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Open in TheBrain

UN united nations 2 bak

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NOTE TARGET THUS 8 25 // HAMAS?!

MERRI OK

cf agenda 21, JBS black helicopters, FEMA camps, blue hull navy, gun /arms sales agreement scuttled?

SEE BOARD OF PEace bs grift

see global elite gt replacement

SEE ANTI-COMMIE

SEE REDUCTIONIST ISOLATIONIST AM FIRST bs ~ nato

see UNEP

see also C Street / evangelicals

, milita, TP, wise use, cfact, ncppr

819 bak

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11 23 UN accused of siding w hamas by gop

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9 24 26 UN GA WALKS OUT ON BIBI MORAL COWARDS USA ARMY UNIFORM IN BALCONY CHEER

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CNN

Deadly US strike on Iran school may have been a war crime, UN report finds | CNN

5 days agoTwo deadly US strikes on Iran during the opening salvo of the **war**, including one that hit an elementary **school**, may have been **war crimes**, a United Nations fact-finding mission concluded in a new report.

United Press International on Yahoo

U.N. investigator: U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats may be crimes against humanity

23 hours agoA special rapporteur for the **U.N**. human rights council said in a new briefing that U.S. attacks on alleged drug boats may be **crimes** against humanity.

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an 2 26

Melania Trump will preside over the United Nations Security Council next week — a decision igniting backlash before it begins.

“First Lady Melania Trump is set to make history at the United Nations, taking the gavel as the United States assumes the Security Council Presidency to emphasize education’s role in advancing tolerance and world peace,” a press release from the Office of the First Lady reads.

“Mrs. Trump’s leadership will mark the first time a sitting U.S. First Lady presides over the Security Council as members consider education, technology, peace, and security.”

An opinion piece at The New Republic says, “While the first lady has shown an interest in children’s welfare, particularly in Russia’s war on Ukraine, it’s hard to imagine her address as any more than a symbolic gesture that will look good in a social media post.”

READ MORE: ‘Extraordinary Presidential Power’: Trump Is Urged to Declare Emergency Over Voting

U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, wrote: We are thrilled to have @Flotus gavel in the US Presidency of the Security Council.”

Critics online are blasting the decision.

“Just when you thought they couldn’t disrespect professional, career U.S. diplomats, American diplomacy or international organizations more- they produce this grotesque theatre of the absurd,” wrote former U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica, Luis Moreno.

Associate professor of History Thomas Småberg commented, “I’m a social network scholar with a focus on the Middle Ages and Trump’s uses of family, friends and followers is straight out of medieval aristocracy. It’s so interesting to [see] his abuse of presidential power and his disregard for Republicans.”

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1 25 MORANO

gmail

pull out of 66 orgs

Trump withdraws US from 66 organizations, including UN climate treaty | Fox News Video

1992 rio will req senate re-ratification; un pop fund, ipcc pol body masquerade as from ---take orders from pols; will save us $ bimbo rachel brn hair prolly shd pull out of un altogether; state limit number mi crush totalitarianism mass; mass state 15 member cncl; biden ev mandate trying to take away your freedom of movement; davos trying to get rid of cars, colo CA, limit gas station; carbon passport to monitor your travel; gubt will check your mi to see if you too much; life is hwy bimbo

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simon clark Should lying about climate change be illegal? - YouTube

mogera

28:15

argument for this has been made clear by now. Climate misinformation produces clear and demonstrable harms both to the

environment and to us and our human rights. But the obvious counterargument is, what about my freedom of speech? Why

28:29

can't I say what I want even though I know that something is inaccurate? I mean it is essential to protect

28:35

freedom of speech and in all my work I've always mention how important it is to have as open conversations as

28:42

possible. Now the question here is different if this is a conduct that's been repeated and that over time has led

28:49

to the protection of a vested interest which is uh intrinsically uh opposite to

28:55

the protection of a public good. I mean climate change has been recognized as

29:01

structural violence against children for instance by the UN committee on children's rights and incitation to

29:08

violence um is for instance one of the very few exceptions that has been recognized to freedom of expression. I

29:15

think there's two things to highlight here that Professor Morgetta said. Firstly, this is not a law that is

29:21

criminalizing ignorance about climate change. Like just saying something wrong wouldn't break this hypothetical law.

29:27

We're talking about a law that's quite explicitly targeting the fossil fuel industry that has a long history of

29:35

acting against the public good. And secondly, by basing the argument for this law on human rights...

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rww

12/12/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

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ref

tony perkins

Rep. Chip Roy Highlights the latest on the Defense Bill & Looks Ahead to 2025 Agenda

0:00

And here we have Texas Congressman Chip

0:02

Roy who has joined us here in the media

0:06

center at the Family Research Council.

0:09

Uh a familiar face and voice on

0:11

Washington watch. Uh Congressman, thanks

0:13

so much for running off the hill and

0:15

coming down here and joining us.

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about something. You are hosting or

4:06

actually you're chairing, I should say,

4:07

a subcommittee hearing next week. You

4:09

chaired the constitution committee in

4:12

the judiciary committee on the southern

4:14

poverty law center that has in fact when

4:18

you walk out the door of this room you

4:20

will see the bullet holes in the wall

4:21

that was inspired a gunman to come into

4:24

this building. Uh Congress is ready to

4:27

act on that. They're ready to move to

4:29

expose these this long-term relationship

4:32

that SPLC was had has had with

4:34

government agencies.

4:35

Well, I'm certainly ready to do that. I

4:37

think uh Congressman uh and chairman

4:39

Jordan uh rightly agreed that we should

4:42

have this hearing in the subcommittee on

4:43

the Constitution. And so we're going to

4:44

be doing this next week. Uh Tony will be

4:46

one of the witnesses. Uh uh Tyler Boyer

4:49

from TPUSA is going to be one of the

4:51

witnesses. Uh as well as an individual

4:54

who's pretty knowledgeable here in town,

4:55

a journalist named Tyler O'Neal about

4:57

all of the dot connecting of all the

4:59

money. Now, there's a lot to unpack

5:01

here, which we probably don't have

5:02

enough time to do in full, but the short

5:04

version is anybody who loves and is

5:06

familiar with with with F FRC knows what

5:09

Southern Poverty Law Center meant with

5:11

respect to the attack here over a decade

5:12

ago uh here in this building. Um, but

5:16

and now we've seen the connection to

5:18

what happened with Charlie and and the

5:20

extent to which your, you know,

5:21

crosshairs are put on you. Heck, my name

5:23

is now getting put in the crosshairs

5:25

because I'm daring to call out the

5:26

Islamification of America. So what we're

5:29

going to do in this hearing is expose

5:30

that, demonstrate what's actually

5:32

happening, but I want to take that a

5:34

step further so people understand the

5:35

vast array of networks that are funding

5:37

all of it. The Soros operation, uh,

5:40

Arabella, all of the groups and all of

5:42

the operatives that are involved, the

5:43

Islamification funding, the open borders

5:45

groups, the NgOS's, the United Nations,

5:48

your taxpayer dollars, all of it coming

5:50

together in this vast network to have a

5:52

red green alliance where you've got the

5:54

Marxists and the Islamists who want to

5:56

take our country over. and it's all

5:58

related and SPLC is right at the center

6:00

of it. Antifa is at the center of it.

6:02

All of these groups need to be exposed

6:04

and we're going to be doing that next

6:05

week and we're just getting started and

6:06

I've had some great conversation with

6:08

Secretary Bessant with people in the

6:09

administration. Um I think there's a

6:11

hunger to go break this network down

6:14

because it's attacking our way of life.

6:15

Well, it's it's

6:18

finninging violence and it's and it's

6:20

it's leading to death. Yep.

6:22

And it's chilling our First Amendment

6:24

freedoms. Chip Roy, always great to see

6:26

you. Thanks so much for joining us. Look

6:27

forward to seeing you next week.

6:28

Absolutely.

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CLEARLY JoKING ABOUT VIOLENCE /BOMB BUT WHAT MAKES A LEGIT TARGET FOR JOKE?

09/23/25

09/23/25

MMA

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NOTE HIS VID CREW STOPPED THE ESCALATOR; IT WAS his TELEPROMPTER?

AN 9 25

HIS 2ND TIME; AUD PRETTY APPALED?1ST X LAUGH, NOT REACTION I WAS EXPECTING

On Tuesday, September 23, U.S. President Donald Trump gave a rambling speech before the United Nations General Assembly. And at times, he was vehemently critical of the UN for a variety of reasons, from their immigration policies to green energy.

Here are six of the wildest moments from Trump's UN speech.

1. Trump claimed that 'inflation has been defeated'

Trump aggressively attacked then-President Joe Biden and then-Vice President Kamala Harris on inflation during the United States' 2024 election. But during his UN speech eight months into his second presidency, Trump claimed that "inflation has been defeated" in the U.S. Many economists, however, are warning that Trump's steep new tariffs will cause much worse inflation than what the U.S. experienced during the Biden Administration.

2. Trump slammed UN for not living up to its potential

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Trump told UN officials, "All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that stopped in the middle…. Those are the things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter…. The United Nations has tremendous, tremendous potential…. But it's not even coming close to that potential."

3. Trump attacked UN members for immigration policies

During his speech, Trump was highly critical of Biden's immigration policies, saying, "We were the laughing stock all over the world." But he also attacked UN members for their immigration policies and declared, "Immigration is destroying your country, and you have to do something about it…. Your countries are being ruined…. The UN is supposed to stop invasions, not create them…. Europe is in serious trouble. They've been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like no one has ever seen before…. Your countries are going to hell."

Trump also claimed European countries are in danger from Islamist "Shariah law," attacking London for having a "terrible, terrible mayor."

4. Trump insisted he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize

Trump told UN officials, "Everyone says I deserve the Nobel Peace Prize….. We've saved millions and millions of lives…. I'm going to give you the best of everything."

5. Trump chastised EU members for not imposing more tariffs

Trump promoted his trade policies during his UN speech, attacking European countries for having similar trade policies. The U.S. president told UN officials, "Join us in adopting the exact same measures…. Europe has to step it up…. They're buying oil and gas from Russia while they're fighting Russia…. Cease all energy purchases from Russia."

6. Trump ripped European countries for not using more fossil fuels

Trump expressed his disdain for green energy and "the global warming hoax," telling UN members, "Those windmills are so big and so bad…. Many European countries are on the brink of destruction because of the green agenda…. This is a disaster."

Trump praised "clean, beautiful coal" and denied the reality of climate change, claiming, "It's the greatest con job every perpetrated on the world, in my opinion…. If you don't get away from the green energy scam, your country is going to fail."

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OMFG 8 25

/ Media Matters

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6 25 nhk japan

no lnx pix grf

Fighting falsehoods: the online battle over climate truth

Friday June 20, 2025

Global temperatures keep breaking records, and sea levels are rising. Reports from a United Nations climate panel say the science is settled, but it doesn't always seem that way online, where climate denial is thriving. Japan's Environment Ministry says that's undermining efforts to act, so it's fighting back with a new website that tackles myths and misinformation with cold, hard facts.

The global average temperature in 2024 was the warmest on record.

Climate change skepticism spreads

British news website Tortoise analyzed social media content from climate-related influencers. It says there was an 82 percent jump in the number of climate skeptic posts on the X platform from 2021 to 2024. It also says there was a 43 percent jump in the number of YouTube videos with that stance.

The United Nations Development Programme, which is working on measures to mitigate climate change, says there are two main motives behind the spread of disinformation on the topic.

One is to attract attention for profit. The UNDP says controversial views create followings that bring advertising revenue and political support.

The other reason, it says, is to protect vested interests. Delaying measures against climate change can protect the vested interests of the fossil fuel industry.

NHK spoke with Marc Morano, a former political aide and now an influential climate skeptic who disputes the link between global warming and human activity.

Marc Morano is a prominent climate skeptic.

Morano claims that the United Nations, governments and private companies stand to benefit from measures to limit carbon dioxide. He calls the issue of climate change "a clear fraud campaign" that has nothing to do with science.

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change disagrees. It says there is no doubt human activity has caused global warming, and says global temperatures have risen faster in the past 50 years than at any other point in at least 2,000 years. The panel also says climate change can be contained if we act in time.

Disinformation disruption in the real world

Climate disinformation isn't just a theoretical danger. It turned a civil debate into chaos in one Australian city. The council of Onkaparinga was planning to declare a climate emergency in 2023, but the meeting was swarmed by protestors fueled by false ideas.

