Guest essay by Eric Worrall
A Ukrainian climate scientist blames Western purchases of Russian fossil fuel for the might of their military onslaught, but she fails to ask why the West became so dependent on Russia.
Unite against climate change – Ukraine scientist
By Victoria Gill
Science correspondent, BBC NewsA leading Ukrainian scientist says war is “closing the window of opportunity” for the world to prevent the worst impacts of climate change.
Dr Svitlana Krakovska, who is a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), spoke to me on Zoom from her apartment in Kyiv.
“It’s amazing how the people of Ukraine united against one enemy,” she said.
“If we all unite against climate change, we can survive as a civilisation.”
…
She stressed that fossil fuels, and Europe’s reliance on exported oil and gas from Russia, were “funding the war”.
“The money that’s invested in fossil fuels, they’re using against us,” she said. “Against freedom. Against humanity.”
…
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60592587
I cannot express how much I admire the courage of people including Dr Svitlana Krakovska, who have stayed in the Ukraine, to defend their homes from Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s brutal incursion into their country,.
But blaming our dependence on fossil fuel for the might of Russia’s military is only half the story. The reason Europe especially became so dependent on Russian fossil fuel specifically, is green politicians like Joe Biden, Angela Merkel and Boris Johnson have done and are doing everything in their power to wreck Western extractive industries, with fracking and exploration bans, punitive taxes, and onerous environmental processes for drilling new wells and mines.
How did green politicians in the West manage to convince so many voters to support their anti-fossil fuel extraction jihad?
Dr Svitlana Krakovska, in my opinion if you want to know who is really to blame for the might of Russia’s armies, try looking in the mirror. The climate alarmism promoted by yourself and your colleagues gave green politicians like Biden, Merkel and BoJo the voter support, scientific cover and political leverage they needed to wreck Western oil and gas extraction, forcing desperate Western consumers to turn to hostile fossil fuel providers like Russia.
Update (EW): No peace for Russians in the Ukraine, even stopping to take a leak has its perils.
“How did green politicians in the West manage to convince so many voters to support their anti-fossil fuel extraction jihad?” They didn’t, they bypassed democracy.
From 1990 to 2022, NATO spent a lot of fossil fuel expanding all over East Europe, after pledging not to expand beyond East Germany in 1990, which includes the fossil fuel now used to demilitarize Ukraine, by dismantling the armed service infrastructures
Yep and Bush said that wasn’t going to happen.
What exactly was the legal value of that “pledge”?
The same as for the MinskII Accords.
Bonbon one of the chief apologist for Putin here
I will remind you of all your crap for the foreseeable future Defence of a mass murderer is your speciality
Nato wouldn’t have expanded so quickly if those countries didn’t have something to fear. Russia promised to respect the integrity of Ukraines borders that was a signed document. Now they are bombing maternity wards in Ukraine.
They didn’t need to convince voters about their anti-fossil-fuel extraction jihad. All the parties in most of the west were infected with the AGW virus to a greater or lesser extent, so it never was much of an election issue, and there was never any real choice. They just went ahead and did it. I can’t recall any party actually taking a positive stand against the madness. Even Trump never made it a central part of his election platform, although he did make good progress while in office. Any gains he made were then undone by his successor – what’s his name again?
FJB
I’m particularly impressed that news of Hunter Biden’s escapades, including his business dealings with the Chinese, Russians as well as his Ukrainian stint on the Burisma board, were largely and have been continually suppressed by the MSM.
There was a lot of Russian and Chinese money behind the propaganda/legal campaigns.
In the US, since we do not have minor parties and a Parliamentary system, minor factions must join one of the other parties.
At this time the Republican party is mostly the Religious and those who actually work (FOR WAGEs) and pay taxes.
The Democrat party is a combination of multiple faction who agree to support ALL of the other factions. The abortion, LGBTQXYZ, racist affirmative action/reparations, union lobbies, ultra rich and college educated elites and the climate lobby, both the useful idiots, mostly college students and the very rich crony capitalists benefiting from the subsidies, and of course communists and socialists.
Everything the Democrat party does is to support ALL of these causes and create more jobs for their voters. So, cause chaos in schools then the solution is smaller class sizes/more teachers. So create a bunch of programs that lead to NGOs that employ leftists.
