Ed Miliband declares war on climate change sceptics

Climate secretary Ed Miliband warns against listening to ’siren voices’, in an interview with the Observer

Juliette Jowit, environment editor
The Observer, Sunday 31 January 2010

The climate secretary, Ed Miliband, last night warned of the danger of a public backlash against the science of global warming in the face of continuing claims that experts have manipulated data.

In an exclusive interview with the Observer, Miliband spoke out for the first time about last month’s revelations that climate scientists had withheld and covered up information and the apology made by the influential UN climate body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which admitted it had exaggerated claims about the melting of Himalayan glaciers.

The perceived failure of global talks on combating climate change in Copenhagen last month has also been blamed for undermining public support. But in the government’s first high-level recognition of the growing pressure on public opinion, Miliband declared a “battle” against the “siren voices” who denied global warming was real or caused by humans, or that there was a need to cut carbon emissions to tackle it.

“It’s right that there’s rigour applied to all the reports about climate change, but I think it would be wrong that when a mistake is made it’s somehow used to undermine the overwhelming picture that’s there,” he said.

“We know there’s a physical effect of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leading to higher temperatures, that’s a question of physics; we know CO₂ concentrations are at their highest for 6,000 years; we know there are observed increases in temperatures; and we know there are observed effects that point to the existence of human-made climate change. That’s what the vast majority of scientists tell us.”

Mistakes and attempts to hide contradictory data had to be seen in the light of the thousands of pages of evidence in the IPCC’s four-volume report in 2007, said Miliband. The most recent accusation about the panel’s work is that its chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, may have known before the Copenhagen summit that its assessment report had seriously exaggerated the rate of melting of the Himalayan glaciers. Read more…

“Bank rejects call to donate historic building”

By Liam Collins
www.independent.ie
Sunday January 31 2010

The Bank of Ireland governor has flatly rejected a proposal by government minister Sean Haughey to hand over its historic former headquarters as a ‘thank you’ to the Irish people for the multi-billion bank bail-out.

Sean Haughey, who grew up in his father’s historic Gandon mansion in Kinsealy, Co Dublin, has suggested that the ‘old’ Bank of Ireland in College Green, Dublin, and other historic buildings owned by the banks, should be handed over to the State. But he got a firm ‘no’ from bank governor Pat Molloy to the proposal. He said it would be inappropriate “at this time”.

“Bank of Ireland should be encouraged to pass ownership of these buildings to the State at no cost, or possibly for a nominal amount for contract purposes,” said the Fianna Fail Minister of State.

And he entered the controversial debate about the future of the Abbey Theatre — saying that the College Green building, which once was home to Grattan’s Parliament of Ireland, could be a new home for the theatre if the GPO was found unsuitable.

He has suggested that a State body, such as the one founded by his father which turned the derelict Temple Bar into a vibrant part of the city “would be appropriate” to hold such assets.

“Given the economic and banking crisis, I would strongly suggest that the time is opportune to negotiate with the Bank of Ireland for the transfer of the building to State ownership, given the bank’s undoubted indebtedness, both moral and financial, to the Irish taxpayer,” said Mr Haughey.

So far, Bank of Ireland has been given a €3bn bail-out by the Irish taxpayers and it is understood it will require at least the same again to stay in business.

Still used as a bank branch, the College Green building dates from 1729 when it was built under the supervision of Edward Lovett Pearce. It remained as a parliament building until the Act of Union in 1800 and was the headquarters of Bank of Ireland from 1803 until the 1970s when the bank moved its hq to Baggot Street. Read more…

US defends decision to sell arms to Taiwan despite China reaction

WASHINGTON, January 31 (RIA Novosti)

The United States insisted Saturday that its decision to sell arms to Taiwan is right despite severe criticism from China.

The Barack Obama administration announced a decision to sell Patriot missiles, Black Hawk helicopters and minesweepers to the island on Friday, fueling strains in relations with the world’s third largest economy.

The planned arms sales would contribute to “maintaining security and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Laura Tischler told journalists.

On Saturday, China threatened to impose sanctions against U.S. firms that will sell arms to Taiwan. Beijing also announced the suspension of military contacts with the United States over its plan to sell $6.4 billion worth weapons to de facto independent Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory. China demanded the sale be canceled.

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Huang Xueping said Saturday the U.S. decision “seriously endangers China’s national security and harms China’s core interests,” adding it will also “seriously disturb” bilateral relations.