Residents of Onkaparinga flocked to the city council to protest a climate declaration.

Opponents of the declaration had whipped up alarm with false statements on social media, including a claim that only electric vehicles would be permitted after the declaration was issued.

The meeting had to be suspended, with the mayor and assembly members forced to evacuate.

Ika Trijsburg, a disinformation expert at the Australian National University, says climate change issues are ideal fodder for those who disseminate falsehoods, especially in a divided society.

Ika Trijsburg

Climate myths surging on social media

Claims without scientific evidence are gaining traction in Japan, too. Environment ministry officials say they've seen a surge in misleading online posts since late last year, including claims that global warming is not happening, or that human activity plays no role in greenhouse gas emissions.

An analysis by NHK found a sharp rise in Japanese-language posts on the social media platform X that question the reality of climate change or criticize decarbonization efforts.

In 2020, around 60,000 such posts were recorded. That number grew steadily year after year, reaching 220,000 in 2024. The increase was particularly pronounced after November when Donald Trump, a vocal critic of the Paris Agreement on climate change, won the US presidential election.

Japan government tackles misinformation

Japan's Environment Ministry has launched a new web page aimed at tackling climate change misinformation by presenting clear scientific information about global warming.

The site, which went live Friday, compiles information from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, drawing on the latest scientific research to explain the causes and impact of global climate change. UN reports attribute it mainly to greenhouse emissions caused by human activity.

The page also offers domestic data that show a rise in the frequency of extreme weather such as heatwaves and torrential rain — events that scientists attribute to climate change.

Speaking to reporters after a Cabinet meeting on Friday, Environment Minister Asao Keiichiro voiced concern over the rise of baseless claims online. He warned that such misinformation could undermine efforts by the government, businesses and the public to combat climate change. He said the ministry will continue efforts to ensure people are well-informed about the issue.

Fighting misinformation and disinformation

The spread of climate misinformation and disinformation has become a global concern, prompting the United Nations to act.

The UNDP in Asia and the Pacific has announced the launch of Una, an AI-powered chatbot designed to talk about climate initiatives.

AI character Una can answer questions regarding climate change in multiple languages including Japanese, English and Chinese.

Melissa Fleming, UN Undersecretary for Global Communications, says the planet faces an existential crisis with climate change, and the UN is "in an information battlefield" trying to convince people of the facts.

Fleming says the fight is against special interests who want to convince people that climate change is a hoax or that renewable energy is unreliable or too expensive, so they would have to give up their lifestyle. She says none of this is true.

Melissa Fleming

Fleming says the UN sees this as "one of the biggest risks of our time." She says every player needs to play its role: digital platforms can reduce the flow of falsehoods; advertisers and PR companies can stop funding disinformation; and media-literate people and governments can play a constructive role in the information environment.

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new 12 24

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who is the presumptive next United Nations (U.N.) ambassador is one of President-elect Donald Trump's more traditional Cabinet appointments, and is unlikely to face a tough confirmation battle in the Senate. But one former Trump administration official is hoping she'll usher in drastic cuts to the U.N.'s budget during the president-elect's second term.

In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, John Bolton — who was former President George W. Bush's U.N. ambassador before briefly serving as Trump's National Security Advisor in 2018 — laid out his proposal for what he hopes Stefanik and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is Trump's secretary of state-designate, accomplish at the U.N. over the next four years. Bolton is particularly hoping Stefanik, Rubio and Trump will do away with a U.N. funding mechanism that he likened to "taxation of America by other U.N. members."

"Funding for U.N. components falls into two categories: mandatory 'assessed' contributions and voluntary contributions. Assessments are calculated by opaque 'capacity to pay' formulas, which have historically made America the largest contributor," Bolton wrote. "A majority of member governments tells us what we owe, on pain of losing our vote in U.N. governing bodies if we don’t pay up. That alone is sufficient reason to reject the concept of assessments, since it isn’t our votes in these bodies that matter... This approach rests on the revolutionary assumption that we fund the U.N. based on its performance, paying only for what we want and insisting that we get what we pay for."

READ MORE:Trump nomination of Stefanik to UN resurfaces 'ultra MAGA' transformation

Bolton elaborated that because the U.S. has a vote and veto on the vaunted Security Council that's written into the U.N. charter, it will effectively face zero consequences for doing away with assessed contributions. He also argued that "U.N. bureaucrats, U.S. officials and nongovernmental organizations" claiming that that the U.S. gets "enormous credit" for its U.N. funding commitment is "false."

"Special-interest advocates simply take our current level of funding for granted, complain that it’s inadequate and demand more," Bolton wrote. "It’s time they get their comeuppance."

The former U.N. ambassador went on to applaud Trump's previous withdrawal of the U.S. from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which President Joe Biden rejoined in 2021. Bolton predicted that Trump would again withdraw the U.S. from UNESCO (which leads U.N. efforts to fight poverty, increase literacy and build "a culture of peace") and other U.N. agencies that "prove unreformable." He also hoped that the U.S. would redirect funding previously appropriated for the U.N. to the military budget, which is currently the largest in the world at $916 billion in 2023 and accounts for 40% of all global military spending combined.

"Using America’s money as an existential threat will rock the U.N. system," he wrote. "While many other reforms are possible, they won’t match the power of unilaterally controlling our contributions."

READ MORE:['Your views have changed': CNN host reminds Elise Stefanik of her past Trump disdain

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mma

The 11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting is organized by conspiracy theorist Clay Clark, who once suggested that Trump’s son-in-law might be a Chinese clone

Written by Payton Armstrong

Research contributions from Eric Hananoki

Published 10/18/24

Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to address a group of extreme right-wing media “prophets” and pastors who have claimed that “demonic forces” are behind the popularity of the Harris campaign, declared that Trump is “anointed to be king,” and said that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz “go to churches that are synagogues of Satan” because they are Baptist and Lutheran.

The 11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting, scheduled for October 21 in North Carolina, is apparently being organized by Clay Clark, co-founder of the ReAwaken Tour, which holds events across the country that have featured QAnon influencers, pro-Trump“prophets,” Christian nationalists, and figures who have praised Hitler. Clark has promoted numerous conspiracy theories, including that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, may have been replaced by a clone created by the Chinese government and that the U.S. government created or worsened Hurricane Helene through “weather manipulation.”

Clark revealed in a recent interview that Eric Trump had asked him to organize the event because “we need to get together the nonwackadoodles.” “That was the phrase Eric used, ‘nonwackadoodles,’” said Clark, “the serious faith leaders, the people that are actually committed to saving this country. And he said, ‘Clay, we need to get them together, my father needs to be able to address this community.’” He added that the event is “an invitation-only thing” and “we're vetting everybody very carefully.”

Clark claimed in an interview with Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec (who also stated during the interview that he will attend the event) that “of the faith leaders and the pastors that are committed to coming to this event — which is an invite-only, you can’t buy a ticket — so far, we have over 300 million YouTube subscribers represented in the audience, so that means we have some of the biggest, needle-moving pastors and faith leaders that are coming from all across America to hear directly from Donald J. Trump.”

Although a list of attendees does not seem to be publicly available, Clark has suggested multiple pro-Trump “prophets” and outlets will be in attendance and even speaking alongside Trump. Promoting the event, Clark said that “some of America's leading pastors will be in attendance — people like Jonathan Cahn, Mark Driscoll, Robin Bullock. I mean, it's going to be incredible. Steve Shultz, ElijahStreams.” Clark also noted in a separate interview that “prophet” Amanda Grace would be in attendance.

The figures Clark mentions as planning to attend notably stem from an influential “prophetic” charismatic Christian movement that has been mobilizing supporters ahead of the election and reportedly believes reelecting Trump is part of a spiritual war against demons.

Here are some of the extreme media figures and supposed “nonwackadoodles” that Trump will be addressing, according to Clark:

Eric Trump has promoted the 11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting to several prophetic media figures, including on ElijahStreams and in an interview withAmanda Grace, during which Trump said Clark had been “the backbone of so much of this event.”

Since Donald Trump left office, he and his family and allies have increasingly engaged with and embraced extreme prophetic media, including figures who have asserted that Trump has been “anointed” by God. Clark even bragged last year that “Trump’s inner circle is embracing the prophets.”

Members of Trump's “inner circle” also appeared at another event organized by Clark on October 18. The two-day event is also supposed to feature right-wing commentators who have pushed the conspiracy theory that Hurricane Helene was a controlled or manipulated weather event.

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mma 12 23

SEAN HANNITY (HOST): It really has nothing to do with the environment when you hear "Green New Deal," does it?

MARC MORANO (GUEST): No, absolutely nothing. And as you mentioned, they freely admit that, whether it's AOC's architect or even the UN. They've actually said, they said, "You thought climate treaties had something to do with environmental policy? This is about redistribution of wealth. This is about empowering the bureaucrats." What they're trying to do, it's all about power. It's about making fewer and fewer decisions by fewer and fewer individuals -- more decisions by fewer individuals.

...

All of this is happening so that you can have a regulatory state that we've never experienced in America -- in our American history -- as they take over more and more swaths. This is the intentional collapse of energy, food, transportation, and as a bonus, our free speech, because remember, the UN last year announced, "We own the science on climate change, and that's why we partnered with Google to make sure only UN-approved results on climate science are returned."

This is a frightening world in which we're entering now. And, you know, we really need to push back hard because they are crushing the middle class, and they are literally doing everything they can with 15 minute cities to keep us locked in, the banning of gas-powered cars -- which, by the way, no one's ever voted to ban.

Fox News platforms climate denial and the Great Reset conspiracy theory during COP27

:{:{11/14/22}:

  1. ### Fox brings on climate denier to downplay landmark IPCC climate report

:{:{08/09/21}:

  1. ### Merchant Of Doubt Marc Morano Concerned Google Won't Promote His Website's Climate Change Denial

:{:{03/06/15}:

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Fox host calls the United Nations "the greatest antisemitic organization ... outside of the terror organizations" | Media Matters for America

October 31, 2023, edition of Fox News' Outnumbered

EMILY COMPAGNO (CO-HOST): I just want to dig a little deeper into the UN, because as we consistently repeat how the greatest antisemitic organization, essentially, outside of the terror organizations is the UN, I want people to understand and know exactly why and how.

So for example, last year the UN condemned Israel more times than they condemned every other country combined. And when you spoke about the ones that they condemned last year, no condemnations whatsoever toward Turkey, China, Qatar, Venezuela, and more. And not only was that just last year alone, but since 2015, the [United Nations General Assembly] has adopted 140 resolutions condemning and criticizing Israel. Guess how many for the world combined? Sixty-eight. A mere 68.

And I have to point out this, the final point, because we're getting low on time, that just in the beginning of this year, before these atrocities began, before Hamas invaded Israel and butchered their people with the goal of extermination, the UN referred to the ICJ, the International Criminal Court of Justice, they referred Israel for what they called the "prolonged occupation, settlement, and annexation of Palestinian territory." To me, Israel is wasting that effort against – before the UN with these yellow Stars of David they should be so proud to wear, that we all solidarity wear with them. Because that body, more than anyone else, is the deaf ears.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY (CO-HOST): Yep, almost as if the United Nations exists to target one nation, Israel.

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context,

https://www.democracynow.org/2023/7/28/global_heat_climate_crisis_july_2023

new climate data show July is on track to become the hottest month in human history, with global temperatures rising to about 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, above pre-industrial levels. On Thursday, the head of the World Meteorological Organization said, “Climate action is not a luxury but a must,” while U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres scolded world leaders over inaction on the climate.

Secretary-General António Guterres: “Climate change is here, it is terrifying, and it is just the beginning. The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived. The air is unbreathable, the heat is unbearable, and the level of fossil fuel profits and climate inaction is unacceptable.”

The U.N.’s warning came as hundreds of wildfires fueled by record heat continued to burn out of control around the Mediterranean — in Algeria, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey.

In China, Typhoon Doksuri made landfall today in the southeastern Fujian province, sparking fires, downing power lines and shuttering schools and businesses. On Thursday, the storm lashed southern Taiwan after battering the northern Philippines, where it killed at least 39 people.

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https://www.democracynow.org/2023/7/28/headlines/supreme_court_will_allow_construction_of_mountain_valley_pipeline_to_resume

In more climate news, the Supreme Court has cleared the way for construction of the contested Mountain Valley Pipeline to resume. The court on Thursday lifted a halt on a section of the project that had been issued by a lower court earlier this month after a challenge by environmental groups.

