DUBAI (Reuters) – A member of the main advisory board of the COP28 climate summit resigned on Friday over reports that the UAE presidency used the meeting to secure new oil, gas deals, according to her resignation letter seen by Reuters.
Hilda Heine, former president of the low-lying, climate vulnerable Marshall Islands, said reports that the UAE planned to discuss possible natural gas and other commercial deals ahead of U.N. climate talks were “deeply disappointing” and threatened to undermine the credibility of the multilateral negotiation process.
“These actions undermine the integrity of the COP presidency and the process as a whole,” Heine wrote in the letter she sent to COP President Sultan al-Jaber.
She added that the only way for Jaber to restore trust in the process was to “deliver an outcome that demonstrates that you are committed to phasing out fossil fuels.”
Why do I think Cop 28 is a farce? Well the report quoted above is just one of the reasons, and then there is the report that the one that holds the presidency of the Cop pantomime UAE is organising to ramp up oil production. It starts to make you wonder what they are all there for. Then of course there is our UK duo pantomime act, Sunak and King Charles. Our so dedicated to reducing our carbon footprint, King Charles,whose personal footprint is probably larger than a small village. All those lavish residencies and gardens, all being heated and maintained by an army of servants. His more personal residence fed by an extensive army of servants, cooks and other types of staff. Then there is is army of security and its cavalcade of black limousines that follow him everywhere. All to pander to one man who claims he thinks we need to take climate change more seriously. He could start by moving into a mid terrace house and look after himself and of course get a job in renewable energy. Then we have our £700 million Prime Minister, Sunak, who claims he is leading the green energy charge while merrily throwing out more licences for drilling more oil wells in the North Sea.
Most of all those in attendance at this lavish pantomime live lives of opulence and they fail to see that they are the problem, and are never going to do anything that might in any way damage that lifestyle. We, the ordinary people will have to, not demand change but to be the agents of change, we can't rely on the rich and powerful, to save life on our planet they have too much to lose.
An extract from an article by Caitlin Johnstone.
I’ve been amazed at how much I’ve been sleeping since the ceasefire started; that’s why I haven’t been writing as much. I guess spending weeks staring at unbelievable horrors unfolding on your screen can be pretty hard on your system if you’re sensitive to that sort of thing, so my body’s been resting up as much as it can while there’s an opportunity.
And I’m just here watching this all unfold safely from my home in Melbourne. I cannot imagine what it’s like to be living in the midst of this horror for the last two months, trying to figure out the best way to survive while also grieving the family, friends and neighbors you’re losing along the way. These people have all been deeply traumatized in ways that will haunt them for the rest of their lives, if they survive the violence, disease and deprivation that’s to come.
This thing is so astonishingly ugly, and it could get a whole lot uglier after the ceasefire ends. If there’s anything positive to be found in this living nightmare, it’s that it’s so earth-shakingly ugly that it just might shake the world awake.
But will it shake the world awake? I doubt it, it has already shaken vast swaths of the general public awake and they have taken to the streets, but as for the power/war mongers with the reins of power, that's a different story. These blind to suffering power/war mangers have a different agenda and will play the situation like a game of cards, seeking an outcome that is to their advantage, irrespective of the suffering and bloody genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza. We have evolved into a system where suffering and death of ordinary people is acceptable to meet the ends of the powers that be.
Strange words, but welcome, from an Israeli soldier. You wonder when that trait called humanity will enter the psyche of the majority of the Jewish population in Israel. It is sad to see almost an entire population so steeped in hate all based on an illusion that they are special and their wee man in sky gave them this land more than 2,000 years ago.
A little bit late with this, but it is always good to see the enthusiasm and the colourful banners. Glasgow's anti-racist march on Saturday 25th November was as usual a very colourful affair. Marching from Glasgow Green to George Square it made a powerful statement, that Glasgow stands against racism in any shape or form. When you consider the series of very large ceasefire in Gaza marches that have taken place across the country, there is no doubt where our values lie. Let's strengthen that stand of anti-racism and peace. Enjoy the images from the anti-racism march.
“After 7 years of consecutive imprisonment (from the arrest of 5th January, 2017), 8.5 years together with pre-trial detention (arrested on 10/4/2010) and 13 years and 6 months in total, sentence I served for my participation in Revolutionary Struggle, I have been released. The symbolism of the day was strong as this year’s November 17th marks the 50th anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising of 1973. On that day, everyone remembers the dead of the Polytechnic but also all those who have fallen in the struggle for freedom.
For me, this day was dominated by the memory of our comrade killed in the activity of Revolutionary Struggle, Lambros Fountas. But in my thoughts is also the comrade Nikos Maziotis who, despite the fact that he has served 11 years’ “closed” prison and 14 years in a mixed prison – a very long period for a 20-year sentence -, the judicial councils of Lamia are refusing to release him. It is now clear that a unique status of exception has been imposed on Nikos Maziotis, as no prisoner in a similar situation (with charges based on 187A) and with a similar sentence (i.e. not a life sentence) has remained in prison for such a long period of time. This exceptional regime based on political criteria and motives and which in practice nullifies the institution of parole – which according to the law is mandatory and not “gratuitous”, given that it is not left to the personal will of the respective judge – this exemption regime must come to an end. In addition to the flagrant violation of his rights, this special regime of exception is reminiscent of a junta-style treatment of a political prisoner.
Well we all have heard it, the Government's Autumn Statement, and what becomes very clear is that your tax payments are being handed out to big businesses, in the Tories words to boost growth. Throwing your money at their cronies in the big corporate world will certainly boost growth, but mainly in profit growth for shareholders and CEO. What have they promised the ordinary person, well if you are out of work because of illness, then you can look forward to having your benefits stopped if you are deemed not to looking hard enough for work. No doubt you will notice the different tone when they speak about the ordinary people and their cronies in big business.
Another hand out to the mega rich big business came in earlier when Rushi Sunak was Chancellor, that was the tax cut to big banks, cutting bank profit surcharge from a meagre 8% down to miserly 3%. Once again handouts to their rich and powerful cronies. According to a TUC report this little slight of hand is costing you and I in lost tax revenue approximately £29 million a week. Think what that £29 million a week could have done had it gone in to NHS and other social services. Instead it has gone to purchasing more private jets, larger super yachts big cars and extra homes abroad for the already over rich parasite class.
When will we ever learn that this capitalist system is stacked against the ordinary people. A system that is built on exploitation and amassing unbelievable fortunes from that exploitation can never be fair and just. If you want that better world for all, a fair and just society that sees to the needs of all our people, then we have to destroy the structure that manages this state/corporate marriage that is hell bent on plundering for profit.
Glasgow Sheriff Court today saw a strong support outside of the Court to support the three peace activists, who occupied Thales' weapons factory in Scotland in 2022 in an attempt to stop the slaughter of innocents, and now find themselves in Court. We must continue to turn up to show our support for those who fall foul of the state in their attempts to end wars. It is a strange democracy that those who fight for peace and an end to the manufacture of brutal instruments of war, find themselves in Court. Further proof that the state is a war machine that will throw its full resources into the manufacture of weapons of destruction and he resulting wars, while most of the citizens live an existence of struggle for a decent life. Glasgow must show solidarity and support for all peace activists, today and tomorrow and no matter how long it takes.