Personal knowledge example: There was a “retraining” NGO, wholly subsidized by the federal government that I inspected annually. It was ALWAYS empty when I inspected. After Obama came in and the Democrats changed the welfare reform legislation from that passed under Gingrich requiring work, to “retraining” being equivalent to “work” they more than doubled the size of the building, but the only people in the building were leftist employees. I never saw any “retraining”. I did see one Person Of Color, one time, on a computer in a “training” room, doing some sort of search. No one was there to assist.
Of course I inspected only once or twice a year. BUT: my office was across the street, in an area with almost no foot traffic. The parking area for “customers” was almost always empty, and I NEVER saw anyone coming or going from the building of foot.
Anecdotal of course, but the employee parking was mostly empty but what cars were there were expensive. Inside there were a lot of offices with name plates, but most were closed and locked since most employees were not there during regular business hours. Obama did what he intended, he took Chicago political institutions, no show jobs, political patronage, etc. to the federal level.
These Ukrainian climate scientists should immediately contact Natalia Vitrenko of the Ukrainian PSPU Party.
In Australia, here is the petition in English :
A message from Ukraine: Natalia Vitrenko to World Leaders: ‘Stop Supplying Weapons and Using Political Blackmail To Incite Ukraine to War with Russia!’
https://citizensparty.org.au/sites/default/files/2022-02/message-ukraine.pdf
44 million of her fellow citizens would disagree with her and her pro-Russian party
Zelenskyy got 80% vote to follow the MinskII accords, and is a Russian speaker.
Zelensky was democratically elected promising to stamp out corruption and loosen the grip of oligarchs on Ukraine.
You need to broaden your knowledge, my friend
I speak English. Does that mean I have to agree with every other country that speaks English?
Your logic is in the bin.
Russian propaganda from Bonbon.
DOES Wagner have a job for you??
You know that band of rapists and vicious b..stards holed up in central Africa now???
Natalia should be careful. I see lampposts on the horizon.
I’ve had a quick look at the “Citizen’s Party” website. Here is their view on climate change:
Whoops!
Mind you they were horrendously wrong about Ukraine and Russia:
if you think that Putin was afraid of an attack by Ukraine you’re dummer than I thought.
What war? they are just having a special operation, just like in World Special Operation II when Stalin Special Operationed Poland.
It sounds familiar, Vlad the Terrible has flipped.
“The woman had seen lions and monkeys in her house. She was becoming disoriented and aggressive towards others, and was convinced that her husband was an impostor. She was in her mid-50s — decades older than the age at which psychosis typically develops — and had no psychiatric history. What she did have, however, was COVID-19. Hers was one of the first known cases of someone developing psychosis after contracting the disease ”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02599-5
Interesting theory. But Vlad has been making speeches deploring the fall of the Soviet Union for a long time, so I think he always planned something like this. Having said that, he hasn’t been looking well lately, his complexion seems kind of glassy, makeup absolutely caked on. Maybe he’s sick, and wants to make a move while he still can.
Some people just can’t be satisfied unless they’re toppling a government, destroying its currency or just plain profiting from the misery of others. It’s worse when they’re ruler of a country themselves or if they hold sway over banks, rulers, cabinets, etc.
George, Klaus and Vlad are three of those type of people.
Compare Putin photos from Crimea annexation and now. His face is now puffy. That is a hallmark of steroid use. Corticosteroids are a very common adjunct to chemotherapy for lymphoma. Which would also explains his evident extreme isolation and ‘social distancing’ from COVID -19. And his Ukraine legacy ‘urgency’.
Won’t end well for Putin if that surmise is true. Sick despot, failing Ukraine attacks for the most part (stalled columns subject to Javelins, lack of fuel and food, failure to establish air command superiority with Stingers on the way from Germany), sanctions taking economy down about a third, 2/3 of Aeroflot fleet cut off from spare parts from Boeing and Airbus, …
Are these the same steroids he might use to enhance his physique? If that were the case, we might also consider roid rage.
I am not by any means an expert, but anabolic steroids for athlete muscle building can cause roid rage—and acne.
The Corticosteroids like prednisone used for lymphoma don’t, so far as I am aware. BUT they can cause mild psychosis.