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an 12 22 sorta //

The day before nearly two weeks of negotiations kick off at the United Nations summit on biodiversity, campaigners warned Tuesday that the talks taking place this month in Montreal may offer humanity its last chance to mitigate the planet's crisis of rampant species loss, and called on policymakers to adopt an ambitious framework to protect wildlife.

More than 190 nations will be represented at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), where negotiators will discuss a draft agreement aimed at conservation, slashing levels of toxic pollutants, and mitigating the climate crisis.

With about one million species—out of about 8.7 million known species—expected to become extinct in the coming decades, advocates said that policymakers must reverse more than a decade of failure to meet the targets set in 2010 at COP10 in Aichi, Japan, including protecting 17% of terrestrial and inland water areas and conserving coral reefs.

"Now is the time for the world to set bold new goals to protect every last species," said Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. "We're undermining our own survival by taking nature for granted, decimating wild places and jeopardizing vulnerable communities."

Advocates are pushing the 196 member nations of the convention to adopt 21 targets named in the draft set to be presented at the meeting, including:

"If delegates at the Convention on Biological Diversity can't agree that we should end extinction, it's a tragic reflection on our values," said Curry. "We've put nature in the basement of our heart, but it needs to be in the penthouse."

Greenpeace International called the meeting "the make-or-break moment for global biodiversity" while Greenpeace East Asia senior policy adviser Li Shuo called it "a chance for reinvention."

"It is unacceptable for this process to continue to pump out promises and never deliver," he said. "Negotiations over the next two weeks need to generate targets that will actually be implemented and supported."

In his opening remarks on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterrescalled on negotiators to adopt a framework "that addresses the root causes of this destruction."

"Deforestation and desertification are creating wastelands of once-thriving ecosystems," he said. "Our land, water, and air are poisoned by chemicals and pesticides, and choked with plastics. Our addiction to fossil fuels has thrown our climate into chaos—from heatwaves and forest fires, to communities parched by heat and drought, or inundated and destroyed by terrifying floods."

"The deluded dreams of billionaires aside, there is no Planet B," Guterres added. "We must fix the world we have. We must cherish this wonderous gift. We must make peace with nature."

Biologist Alexandre Antonelli, the director of science of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the U.K., called the conference "one of the most important meetings humanity has ever had."

"We have a very narrow window of opportunity to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2030 and reverse its decline by 2050," Antonelli toldThe New Statesman on Monday. "We may never have that chance again."

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https://www.mediamatters.org/white-nationalism/marjorie-taylor-greene-gave-interview-white-nationalist-who-has-said-peaceful

mma 11 22

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) did an interview several months ago with a white nationalist commentator who previously said that he thinks “peaceful coexistence” with Black people isn’t “possible” and “the war on whites is escalating very quickly. Plan accordingly.” Greene’s interview, which hasn’t been previously reported, is another example of how the Republican congresswoman has been reaching out to fellow extremists to appeal for support.

Republican House leadership is set to give committee assignments back to Greene and has reportedly told her that it would support her potential investigations.

Before entering Congress in 2021, Greene was a right-wing pundit who pushed conspiracy theories about school shootings, satanic child blood drinking, “Pizzagate,” 9/11, and Jewish people using a space laser to start fires. She has also endorsed violence against politicians, the QAnon conspiracy theory, and bigoted rhetoric.

She has continued to promote toxic rhetoric since taking office, including associating with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, toxic conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and grifting election denier Steve Bannon; and posting on the white nationalist and antisemitic social media haven Gab.

Infowars foreign correspondent Dan Lyman interviewed Greene for his Infowars-affiliated site Border Hawk,where he fearmongers about the supposed danger of undocumented immigrants. Greene’s interview was posted and promoted on Jones’ website, which means that Infowars is monetizing it.

Lyman received a press pass and attended the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in late July, where he interviewed right-wing extremists including Jack Posobiec, Alex Stein, and Greene, calling her “one of our great immigration patriots in Congress.”

During the interview, Greene echoed white nationalist rhetoric by claiming: “It's not just a border invasion. It's an invasion of our entire country because these people are spreading to every single state, all 50 states.” She also said that the Republican-backed House would be “investigating all of the wrongdoing and the corruption” of the Biden administration; claimed that “Democrats don’t want” the U.S. to have “a border any more”; and declared that“we should investigate” the United Nations,nonprofits, and other “globalist groups and networks” for supposedly contributing “to the invasion of America."

[vid]

greene isn’t a stranger to pushing white nationalist talking points regarding immigration. In 2018, she shared an anti-Muslim and antisemitic video that quotes a Holocaust denier claiming that “Zionist supremacists have schemed to promote immigration and miscegenation.”

Lyman is a “Pizzagate” conspiracy theorist and white nationalist who has repeatedly made racist and anti-Muslim remarks. Here’s a sampling of his rhetoric:

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note davos melds with UN (figures, global elite, woke corps):

gmail 7 22

Tucker Hosts Climate Denier, Calls Green Energy a 'War Against People'- Yahoo News

Yahoo News

Marc Morano. Political activist. Fox News. Tucker Carlson opened his Tuesday show railing against environmentally friendly means of energy ...

Carlson opened his Tuesday show railing against environmentally friendly means of energy production, and then hosted a climate change denier to discuss how green energy is part of a “war against people.”

Carlson began by discussing the ongoing public revolt against political leaders in Sri Lanka amid food and fuel shortages. The protests are the result of a combination of factors including excessive government borrowing, heavy monsoons, depleted tax and tourism revenue, the decreased value of the rupee, anda government ban on chemical fertilizers that limited harvests.Carlson honed in on this final cause.

What has happened in the island nation is an example of a country being “driven into the ground by green energy schemes thought up by morons like… [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] AOC,” Carlson said, marking yet another instance of the New York congresswoman’s name being mentioned derisively on the primetime Fox show.

"We are watching countries around the world… collapsing and entering into a state of revolution because thesemorons tampered with their energy grids. But they don’t care,” Carlson said. “They are going to continue doing it unless someone stops them—until exactly the same thing happens here.”

Marc Morano, a global warming denier whom Carlson did not introduce as such, had a similar point of view.

“I think green energy and this whole war on agriculture… the voters cannot support this anymore,” Morano said.

“We are seeing what’s happening in Sri Lanka, we are seeing what’s happening in the Netherlands, there are protests in other countries growing, [and] Canada is following the same line with fertilizer. This is a war against modern civilization,” he added, reminiscent of past criticisms of Ocasio-Cortez’s proposals from Fox figures.

“It is a war against people,” Carlson chimed in. Life expectancy will “drop to the floor” if decision makers even so much as “tamper with” fossil fuels, which are “our greatest blessing,” he added.

“How do we allow people like [Ocasio-]Cortez and [Joe] Biden, who do not know what a carburetor is, to lecture us about something as complex as energy policy? Like, this is insane,” Carlson huffed.

Morano responded by blaming individuals in the World Economic Forum and U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, who “can go to the CEOs of major corporations and get them to sign a climate pledge, which then commits them to all of these green goals.”

“They believe that us, the unwashed masses, if left to our own devices, will create inequity, racism, environmental destruction, [and] the climate crisis,”Moronoclaimed. “They literally want to regulate not just our farming but every aspect of our lives, and that is really what the World Economic Forum and the United Nationsis after here, is controlling humans.”

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he's good w/ metaphor

https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/limiting-climate-change-life-support/

"The 1.5-degree goal is on life support. It is in intensive care."

So said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterreson Monday, as he stressed that a swift and just transition to clean energy is necessary to meet the Paris agreement's objective of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels—andwarned against using Russia's deadly assault on Ukraine as an excuse to ramp up fossil fuel production worldwide.

"The science is clear. So is the math," the U.N. leader said during a speech delivered at a Sustainability Summit hosted by The Economist. "Keeping 1.5 alive requires a 45% reduction in global emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by mid-century." And yet, "according to present national commitments, global emissions are set to increase by almost 14% in the 2020s."

"We are sleepwalking to climate catastrophe," Guterres continued. "Our planet has already warmed by as much as 1.2 degrees—and we see the devastating consequences everywhere. In 2020, climate disasters forced 30 million people to flee their homes—three times more than those displaced by war and violence."

Just this past weekend, scientists conveyed shock and alarm in response to reports that temperatures at both of Earth's poles reached more than 50°F above average last week. Peer-reviewed research published on Friday found that increasingly frequent and intense wildfires around the globe are exacerbating Arctic warming, which is worsening the conditions that make future blazes more likely.

"Two weeks ago," said Guterres, citing part two of the U.N.'s landmark climate assessment, "the IPCC confirmed that half of humanity is already living in the danger zone. Small island nations, least developed countries, and poor and vulnerable people everywhere areone climate shock away from doomsday. In our globally connected world, no country and no corporation can insulate itself from these levels of chaos."

"If we continue with more of the same, we can kiss 1.5 goodbye," he added. "Even 2 degrees may be out of reach. And that would be catastrophe."

Making matters worse, said Guterres, "the fallout from Russia's war in Ukraine risks upending global food and energy markets—with major implications for the global climate agenda."

The United States, United Kingdom, and European Union have moved to restrict imports of Russian fossil fuels in response to Moscow's military offensive. Although progressives have emphasized that the ongoing invasion should lead to an intensification of efforts to move away from dirty energy,profit-hungry proponents of oil, gas, and coal have seized on surging prices to push for boosting extraction and exports.

Guterres warned that "as major economies pursue an 'all-of-the-above' strategy to replace Russian fossil fuels, short-term measures might create long-term fossil fuel dependence and close the window to 1.5 degrees."

"Countries could become so consumed by the immediate fossil fuel supply gap that they neglect or knee-cap policies to cut fossil fuel use," he said. "This is madness. Addiction to fossil fuels ismutually assured destruction."

"As current events make all too clear, our continued reliance on fossil fuels puts the global economy and energy security at the mercy of geopolitical shocks and crises," added Guterres. "We need to fix the broken global energy mix."

Noting that "the timeline to cut emissions by 45% is extremely tight," the U.N. leader stressed that "instead of hitting the brakes on the decarbonization of the global economy, now is the time to put the pedal to the metal towards a renewable energy future."

His remarks came just hours before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) kicked off a two-week meeting to validate part three of its report, which focuses on the need to drastically slash carbon pollution to avoid the most disastrous outcomes.

Guterres argued that cooperation between the developed and emerging economies of the G20—responsible for 80% of global emissions—is essential to addressing the planetary emergency.

"Accelerating the phase-out of coal and all fossil fuels and implementing a rapid, just, and sustainable energy transition," he said, is "the only true pathway to energy security."

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/great-barrier-reef-bleaching-event/

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/climate-change-surge-uncharted-territory/

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https://www.alternet.org/2021/10/water-crisis/

UN rept

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UN IPCC Code Red. //nukes?!  AGW

https://www.alternet.org/2021/09/nuclear-risk/

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https://www.alternet.org/2021/09/climate-change-2655060913/

jj comm dr

United Nations warned Friday that the planet is barreling toward2.7°C of warming by the end of the century, a nightmare scenario that can be averted only if policymakers take immediate and sweeping action to slash greenhouse gas emissions.

Even if the 191 parties to the Paris climate accord meet their current commitments, global greenhouse gas emissions will still rise 16% by 2030 compared to 2010 levels, according to a new report published by the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The goal of the 2015 Paris agreement is to limit global warming to below 2°C—and preferably to 1.5°C—above pre-industrial levels. An analysis released earlier this week found that the climate targets and actions of just one country—The Gambia—are in line with the critical 1.5° goal.

"This is what betrayal looks like," Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted in response to the latest U.N. findings. "Whatever our so-called 'leaders' are doing, they are doing it wrong."

Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of U.N. Climate Change, said in a statement that the international community must "peak emissions as soon as possible before 2030 and support developing countries in building up climate resilience."

"The 16% increase is a huge cause of concern," said Espinosa. "It is in sharp contrast with the calls by science for rapid, sustained, and large-scale emission reductions to prevent the most severe climate consequences and suffering, especially of the most vulnerable, throughout the world."

The U.N. analysis came as U.S. President Joe Biden met with world leaders and announced that the United States is partnering with the European Union in an effort to cut methane emissions—a powerful driver of global warming—by nearly 30% by the end of the decade.

In its landmark report last month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasized that a "strong, rapid, and sustained" reduction in methane emissions is necessary to prevent the worst of the planetary crisis.

