From the You Just Can’t Make This Stuff Up Department.
[update, yeah the headline is inaccurate, it is simply reflecting the original story headline from BIGGOVERNMENT.com ~ ctm]
Former Apartheid Spy Appointed to Head UN Climate Change Effort
From BIGGOVERNMENT.com
This week, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South Africa’s tourism minister, was nominated to head the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCC). Van Schalkwyk is a former apartheid operative who bartered his way into the black majority government by helping it smear its democratic opposition. He is a statist bureaucrat who is one of the most unpopular political figures in the new South Africa. He is just right for the job.
There is no one better to put in charge of the entire political enterprise of climate change as it is collapsing amidst failed negotiations and accusations of fraud. Van Schalkwyk will be sure to hasten the end. He did the same when he took over the rump of South Africa’s National Party, the party of apartheid, and led it to crushing defeat. He gave up and joined the African National Congress (ANC) government in return for his ministry.
That was bad news for South Africans, as Van Schalkwyk encouraged other politicians to defect from the country’s leading opposition parties to join the corrupt and hegemonic ANC. (An angry public began referring to those who crossed the floor for political favors as “crosstitutes.”) But it is good news for critics of the UN climate change bureaucracy, who now have a target who personifies everything there is to dislike about the system.
The worldwide “consensus” on climate change is unraveling amidst mounting evidence that the UN and senior scientists manipulated the data to suit their predictions of rapid warming and their prescriptions for drastic intervention in the global economy. It is, of course, true that carbon dioxide is a “greenhouse gas” that helps warm the earth; it is true that we have pumped more of it into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution.
It is also true that there is evidence of increasing average global surface temperatures over the same time period, and reason to believe that trend could continue over the next century. But it is also true that there are other factors affecting global climate, including some that reduce temperatures. And it is also true that our most sophisticated computer models cannot predict how warmer temperatures will affect our climate in the future.
That wasn’t good enough for those eager to create a sense of alarm. They projected worst-case scenarios and tried to convince the world that the potential costs of future warming far outweighed the costs of shutting down whole industries. They never explained whether climate change could actually be reversed; they did not need to, as long as they could scare people enough to avoid having to answer tough questions.
Read the rest of the article here.
HT/ a friend at Bloomberg ~ ctm
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Good Lord.
What next–hire Daffy Duck to be the next lead author?
I would have bet money that Algore was the man.
There’s just nowhere to hide.
I left South Africa many years ago to get away from unpleasant characters like him – now it seems that he’s still going to have control over my life.
The UN has a long tradition of finding people who are so outrageously wrong for a position (or even gainful employment) that it can only be an attempt to demonstrate their ability to get away with anything. It’s like the kid who’s been left behind for three grades and now spends the lunch hour urinating on the smaller kids. He doesn’t really want or need to urinate on them; he just wants to remind himself and others that he can do it. (I was neither pee-er or pee-ee if you’re wondering).
The IPCC is crooked and they have found a crook to lead them.
I worked in South Africa for a couple of years, ten years ago. Van Schalkwyk was never taken seriously as anything but a politician who’ll do anything to have a government job of some kind (since he probably wouldn’t know what to do in the private sector). If South Africa’s ruling party, the ANC, recommended him for that UN position, it’s a sure sign that the South African government doesn’t think it’s of any importance. Van Schalkwyk is a guy they like to have around due to a vestigial political basis in the Western Cape, so they throw bones at him to keep him happy.
It’s a mystery why the U. N. would appoint somebody like van Schalkwyk except possibly there are those that think his appointment could swing some undeveloped countries because of his role in South Africa.
Although, that role as pointed out in the article is not a flattering one.
This man is no Nelson Mandela.
If you want to devalue and eventually undermine even further the IPCC this is a very astute choice by the UN’s political masters who are now embarressed to be associated with it, so lets diminish its status even further then we can ignore it.
In what way exactly did the IPCC expect adding this man would improve their reputation?
Politicians will change parties, change countries, or even go to the UN if they think they can get a better deal.
Maybe they should have added a prestigious scientist like Antonino Zichichi or Freeman Dyson? But then prestigious scientists are usually global warming skeptics. Quit a quandry the IPCC finds itself in.
Antonino Zichichi
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=121163d6-d6b9-45bb-830c-5d27f88f899a
Freeman Dyson
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29Dyson-t.html
Next stop Nobel.