Personal knowledge. My significant other almost died from wasp sting induced anaphylactic shock up in our north Georgia mountain cabin—20 minutes down a steep twisting two lane (look up Old Asia Road) to the doc in box with epipen salvation. She still suffers PTSD from the episode—throat was closing, couldn’t breathe, said goodby just as we reached the doc. Tapered prednisone is bog normal post Epipen treatment. She was over sensitive to the normal dose and had a point where she hallucinated and almost drove off the mountain before dragging herself back to the doc. Scariest doctor call I ever got, to come pick her up after they administered yet another medication taking 4 hours to bring her back to reality.
You are wrong Rud – a puffy face is clearly a hallmark of being forced to live next door to Nazism!
Probably.
(Clearly Putin has not been reading the correct Twit Feeds lately – Everyone Is a Nah Zee and we should suspend democracy and bring in harsh (but sustainable and diverse) new laws allowing us to arrest then, their friends and people who live within a 500m radius and hold them in camps without trial. Got that Putin? Everyone is a Nah Zee, so you need to be more specific on your casus belli)
Also, nitpick. Stingers are a light point man portable missile. They (and similar weapon systems) have a valid role on the battlefield, but lack the range to control airspace beyond their immediate area and even then they can be largely countered by simply flying at the higher altitudes.
The real Putin should have been known long before his ripping his mask off. Maybe he wanted to distract the people with war…maybe the Russian people really do like to suffer…he could be around for another 20 years…he may believe that if he loses control….the next dictator will bury him….that’s life….that’s the life of dictators.
Well he has been telling the West for over 15 years of his unhappiness over NATO expansion.
I’m unhappy with the plants that my neighbor is planting in his yard. I think I’ll invade and tear them out. I’ll also replace my neighbor with someone who will listen to my complaints while I’m at it.
So long as Brandon is pResident, I say go for it, Mark.
(😜, of course.)
You’ll also need to destroy your neighbors house to show everyone you are seriously unhappy and as a lesson for future gardeners.
You are forgetting you need to threaten to destroy neighbors houses if they dare help.
so f…””_)_$£! WHAT??
My little country up near Finland were tired of people being deported to Gulag, tired of being left defenceless, sick of Russia destroying its language and culture.
They INVITED Nato in, as did all the others in the Baltic states so they would feel secure.
It’s got F-all to do with “Nato expansion” and Putin’s lies.
Putin is 69. I bet the stress he’s under might kill him.
Apparently he’s escaped multiple assassination attempts. This might add to his stress.
Then there the bizarre pictures of him meeting with even his own people at the opposite end of a 25’ table
A lot of amateur psychologists and clairvoyants here ought to have a look at what is really going on, instead of the Ouija board :
https://southfront.org/
Denazification continues…
Seems like your ruskie friends have started to “denazify” also nuclear plants:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-fire-nuclear-power-plant-26382475
Fire at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after attack by Russian troops and shelling
Really smart move comrade.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most MSM of us all?
So what you’re saying is, the attack on the power plant didn’t happen?
You appear to be just as uhinged as Putin
Even a plain idiot will understand, that when an army goes for an invasion, it has to make sure that it has the means and capability to secure as fast as possible all “hot spots”, like in this case the nuclear reactors.
So shelling nuclear power plants is not a problem?
MarkW
The failure of securing nuclear power plants is a big problem.
I do not know the exact details of the incident, and also not willing to take without a grain of salt what ever side of the story telling.
Simply saying that it is almost inevitable for the Russians trying to take and secure such “hot spots”.
Yes of course, shelling nuclear power plants is a problem, a rather big one…
but, also the prospect of sabotaging is a big problem too there, maybe even bigger one, as it will imply intent, commitment and the will in causing a disaster by direct action.
I think probably, bonbon was saying that it is a twisted story telling…
especially in consideration of the added MSM narrative optics such as;
“Really smart move comrade.”
cheers
When Putin bit off a few chunks of Ukraine with Russian majority population, I thought, well it looks bad, but maybe the local Russians in the regions he annexed were being mistreated. We have no means to know for sure what is really going on in such places.
Then he tried to grab the entire Ukraine, tried to destroy a democratically elected government, elected by people who mostly do not want to be part of Russia.