The IPCC also estimated that keeping global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels would require a 45% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030—a mark that the international community is currently on track to miss badly, according to the new U.N. report.

António Guterres, the secretary-general of the U.N., said in a statement Friday that 2.7°C of planetary heating would be "catastrophic" and that world leaders are "rapidly running out of time" to act.

"This is breaking the promise made six years ago to pursue the 1.5°C goal of the Paris agreement," said Guterres. "Failure to meet this goal will be measured in the massive loss of lives and livelihoods."

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refs EU but UN by extension? blue hull navy? ~ arms exports?

gee never connected UN to satan:

[brexit]  What they got was discussion ranging from the allegation that the seat 666 is kept empty in the European Parliament chamber in both Brussels and Strasbourg (it isn’t), to whether the EU is a political tool of Antichrist in advance of the second coming of Christ.

My friends were astonished at this. I wasn’t. During the previous month I had contributed a guest blog for a Christian news platform, challenging these same accusations. During that month (it went live on May 25, 2016) it had become, from my calculations, one of the most visited blogs on this website.

It can still be read online but, unfortunately, the huge string of comments and conversations under it can no longer be accessed. That is a pity because they would have provided interesting source material for future students of theology and the sociology of religion. Like the meeting I organized later, in June of that year, the online discussion got lively. In fact, it got very lively indeed! Some might say “heated.”

Eschatological turbulence on both sides of “the pond”My experience in the UK was not the only turbulent event of 2016 that had end-times features to it. In November, something even more extraordinary occurred in the USA: the election of Donald Trump.

Somewhere in the region of 33 million white evangelicals voted for Trump and huge numbers of these see contemporary events through the same eschatological lens that had informed the outlook of those with whom I had debated in the UK about the European Union. In the US, this support has had significant effects on foreign policy.

President Trump’s decisions to move the US embassy to Jerusalem (announced in 2018) and to support Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights (announced in 2019) were designed to appeal to American evangelical Christians. Polling in the US in 2017 revealed that 80% of evangelicals believe that the creation of Israel in 1948 was a fulfilment of biblical prophecy that will bring about Christ’s second coming.

In addition, Trump’s decision to leave the Paris climate agreement in 2017 (the decision was implemented in 2020) sat easily with a group which contains many who deny the reality of climate change caused by human action, or do not consider it a threat which can be averted by human agency.

Whatever one feels about these geopolitical and environmental issues, it is undeniable that huge numbers of voters in the USA see these decisions through an end-times lens....

https://www.alternet.org/2022/01/end-times/

The continued impact of end-times beliefs today

Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to claims that it has eschatological significance. It should be noted that the same thing was said about the fourteenth-century Black Death. Anti-vaxxers and those unhappy with mask-wearing have included some who loudly identify these as aspects of an emerging international order associated with the Antichrist. This has resonated with – and been amplified by – conspiracy-theory-culture and the effects of social-media algorithms.

Some of the most extreme supporters of gun rights in the USA see them as weapons to be used in resisting the forces of the Antichrist in the last days.

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https://www.democracynow.org/2021/9/27/headlines/vanuatu_to_ask_for_icj_opinion_on_climate_crisis

Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu is asking the International Court of Justice to weigh in on the rights of its people to be protected from the climate catastrophe. Prime Minister Bob Loughman addressed the U.N. General Assembly Saturday.

Prime Minister Bob Loughman Weibur: “Limiting warming to near 1.5 degrees will be beyond reach. The issues are increasingly eluding the control of individual national governments.”

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trump admin loosen regs,

i neglect scary reports eg arctic warming 3x  > planet --> methane

5 yr anniv conf of Paris, Biden will put us back in; EU has boosted targets?

UN

https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/11-000-scientists-climate-emergency/

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/climate-change

JC cmn dreams

More than 250 scientists and scholars from 30 countries have issued an open letter calling on policymakers to "engage more with the growing risk of societal disruption and collapse due to damage to the climate and environment," arguing that only then "might communities and nations begin to prepare and so reduce its likelihood, speed, severity, harm to the most vulnerable, and to nature."

The letter, a version of which appeared GUK in The GuardianSunday, comes on the heels of a pair of United Nations reports warning of the dire direction in which the planet is headed. As U.N. Secretary-General António Guterresput it: "The state of the planet is broken. Humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal."

This weekend, world leaders will hold the Climate Ambition Summit 2020to mark the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate agreement. After failing in the years since then to cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with that accord, the letter says, "we must now face the consequences."

While "some armed services already see collapse as an important scenario, requiring planning," the letter notes that "the topic is not well reported in the media, and mostly absent from civil society and politics," even though such collapse "is already the experience or memory of many communities in the Global South."

The U.K. arm of Extinction Rebellion shared pieces of the letter on Twitter with photos of climate activists around the world demanding urgent action:

Denouncing media coverage that "typically cites people who condemn discussion of the topic," the letter says that "ill-informed speculations, such as on foreign misinformation campaigns, or impacts on mental health and motivation, will not support serious discussion. Rather, such claims risk betraying the thousands of activists and community leaders whose anticipation of collapse is part of their motivation to push for change on climate, ecology, and social justice."

The letter continues:

People who care about environmental and humanitarian issues should not be discouraged from discussing the risks of societal disruption or collapse. That could risk agendas being driven by people with less commitment to such values.

Some of us believe that a transition to a new form of society may be possible. That will involve bold action to reduce damage to the climate, nature and other people, including preparations for major disruptions to everyday life. We are united in regarding efforts to suppress discussion of collapse as hindering the possibility of that transition.

"We have experienced how emotionally challenging it is to recognize the damage being done, along with the growing threat to our own way of life," the letter concludes. "We also know the great sense of fellowship that can arise. It is time to invite each other into difficult conversations, so we can reduce our complicity in the harm, and be creative to make the best of a turbulent future."

Signatories and supporters of the letter shared it on social media with the hashtag #scholarswarning, offering their summaries of what the letter calls for and detailing why they signed on to it.

"We're saying we must confront the real possibility of climate collapse so that we can do our utmost to avoid it," American climate scientist Peter Kalmus, a signatory to the letter, saidin a tweet Sunday. "This is as far from 'doomerism' as you can get."

In a statement, University of Cumbria professor Jem Bendell, another signatory, explained that "we come from dozens of countries and subject disciplines and perceive a resistance by the establishment to serious engagement in adapting to the increasing disruptions to food, water, health, and the economy."

"It is time to listen to the scholarship," Bendell added, "and try to reduce harm from societal disruption and even collapse."

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB

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220

https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/how-the-uns-middle-east-peace-plan-was-trounced-by-its-own-members/

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original china hoax reply

.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-03/un-official-admits-global-warming-agenda-really-about-destroying-capitalism

./.Figueres admitted that the Global Warming conspiracy set by the U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, of which she is the executive secretary, has a goal not of environmental activists is not to save the world from ecological calamity, but to destroy capitalism. She said very casually:

“This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time, to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the Industrial Revolution.”

She even restated that goal ensuring it was not a mistake:

“This is probably the most difficult task we have ever given ourselves, which is to intentionally transform the economic development model for the first time in human history.”...

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https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/265895292191248385?lang=en

Donald J. Trump on Twitter: "The concept of global warming ...

2.

Nov 6, 2012 - The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. ... (((Michael Levine)))‏ @MichaelWHill 6 Nov 2012

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aha omg UN evil is JBS BS but also xian wacko: 2 of 4 interlocks?

==

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/01/evangelicals-are-anticipating-the-end-of-the-world-and-trump-is-listening/

no lnx

Evangelicals Love Donald Trump for Many Reasons, But One of Them Is Especially Terrifying

End Times.

Stephanie Mencimer January 23, 2020

Mother Jones

The enemies of Israel have unleashed a massive air attack on the Promised Land. Hundreds of fighter jets streak across the sky. But before Israel can be destroyed, fire rains from the heavens and the enemy jets explode in mid-air with no explanation. Hailstones the size of golf balls follow the fire. The ground shakes. Birds pick clean the bodies of the fallen attackers. The enemy is vanquished without a single Israeli casualty, and the country is saved.

These are some of the opening scenes of the bestselling 1995 book Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth’s Last Days, by Jerry B. Jenkins and the late evangelical minister Tim LaHaye. But don’t mistake this scenario for a mere action sequence: It’s based on the war of Gog and Magog, a biblical conflict prophesied in the Book of Ezekiel. In the Bible, Gog is the leader of Magog, a “place in the far north” that many evangelicals believe is Russia. According to Ezekiel’s prophecy, Gog will join with Persia—now Iran—and other Arab nations to attack a peaceful Israel “like a cloud that covers the land.” LaHaye, like many evangelicals, believed this battle would bring on the Rapture, the End Times event when God spirits away the good Christians to heaven before unleashing plagues, sickness, and other horrors on the unbelievers remaining on Earth. Meanwhile, the Antichrist reigns supreme.

The story of Gog and Magog is central to the bloody eschatology long embraced by millions of American evangelicals. In recent years, End Times has gained special political currency as believers have seen any number of Middle East conflagrations as fulfilling Ezekiel’s prophecy, notably the US invasion of Iraq and the war in Syria. Gog and Magog took on fresh relevance earlier this month, when the Trump administration assassinated Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force.

On many levels, President Donald Trump’s self-created crisis in Iran seems to have no relationship to any sort of coherent foreign policy or geopolitical plan for the future. The assassination has yielded few if any tangible rewards for the US. But there is an eager constituency for Trump’s improvised policy toward the Middle East and Iran in particular: the evangelical Christians who see it as a means of ushering in the return of Christ. Lured by the promise of conservative Supreme Court justices, anti-abortion measures, and a commitment to Christian supremacy under the guise of religious freedom, white evangelicals voted for Trump in higher numbers than any other group—more than 80 percent.

He desperately needs them if he’s going to be reelected. And while some have expressed concern about the administration’s inching toward war with Iran, many of those with what were once fringe beliefs have cheered the killing of Soleimani. “Iran has this big part to play in biblical history,” says religious historian Diana Butler Bass, who grew up in the evangelical church, attended an evangelical college and seminary, and wrote her Ph.D. thesis at Duke University on American fundamentalism. “There are these particular prophecies from Ezekiel, where there is talk of a war that will happen at a very important moment in Israel’s history. And that war is going to kick off the End Times. People in this prophetic community believe Iran is going to be one of these aggressors.”

“When Iran gets into the news, especially with anything to do with war, it’s sort of a prophetic dog whistle to evangelicals.”

Bass thinks this worldview may be central to understanding Trump’s foreign policy. “When Iran gets into the news, especially with anything to do with war, it’s sort of a prophetic dog whistle to evangelicals. They will support anything that seems to edge the world towards this conflagration,” she says. “They don’t necessarily want violence, but they’re eager for Christ to return and they think that this war with Iran and Israel has to happen for their larger hope to pass.”

Not all or even most evangelicals believe in the literal truth of these sorts of prophecies, though nearly 60 percent of white evangelicals, according to one 2010 poll, believe Jesus is definitely or probably going to return by the year 2050. But those who do subscribe to this apocalyptic world view seem to be overrepresented among Trump’s religious supporters and advisers. In October, a host of influential evangelical pastors came to the White House to pray with Trump to protect him from impeachment. Among those who laid hands on the president as he stood, head bowed, in the Oval Office, was repeat visitor Greg Laurie, pastor of a California megachurch. A few days after the killing of Soleimani, Laurie made a YouTube video with Don Stewart, author of 25 Signs We Are Near the End, to discuss Iran and the End Times. “The scenario that the Bible predicted, seemingly so impossible,” Stewart promised, “is now falling into place.”

From the outset, Trump has surrounded himself with people who hail from the fringes of the evangelical community that is steeped in the language of biblical prophecy, and his administration regularly reflects that language back to them in its messaging. In March 2017, for instance, Trump issued an official White House statement recognizing the Persian New Year in which he misattributed a quote to Cyrus the Great, the libertine pagan leader of the ancient Persian empire who was anointed by God to free Jews in Babylon. Ordinary Americans probably wouldn’t have even noticed the announcement, but evangelicals knew that Trump was speaking their language. Many of them believe Trump is like Cyrus, a flawed nonbeliever who nonetheless is chosen by God to work his miracles on Earth.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was reportedly instrumental in pushing for the killing of Soleimani, is also a master of such messaging. In March, during an interview in Jerusalem with the Christian Broadcasting Network (founded by another apocalyptic preacher, Pat Robertson), Pompeo showed his familiarity with another Iran-centric Bible story popular with End Times evangelicals. In the story, a Persian king is urged to slaughter the Jews in his kingdom at the urging of the evil adviser Haman. But his Jewish Queen Esther convinces him not to and saves her people. Asked whether he thought Trump could be a modern-day Esther, saving the Jews from Iran, Pompeo replied, “As a Christian, I certainly believe that’s possible.” The secretary of state’s End Times beliefs made headlines again after the Soleimani killing, as meme-makers circulated a quote from a speech he made in a Kansas church in 2015. A few days after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, Pompeo said: “We will continue to fight these battles. It is a never-ending struggle. … until the Rapture.”