EspañaGate is also developing. One can only imagine how studies get debunked politically. See more at PajamasMedia or some examples at http://ecotretas.blogspot.com/2010/03/espanagate.html
Ecotretas
“You WILL believe in global warming!” (*sound of arms being twisted until they break*).
Lovely, just lovely…where did they find this clown, central casting??
Anthony is right, we can’t just make this stuff up!!
James F. Evans:
That gets my nomination for the understatement of the century.
Interesting how the global warming/ global government bureaucracy is finally revealing its true nature… let’s see who will be the next shady characters to join the parade.
As skeptics seem to think they won the day, let’s keep in mind powerful financial interests -like Soros- are at work here and they may bring earlier radical changes and hasten their true agenda: the ruthless goons will do.
This might be an indication of things to come… beware all.
From the article’s penultimate paragraph : ” The UNFCC post must be headed by someone of integrity , and that’s not a characteristic associated with Van Schalkwyk …” , said Patrick Bond of South Africa’s Centre for Civil Society .
Obviously , this nothing new with the UN ; in fact it seems to be a prerequisite for its top positions these days . I’ll bet this story gets ignored by the MSM .
The perfect choice to present to Moon — a political animal who lives of, by, and for The State. Set him loose on the UN power structure and see who survives.
Someone of integrity in the UN?
ya right
Just to clarify: He is NOT appointed ,just nominated by the South African Government.
Se my post: Climate Gate – All the manipulations and lies revealed 349
Thanks for the Dyson link, It’s always Marcia, Marcia. When we have Dyson and the other side has Hansen, is it still a fair fight? 😉
Those who assume that media myths, such as Nelson Mandela, “Mother Theresa,” Bishop Tutu and Gandhi, automatically deserve respect should remember that there are thinking people who do not share their admiration.
Careful review of the factual biographies of these celebrities invokes neither respect nor admiration.
I nominate Bernie Madoff.
on and on and on they go….
9 March: Outside science academies to review warming panel
The beleaguered global warming panel has found an outside group to review how it makes its reports.
The InterAcademy Council will be given complete control to review the rules, procedures and reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Recently, a handful of unsettling, but relatively minor, errors have been found in the climate panel reports issued in 2007.
The Netherlands-based organization of 15 national science councils will pick the scientists for the review. Details will be announced Wednesday at the United Nations…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_CLIMATE_PANEL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-03-09-18-04-17
what to make of this?
9 March: Sify: Scientists figure out way to convert CO2 into carbon monoxide using visible light
The method was developed by University of Michigan biological chemist Steve Ragsdale, along with research assistant Elizabeth Pierce and scientists led by Fraser Armstrong from the University of Oxford in the UK.
http://sify.com/news/scientists-figure-out-way-to-convert-co2-into-carbon-monoxide-using-visible-light-news-international-kdjpEfjadjj.html
From the Guardian website:
“South African tourism minister nominated for top UN climate jobMarthinus van Schalkwyk is a candidate to take over from United Nations climate chief Yvo de Boer, who announced his resignation last month
The South African president’s office today announced the nomination of its tourism minister for the United Nations’ top climate post.
The office said Marthinus van Schalkwyk is a candidate to lead the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The current post holder, Yvo de Boer, announced his resignation in February and will step down on 1 July to take up a post with consultancy firm KPMG.
Van Schalkwyk was South Africa’s former minister for environmental affairs and tourism until May 2009, when the ministry was split. He succeeded former South African president FW de Klerk as leader of the National party in 1997 and presided over its dissolution and merger with the ruling African National Congress in 2005.
De Boer and others have stated that a binding global deal to tackle climate change will not be reached this year at the main annual UNFCCC event in December. That elevates the importance of the 2011 meeting, which will be held in South Africa, perhaps boosting van Schalkwyk’s chances.
But there will be other candidates. Reports from India suggest that the environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, is supporting the candidacy of environment secretary, Vijai Sharma, who is also said to have the support of China. Alongside Brazil, India, China and South Africa – also known as the Basic group of nations – were seen to be the key drivers behind the Copenhagen accord, the weak agreement that emerged from the last UN climate summit in December.
The appointment is made by the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-Moon, from a private shortlist, which he discusses with representatives from around the world.”
So nothing open and transparent about this appointment then – “private shortlist” is the worrying statement. Who released van Schalkwyk’s name?