alanjjohnstone
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The firing of rockets at Israel by Palestinians in Gaza during the conflict in May amounted to war crimes, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. The attacks “flagrantly violated” the laws of war, the campaign group said following an investigation.
More than 4,360 unguided rockets and mortars were fired, Israel says, killing 13 people there. Some fell short, killing Palestinians in Gaza. One misfired above the city of Jabalya which killed seven civilians and injured 15.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-58183968
HRW said: “The rockets and mortars that Palestinian armed groups fired lack guidance systems and are prone to misfire, making them extremely inaccurate and thus inherently indiscriminate when directed toward areas with civilians. Launching such rockets to attack civilian areas is a war crime.
“Hamas authorities should stop trying to justify unlawful rocket attacks that indiscriminately kill and injure civilians by pointing to Israel’s violations,” Eric Goldstein, HRW acting Middle East and North Africa director, said. “The laws of war are meant to protect all civilians from harm.”
Ken Loach has said he has been expelled from the Labour party.
Loach, whose films are regarded as landmarks of social realism, claimed the move by the party was because he would “not disown those already expelled”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/aug/14/director-ken-loach-expelled-labour-party
The proof is in the eating of the pudding. Perhaps some corporations might change policy but the vacuum is quickly filled but others are less restrained.
It is no longer an issue of denialism but delayism… policies too little and too little. Energy nationalism will continue with petro-states sabotaging global approaches.
Doom…doom…and more doom
COP26 if we read between the lines will offer at least an inkling to whether there might be an alternative…but I would not hold out too much hope, nor offer any.
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jul/29/foreign-control-of-north-sea-oil-licences-threatens-uks-net-zero-goal
research shows state-backed fossil fuel companies and private equity firms are taking a tighter grip on North Sea oil, raising concerns about the government’s ability to wind down fossil fuel production and secure a “just transition” for workers.====
globally the share of fossil fuels in the total energy mix remains “as high as a decade ago” – 80.3% versus 80.2% – and renewables’ share only “increased slightly”, from 9% to 11%, the report found.
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Governments around the world are “hiding behind unreliable, unproven and unrealistic carbon removal schemes” and failing to meaningfully cut use of fossil fuels, a damning new assessment has warned.
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/carbon-capture-trees-oxfam-area-b1896007.html
I think ALB a look at history and we can detect some sectors of the capitalist class has the more effective lobbying power and it has been persistent, from the Iranian 1953 coup to the 2003 Iraq invasion,
In some states such as West Virginia, its fossil fuel coal-mining representative in the Senate, holds the Biden administration hostage. It is not unique for America or other nation’s parliaments.
Australia’s government have been serving their mineral sector.
In the UK we have new oil fields being opened off Shetland.
The banks are still financing the fossil fuels. perhaps not the major banks putting out divestment programmes but there are many more sources of capital available across the world who seek rich short-term rewards
Yes, the capitalist class is divided. It is divided by national interests as well as industrial. There does exist what is commonly called the North South developed and undeveloped split. We know who holds the power with the evidence of the vaccine nationalism and WHO begging for the developed countries to hold back on booster shots so that there can be global equity achieved in who gets vaccinated.
The Paris Accord promised the poorer nations $100 billion – the money has not materialised or it is included within the usual foreign aid budgets but not as extra funding.
A look at history when a nation’s existence is in question because of all-out war and although business concessions are asked for, the price demanded to governments are often high.
You yourself highlighted the legal rights of fossil fuels corporations to financial recompense via the ISDS rules.
Yes, we have division among businesses, the Brexit-Remain was about the interests of importers and exporters. Who had the ear of the government? A miscalculated call for a peoples referendum forced a government to heed one section and go against the interests of the other.
The Paris 2015 was about a voluntary agreement, future COPs may well add punitive measures against countries that do not take action in accord with proposals. How many countries will then take the Trump route out of it?
Then it will be a matter of loopholes and deception and lip-service.
Capitalism, even if it is only a sector of it, will bring chaos and collapse to the climate remedies because he who pays the piper, calls the tune. I am reluctant to accept any suggestion that the capitalist class will unite behind the climate agenda and fix the world and have the support of national governments.
Yes, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States are diversifying their investment portfolios but will they go a far as Norway’s Sovereign Fund which itself is under criticism for Arctic oil exploration.
Even today I read an ulterior motive for the Israel-UAE treaty – an oil-pipeline
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/secretive-israel-uae-oil-deal-endangers-prized-eilat-79453267Were they the decisive influence? Of course, not. Were they instrumental in facilitating the diplomatic and economic alliance? Perhaps? Perhaps not? Because it was a secret under the table negotiation.
How long has it been since the tobacco corporations have been culpable of cancer and only now do we hear of moves by them to switch the focus of their death industry?
As the IWW say in their preamble, “The working class and the employing class have nothing in common.”
Nothing about some capitalists being on the side of the angels, or our job being one of identifying and singling them outan an answer to our prayers.