The United States seeks cooperation with China on a host of issues, including Iran and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, efforts to fight the global financial crisis and climate change.

The two countries’ bonds are already strained by a standoff over Internet censorship, trade and currency disputes, human rights and Tibet.

Beijing briefly cut off military exchanges with Washington in 2008 after the then Bush administration announced plans for arms sales to Taiwan.

Beijing has not ruled out use of force against the island, which split from the mainland in 1949. Taiwan’s administration, however, welcomed Washington’s decision, regional media reported.

Haiti Arrests 10 US Citizens For Child Smuggling

www.presstv.ir

The Haitian police have arrested 10 US citizens after they tried to take 33 Haitian children out of the earthquake-stricken nation.

One of the suspects, who says she is the leader of an Idaho-based charity called New Life Children’s Refuge, denied they had done anything wrong.

The suspects were detained at Malpasse, Haiti’s main border crossing with the Dominican Republic, after Haitian police conducted a routine search of their vehicle.

The Haitian authorities said the 10 US citizens had no documents to prove they had cleared the adoption of the 33 children — aged 2 months to 12 years old — through any embassy and no papers showing they were made orphans by the quake in the impoverished Caribbean country.

In addition to outright trafficking in children, Haitian officials have also expressed concern that legitimate aid groups may have flown children believed to be orphans out of the country for adoption before efforts to find their parents had been exhausted.

As a result, the Haitian government halted many types of adoptions earlier this month.

MPs’ expenses watchdog claimed £15,000 in taxi fares on expenses

The man charged with overseeing MPs’ allowances under a new Whitehall regime claimed more than £15,000 of taxpayer-funded taxi fares in his previous job.

By Patrick Hennessy and Laura Donnelly
www.telegraph.co.uk

The vast majority of the cab rides claimed for by Sir Ian Kennedy, chairman of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), were short trips between his office and his home in North London.

“Travel to work” expenses are not normally reclaimable from employers – but Sir Ian benefited from a special “agreement” in his previous role as chairman of the Healthcare Commission (now the Care Quality Commission).

This saw him able to claim taxi rides to and from his home in lieu of pension contributions which would have been made by the commission.

Sir Ian, who is paid £100,000 a year to chair IPSA, hit controversy earlier this month when a consultation document published by IPSA was seen as an attempt significantly to water down reforms of MPs’ expenses originally proposed by Sir Christopher Kelly, chairman of the Committee in Standards in Public Life.

In particular Sir Ian has abandoned plans for MPs to return a proportion of capital gains they have made since November on properties partially funded by the taxpayer, while parliamentarians living just outside London may still be able to claim second-home expenses – again contrary to the Kelly recommendations.

There is even the possibility that MPs may continue to be able to employ family members at Westminster after IPSA said it was prepared to reconsider Sir Christopher’s proposals.

MPs will now take a great interest in Sir Ian’s personal expenses as Healthcare Commission chairman, dating back to 2004, which were obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by The Sunday Telegraph.

His claims for five years totalled £25,377 with most going on taxi receipts. The second highest total went on train fares (£4,400). Read more…

Anti-abortion campaigner Veronica Connolly launches licence fee test case against BBC

A pro-life campaigner has launched a test case against the BBC by refusing to pay her licence fee because of what she sees as the corporation’s support for abortion.

By Andrew Alderson
www.telegraph.co.uk

Veronica Connolly, a practising Catholic, claims she is entitled to withhold her payment because the BBC has in the past “censored” a graphic election broadcast from the Pro-Life Alliance, the anti-abortion group.

Mrs Connolly, 53, a grandmother from Birmingham, is being prosecuted for the non-payment of her £139.50 television licence for 2008-9. The anti-abortion campaigner has instructed Paul Diamond, the leading religious rights barrister, to act for her.

He will use a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to support her action that the compulsory payment of the licence fee has breached, or violated, her “conscience”.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mrs Connolly said yesterday: “I want to highlight that the BBC has become the mouthpiece of the Government, which is generally very pro-abortion.

“We get pro-abortion propaganda thrust down our throats and it’s time someone said ‘no, enough’.”

Mrs Connolly, who has been an anti-abortion campaigner for the past six years, added: “Abortion is the biggest human rights issue of our day.”