Lets just say Putin’s recent actions have settled any doubts I had about about whether his initial annexations were justified.
Still could be that the initial annexations were justifiable (by some logic).
But that logic was only applicable to the regions/areas that overwhelming preferred Russia.
“the local Russians in the regions he annexed were being mistreated”
When
1) a coup happens (or revolution if you like)
2) a new assembly is installed
3) the very first vote of the representative is a law to forbid the use of Russian language pretty everywhere except at home … a law so bad, the very first executive decision is an hold on that law
then yes you can say mistreated. At least intent to wreck the lives of the population so strong that the West should have stopped supporting Euromaidan immediately.
We should have had economic sanctions on Ukraine at that time. Instead, we applauded these crazies.
Now we have to support the crazier than Euromaidainist crazies?
WHY?
We do not have to support Obama’s and Nuland’s extremists. And we do not have to support NATOstan – it is a loose cannon!
Bonbon works for that “Putin’s cook” b..astard who runs Wagner. It’s becoming clearer and clearer he’s a Russian troll.
Donetsk was NEVER Russian.
It was founded by a Welshman HUGHES. The original name was Hughsovka.
There is an English school there founded to teach the local cosmopolitain population ENGLISH.
The entire town has a typically British city layout NOT RUSSIAN at all.
The population changes were caused by another mass murderer who came from Georgia, deporting all those who didn’t agree with his policies and deliberately starving out 4 million Ukrainians to death.
Gareth Jones listed it all in his 1930s reports.
He is a hero of Ukraine, because British and US “pro soviet intellectuals” conspired to propagate lies just like “Bonbon” does here.
Donetsk and its coal and steel were all developed by Europeans from France, Britain and Belgium.
After the 1917 revolution most towns were renamed.
STOP THE 2nd HOLODOMOR.
DO NOT BELIEVE PUTIN’S LIES
Speaking of amateurs, here comes bonbon.
The Marks Brothers again – 77th Brigade, what?
Southfront is part of the Russian propaganda machine
The website gives no information of who is behind it and even hides behind internet privacy rules.
You need to learn how to distinguish fact from fiction
And the London Mirror does? The fog of war – do not expect info from Foggy Bottom.
Are you seriously promoting this pro-Putin rubbish?
“Denazification” – get a grip you wally.
If you’re grandfather was every within 500 yards of a known or suspected Nazi, that proves you are a Nazi.
I’ve been to Germany a few times – it must mean I’m a Nazi too.
No chance of dennazification when the principal nutcase in the Kremlin is a Neo-fascist murderer taking his copy book from Franco’s Spain.
STOP THE 2nd Holodomor NOW
The president of Ukraine is Jewish. Are you claiming he is also a Naz heh?
What I have learned in my time on this earth is that Nazi’s are bad. So bad no sane defense exists for them and their actions. What I have also learned is that people who can’t win an argument or at least to lazy to try; call their opponents Nazis. Everyone knows Nazis are bad. So bad they don’t even need to debate them and obviously anyone who takes their side is therefore crazy because they are attempting to defend Nazis and probably Nazis themselves. Nazi and fascists are the same thing. Furthermore, since their opponent is no longer a human being but a subhuman Nazi anything they say or do to them is justified because they are fighting fascism. The saddest part is that there are still pyscho racists out there, and some day they may gain power because some idiots called everyone they opposed a Nazi including the Jewish president of Ukraine and no one will believe it when it is actually true.
The external costs of russian oil and gas are not climate related, but is about paying effectively for the russian military. You then need to spend a lot on your own defence to compensate, next to the outrageous damage caused in the Ukraine. This must be factored in.
I think it is okay to purchase russian oil and gas, though it must happen at a huge discount, hardly above the production cost.
Similar to an NBA technical foul. The foul is called on the guy who reacted to an infraction (not noticed by the referees), rather than the original instigator.
When exactly did the Ukraine invade Russia?
Playing basketball with B61’s could ruin your whole day!
Remind me what infraction the citizens of Ukraine committed? I’d ask them myself, but they’re too busy trying to avoid being blown up by Russian missiles.
“Against freedom. Against humanity.”