The State Department did not respond to questions about how Pompeo’s religious views may affect his foreign policy decisions. But it’s not hard to see how apocalyptic evangelicalism might be influencing the Trump administration as it seeks to mobilize the millions of evangelicals reached by televangelists and megachurch pastors preaching the End Times. The most blatant appeal to this constituency came when Trump made the controversial decision to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a long-desired goal of evangelicals who see it as fulfilling a biblical prophecy necessary in securing the Second Coming. What may be less obvious is how Trump’s disdain for international governing bodies like NATO also dovetails almost perfectly with End Times theology, whether he realizes it or not.

Matthew Avery Sutton, a Washington State University history professor and author of American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism, says evangelicals who believe the end is near have always been hostile to any sort of international organizations. That’s because they believe biblical prophecies that say that in the last days, a world leader who preaches peace will emerge and move toward a one-world government. In fact, the prophecy goes, that leader will be the Antichrist who will force the world to accept a false religion and persecute people who don’t accept him as a Messiah. (In Left Behind, the Antichrist is a Romanian UN secretary-general.) Evangelicals love Trump’s talk of pulling out of NATO, his attacks on the UN, and his trashing of the Paris climate change accord. “They hate the UN,” Sutton says. “Trump’s unilateralism is also music to their ears.”

Trump is not the first president to surround himself with evangelical Christians with an apocalyptic bent. Ronald Reaganwas advised by Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell, andpersonally believed in the End Times and the coming apocalypse, writing about it in his journals. He appointed people like Interior Secretary James Watt, a Pentecostal fundamentalist whose disdain for environmental conservation seemed to be informed by his belief that the end of the world was nigh. In an appearance before Congress, he told stunned lawmakers, “I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns.”

Apparently George W. Bush was also part of this apocalypse-now group. When Bush was trying to convince French president Jacques Chirac to support an invasion of Iran in 2003, he reportedly told Chirac: “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East. Biblical prophecies are being fulfilled.” Chirac had no idea what Bush was talking about and had to consult a biblical scholar.

George W. Bush: “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East. Biblical prophecies are being fulfilled.”

Trump, who seems unable to distinguish between the New and Old Testaments, doesn’t seem particularly fluent in the prophecies of Ezekiel. But he has brought into the White House a host of people who are.Quite a few also hail from what Bass delicately describes as the “not respectable charlatan wing” of evangelical Christianity. They’re the prosperity preachers and prophets of the sort depicted by Sinclair Lewis in Elmer Gantry. “I have no doubt at all that those people are sitting right next to [Trump], giving him these Bible verses, telling him about these prophecies,” Bass says, “which means that they are kind of egging him on, [telling him] that he’s part of God’s prophetic fulfillment for these last days.”

Many of those who have become White House regulars are associated with something known as the New Apostolic Reformation, what Christianity Today describes as “a loosely connected group of Pentecostals and Charismatics.” They’re the ones who speak in tongues, scour the news for clues to biblical prophecies, engage in faith healing, and preach prosperity gospel—the notion that faith in God (or, usually, the preacher) will make people wealthy (or at least enrich the preacher). These apostles tend to embrace “dominionist” theology that implores Christians to take over of all levels of government, media, and education as a way of preparing for the End Times and return of Christ. Influential politicians like former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who has made several visits to the Trump White House, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and former Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry fall into this camp.

Peter Montgomery, a senior fellow at the liberal nonprofit People for the American Way who has tracked the religious right for many years, says that the network of preachers who come from NAR and Pentecostal media operations “are telling people over and over again that Trump was ‘chosen,’ that God intervened in the election. Some of them say very explicitly that Trump is playing a role in God’s End Time plans to bring about the return of Christ.”

One of the most prominent representatives of the Left Behind wing of the evangelical movement is San Antonio televangelist John Hagee, who has been calling for a war with Iran for more than a 15 years. In 2005, Hagee wrote a best-selling book, Jerusalem Countdown, that claimed the Bible predicted a war with Iran. (In2011, it was turned into a movie of the same title, starring Bionic Man Lee Majors and Randy Travis.) Shortly after the book was published, Hagee created Christians United for Israel, a Christian Zionist organization that now claims to have 8 million members. It lobbies for support for Israeli settlements, military aid to Israel, and for the US to join with Israel to launch a preemptive strike on Iran.

He has said that gays caused Hurricane Katrina, referred to the Catholic Church as the “great whore,” called Hitler a “half-breed” Jew, and said that Hitler was part of God’s plan to get the Jews back to Israel.

Hagee, now 79, had once been popular with powerful Republicans during the George W. Bush administration, despite some of his more controversial statements. Among other things, he has said that gays caused Hurricane Katrina, referred to the Catholic Church as the “great whore,” called Hitler a “half-breed” Jew, and said that Hitler was part of God’s plan to get the Jews back to Israel. His star began to fall in 2008 after he endorsed Sen. John McCain for the GOP presidential nomination. McCain rejected his support, calling Hagee’s views “crazy and unacceptable.”

The election of Barack Obama consigned Hagee to his megachurch in San Antonio. But Trump has restored him to the corridors of power in Washington. Hagee endorsed Trump early in 2016. Once Trump was elected, Hagee met with the new president for two hours in 2017 to discuss moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Foreign policy experts feared the embassy relocation would destabilize the region and hamper peace talks, but Trump moved it anyway in May 2018. Israeli troops killed more than 50 people in the protests that followed.

Hagee attended the opening ceremony alongside notables such as Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner, and he gave the closing benediction.“Let every Islamic terrorist hear this message: Israel lives,” he announced. “Let it echo down the marble halls of the presidential palace in Iran: Israel lives.” He later told the Texas Observer that he was looking forward to Trump confronting Iran, explaining, “The sum of Iran’s evil is greater than the whole of its parts.”

When Christians United for Israel held its annual DC confab and lobbying day last summer, Trump sent no fewer than five top administration officials to address attendees, including Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence (both evangelicals themselves), then–national security adviser John Bolton, a special envoy to the Middle East, and the US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. Pompeo opened the speech by telling the crowd of more than 5,000 people, “This is what it must have looked like to be part of the crowd for the fishes and the loaves. What a miracle that was.” Once more the story of Queen Esther came in handy, this time as Pompeo compared it to modern-day Iran.

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Hagee is one of the most prominent of Trump’s evangelical supporters who see a war with Iran as a necessary step towards the End Times, but he’s far from the only one. The White House has hosted a steady stream of dominionists and NAR apostles since Trump took office, including Lance Wallnau, author of God’s Chaos President.An evangelical leader with a consulting business in Dallas, Wallnau has become famous as one of the few evangelicals who accurately prophesied Trump’s election after receiving divine inspiration to read chapter 45 of the Book of Isaiah. That’s the story of King Cyrus, whom Wallnau and many other evangelicals think Trump resembles.(For $45, Wallnau and ex-con televangelist Jim Bakker now sell a Trump/Cyrus coin that people can use to pray for Trump’s reelection.) Dr. Lance, as he’s known, has made several visits to the White House, including for a private briefing on Jared Kushner’s Middle East peace plan.

Facilitating many of these visits is Paula White-Cain, the controversial televangelist associated with the Trinity Broadcasting Network who became Trump’s spiritual adviser after he saw her preach on TV in the early aughts. White led a 20,000-strong megachurch in Tampa that was investigated by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) in 2007 for lavish spending on private jets and big houses and possible violations of its tax-exempt status. His report did not find any wrongdoing—church leaders refused to cooperate with the investigation—but in 2012, White’s church declared bankruptcy. She went on to lead a mostly African American church in Florida where she remained until last spring, when her son took over the ministry.

Now on her third marriage, White has long been at odds with more elite, mainstream evangelicals because of her particular self-help brand of prosperity gospel. Southern Baptist leader Russell Moore called White a “charlatan” and “heretic.” Nonetheless, in late October, Trump installed her in an official post at the White House office of public liaison to do outreach to evangelicals, formalizing access for some of the more extreme members of that group. She has referred to Trump as a modern-day Esther and called his enemies “demonic.”

Bass says that evangelical elites of the sort who associated with President George W. Bush have long looked down their noses at populist preachers like White and her crowd, but Trump has elevated them to positions of power. It’s a win-win situation. The evangelicals are at last in the influential positions those who disparaged them once held. And Trump’s narcissism is receiving special nourishment by their insistence that he was chosen by God. “I think that Trump likes it when people think he’s close to God—he called himself the ‘chosen one’—and to think that all of this has some sort of divine backing,” Bass says. “I don’t think there’s ever been a president who was quite influenced by this stream of evangelicalism as Trump has been.”

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Naturally, there are political benefits to all of this. The administration has struggled to provide evidence of any imminent threats from Soleimani, but the timing for the assassination was certainly fortuitous for someone looking to mobilize evangelicals. Not only was Trump embroiled in impeachment hearings, he was still chaffing from a recent editorial in the evangelical publication Christianity Today, founded by Billy Graham, calling for him to be removed from office on moral grounds. Trump announced the killing of Soleimani just hours before appearing at the launch of his campaign’s Evangelicals for Trump coalition in Miami.

That event took place at a Pentacostal Latino church headed by Guillermo Maldonado, who speaks in tongues and hosts a TV show called “The Supernatural Now.” He’s the founder of the King Jesus International Ministry, a Miami megachurch with upwards of 20,000 members and a large TV and radio presence. Maldonado is also another regular White House visitor who has preached that Trump has a role in God’s plans for the End Times. At the 2019 Global Prophetic Summit, he claimed that God told him, “America, I have prepared this time, I have raised somebody in office to open the doors for my gospels.”

André Gagné, a theology professor at Concordia University in Montreal, says the apocalyptic worldview is concerning at such high levels of power, because believers may be rather sanguine about the possibility that assassinating an Iranian general might spur an even bigger war or nuclear confrontation in the Middle East. “If it brings the end of the world, it brings the end of the world,” Gagné says. “They’re ready. They can’t wait for the Rapture to happen. For them it’s the ultimate reunion with God.”

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https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-refugees-un-2644864652.html

Refugees fleeing the impending effects of the climate crisis cannot be forced to return home, according to a new decision by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, as CNN reported. The new decision could open up a massive wave of legal claims by displaced people around the world.

The first-of-its-kind ruling opens the door for a new kind of legal claim to future protections for people whose lives and health are threatened by a warming planet and sea-level rise, according to legal experts, as The Guardian reported. The ruling is expected to have profound consequences as the impacts of the climate crisis are predicted to displace tens of millions of people.

The UN Human Rights Committee ruling started from the case of Ioane Teitiota, who applied for refugee protection from New Zealand, claiming that his life was at risk in his home country of Kiribati, which is predicted to be one of the first countries lost due to sea-level rise, as CNN reported. Kiribati is an equatorial island nation in the middle of the Pacific that spans 1.3 million square miles, but only has 310 square miles of land and roughly 110,000 people.

The committee heard Teitiota's claim that his home island South Tarawa had increased in population by nearly 50 times from 1,641 in 1947 to 50,000 in 2010 due to sea level rising, leading to other islands becoming uninhabitable. That explosion in population has led to violence and social tensions, as The Guardian reported.

Teitiota claimed that a shortage of freshwater and difficulty growing crops because of the salinity of the water posed a threat to him and his family. Further, he argued that because the island is predicted to be uninhabitable in 10 to 15 years, his life was in danger if he remained there, according to The Guardian.

The committee did not fully agree with him. It rejected his claim that he faced an imminent threat to his life. It said, "sea level rise is likely to render the republic of Kiribati uninhabitable … the timeframe of 10 to 15 years, as suggested by [Teitiota], could allow for intervening acts by the republic of Kiribati, with the assistance of the international community, to take affirmative measures to protect and, where necessary, relocate its population," according to the The Guardian.