The government will do as it always did – act as the executive committee of the capitalist class as a whole but I fear that particular members of it have more political clout than the others combined and are well-capable of silencing them and excluding other capitalists from access to political power.
We must be careful to not be interpreted as suggesting that capitalism is a rational system and the answer to the climate crises will be found by less anti-social businesses cooperating with the legislative and regulatory power of the State against the more anti-social companies, whose politicians will ride in like knights in shining armour with laws and edicts to save the world.
John Pilger’s latest
Afghanistan is “heading towards civil war” as the UK prepares to withdraw its citizens, allies and troops, the defence secretary has said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58198340
Umm…and what has been going on for the past 10 years but a civil war with one faction supported by foreign troops
I’d rephrase that stupid statement to read “Afghanistan is heading towards the end of a civil war as the Taliban prepares for victory”
The article did say that draft reports go to government departments with the power of re-editing and it is the reason why they leaked the original draft – as a precaution to greenwashing out the unwelcomed conclusions
As for the scientific community, while I trust in the scientific method, I am also reminded of what Marx said
“the prevailing ideas of every society are the ideas of the ruling class.’
It is equally daring to say that scientists are immune to the influence of their masters, and forget that he who pays the piper, or provide the research grants, calls the tune.
We are in the realm of uncertainty but I think it is now being accepted that forecasts made by experts from past years are now proving to be have been on the conservative side. And following the scientific method, possible scenarios are being re-written but not discarded
“It’s not so much that climate change itself is proceeding faster than expected — the warming is right in line with model predictions from decades ago,” said climate scientist Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University. “Rather, it’s the fact that some of the impacts are greater than scientists predicted…” This suggests that climate modelling may have been underestimating “the potential for the dramatic rise in persistent weather extremes,” Mann said.
https://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2021/08/into-unknown.html
They got the basics right but how it plays out in the real world is now a matter of conjecture.
However, my glass is half-empty and time for you to give it a re-fill ;-P
America’s legal manoeuvres against Assange
the U.S. government refusal to take no for an answer, and its readiness to resort to unusual procedural devices in order to get its way, looks from the latest decision to be starting to bear fruit.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is facing accusations of Islamophobia and incitement after doubling down on attacks against Muslim-American congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.
“Not only is AIPAC running false, vitriolic ads against progressive Congresswomen of color, it’s doubling down on them after being called out for dangerously spreading misinformation about lawmakers who are among the most frequent targets of rightwing extremists’ bigotry & threats,” wrote Dylan Williams, senior vice president at J Street, a liberal Jewish group that presents itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/12/aipac-accused-of-islamophobia-after-attacks-on-ilhan-omar
IPCC tells the world to reduce oil production to save the planet
Biden tells OPEC to increase output to keep petrol prices low in the USAWho doesn’t heed the world community and follow international law?
The new Israeli government is expected to approve 2,000 new housing units for Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territories.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/12/israel-preparing-resume-settlement-building-west-bank
The US and UK and Canada sends back the troops.
USA 3000 troops returned, the UK, 600, Canada unspecified Special Forces, to assist in the evacuation of foreign nationals as town after town, city after city, fall to the Taliban
UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, assures us that this is not panic but part of the plan.
Britain is relocating its embassy from the outskirts of the secure Green Zone to a safer location closer to the centre of the capital.
I doubt we will witness scenes similar to the Fall of Saigon, one reason being the media are not going to be present to film it.
Until COP26 has finished the intention is to make two posts a week on the WSM website blog, Mondays and Fridays, instead of the current weekly post.
Most will have the focus on world socialism theme
We have begun Fridays with
https://www.worldsocialism.org/wsm/2021/08/13/a-lesson-from-irish-history/Having now used Google translator it is clear that it is an editorial OP
The leak seemingly came from Scientist Rebellion an offshoot of XR
https://scientistrebellion.com/about-us/And my initial optimism is now a little bit tempered when it comes to scientific understanding.
But I am a little more reassured that there is opposition within the scientific community to IPCC’s watered-down published report
The full IPCC report is still in progress and Part 3 won’t be made public until March 2022, well after COP26 and it will be edited by governments to say what it wants it to say.
Therefore, a leak of the report is important.
Three very important points are raised in it that echoes our position and something we say the scientific community overlooks. However, importantly some don’t.
“The essential radical change in an economic system whose perverse operation of accumulation and reproduction of capital in perpetuity has brought us to the current critical point is not clearly mentioned,”
The second is when we say it is vital that we must continue upgrading the conditions of the poor around the world.
“Providing modern energy to all those who currently lack it would have a “negligible” effect on emissions, the report notes.”
And finally, something some members appear to prefer that if we don’t emphasise too much.
“A shift to diets with a higher share of plant-based protein in regions with excess consumption of calories and animal-source food can lead to substantial reductions in emissions, while also providing health benefits
If only now people follow this 3rd Report to its logical end and I suppose that is our role, helping to lead them to it’
