it I have no idea.

              I hang in there hoping for the best, fearing the worst and looking for relief.

              40

              • #
                Roy Hogue

                If you live in the U.S. don’t forget to set your clocks back 1 hour this morning. Ben Franklin’s only bad idea, daylight saving time, just ended.

                That’s a minor pain in the neck I know. But it’s so irritating… We supposedly have energy shortage problems and the politicians have given us lip service by adopting daylight saving time. What lights you don’t burn at the end of the day you end up burning at the start of the day. So what are we saving? Politician’s jobs maybe?

                30

              • #
                KinkyKeith

                Good points Roy.

                One aspect is that we now know the worst instantaneously.

                Back in the days when hundreds of thousands were being slaughtered in Africa the news was slow to

                reach and even then probably missed out on showing much of the horror because TV coverage was not as intense as now.

                One particular aspect of the global warming thing is that there are in real terms, many human deaths from cold and lack of access to heating.

                It would be inappropriate to show this visually but there are other similar consequences of the cold.

                A few years ago in Russia there were 10,000 food beast frozen by unusual conditions.

                I don’t remember any TV coverage of that but because there were many human deaths as a result of the same

                conditions and it might be useful to show the public how vulnerable the animals were.

                KK

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              • #
                gai

                Same here in the USA. All of the politicians are OWNED and not by Americans.

                SEE: America’s Ruling Class. I often couple it with Dr Evan’s Regulating Class. They are the same with similar goals. The extracting of wealth from the rest of us.

                What is truly bizarre is the way the Ruling Class is Hades bend on killing the Middle Class that produces the wealth they siphon off. They really must be frighten of the middle class challenging their elite position.

                20

              • #
                gai

                KK, here is the news that never made it into the mainstream Media:

                February 10, 2010: Mongolia: The Disaster You Haven’t Heard Of

                “It has no celebrity spokespeople, no mainstream news coverage, no Super Bowl mentions. But tens of thousands of people, and millions of animals, are right now in a daily struggle between life and death, and many have already lost. I’m speaking of our brothers and sisters — two- and four-legged — caught in the most catastrophic winter the country of Mongolia has seen in at least 30 years. It’s a cold hell realm right here on earth.” — Konchog Norbu

                February 26, 2013: Tibetan nomads in Ladakh call out for help, Thousands of livestock perish

                Peru has had a similar problem.
                August 11, 2015: Cold kills one million head of cattle [Livestock]in Peru

                The livestock are camels, sheep and cattle but mostly alpacas.“…A catastrophe has caused livestock cold camels, sheep and cattle in the country. The National Civil Defense Institute (INDECI) reported on 5 August that cold dead animals reach 912,300. At the time of writing can be as one million. Most are fine alpacas. There are also 508,000 sick animals.

                This is a disaster unparalleled in our history….”
                Google translate of:
                (wwwDOT) connuestroperu.com/actualidad/punto-de-vista/47404-frio-mata-un-millon-de-cabezas

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              • #
                KinkyKeith

                Thanks Gai

                It is a lot worse that I recalled.

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  • #
    handjive

    The back-flip from the Godzilla El Niño has began …

    “Although there has been some slowdown in the El Nino’s development recently, it remains on track to be of the most powerful on record.

    Whether this year’s El Nino exceeds the record 1997-98 event probably won’t make much difference at this point.

    “It’ll might fall a little short, but that’s kind of by the bye … it’ll be one of the strongest events we’ve seen,” Dr Watkins said.”

    http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/another-warm-dry-month-to-come-after-record-hot-october-for-australia-20151029-gklzgc.html

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    • #
      AndyG55

      “it’ll be one of the strongest events we’ve seen,” “

      And yet NO SIGN of the normal atmospheric temperature spike.

      Climate alarmists must be looking for new rocks to crawl under. 🙂

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      • #
        Popeye26

        No Andy – They have no sense of “SHAME” – they wouldn’t know the meaning of the term.

        They just keep sprouting some new BS or change tacs just so they don’t look stupid (but clearly, they still do – they’re just not smart enough to see it).