In a crime drama screened last year called Hunter, the BBC portrayed antiabortionists kidnapping and killing children.

This representation outraged pro-life campaigners and resulted in numerous complaints.

Mrs Connolly, who is disabled and uses a wheelchair after suffering from ME for 22 years, hopes her case will be heard later this year.

If she is convicted, she will take it through the courts on appeal to highlight what she sees as an injustice.

Mr Diamond is currently preparing his client’s case.

It is understood that substantial evidence will be presented to the court to try to establish that the BBC wrongly promotes a political agenda – and that Mrs Connolly is therefore entitled to withhold all, or part, of the licence fee.

Her case is based on the ECHR ruling in 1990 on Darby v Sweden. It concluded that compulsory payment of the Swedish church tax by an atheist – a Finnish citizen living in Sweden – violated his conscience under Article 9 because he contributed to a body that he did not support and it should have been outside the principle of “general taxation”. Read more…

Princess Diana regretted marrying into a ‘German family’

By Paul Donovan
timesonline.co.uk

DIANA, Princess of Wales regretted marrying into a “German family”, she told Anthony Julius, her divorce lawyer.

She did so, Julius reveals in his new book about anti-Semitism, to express empathy with him as a Jew.

He writes: “She was interested in Jews but had no idea about them, save that Jewish men (she had heard) were more likely than the men of her own class and background to treat women decently. She was happy to take Jews to be hostile to everything to which she herself was hostile. She once said to me that she should never have married into a German family.”

Julius first represented the princess when she sued over surreptitious photographs that had been taken of her exercising at a gym. The case was settled out of court in early 1995 and, later that year, she called him after receiving letters from the Queen and Prince Charles that “required of her that she agree to a divorce”.

Julius, who was not a divorce specialist but was persuaded by the Princess to represent her again, writes: “Diana lived as if in a vacuum. She was undereducated in the approved style of her class and gender. She was very receptive to new experiences, which meant that she was sometimes taken by odd fancies. She had a strong desire to please, to leave her interlocutor happy, but often without quite understanding what that person was ‘about’.

“She was intuitive, but not always accurate in her assessments of people. Sometimes she went wildly wrong — not just in the big things, but in odd misreadings of moods or sentiments.

“I never had the feeling that she set out to impress; perhaps she had surrendered that ambition as a child.”

He adds: “She was interested in everything that was outside her own world; she had a tendency to esteem a thing just because it was not part of her world — even more if it was excluded by her world. She herself was not quite of that world, but did not belong to any other either. Read more…

New Website To Help Students Lose The Blues

www.corkman.ie

A NEW website ‘ Lose the Blues’ has been launched at University College Cork (UCC) aimed at students experiencing depressive symptoms.

The website, www.losetheblues.ie, is designed specifically for 18-24 year olds, who may be experiencing low mood to cope with their experiences. As well as providing information on depression and links to national and international support services, the site’s unique feature is its online forum which will allow users to share their experience and offer peer support to each other within a safe environment.

The website was developed by Aine Horgan, a PhD student and Psychiatric Nursing lecturer at UCC’s School of Nursing and Midwifery. The website is currently part of a research study being undertaken at UCC by Aine and supported by Dr John Sweeney and Professor Geraldine McCarthy in the School of Nursing and Midwifery. The aim of the research is to see if the website can help improve one’s mood.

In a previous study with 18-24 year old University students, Aine and her colleague Dr John Sweeney found that almost 31% of young people have accessed the internet for mental health information, most frequently searching for information on depression, suicide and self harm.

They also found that 68% reported that they would use the internet for mental health support if they needed to, demonstrating that this age group are willing to use the internet as a support for mental health problems.

Attempt at citizen’s arrest as Blair leaves inquiry

“Blair doesn’t have the decency or honesty to face up to the public, military families, and Iraqis who will be here today. He does not have the integrity to come and face the people. Sliding in by a back door entrance is typical of his lies, deceit and evasion.”

stopwar.org.uk

Tony Blair was accused of being a “coward” and a “war criminal” today as anti-war protesters and military families vented their fury against the former prime minister as he gave evidence to the Iraq inquiry.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the QEII conference centre in Westminster to chant anti-Blair slogans and call for his arrest for war crimes. But they did not have the chance to confront the ex-premier as he gave them the slip by arriving via a back entrance more than two hours before he was due to be questioned by the Chilcot Inquiry.