However, the committee added that New Zealand and every country would violate a person's international rights if they force them back to countries where the climate crisis poses an immediate threat, according to CNN.

That decision, which is not legally binding to countries, does point to obligations that developed countries will face as the climate crisis intensifies. In addition to sea-level rise, CNN pointed out that droughts and crop failure are also expected to contribute to the tens of millions who will need to move to other areas in coming years. Furthermore, a World Bank study from 2018 found that 143 million people across South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America are at risk of becoming climate migrants.

"Without robust national and international efforts, the effects of climate change in receiving states may expose individuals to a violation of their rights," its ruling said, as CNN reported.

"What's really important here, and why it's quite a landmark case, is that the committee recognized that without robust action on climate at some point in the future it could well be that governments will, under international human rights law, be prohibited from sending people to places where their life is at risk or where they would face inhuman or degrading treatment," said Jane McAdam, director of the Kaldor center for international refugee law at the University of New South Wales, to The Guardian. "Even though in this particular case there was no violation found, it effectively put governments on notice."

climate refugees climate crisis sea level rise drought

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UN researcher hails ICC’s pursuit of war crimes probe in Palestine as ‘momentous step’

Jessica Corbett / Common Dreams

A United Nations human rights researcher on Tuesday hailed the International Criminal Court’s recent decision to pursue a formal investigation of alleged war crimes in Palestinian territories occupied by Israel…

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Trump later mocked the now world-renowned activist on Twitter, writing, “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!”

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https://www.democracynow.org/2019/9/24/headlines/greta_thunberg_and_youth_activists_take_on_world_leaders_at_un_climate_action_summit

un sued for not uphold rights of children

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https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/united-nations-report-finds-the-us-and-allies-may-be-complicit-in-saudi-war-crimes/

no lnx

Damning United Nations report finds the US and allies may be complicit in Saudi war crimes

Written by Jake Johnson / Common Dreams September 3, 2019

A comprehensive and damning United Nations report released Tuesday said the U.S., France, and Britain may be guilty of complicity in war crimes for providing the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in its war on Yemen with logistical support and weapons.

“Five years into the conflict, violations against Yemeni civilians continue unabated, with total disregard for the plight of the people and a lack of international action to hold parties to the conflict accountable,” saidKamel Jendoubi, chairperson of the Group of Experts on Yemen, which was created by the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The 274-page report (pdf) said the U.S., France, and Britain may have failed to live up to their obligations under international law by continuing to provide weaponry, training intelligence, and logistical support for a Saudi-led coalition that is guilty of bombing hospitals, homes, a school bus, and other civilian targets during its years-long assault on Yemen.

“The legality of arms transfers by France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other states remains questionable,” the report states, “and is the subject of various domestic court proceedings.”

In a statement, Jendoubi condemned the nations involved in the Saudi-led war on Yemen for refusing to investigate and punish human rights violations.

“This endemic impunity—for violations and abuses by all parties to the conflict—cannot be tolerated anymore,” said Jendoubi. “Impartial and independent inquiries must be empowered to hold accountable those who disrespect the rights of the Yemeni people. The international community must stop turning a blind eye to these violations and the intolerable humanitarian situation.”

The report, which is the product of a two-year investigation, comes days after the Saudi-led coalition killed more than 100 people in airstrikes on a Yemeni detention center. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the attack may have amounted to a war crime.

Following the attack, a bipartisan group of lawmakers including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren launched a new effort to end U.S. complicity in the Saudi-led assault on Yemen, which has killed tens of thousands of people and caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The Washington Post reported late Monday that the lawmakers are working to bar the U.S. government from providing logistical support for the Saudi-led coalition’s air raids.

The group called on the Senate to not remove an amendment to the annual defense policy legislation that would prohibit the U.S. from cooperating with Saudi airstrikes.

In a letter to top Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, which are set to hash out differences between the two chambers’ defense policy bills, the group of lawmakers said “inclusion of this amendment would ensure that our men and women in uniform are not involved in a war which has never been authorized by Congress, and continues to undermine rather than advance U.S. national security interests.”

The letter, first obtained by the Post, was signed by Sens. Warren (D-Mass.), Sanders (I-Vt.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and dozens of others.

As Common Dreams reported in April, President Donald Trump vetoed a stand-alone War Powers resolution that would have ended U.S. military support for the Saudi-led assault on Yemen.

Sanders said in a statement to the Post on Monday that Congress has a responsibility to continue asserting its constitutional authority to bring U.S. complicity in the war on Yemen to an end.

“Now,” said Sanders, “we must use Congress’s power of the purse to block every nickel of taxpayer money from going to assist the Saudi dictatorship as it bombs and starves civilians in Yemen.”

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new

Majority of top newspapers in agricultural producing states fail to mention UN climate and land report on their front pages

08/14/19 MMA

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https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/analysis-of-25-worlds-wealthiest-families-a-reminder-of-inequalitys-economic-drain/

no lnx

Analysis of 25 world’s wealthiest families a reminder of inequality’s economic drain

Written by Common Dreams August 11, 2019

If the world needed yet another example of just how unequal the global economy has become, a new analysis of the top 25 wealthiest family dynasties published Saturday revealed that while one out of ten people in the world live on less than $2.00 per day, these super rich families now control a total of $1.4 trillion in assets and are making as much as$4 million every single hour.

According to Bloomberg, the numbers are “mind-boggling” and include a look at—just to name a few—the fabulous riches of the Walton family, which controls the Walmart fortune, the Mars family, descendants of the candy empire, the Saudi Royal family, and the infamous Koch brothers, the right-wing libertarians who inherited their father’s oil, gas, and other holdings.

Notable in the new analysis is not just the size of the massive wealth these families now have, but just how exponentially it has grown, especially compared to others in the economy—both in the last several decades and over the last 12 months.

As Bloomberg points out:

Even in this era of extreme wealth and brutal inequality, the contrast is jarring. The heirs of Sam Walton, Walmart’s notoriously frugal founder, are amassing wealth on a near-unprecedented scale—and they’re hardly alone.

The Walton fortune has swelled by $39 billion, to $191 billion, since topping the June 2018 ranking of the world’s richest families.

Other American dynasties are close behind in terms of the assets they’ve accrued. The Mars family, of candy fame, added $37 billion, bringing its fortune to $127 billion. The Kochs, the industrialists-cum-political-power-players, tacked on $26 billion, to $125 billion.

So it goes around the globe. America’s richest 0.1% today control more wealth than at any time since 1929, but their counterparts in Asia and Europe are gaining too. Worldwide, the 25 richest families now control almost $1.4 trillion in wealth, up 24% from last year.

In 2014, the United Nations issued a scathing report which warned that escalating income and wealth disparities across the world was creating economic and political instability. The report, put forth by the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), cautioned leaders that if unaddressed the trend of inequality would “undermine the very foundations of development and social and domestic peace.”

Earlier this year, Oxfam International also warned that global wealth inequality was “out of control” and urged immediate far-reaching action. “Our economy is broken,” the group said at the time. “Hundreds of millions of people living in extreme poverty while huge rewards go to those at the very top. There are more billionaires than ever before, and their fortunes have grown to record levels. Meanwhile, the world’s poorest got even poorer.”

So while the Trump administration in the United States and other right-wing forces advocating on behalf of the global oligarchy continue to tell workers and struggling families around the world that the threat to them is “immigrants taking their jobs” or “socialists trying to provide better wages and more universal protections”—others pointed to the new Bloomberg analysis as an alternative explanation for why there seems to be less and less for some people in the economy while the ultra-rich continue to amass fortunes at breakneck speed.

As Common Dreams reported earlier this week, an analysis by Dallas Morning News finance columnist Scott Burns found that if current trends continue, the wealthiest Americans “will truly ‘have it all’ just 33 years from now”as they gobble up a larger and larger share of the overall economic pie.

“However you slice it, the rich have been getting richer. Lots richer,” Burns wrote.

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U.N. Report: 1 Million Species at Risk of Extinction especially mammals and insects 5/19 see Bio-diversity.

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https://www.alternet.org/2019/04/earth-day-under-trump-nearly-50-years-later-nixons-environmental-movement-is-under-attack/

Current talk of the Green New Deal or the GOP alternative Green Real Deal notwithstanding, the political contrast between the first Earth Day in 1970 and this year’s Earth Day is stark. While some still debate Nixon’s environmental record, there is no ambiguity in president Trump’s. He is sounding the retreat, not leading the charge.

When the first Earth Day was proclaimed in April of 1970, Nixon was working on the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, and before the year was over, Nixon would sign the landmark Clean Air Act of 1970 into law. The Trump administration’s environmental outlook, however, is the mirror image opposite of Nixon’s.

Last month, theUN’s sixth Global Environment Outlook report, or GEO-6 for short, warned that environmental degradation is “endangering the ecological foundations of society,” and called for “bold, urgent, sustainable and inclusive action.”

At the White House, GEO-6 was dead on arrival, as the Trump administration was busy unveiling a budget proposal that would slash funds for fighting climate change and other environmental hazards.

GEO-6 identified “population, economic development, and climate change” as the principal “drivers” of environmental degradation. But instead of hitting the brake on those three drivers, the White House is hitting the accelerator.

World population, currently 7.7 billion, is projected to rise to 8.6 billion by 2030 and nearly 10 billion by mid-century. Noting that “long-term sustainability is incompatible with growing populations,” the GEO-6 report urges expanding access to contraception in the developing world, where 97 percent of the projected growth is expected to occur. But the president’s budget would cut U.S. support for international family planning assistance by more than half.

Gender inequality is a principal driver of high birth rates and rapid population growth in developing countries. Recognizing this, GEO-6 urges support for foreign assistance programs that advance the health and education of girls. But the president’s budget would cut State Department and USAID funding by 24 percent, almost certainly requiring major cuts in funding for girls’ health and education.

The GEO-6 report stresses the need to “decouple growth from negative environmental impacts.” But the Trump administration has slashed dozens of environmental regulations affecting air, land, and water resources, and it now wants to cut EPA funding by 31 percent.GEO-6 warns anthropogenic climate change, already well under way, will “amplify existing risks and create new risks for natural and human systems,” and it argues that world leaders must commit to bringing net greenhouse gases emissions to zero by mid-century. But Trump’s repudiation of the Paris Climate Accord and his deregulation of coal-fired plants are aimed at burning more coal.

Some world leaders are publicly supportive of environmental objectives, but fail to walk the walk. President Trump, on the other hand, doesn’t even talk the talk. His blithe dismissals of climate change and other environmental threats set him apart, starkly and tragically, from other world leaders.

So far, Congress has rejected Trump’s call for draconian cuts in EPA funding, but it has done nothing to stop Trump’s derailing of Obama administration plans for reining in greenhouse gases, including the phase out of coal-fired power plants.

We urgently need to change course. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned in releasing the GEO-6 report, we need “a significant shift in trajectory.” That will likely require change on the scale of the proposed Green New Deal, an approach that was rejected last month by Republicans and a handful of Democrats in the Senate.

There are, however, reasons for hope. A small but growing number of Republicans in Congress are acknowledging the reality of anthropogenic climate change, including Rep. Matt Gaetz, (FL-01). He recently unveiled his Green Real Deal proposal, and while it stops far short of what needs to be done, it’s a sign of a warming political climate. After Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg made an emotional appeal to the UN in December, student-led climate change protests have proliferated. A new global movement may be in the making.

The way forward on climate change does not require economic hardship. Just as the U.S. prospered while slashing automobile emissions and setting wastewater standards, we can also prosper while spurring swift reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by phasing in a substantial and economically efficient carbon tax. At the same time, we can slow population growth by improving access to family planning services at home and abroad. Doing these things today would improve the odds of brighter Earth Days ahead.

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NRATV, the media arm of the National Rifle Association, had a crazy week.

They kicked the week off by going after the children’s show Thomas & Friends. Feel free to read that last sentence again. The show had partnered with theUnited Nations to promote equal opportunities,introducing two female characters, one of them depicted as being from Kenya. This set off alarms for NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch. Not only did she lash out at the message they were trying to convey, they ran a graphic depicting the trains wearing KKK hoods as they rode on flaming tracks. Mattel, which owns the Thomas brand, issued a statement saying that inclusivity was a priority.

The next day Loesch suggested that Botham Jean, an innocent black man who was killed in his own apartment by a Dallas police officer, would have survived had he been a “law abiding gun owner.”