        Cheers,

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  • #
    pat

    not backing down:

    31 Oct: Times of India: Vishwa Mohan: BASIC countries appeal to rich nations to do more to combat climate change
    NEW DELHI: A day after a UN report flagged inadequacy of countries’ action plans to check global warming, four big developing countries – India, China, Brazil and South Africa – on Saturday urged the rich nations to revisit their emission cut targets and increase it adequately to keep the average global temperature rise below 2 degree Celsius by 2100.
    These four countries made this appeal as part the BASIC – a group of Brazil, South Africa, India and China – which met in Beijing and issued a joint statement, asking the rich industrialized nations to scale up their both pre-2020 and post-2020 carbon emission cut targets.
    These countries also urged their developed counterparts to “honour their obligations to provide new, additional, predictable and adequate financial resources to developing countries in a measurable, reportable and verifiable manner”…
    India was represented by its environment minister Prakash Javadekar in the BASIC meet where all the four countries also reaffirmed their commitments to remain united under ‘G77 plus China’ group and worked to strengthen the voice of 134 developing countries during the Paris climate summit (COP21) and get an “equitable, ambitious, comprehensive, balanced and durable” global agreement…
    The BASIC statement too emphasized it, saying “differentiation between developed and developing countries should be reflected in each element of the agreement”…
    They said the public financial resources, distinct from overseas development assistance (ODA), should be the main source and funds from the private sectors can be complementary…
    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/global-warming/BASIC-countries-appeal-to-rich-nations-to-do-more-to-combat-climate-change/articleshow/49612174.cms

    31 Oct: Livemint: PTI: BASIC nations seek assistance from developed countries to combat climate change
    Environment minister Prakash Javadekar and negotiators from Brazil, South Africa and China—the other BASIC countries—issued a joint statement on Saturday at the conclusion of the 21st BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change in Beijing…
    On the heels of the observation by UN, the BASIC environment ministers said, “Developed countries must provide financial resources, technology development and transfer and capacity-building support to developing countries for their ambitious mitigation and adaptation actions under the Paris agreement.”
    http://www.livemint.com/Politics/hpDl2shItnkiePw29YpbJN/BASIC-nations-seek-assistance-from-developed-countries-to-co.html

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  • #
    Ross

    This piece by Dr Tim Ball on Russian climatologists etc.is well worth a read. The first para where he notes the Russian AND Chinese researchers are really worthy of respect , from his own experience of working with them, says it all.

    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/10/30/vladimir-putin-climate-and-political-realist/

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  • #
    toorightmate

    Vlad the lad has given Oh Bummer a lecture and demonstration on how to wage war against ISIS in the Middle East.

    He might now give Oh Bummer (and numerous other “leaders”) a lesson and demonstration on the FACT that CO2 has little or no effect on climate.

    The next lecture he gives might also cover how CO2 is good for the planet.

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  • #
    pat

    31 Oct: ABC: Lucy Shannon: ‘Slow diplomacy’ will bring Russia onboard with Antarctic marine reserves, Australia says
    Australia is confident massive marine protected areas proposed for Antarctica will be created, despite another high-level international meeting ending without agreement.
    For the past fortnight, representatives of the 24-member nations and the European Union have been in Hobart for the annual Commission for the Conservation of Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) meeting.
    For the fifth time in as many years, proposals for massive marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Ross Sea and East Antarctica have failed.
    CCAMLR is a consensus-based organisation and proposals are only successful if no member country blocks them.
    Russia blocked both proposals…
    Some environmental NGOs have questioned the effectiveness of CCAMLR’s consensus approach, but Dr Gales argued it was a more stable approach in the long run…
    Andrea Cavanagh from the Pew Charitable Trust: “I think it’s great there’s now only one country for not just diplomats to target, but all the NGOs around the world with outreach to make sure Russia is onboard.”
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-31/australians-hopeful-of-antarctic-parks-win-over-time/6901872

    30

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    pat

    ABC’s singling out of Russia seems somewhat over the top:

    1 Nov: Phys.org: Vast Antarctic sanctuary plans fail
    Plans to create two vast ocean sanctuaries in Antarctica to protect the pristine wilderness failed Friday for a third time with Russia and China blocking the bids, delegates at multi-nation talks said…
    “The talks have failed. Russia and China wanted more details, more time. It’s very disappointing,” said the delegate, who did not want to be named as he was forbidden from talking until the meeting officially closes later Friday…
    http://phys.org/news/2013-11-vast-antarctic-sanctuary.html#nRlv

    31 Oct: Phys.org: Fishing main hurdle to Antarctic marine reserves: Australia
    Access to fishing was the main stumbling block to agreement on two vast marine reserves in Antarctica, the head of the Australian delegation to international talks said Saturday…
    The proposal was ultimately blocked by Russia, while both China and Russia vetoed an Australia, France and European Union-led push for a 1.0 million square kilometre marine protected zone in the East Antarctic coastal region…
    http://phys.org/news/2015-10-fishing-main-hurdle-antarctic-marine.html

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  • #
    pat

    the smugness of Hasan is ridiculous, given he’s using John Cook and James Lawrence Powell’s consensus claims to back up his position:

    31 Oct: Aljazeera: Reality Check: A climate change conspiracy?
    Mehdi Hasan calls out those who say man-made climate change is a hoax.
    In this week’s Reality Check, Mehdi Hasan calls out the climate change deniers and points to the damage caused by pretending the issue doesn’t exist…
    (includes Powell’s claim 99.9% of the climate scientists agree on the science?)
    http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/upfront/2015/10/reality-check-climate-change-conspiracy-151031081029315.html

    details of the Powell claim at WUWT:

    July 2014: WUWT: E. Calvin Beisner: Climate Consensus? Nonsense!
    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/07/16/climate-consensus-nonsense/

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  • #
    TdeF

    On Russia, they do not have cities on the beach. In fact the Russian word for beach, Plyaj, is French like so many words for things Russians did not have and had not seen. As an aside, Voksal, the word for Railway station was from Vauxhall station which the Tsar visited. Magazine is the Russian for store. etc. So while Russia is by far the largest country in the world, it is totally insulated from rising seas and most of the coastline is polar. You could not be further from the ocean than in the middle of Russia.

    So what are the scary things about AGW for Russia? Rising temperatures. Great. Rising CO2. Great. Receding glaciers, less ice and snow. Wonderful. Vanishing polar ice. Excellent. Increased growing seasons. Unbelievable. Maybe they can grow tomatoes and lettuce and get off potatoes and beet and pickled everything?

    Why on earth would Putin pay to stop global warming? If some countries can bleat about the dangers of global warming, the Russians should be cheering. Northern and Western Chinese as well. It’s an ill wind that blows no good.

    The Maldives and Tuvalu and other tiny island nations are demanding cash. However with 180million people half of Bangladesh is only 1 metre above sea level and no one says anything? In 1991 a cyclone killed 136,000 people but I guess it’s not a holiday spot. The caring emotional Greens only want to save holiday spots, typically recently inhabited coral atolls with bars and pools.

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  • #
    handjive

    Warwick Hughes has some interesting China – Russia links but, not about the weather:

    Climate issues seem miniscule alongside possibilities here.

    DAVID ARCHIBALD WRITES IN QUADRANT ON THE POSSIBILITY OF CONFLICT IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

    WH in comments adds this:

    This is a great read – Russia oozing into Iraq and Afghanistan – many stunning ironies and nuances in these scenarios.
    Russia’s Mid-East Takeover Continues As Afghanistan Requests Military Assistance From Moscow
    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-26/russias-mid-east-takeover-continues-afghanistan-requests-military-assistance-moscow
    . . .
    Afghanistan requesting help from the Russians (who ran a failed invasion back in 1989) whilst America still have 10k troops there, now?
    Russia & Iran fighting together in Iraq … phew …
    Vietnam refusing to relinquish South China Sea land claims to China … phew …

    Climate issues seem miniscule alongside possibilities here.

    70

  • #
    David Maddison

    Putin is going to have his hands full doubling his efforts to exterminate ISIS now it seems that the Russian airliner that went down in Egypt was shot down by them, at least ISIS is claiming responsibility.

    50

    • #
      KinkyKeith

      I read the basics, but this is new and very interesting twist.