Protest organisers said they were “appalled” at the way Mr Blair had “sneaked” into the building. Andrew Murray, chairman of the Stop The War Coalition, said: “This cowardly and deceitful entrance is typical of how the former prime minister sold the war to the country – behind the backs of the public.”

Lies and deceit

Lindsey German, the group’s convener, said: “Blair doesn’t have the decency or honesty to face up to the public, military families, and Iraqis who will be here today in huge numbers to show their opposition to the war. He does not have the integrity to come and face the people. Sliding in by a back door entrance is typical of his lies, deceit and evasion.”

Kate Hudson, chairwoman of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said Mr Blair should be arrested and put on trial for crimes against humanity. “He should face a court. The way he arrived today was sneaky. He just does not want to face up to his crimes – it is an outrage.”

Hundreds of police officers formed a cordon around the centre to keep protesters away from the immediate vicinity and the entrance, forcing them to stand on the pavement, shouting slogans including “Jail Tony” and “Blair lied – thousands died”. Many of the demonstrators wore T-shirts bearing the slogan “Jail Tony”. One group of protesters wearing Tony Blair masks and with fake blood on their hands carried a coffin bearing the slogan: “The blood price.”

Saba Jaiwad, from an Iraqi anti-war group, said his fellow countrymen and women suffered “appalling” consequences as a result of the war. “The Iraqi people are having to live every day with aggression, division and atrocities. Tony Blair should not be here giving his excuses for the illegal war, he should be taken to The Hague to face criminal charges because he has committed crimes against the Iraqi people.” Read more…

Haiti And The Seismic Weapon

Thierry Meyssan
Voltaire Network
January 27, 2010

The controversy that followed the publication on our website of an article entertaining the possibility that the earthquake in Haiti was caused artificially, calls for clarification. Yes, seismic weapons do exist and the United States, among others, have them. Yes, the U.S. military forces were pre-positionned to be deployed to the island. These facts are not conclusive in themselves but they certainly warrant heightened scrutiny into this matter.

In publishing “Was the earthquake in Haiti caused by the United States”, our purpose was to bring out an issue that is stirring military and media circles in several countries, but which is being ignored in others [1]. What matters here is not to take a stand. In keeping with our approach, though often misunderstood, we maintain that it is impossible to have a good grasp of international relations without studying what the leaders of this planet are thinking.

Prevailing conformity has led to a situation where, while no one is ruffled when we report on contentious issues kindling in Washington, a general outcry is fueled when the controversy stems from a non-aligned country. It would appear that Europeans have a preconceived opinion that only “western” concerns are pertinent while all the others should not be taken seriously.

One of our collaborators attempted to trace the origin of the allegation regarding the possible artificial causes of the earthquake in Haiti. He was concerned that the whole thing might have been a hoax launched by a certain David Booth (alias Sorcha Faal), which then penetrated government circles throughout the world. In the end, we are not sure exactly who is behind the allegation, but what we know for certain is that this issue is being heatedly discussed at the highest level in several countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia.

As editor-in-chief of Voltaire Network, I made the decision to research and translate the dispatch from VivéTv, which had been disseminated as a communiqué on the website of the Communications Ministry of Venezuela, and to publish it together with the related video from Russia Today, preceded by the remark: “Oddly enough, the Venezuelan channel designates the Russian Army as the source of these claims whereas the Russian channel attributes them to President Chávez.”

While these elements were faithfully relayed by numerous newspapers, especially in the Middle East, they were distorted by the Atlanticist media which chose to reflect Sorcha Faal’s article. Faal pulled certain fragments from the VivéTv text, and by adding inverted commas put them into Hugo Chávez’s mouth. What was initially intended as a working hypothesis has been converted into the Government’s position. Some of these media outlets went so far as to completely fabricate the context in which President Chávez expressed himself, pointedly implying that the President and his audience suffer from acute anti-american frenzy and that Voltaire Network shares the same ailment.

But instead of yielding to this manipulation, let us go deeper into this hypothesis.

How much do we know about seismic weapons at present ?

During the Second World War, a group of New Zealand researchers attempted to develop a device capable of provoking tsunamis that could be unleashed against Japan. The research work was conducted by Thomas Leech, an Australian national, at Auckland University behind the code name of “Project Seal”. Several small-scale test explosions were carried out successfully, between 1944 and 1945, at Whangaparaoa off the coast of Auckland.