Defending her remarks about Jean, Loesch invoked Philando Castile’s death, lying about the events that transpired. Castile was killed by a police officer during a routine traffic stop after telling the officer that he had a gun in his possession. Loesch, in addition to getting the events wrong, said that Castile would be alive if he had behaved like she would have. Castile’s mother again called out Loesch and the NRA.

After Trump tweeted a conspiracy theory this week that the death toll from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico wasn’t as high as was now being reported, a new low even by his standards, NRATV host Grant Stinchfield came to the president’s defense, calling the death toll numbers bogus.

It is clear that the NRA's racism is a core part of its strategy. They are invested in the regime of white supremacy, and deeply fear that a changing America would take a fresh look at widespread gun violence -- and what could be done about it.

Also: Tucker Carlson keeps pushing white nationalist talking points on his show, and white supremacists are thrilled with him.

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https://www.alternet.org/un-chief-warns-existential-threat-humanity-climate-change-moving-faster-we-are

Warning that "we face a direct existential threat" because "climate change is moving faster than we are,"United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, in a speech at the U.N.'s New York headquarters on Monday, demanded urgent action from world leaders to combat "the defining issue of our time."

In the wake of worldwide #RiseForClimate protests over the weekend, which brought more than 250,000 people into the streets to call for bolder action to address the global crisis, the U.N. chief declared, "If we do not change course by 2020, we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change, with disastrous consequences for people and all the natural systems that sustain us."

Climate change is the defining issue of our time – and we are at a defining moment. If we do not change course by 2020, we could miss our chance to avoid the disastrous consequences of runaway climate change. The time for ambitious #ClimateAction is now. https://t.co/Ad19hj3zsD pic.twitter.com/VykZtbYDUi

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) September 10, 2018

Researchers from around the world continue to raise alarm about the dire consequences of burning fossil fuels that generate planet-warming emissions.

Recent reports have detailed how the global climate crisis makes extreme weather more likely; how accelerated Arctic warming is stalling summer weather over North America, Europe, and Asia, which could lead to "very-extreme extremes"; and the precise threats to certain regions—such as California, which faces a future of dangerous heat waves, devastating wildfires, intense rain events, and costly sea-level rise.

The "Hothouse Earth" study provoked a flood of "breathless headlines" last month for its warnings of a possible domino effect of climate feedback loops that could lead to runaway global warming—though at least one of its co-authors optimistically positedafter all of the media attention that "people will look back on 2018 as the year when climate reality hit."

"Scientists have been telling us for decades. Over and over again. Far too many leaders have refused to listen. Far too few have acted with the vision the science demands," Guterres noted Monday. "Dear friends, we know what is happening to our planet. We know what we need to do. And we even know how to do it. But sadly, the ambition of our action is nowhere near where it needs to be."

Calling the Paris climate agreement the "bare minimum," Guterres pointed out that states who support the accord—every nation on the planet but the United States, thanks to President Donald Trump's decision to bail on it last year—are failing to live up to its inadequate goals.

"We have the moral and economic incentives to act. What is still missing—still, even after Paris—is the leadership, and the sense of urgency and true commitment to [a] decisive multilateral response," Guterres concluded. "Our fate is in our hands. The world is counting on all of us to rise to the challenge before it's too late."

Guterres also turned to Twitter on Monday to highlight a new Guardian op-ed from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who challenged all cities to join the global divestment movement and announced a new forum, which their cities will co-chair, to share tools and tips for divesting from fossil fuels and investing in green energy.

...[sf conf]

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Indigenous Australians Take Fight Against Giant Coal Mine to the United Nations

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Opinion

JUL 10, 2012 @ 12:45 PM 156,094 The Little Black Book of Billionaire Secrets

The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty: Are Our 2nd Amendment Rights Part Of The Deal?

Larry Bell , CONTRIBUTOR

I write about aerospace, environment, energy, Second Amendment policy

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

US President Barack Obama addresses the United Nations General Assembly. "As a former lecturer in constitutional law, wouldn’t President Obama realize that the U.N.’s gun- grab agenda violates our sovereign rights? Perhaps the answer to that question warrants some serious reflection. " (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)

One year ago I wrote an article titled “U.N. Agreement Should Have All Gun Owners Up In Arms” which has recently gained a great deal of renewed public interest. This update reviews some more recent developments, offering additional perspective about an immediate matter which should be of great concern to all who value rights guaranteed by our Second Amendment.

The Obama administration is actively engaged in negotiations to finalize details for a new global agreement premised to fight “terrorism”, “insurgency” and “international crime syndicates”. As U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon describes its purpose, “Our goal is clear: a robust and legally binding Arms Trade Treaty that will have a real impact on the lives of those millions of people suffering from consequences of armed conflict, repression and armed violence…It is ambitious, but it is achievable.”

Under the George W. Bush administration, the U.S. originally voted against a resolution that began the process in 2006. However, the current administration reversed that policy, and strongly supports its enactment. In January 2010, U.S. representatives joined with those of 152 other countries in endorsing a U.N. Arms Treaty Resolution to draft a blueprint for enactment in 2012. This activity is planned to be completed by July 27, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pledged to push hard for Senate ratification. Previously led by the United Kingdom, there can be no doubt that the U.N.’s 193-member General Assembly will approve it.

Foreign ministers of the U.K., France, Germany and Sweden want the treaty to cover all types of conventional weapons, notably including small arms and light weapons, all types of munitions, and related technologies. They also advocate that it include strong provisions governing human rights, international humanitarian law and sustainable development. (More about sustainable development later.)

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Internal Security and Nonproliferation, Thomas Countryman, has stated that the Obama administration does not support regulation of ammunition, but only wants to make it more difficult to “conduct illicit, illegal and destabilizing transfers of arms”. In addition, a press release issued by the U.N. Office for Disarmament Affairs says that “The outcome will not seek to prohibit citizens of any country from possessing firearms or to interfere with the legal trade in small arms and light weapons.”

Such statements have many very strong skeptics, both inside and outside Congress. One reason, among many, is that Iran, a country that is one of the world’s worst human rights violators, yet often chaired the U.N. Human Rights Council…yes Iran, arms supplier to many of America’s most determined adversaries… was selected for a top Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) planning conference position. The members, apparently including U.S. representatives, authorized this selection shortly after the same U.N. found the very same Iran guilty of transferring guns and bombs to the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad who is presently slaughtering thousands of its own citizens.Meanwhile, the U.N., America included, purporting to be distraught about illicit, illegal and destabilizing transfers of arms, watches in the wings as these tragedies unfold. Of course, they’re very busy. Those arms control planning conferences require a lot of attention.

On June 29, 130 Republican House members sent a letter to President Obama and Secretary Clinton arguing that the proposed treaty infringes on the “fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms”. The letter charges that “…the U.N.’s actions to date indicate that the ATT is likely to pose significant threats to our national security, foreign policy, and economic interests as well as our constitutional rights.” The lawmakers adamantly insist that the U.S. Government has no right to support a treaty that violates the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Democrats have accused Republicans of making this a political issue, maintaining that the treaty poses no Second Amendment threat.Others, such as former U.N. ambassador John Bolton, caution gun owners to take this initiative seriously. He believes that the U.N. “is trying to act as though this is really just a treaty about international arms trade between nation states, but there is no doubt that the real agenda here is domestic firearms control.”

So let’s review some recent history and see if gun owners and other Second Amendment defenders might have very good reasons to take issue with this treaty. Actually, we don’t have to look back very far at all.

Consider the Fast and Furious debacle, an operation that was represented to be all about targeting bad guys who are committing violent crimes on both sides of our border with Mexico. There can be no remaining doubt that the program was really aimed at border gun shops and their right to conduct legal civilian firearms sales.

And after the 2010 Republican House cleaning dashed President Obama’s dream of a carbon cap-and-trade program, he wasted no time finding a way to circumvent that pesky obstacle. His EPA is gleefully pursuing that same anti-fossil energy agenda. Meanwhile, Congress sits idly by and allows this breach of its constitutional responsibility established by separation of powers to continue.

Then there’s the currently proposed, Obama-endorsed, Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) which would subordinate U.S. naval and drilling operations beyond 200 miles of our coast to a newly established U.N. bureaucracy. If ratified by Congress, it will grant a Kingston, Jamaica-based International Seabed Authority (ISA) the power to regulate deep-sea oil exploration, seabed mining, and fishing rights. As part of the deal, as much as 7% of U.S. government revenue collected from oil and gas companies operating off our coast will be forked over to ISA for redistribution to poorer, landlocked countries.

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https://www.democracynow.org/2018/1/18/headlines/un_agency_for_palestinians_appeals_for_funds_as_us_slashes_contributions

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Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees made an urgent appeal for funds Wednesday, after the Trump administration canceled $65 million in annual contributions to the agency, known as UNRWA. In Gaza, residents say they could soon starve unless international donors step up to fill the funding gap left by President Trump.

Fathiya Abed al-Jawad: “We will be lost. It will be a catastrophe. People will be stealing from each other. We will live in a catastrophe. We will suffer to provide food and wheat. People will kill each other.”

Naim Hamad: “What should I do? Should I go sell one of my kids or sell my kidney? What should I do? Should I go and steal or work as a spy? I need cooking oil, yogurt, eggs and bread.”

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https://www.alternet.org/environment/what-trumps-withdrawal-unesco-means-environment

What Trump's Withdrawal From UNESCO Means for the Environment

President Trump continues to isolate the United States from the global community.

By Giovanni Ortolani / AlterNet December 26, 2017, 8:30 PM GMT

The Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary in the Philippines is a World Heritage Site that supports threatened and endemic flora and fauna.

Photo Credit: Roy F. Ponce/UNESCO

The U.S. is quitting UNESCO, the United Nations organization that coordinates international efforts to foster peace and sustainable development and to eradicate poverty. The Trump administration made the announcement October 12. The withdrawal takes effect Dec. 31, 2018.

"This decision was not taken lightly, and reflects U.S. concerns with mounting arrears at UNESCO, the need for fundamental reform in the organization, and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO," said Heather Nauert, a U.S. State Department spokesperson in a press statement.

The U.S. says it will seek to stay engaged with the organization as a non-member observer state in order to "contribute U.S. views, perspectives and expertise on some of the important issues undertaken by the organization," including the protection of World Heritage Sites and the promotion of scientific collaboration.

Saint Mary Lake and Wildgoose Island, Glacier National Park, a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site. (Photo courtesy of U.S. National Park Service)

Trump isn’t the first U.S. president to have antagonism toward the organization. Although America has played an important role in UNESCO since its creation after World War II, Trump's predecessors have been quarreling with it since the 1970s.

"We were in arrears to the tune of $550 million or so, and so the question is, do we want to pay that money?" Nauert said at a news briefing, making clear that "with this anti-Israel bias that’s long documented on the part of UNESCO, that [U.S. relationship] needs to come to an end."

But what does the Trump administration’s withdrawal mean for UNESCO environmental programs worldwide? And will the loss of U.S. money matter?

UNESCO declares 2015 the International Year of Light at the Paris Climate Summit. President Trump’s announcement that the U.S. is withdrawing from the world scientific body has spurred concern at the harm the decision will do to the planet. (Photo by Athalfred DKL on VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND)

UNESCO environmental and science programs

The U.N. Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization was founded in 1945, and is a catalyst for far-reaching and important environmental and sustainable development initiatives. Today it’s the only UN organization with a clear science mandate, and it works on a broad scope of environmental issues, directing projects from a scientific, cultural, social and educational perspective.

UNESCO’s Natural Sciences Sector, headquartered in Paris, has a staff of 120, with 54 field offices around the world, and hosts major international programs in the freshwater, ecological, earth and basic sciences. Its activities deal with the ecological sciences (Man and the Biosphere Program and World Network of Biosphere Reserves), water security (International Hydrological Program and World Water Assessment Program), and earth sciences (International Geoparks and Geoscience Program, and disaster risk reduction).

Man and the Biosphere is one of UNESCO’s best-known programs, with its World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Launched in 1971, MAB seeks to improve relationships between people and their environments by protecting areas nominated by national governments. MAB reserves remain under sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they’re located, but enjoy international recognition.

"Biosphere Reserves are learning places for sustainable development whose aim is to reconcile biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources," read a recent UNESCO press statement when it added 23 new sites to WNBR. The Trump Administration is voluntarily withdrawing 17 sites from the program. However, withdrawal isn’t unusual and other countries including the U.K., Austria, Australia, Norway, Bulgaria, and Sweden have withdrawn MAB sites in the past. Among those being withdrawn by the U.S. currently is the Hubbard Brook, New Hampshire, U.S. Forest Service reserve, where groundbreaking forest ecosystem and climate research has been ongoing for decades.