      30

      • #
        el gordo

        ‘…claims of responsibility from Islamic State have been dismissed by Russian authorities.’

        Guardian

        40

        • #
          TdeF

          Pure opportunism in a tragedy. However it would not be the first Russian plane brought down by Chechen suicide bombers.

          50

    • #
      AndyG55

      Are ISIS really trying to antagonised Russia.

      Doesn’t seem like a very good plan to me !

      50

    • #
      James Bradley

      Yeah… I think the un-sourced reports in Arabic may have actually come out of Russia. You may also find that Russia has exclusive rights at the crash scene and that the flight recorders are removed never to be heard of again. The only investigation reports on the incident will come out of Russia and will probably not tally with first responder’s accounts from the crash scene regardless of how flimsy the attempt to fit up ISIS is for this one. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Russia uses the incident to take drastic action against some group – perhaps Ukrainian saboteurs now that the ISIS ‘claim of responsibility’ is found to be pretty hollow.

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    Dennis

    On The Bolt Report today (10.00 am and repeated at 3.00 pm on CH10) the interview guest was: Best-selling author and geologist Ian Plimer.

    His comments on global warming climate change con would have upset the warmists.

    Excellent interview.

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    pat

    it seems these environmental groups got the turbines shut down, but don’t
    mind if they put up “much stronger” ones that kill less birds! huh:

    30 Oct: ContraCostaTimes: Dan Lawton: Altamont Pass: Controversial wind turbine company blamed for bird deaths shutting down
    Altamont Winds told the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service in an email Oct. 23 that it is ceasing operations as of Sunday.
    The decision was applauded by environmental groups, which for years have been fighting to build awareness around the large numbers of golden eagles, raptors, burrowing owls and other birds that are killed by turbines.
    The major issue was “repowering,” which refers to reducing the number of turbines by replacing older one with much stronger ones. The strategy led to about a 35 percent decrease in bird deaths between 2006 and 2010, according to Lynes…
    http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_29048836/altamont-pass-controversial-wind-turbine-company-shutting-down?source=rss

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    Graham Richards

    I do believe “Mad Vlad” will solve more than the fraudulent global warming scam!

    He will sort ISIS out. Obama has had more than 5 years to do something but has chosen not to do anything. Makes one wonder whose side Obama is on. I don’t wonder, I know!! Because Russia is making headway Obama has adventurously posted 50 men to help.
    He has to be seen to be doing something no matter how insignificant. The USA will need 50 years to regain their credibility in this world after that buffoon leaves office. Of course the MSM will always support & praise him but the majority have another opinion.

    I certainly hope that Russia sticks it to the weak of the USA & even weaker EU. GO VLAD!!!!

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    pat

    of course, read all…

    31 Oct: UK Telegraph: Christopher Booker: Why the Paris climate treaty will be the flop of the year
    The chief obstacle to such an agreement is exactly the same as it was at Kyoto in 1997
    At the end of this month 40,000 politicians, officials, green activists, lobbyists and journalists from 195 nations will converge outside Paris – at Europe’s largest airport reserved only for private jets – for a conference that they hope will change the world.
    Their declared aim is to agree a treaty committing everyone to such a massive cut in their emissions of greenhouse gases that this might somehow prevent the earth’s temperatures rising more than 2 degrees C higher than they were when the climate began naturally warming again two centuries ago…
    And what about that Green Climate Fund, supposed by 2020 to be dishing out $100 billion every year to help developing countries to “adapt to climate change”? Firm pledges received so far total just $700 million, leaving $99.3 billion still to go.
    The only real question that will remain after the failure of this bid for a binding treaty in Paris is how much longer it can be before the most expensive and foolish scare story in history finally falls apart.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/11968064/Why-the-Paris-climate-treaty-will-be-the-flop-of-the-year.html

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    pat

    saved this for the weekend. there’s video at the longer State Library version, linked below:

    AUDIO: 26 Oct: ABC Big Ideas: Why We Need More Ratbags – Graeme Wood
    Graeme Wood is a most unconventional businessmen. He made a pile of money out of his online travel venture, WOTIF, but now gives his money away to causes he supports. As a passionate environmentalist, he has bankrolled the Australian Greens. As a philanthropist, he has funded The Guardian Australia newspaper, universities and indigenous groups. Wood is critical of consumerism, rampant growth and free trade. He believes if we want to create a sustainable, innovative future for Australia, then we need more “ratbags”. He is delivering the 2015 Griffith Review lecture.
    http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/why-we-need-more-ratbags—graeme-wood/6874194

    full length version: VIDEO: 1hour41mins, but starts at 15 mins following music by Rod Stewart & others!!