As if the climate alarmists aren’t dedicated to limiting peoples freedom. Typical disingenuous leftist.
Meanwhile NATO nutters have sanctioned cats!
Federation International Feline :
http://www1.fifeweb.org/wp/news/
No sanctions on dogs (discrimination?) and no bird no-fly-zone!
This is enough to make a cat bark, as Alice said.
Russian blue cat. (Flor de Azur/Wikimedia Commons) Courtesy Joe Lauria Consortium News.
You really will believe anything.
Beautiful cat.
A cat -fancying site?
Now I know you really are just taking the p1ss
We have to pay more for energy to avoid subsidising the Putinist murderocracy.
It won’t be easy for us. It will hurt.
But not as much as our weakness will hurt the Ukrainians.
We will hurt regardless of Putin. Those leftis want to eliminate fossil fuels.
Any pain felt in the UK is and will be entirely self-inflicted.
If only we could find sources of energy that didn’t rely on fossil fuels.
Or intermittent weather conditions.
Easier to just make use of our own fossil fuels.
You find one that isn’t intermittent, expensive, and doesn’t require fossil fuelled back up then get back to us.
BTW there is one: nuclear power, but the greenies hate it as it actually works.
There is another, hydro-electric, but the greenies hate that one almost as much and it does have the problem that if you use it too much, you can drain the reservoir.
And we should care about the corrupt Ukraine regime, why?
It’s a civil war.
No, it’s a criminal war launched by Vladimir Putin.
You should care about all the innocent Ukrainian men, women and children that are suffering and dying right now because of the actions of the war criminal, Putin..
How many innocent Russian men, women and children are suffering and dying right now from Ukrainian aggression? Answer: None.
In your opinion, it’s open season on corrupt regimes? Does that mean you would approve the US invading Mexico?
“you would approve the US invading Mexico?”
Obviously.
A civil war?
I don’t know about you, but I was always under the impression that a civil war didn’t involve one country invading another.
Is Yemen a civil war?
(Yemen is still under attack by another country.)
Yemen’s a f##king mess, that’s what it is.
Our worst fears are now playing out, as everyone on this blog has known for more than a decade (except Griff). But even now as the west faces total collapse, the green ideologues are still living in denial and won’t let go of the failed green utopian dream. The root cause of our failure goes beyond climate change and stems from the takeover of the institutions by cultural Marxists, who have used CC as well as a long list of divisive social agendas to destroy society and convert western democracy into a toxic culture of division and disunity. Most likely, many of these green Marxists believe that killing the west will end in a happy green utopia, rather than the harsh reality of a Chinese solder who will take your assets and reward you with the final gift of a bullet to the head. Unfortunately some lessons are only learnt the hard way and the mistakes of the past can’t be undone.
Sure. And the money that we spend on batteries and solar cells will be used by the CCP against us. They are both aggressive dictatorships and behave as expected.
Eric hit the nail on the head. This is a master piece.
Agreed
Thanks Bob, Andy.
I’ve got a hypothetical for leading Ukrainian scientist, Dr Svitlana Krakovska, and BBC correspondent Victoria Gill to ponder.
We, the enlightened society, will stop importing and using fossil fuels altogether. That way the aggressor societies won’t be able to profit from the fossil fuel economy.
And when we become so weak that we cannot defend ourselves, then the aggressor societies won’t have profits from fossil fuels to take advantage of our enlightened positions, so we will all just have to get along??
Would a comparison to the one time inhabitants of French drawing room parties with no idea of what the peasants had to complain about be far off the mark?
Russia’s main strength is its fossil fuel reserves.
Reduce demand for fossil fuel, Russia weakens.
I think we need to reappraise our nomenclature regarding fossil fuels!!! Under Joseph Stalin, the Russian oil/gas industry were set to work analysing & studying oil & gas, those “scientists” concluded that oil was not a “fossil” based fuel, but a mineral based fuel, the Russian oil & gas industry has since gone from strength to strength to what it is today, all powerful!!! The next time there is a wine/food fest binge on behalf of the UN in some glamorous exotic location, will someone ask who is funding all these eco-bunny protestors to be able to follow suit to said exotic locations, & stay there for as long as they need to??? Their money has to come from somewhere!!! It is in China’s & Russia’s ideological interest to destabilize the Western democracies in whatever way they can!!!