The United States deemed this programme to be as equally promising as the “Manhattan Project”, involving the development of the atomic bomb, and appointed Dr. Karl T. Compton to maintain the liaison between the two research units. Compton was an American physicist and president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1930 to 1948.

The work started by Thomas Leech was pursued during the Cold War. In 1947, King George VI elevated him to the rank of Knight of the British Empire for his role in the elaboration of this new weapon. At the time, Project Seal was still a military secret and it was therefore not disclosed that Thomas Leech had in fact been rewarded for concocting the “tsunami bomb”. Subsequently, the US intelligence services covered it up by claiming that the research had never really existed and that the whole thing had been an artifice to impress the Soviets. However, the authenticity of Leech’s tests was established in 1999, when the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs declassified part of the documentation. The research studies are officially back on track and taking place at the University of Waikato. [2]

It is not known whether the research undertaken by the Anglo-Saxons continued during the 60’s, but it was resumed by force of circumstances when atmospheric nuclear tests were abandoned in favour of sub-marine tests. The United States were afraid of provoking earthquakes and tsunamis unintentionally. They preferred to learn how to do it intentionally.

Officially, at the end of the Vietnam War, the United States and the Soviet Union gave up environmental wars (earthquakes, tsunamis, environmental balance destabilization, atmospheric modification – clouds, rain, cyclones, tornadoes -, modification of the climate, ocean currents, the ozone layer and the ionosphere) upon signing the 1976 “Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques”.

Nevertheless, in 1975, the USSR embarked on a new research, this time in the field of Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) for the purpose of studying the earth’s crust and be able to anticipate earthquakes. The Soviets examined the possibility of provoking small quakes in order to forestall a big one. This research was quickly militarized and resulted in the construction of Pamir, the earthquake machine.

After the dismemberment of the USSR, those in charge of this programme decided to go to the United States for lure of money, but the Pentagon refused to pay them since their research was incomplete. In 1995, when Russia was governed by Boris Yeltsin and oligarch Viktor Chernomyrdin, the US Air Force recruited the researchers working at their Nizhny Novgorod laboratory. They built a much more powerful machine, Pamir 3, that was tested successfully. At that point, the Pentagon bought the men together with the material and shipped them to the United States, where they were incorporated into the HAARP programme.

Machine a tremblement de terre ! par lorelianeGTQ.” The Earthquake Machine”, excerpt from a French television Channel 5 programme, based on a documentary by Jeff Swimmer “Les colères du climat” (The wrath of climate) aired on National Geographic (2005).

Various instances where the seismic weapon might have been employed have been contemplated, especially in Algeria and Turkey. However, the most discussed one is the 12 May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan (China). During the 30 minutes that preceded the earthquake, the inhabitants of the region observed atypical colours in the sky. While some interpreted these events as a sign that the sky was repudiating the Communist Party, others reacted in a more rational way. The same energy used to provoke the earthquake is also likely to have perturbed the ionosphere.

30 minutes before the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China

Back to Haiti

Nothing distinguishes an artificial earthquake from a natural one; this being said, they have the knowhow to induce only superficial earthquakes, like the one in Haiti.

What is particularly disturbing is the reaction of the United States. While the Western media are immersed in a controversy over the violation of Haiti’s sovereignty, the Latin American media are perplexed about the swiftness of GI deployment: as of the first day, more than 10000 soldiers and contractors arrived in Haiti. This logistical feat can be easily explained since these troops were already pre-positioned in the context of a military exercise. Under the orders of General P.K. Keen, Military Deputy Commander of U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), they took part in an excercise simulating a humanitarian operation in Haiti after a hurricane. Keen and his staff had arrived a few days earlier. At the precise moment that the earth shook, they were already sheltered in the US Embassy, built in compliance with anti-earthquake norms; only two men who were not at the Embassy but at the Hotel Montana have been reported injured.

General Keen has granted several interviews to the US media, which has provided ample coverage mainly focusing on the relief operations. While Keen’s presence in Port-au-Prince during the earthquake has been referred to several times, the reasons for his presence were never mentioned.

Among the objectives of the military exercise was the application of a new software enabling the NGOs and the armed forces to coordinate their humanitarian efforts. In the few minutes that followed the catastrophe, the software was put on line and 280 NGOs readily signed up.

It is legitimate to question whether such coincidences are simply due to chance.

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