    State Library of Qld: Griffith Review 2015 Annual Lecture: Where have all the ratbags gone?
    Graeme Wood AM
    Hosted by Paul Barclay, ABC.
    (BARCLAY’S Q&A SECTION BEGINS AT THE 1 HOUR MARK)
    http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/audio-video/livestream

    Wood’s biggest audience applause (virtually only real applause) comes when he says: the poor in India don’t need coal…they just need a solar panel to put on the light to do the homework.

    at 1hr32mins:
    AUDIENCE MEMBER ASKS A QUESTION: an offer from a scallywag to a ratbag. i’m in love with carbon. but calories are too cheap. u and the guardian should collect donations to start a calorie trading scheme.
    WOOD: confused.
    AUDIENCE MEMBER: i think every human should be given an allocation of calories instead of a carbon trading scheme as distinct from carbon. carbon helps trees grow.
    BARCLAY: how do you build up calorie credits?
    AUDIENCE MEMBER: how do you build up carbon credits.
    WOOD: by not using them?
    AUDIENCE MEMBER: exactly.
    WOOD: won’t that promote anorexia? (LAUGHTER FROM BARCLAY).
    AUDIENCE MEMBER: perhaps.
    BARCLAY/WOOD LOOK/SOUND UNCOMFORTABLE…
    BARCLAY to WOOD: perhaps this is a conversation u should continue later on.

    OF COURSE, DON’T EXPECT IAN PLIMER ON “BIG IDEAS” ANY TIME SOON.

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    john

    Now Is The Time For A Carbon Tax, IMF Chief Says

    http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/10/08/3710467/imf-says-to-tax-carbon/

    The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) called for a carbon tax late Wednesday at the IMF/World Bank annual meeting in Lima, Peru. Meanwhile, reports show that more and more places are adopting carbon taxes, in largely successful efforts to use market forces to increase clean energy development.
    Climate change is now a “macro-critical” issue, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said. The wording there is important, because the IMF defines macro-critical issues as “either critical to the achievement of macroeconomic program goals or necessary for the implementation of specific provisions under the IMF’s Articles of Agreement,” the Sierra Club noted Thursday.
    “The IMF has correctly recognized, after taking a sober look at major threats to the long term stability of all countries, that a changing climate poses threats to the stability and vitality of the world’s economies,” Steve Herz, a senior attorney with Sierra Club’s International Climate Program, said in a statement emailed to ThinkProgress.
    This is just the latest in the IMF’s commentary on the economic damage caused by systems that support fossil fuels. The IMF — whose “primary purpose is to ensure the stability of the international monetary system” — made headlines earlier this year when it reported that governments spend $5.3 trillion in fossil fuel subsidies annually.
    “Lagarde’s comprehensive climate change agenda for the IMF is historic both for its content, and for its timing ahead of international climate negotiations this summer in Paris,” Herz said.
    Lagarde referred to the problem of energy subsidies again Wednesday during the organization’s Conversation on Climate Change. “Now is the time to phase out energy subsidies,” she said.

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      Egor TheOne

      IMF = international mafia fund .

      An organisation full of thieves !

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    • #
      gai

      The International Monetary Fund Lays The Groundwork For Global Wealth Confiscation

      The International Monetary Fund (IMF) quietly dropped a bomb in its October Fiscal Monitor Report. Titled “Taxing Times,” the report paints a dire picture for advanced economies with high debts that fail to aggressively “mobilize domestic revenue.” It goes on to build a case for drastic measures and recommends a series of escalating income and consumption tax increases culminating in the direct confiscation of assets.