Reduce demand for hydrocarbons, but hold your breath, go blue in the face . That should solve everything?
h/t Tom Luongo.
And the best way, indeed the only way to reduce demand for Russian fossil fuels, is for the west to start producing more of our own.
Lord knows, wind and solar haven’t managed to reduce fossil fuel use.
We only need to reduce demand for Russian fossil fuel. Hence the UK needs to get fracking. I’ts not hard to understand.
Ukraine & Nukes
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/03/ukraine-nukes/
For those interested in more detail, and actual facts, which most climatologists find exhausting.
Steven Starr is the former director of the University of Missouri’s Clinical Laboratory Science Program, and former board member of Physicians for Social Responsibility. His articles have been published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Federation of American Scientists and the Strategic Arms Reduction website of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
I am very concerned about all the toxic masculinity on display in Ukraine, as women and children try to flee to safety across the borders into Poland whilst men step up to fight an enemy force invading their lands. What about LBGTQ+ rights? As for picking up a weapon….. (I don’t need the /sarc tag do I?).
Woke idiots and obsessed climate scientists need to wake up and understand the world can be a dark and dangerous place. The primary responsibilities of any government of a sovereign nation are defense of that sovereignty and its people and rule of law. From the UK Government web site:
“The first duty of the government is to keep citizens safe and the country secure”
As Reagan said ““Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction”.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine shows ordinary people around the world (especially in the cossetted, woke, transgender obsessed west) what an actual threat to life and property looks like. Its real, its here, its now and its actually causing the deaths of real people.
Its not a fantasy computer climate model making unsupported future predictions.
In that same speech by Reagan quoted from above (his inaugural address as Governor of California in 1967) he also said:
“We are of the people, we are chosen by the people to see that no permanent structure of government ever encroaches on the people’s freedom or assumes a power beyond that which has freely been granted to us by the people.”
Are you listening, all those in government imposing climate legislation and restricting our everyday lives with insane climate policies? Saving us from fantasy simulations in computer models whilst abrogating your primary responsibilities? Here in the UK, how about energy security and cost anyone? Or shall we just wait until the lights go out and then see how the population reacts? I mean, some climate obsessed politicians and enviro-idiots are actually coming out and saying that more renewables are the solution to our spiraling costs and energy security.
Can these people really be that stupid?
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine shows ordinary people around the world (especially in the cossetted, woke, transgender obsessed west) what an actual threat to life and property looks like. Its real, its here, its now and its actually causing the deaths of real people.”
Good comments.
I think Putin has awakened a lot of people to the real world. Certainly the Europeans. Germany’s leader is sounding like a guy I could vote for. The rest of the European leaders seem to be waking from their dangerous slumber.
Unfortunately, it appears that Biden is still slumbering in delusion. A lot of Congresscritters are waking up, but not Biden so far.
Putin has caused the biggest crisis since World War II and the U.S. has the weakest, most clueless leadership it has ever had. A formula for disaster.
It does seem that the Europeans are leading the way, and Biden is following along slowly. Now we have to look for leadership to Europe.
What a disaster Joe Biden is. If you wanted to deliberately sabotage the United States, you would hire Joe Biden as president.
“If you wanted to deliberately sabotage the United States, you would hire Joe Biden as president.”
…and harness him to the Net Zero Agenda!
In the UK I think our Conservative back benchers might actually be waking up to the fact that energy cost (lower) and energy security will translate into votes in a time of crisis, but getting those things wrong (especially cost) will hurt them badly.
Renewables and “clean energy”? Pah! Who’s going to vote for that with an invasion in Europe underway? The general public here has really started to speak out on how windmills are unreliable and how stupid it is to rely on them.
I have pointed out to my (Conservative UK) MP that they now have a face-saving “get out of jail” free card from net zero madness. Simply bring affordability and, most important of all, energy security, back to their rightful importance.
From the BBC report:
I presume she travelled around on a bamboo bicycle.
If there actually was any measurable impact from global warming, you wouldn’t have to travel the world to study it. The data is readily available.
Sounds like an excuse to travel the world on someone else’s dime.
With the greenies it’s always on someone else’s dime.