Category: Politics

The Battle of Climate Change

Last updated on January 30th, 2024 at 02:34 pm

For most of us the question of climate change is pretty straight forward, the earth is getting warmer and we are causing it.  But there are people who would rather the issue be a little bit more uncertain.  Yesterday a UK Newspaper called the Independent ran a story revealing that there are those who secretly fund organisations and people who promote this uncertainty – Climate Science Attacks.

Apparently a secret organisation exists called the Donors Trust based in Alexandria, Virginia.  This group is funelling millions of dollars into the counter claims of climate change doubters.  Most of the wealthy backers of this group are anonymous, but an audit trail has led back to one of it’s biggest supporters- the American billionaire Charles Koch.  Koch Industries you will probably not be surprised to hear is a large oil, gas and chemicals conglomerate from Kansas.  In Australia, climate change and the economy is always on the political agenda and it’s worth keeping an eye on the media reports here, ABC Iview is the easiest way to get access.

Just for clarification that’s a big fossil fuel company donating money to sponsor skepticism about global warming.    This is not small amounts of money either, it’s the sort of cash that gets you onto the big stage.  A researcher in Philadelphia estimated that nearly half a billion dollars has been donated in the last ten years specifically to undermine climate change science.

So no vested interests there at all and I suspect we can all work out where the rest of the sponsors are from.  It is perhaps worth checking out the UK Newspapers and media about this story as it develops.  Normally the BBC is great at covering environmental issues and scandals like this – watch for Panorama and Newsnight for any stories.  Those outside Britain can access them by using a UK based proxy server to change their IP address as explained on this site – http://thenewproxies.com/british-ip-address.  It’s quite a simple process if you use the recommended software and only takes a minute or two to access media sites anywhere on the planet, essential if you want to get a proper world view of climate change news.

Gun crime in the USA…

Last updated on December 22nd, 2019 at 08:40 pm

Once again with recent events the problem of gun crime in the United States has been highlighted to people around the world. The shootings in Connecticut have once again highlighted the issue of what should be done to prevent such tragedies in the country.

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While many point towards a blanket ban on firearms, it appears that the President pushing his vice-president Joe Biden to look in to the issue means that he will definitely be doing something to change the way the country looks at weapons in the coming weeks.

The way in which guns are enshrined in the constitution of the country makes it very unlikely that a ban will be enforced, however rules on mental health checks and the strength of the firearms seem likely.

Recently The Best Question asked if President Obama could make any dent in US gun crime. With many people around the world believing that this is unlikely, it would seem that the atrocities of the recent shootings in Connecticut are here to stay. While the President may be able to reduce the caliber of weapons available to citizens of the USA, whether this will cause a significant change in the amount of shootings seen on American soil remains to be seen. However, as a population, we should hope that it does.

Does peace stand a chance in the Middle-East?

Last updated on December 22nd, 2019 at 08:32 pm

The Middle-East has long been a problem area for the West as they look to spread their liberal ideals around the globe. Over recent years we’ve seen uprisings in Libya, Egypt and a number of other countries who have ousted their leaders in a bid to earn themselves more freedom. However, it is unlikely that these states will now turn to the peace and democratic ideals that the USA and the Western world would like to see.

A recent post from how to get an American IP address  on the impact of the USA Presidential Election and the effects it could have on the Middle East, outlined how the election of Romney would have been bad for the region, however, with the current troubles rising up between Israel and Palestine, it looks unlikely that even President Obama will be able to stop the issues of the Middle-East from getting worse.

With nuclear proliferation around the world getting worse and worse, many will have their eyes on Iran and North Korea who are seen as threats to the West and the free-world as they continue with the uranium-enrichment programmes.

The USA’s history of interventionism looks as though it is unlikely to continue against nations who have an arsenal of weapons that are capable of wiping out half of the USA with the press of a single button. It would be foolish for any president to think that entering a country with ground troops is a good idea when a rocket attack on home soil could kill almost all of the US’ population.

While many may have thought that the uprisings in the Arab Spring may lead to peace in the region, it’s now looking unlikely that this will come about. Instead, new questions of the issues in the Middle-East look to plague Obama’s second term in the White House.

 

Rare Earth Metals

Last updated on December 22nd, 2019 at 07:23 pm

Rare earth metals have been hitting the news recently. They are a set of 17 elements that are hardly famous outside of academic and industrial circles. Rare earth metals include such elements as Scandium, Yttrium, Promethium,  Europium and Erbium. These elements are confusingly called ‘rare’ despite being relatively plentiful in the earth’s crust. They are used for a number of applications including lasers, rare earth magnets, nuclear batteries and high index refractive glass. In short they are used in a lot of different ways, and are thus of great economic value.

Although deposits of rare earth metals in ores are widely spread across the world, there are few places that concentrated ore deposits can be found. China in its ever increasing need for raw materials to keep its economic miracle going have developed several rare earth mines. By doing so, China has captured 90% of the rare earth supply in the world.

It was interesting to note that in April this year (2012) Japan, the EU and the USA complained to the World Trade Organization about China reducing its supply of rare earth elements. They accused China of having a monopoly and deliberately holding back supplies in order to drive up the price.

China responded by saying it wanted to standardize the price for rare earth metals and that they were not to be blamed for developing this natural resource when other countries were reluctant to do so.

If prices for rare earth metals continues to go up no doubt other economic superpowers will do something about it.

This anecdote clearly shows the strategic importance of natural resources including those that are less well known. China is positioning itself for the future when resources become more limited.