      Yes, you read that right. But don’t take it from me. The report itself says:

      The sharp deterioration of the public finances in many countries has revived interest in a “capital levy”— a one-off tax on private wealth—as an exceptional measure to restore debt sustainability. The appeal is that such a tax, if it is implemented before avoidance is possible and there is a belief that it will never be repeated, does not distort behavior (and may be seen by some as fair). … The conditions for success are strong, but also need to be weighed against the risks of the alternatives, which include repudiating public debt or inflating it away. … The tax rates needed to bring down public debt to precrisis levels, moreover, are sizable: reducing debt ratios to end-2007 levels would require (for a sample of 15 euro area countries) a tax rate of about 10 percent on households with positive net wealth. (page 49)”

      Note three takeaways….
      That means that all households with positive net wealth—everyone with retirement savings or home equity—would have their assets plundered under the IMF’s formulation.

      ….It will merely “restore debt sustainability,” allowing free-spending sovereigns to keep tapping the bond markets until the next crisis comes along—for which stronger measures will be required, of course.

      Third, should politicians fail to muster the courage to engage in this kind of wholesale robbery, the only alternative scenario the IMF posits is public debt repudiation and hyperinflation. Structural reform proposals for the Ponzi-scheme entitlement programs that are bankrupting us are nowhere to be seen.

      So while western country politicians are doing their very best to kill their countries economies via green energy and green regulations the IMF ALSO wants them to confiscate 10% of what ever you have managed to save AND THEN add an additional CARBON TAX not to mention the UN TAX (For the USA that is an added trillion dollars a year in tax.)

      Where does all that tax money go???
      1984: Grace Commission Report

      Grace told President Reagan that “one-third” of the tax dollars collected are wasted and another third not collected. “With two-thirds of everyone’s personal income taxes wasted or not collected, 100 percent of what is collected is absorbed solely by interest on the Federal debt and by Federal Government contributions to transfer payments. In other words, all individual income tax revenues are gone before one nickel is spent on the services which taxpayers expect from their Government.”

      If the Grace Commission is correct, then not one penny of income tax money is actually being spent on services as the American People think. So what is funding government? LOANS, it is a vicious ever expanding cycle of debt.

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    Richard

    Your man Tim Flannery was on CBC today hyping his book. The interviewer, emboldened by the recent Liberal victory, threw him nothing but softballs–no questions about desalination plants or reservoirs. Meanwhile, Putin dares to tell the truth (it being to his advantage). We’re in big trouble, no doubt about it.

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    asdfgh

    “Putin calls climate change a “fraud” :”

    These words being highlighted and underlined within your article implies that you’ve linked the NYTimes article in question. Yet you clearly have not.

    http://joannenova.com.au/2015/10/putin-russia-calls-man-made-climate-change-a-fraud/from%20the%20NY%20Times

    Why is this?

    [An accident. Thanks for pointing it out. Fixed! – Jo]

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  • #

    The irony — the former communist state may be the one to thwart the ambitions of the freeloading global bureaucracy.

    Irony is definitely the word that comes to mind!

    And thank God that the world IS so ironic.

    I agree with your summation Jo that Putin would change his tone if he got a better deal at the table. It seems however that the natural gas pipelines from Arabia/Gulf that need to transit Syria to reach the EU Energy Market, and the associated geopolitical war going on in this region, is forcing Russia to totally break with the technocratic view of ‘world governance’.

    Gazprom is obviously the target in Syria, because there’s only one other source of natural gas for the EU if it doesn’t come from Russia, and that’s the Nabucco pipeline project that has stalled because Azeri gas is not in a high enough qty to totally replace Gazprom … they need gas from Iraq, but mostly Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE (et al … the GCC mob).

    If Gazprom can be hamstrung, then the entire economic engine of the new Russia can be destroyed.

    It would seem that Putin’s vocal opposition to APGW so close to Paris 2015, is a sign that the economic hegemony which ACTUALLY drives the APGW machine, is the cause of its own demise, at the paws of a very, very angry bear.

    I R O N Y . . . indeed!
    APGW, skewered on its own bureaucratic greed, by a former Communist mega bureaucracy.

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    karl

    From what I have seen in the past 2 years President Putin is the leader of the free world.

    00