Today WNBR encompasses 669 sites in 120 countries, including 16 transboundary biosphere reserves, covering over 680 million hectares (2.6 million square miles) of inland, coastal and marine areas, and representing all major ecosystem types and diverse development contexts. These areas are home to approximately 207 million people ranging from rural and indigenous communities to urban dwellers.

In the 1960s, UNESCO launched an international campaign to save the Abu Simbel Temple monuments in Egypt from being flooded by Lake Nasser as it backed up behind the Aswan High Dam. The project drew unprecedented international attention and praise for UNESCO’s protection of the world’s cultural heritage. (Photo on VisualHunt.com)

Water programs

The International Hydrological Program does scientific, educational and capacity building around water issues. IHP promotes an interdisciplinary, integrated approach to watershed and aquifer management, and does international research in the hydrological and freshwater sciences.

It also assists UNESCO member states in water security efforts, addressing challenges such as water-related disasters and hydrological changes, groundwater, water scarcity and quality, and ecohydrology—the study of the interrelationships between hydrological and biological processes required to enhance water security and lessen ecological threats.

The World Water Assessment Program produces an annual World Water Development Report, a coordinated effort achieved across the U.N. system and provides a clear picture of the state of the world’s freshwater resources to member nations.

Pamukkale, Turkey, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for its hot springs and enormous white terraces of travertine, a carbonate mineral sediment left by flowing water. (Photo on Visualhunt.com)

Earth science programs

UNESCO's programs in earth sciences support research that informs current challenges such as evidence of global change from the geological record, geoscience of the water cycle, or environmental geodynamics.

The Environmental and Health Impacts of Mining Activities in Sub-Saharan African Countries is a good example of how valuable this knowledge can be. This program aims to understand how mining activities (particularly abandoned mines) negatively affect soils, animals, plants and fungi, surface and groundwater, and the health of neighboring communities. It also experiments with the most appropriate mining rehabilitation technologies and provides science-based data to governments and local authorities on both land-use planning and technologies to mitigate environmental disaster in contaminated regions.

UNESCO Global Geoparks are areas where landscapes and sites of international geological significance are managed via a holistic approach to protection, education and sustainable development. As of today, there are 127 Geoparks in 35 countries, ranging from Vietnam to Brazil.

The organization also supports the meaningful inclusion of local and indigenous knowledge in biodiversity conservation and management, especially climate change assessment and adaptation via the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) has its own membership and a separate chapter in the Organization’s program and budget. IOC is the only body devoted to marine science within the UN system, and the United States has been involved in it since its establishment in 1960, mainly through the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The future of that relationship is uncertain now.

The U.S. has played an important role in many IOC programs critical to ocean health and the well-being of coastal communities. For instance, the Global Tsunami Warning System that covers four major ocean basins (Pacific, Indian, Caribbean, and Mediterranean/North Eastern Atlantic), or the Harmful Algal Blooms program, which develops research and provides guidance to address “red tides” now threatening a wide range of coastal economic sectors (fishing, tourism, navigation, aquaculture).

NOAA and NASA are also pivotal to IOC’s Global Ocean Observing System: the U.S. has in particular been leading the deployment of Argo floats around the globe to enhance measurements of ocean temperature, salinity and currents. The U.S. is a key contributor to observations of sea-level rise, ocean water acidification and a number of other variables to enhance understanding and predict trends and impacts of climate change, El Niño and other ocean-related phenomena. It is uncertain precisely how that relationship will function in future.

Okavango Delta, Botswana, World Heritage Site. This permanent marshland and seasonally flooded plainisone of the world’s few major interior delta systems that do not flow into a sea. The Okavango Delta is home to some of the world’s most endangered species, including the elephant, cheetah, white rhinoceros, black rhinoceros, African wild dogandlion. (© Pete Hancock/UNESCO)

Who benefits, who is hurt?

"While the U.S. will remain engaged in many of these programs, the absence of U.S. funding makes it increasingly difficult to meet the challenges that are so vital to the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans," UNESCO spokesman George Papagiannis told Mongabay in an email, pointing out that "an ounce of investment is worth a pound of cure."

Papagiannis stressed a simple fact: UNESCO programs, and the critical environmental problems they seek to solve, do not only result in benefits to countries far from the White House, but instead greatly benefit the United States and millions of American citizens.

"A submerged lower Manhattan during Hurricane Sandy, or the blooming red tides that affect the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, are reminders that the U.S. is no safer than most countries from ocean-related hazards," he said, adding that no single country, regardless of national capacity, can tackle these cross-border issues on its own.

"Whether it is about safeguarding coastal economies and jobs, ensuring people's safety and public health, or protecting infrastructures, U.S. investments on IOC activities in ocean science and services create benefits to its citizens that far outweigh the costs," he said.

Ancient Maya city and protected tropical forests of Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico, a World Heritage Site—a valued natural and cultural landscape located in the central/southern Yucatan Peninsula. The site protects both the ancient Mayan city of Calakmul and a large section of the Mesoamerica biodiversity hotspot, which encompasses all subtropical and tropical ecosystems from central Mexico to the Panama Canal. (© Archivo/RBC-CONANP)

The IOC also provides an intergovernmental coordination platform for effective collective action, from which all member states benefit. Of course, that cooperative approach doesn’t fit in well with President Trump's "Make America Great Again," go-it-alone approach.

As an example, the UN General Assembly is discussing a proposal by IOC to declare 2021-2030 as the U.N. Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development under the U.N.’s global coordination. "The U.S. government and its scientific institutions stand to benefit enormously from participating in this collective framework for coordinating and consolidating the observations and research needed to achieve the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goal 14 on the ocean," Papagiannis said, pointing out that "it will be the time to bolster innovative technologies and scientific knowledge to bring tangible wellbeing and economic benefits to U.S. citizens."

It is worth noting that much of UNESCO's work addresses the root causes of mass human migration, promoting sustainable and equitable management of national natural resources, and providing or fostering livelihoods, notably in Biosphere Reserves.

Loss of U.S. funding started in 2011

Strange as it may sound, there will be no immediate financial consequences related to the U.S. withdrawal from UNESCO because the United States has not paid its dues since 2011 during the Obama administration when the Palestinian Authority was accepted into the U.N. agency as a full member. The funding cut then was across the board, resulting in a 22 percent hit to the UNESCO budget more than $80 million per year, according to a Foreign Policy report. Since then, all parts of the organization have adapted to new financial realities.

Clearly, there have been consequences since 2011, and UNESCO has never fully recovered from the loss. The approved budget allocated to Science and the International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) for the 2010-2011 biennium was $59,074,000, while the approved expenditure plan for the current biennium (2016-2017) for Science and the IOC falls below that amount, coming in at $48,308,400.

The Isla Genovesa Booby Sanctuary, Tower Island, Galapagos World Heritage Site. (Photo by David Broad licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license)

As a result, the number of permanent science positions has decreased, while less funding has meant a sharp refocusing of the organization’s work. UNESCO’s Basic Sciences efforts were severely impacted, and the organization is no longer directly involved in earth observation and remote sensing projects, with few exceptions. That’s a serious problem when one considers the rapid natural changes underway due to climate change. Furthermore, UNESCO no longer spends regular budget on renewable energy activities, and its engineering activities have been strongly curtailed.

In addition to its assessed contribution, the U.S. used to fund projects directly, a procedure known as “extra-budgetary funding.” This means that UNESCO received money from the U.S. State Department, USAID, Department of Defense and National Science Foundation for seismicity and earthquake engineering in the Mediterranean and in Northeast Asia, and cooperation with the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering. The last of the funds allocated as extra-budgetary were received in November 2011 and spent by 2014.

One discontinued project was the Open Initiative with the Space Agencies, which included NASA, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the U.S. Geological Survey. This initiative used space imaging to monitor and protect World Heritage sites, and was discontinued five years ago. Interestingly that task has now been taken on by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which seems to value science more than the current U.S administration.

Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary, Philippines, World Heritage Site. This preserve showcases terrestrial and aquatic habitats at varying elevations, and includes threatened and endemic flora and fauna, eight species of which are found only at Mount Hamiguitan, including the iconic Philippine eagle and Philippine cockatoo. (© Roy F. Ponce/UNESCO)

Who is the real loser?

According to Papagiannis, "the withdrawal of the U.S. will have an impact on the United States' level of engagement in global science programs, and in the leadership of these programs."

But in statements emailed to Mongabay, a State Department official wrote “U.S. withdrawal from UNESCO does not alter U.S. policy of supporting international cooperation in educational, scientific, cultural, communication and information activities where there are benefits to the United States. By pursuing non-member observer status, it is our intention to remain participants in UNESCO programs, such as IOC, where non-member observers may have a role.”

However, the statement continues, the dimensions of this observer participation remain to be defined. Currently, the U.S. is focused on preparing its request for non-member observer status so that it may remain engaged on "non-politicized issues" undertaken by UNESCO.

"When it is in the U.S. interest," stressed the official, "the United States will continue to participate in UNESCO and UNESCO-related activities that do not require membership in the Organization."

Melinda Kimble, senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation, asserts that UNESCO's scientific and environmental programs provide core elements that support national and regional planning for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”—a commitment to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development by 2030 worldwide adopted in 2015 by Heads of State and Government at a special U.N. summit.

“Clearly, an active and fully contributing U.S. could make a difference in sustaining UNESCO’s leadership in education, science and culture,” she told Mongabay.

This is not the first time the U.S. has left UNESCO. The Reagan Administration withdrew in 1984 because of concerns over many issues, ranging from Soviet Union disarmament proposals to the organization’s request for a budget increase. When the U.S. pulled out then, it was not in arrears and continued supporting UNESCO programs with voluntary financial contributions.

Karibik, St. Kitts, Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many such sites include both natural and historical treasures. (Photo by giggel licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license)

Then after an almost 20-year absence, the U.S. rejoined the organization in 2003. President George W. Bush announced the move "as a symbol of our commitment to human dignity.… This organization has been reformed and America will participate fully in its mission to advance human rights and tolerance and learning."

As for Trump's planned withdrawal, Kimble agrees that “clearly, an active and fully contributing USA could make a difference in sustaining UNESCO's leadership in education, science and culture.” She notes that while the current pullout underscores U.S. skepticism about the U.N. system and multilateral action in many spheres, the real damage was done not by Trump but starting in 2011 with the U.S. failure to contribute financially.

“[T]he failure to pay dues has significantly undermined the capacity of the organization to deliver on its ambitious programs,” Kimble concluded.

Under the terms of the original 1945 treaty establishing the United Nations and UNESCO, the U.S. as a Member State remains obligated to paying its arrears. "But this is not just about the money," says Papagiannis. "This [withdrawal represents] a loss for multilateralism and a blow to universality, which are critical factors to addressing the issues that affect people everywhere in every country."

Sequoia-Kings Canyon Biosphere Reserve (established 1976) is located in the southern Sierra Nevada of California, USA. (Photo by thor_mark on VisualHunt / CC BY-NC-SA)

In October, after receiving official notification by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova expressed profound regret at the decision.

"In 2011, when payment of membership contributions was suspended at the 36th session of the UNESCO General Conference, I said I was convinced UNESCO had never mattered as much for the United States, or the United States for UNESCO. This is all the more true today, when the rise of violent extremism and terrorism calls for new long-term responses for peace and security, to counter racism and anti-semitism, to fight ignorance and discrimination," she said in a press statement.

"I believe UNESCO’s action to enhance scientific cooperation, for ocean sustainability, is shared by the American people," she added.

As the world rushes headlong into a century of scientific uncertainty, where the climate, oceans, freshwater, ecosystems and human communities grow increasingly unstable and at risk, it remains to be seen just how long America will want to go it alone, rather than joining with the rest of the world to share in the costs and benefits of international science in order to serve the common good

https://www.alternet.org/environment/what-trumps-withdrawal-unesco-means-environment

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http://www.alternet.org/environment/move-over-paris-new-global-pact-could-finally-grant-planet-earth-right-survival

Despite any claims in the press, nothing new has progressed in international environmental law for a few decades. Activity has been focused on fine-tuning the existing agreements; but now moves are afoot to finally grant planet Earth a right to survival.

Actually, international environmental governance and law haven’t been around for that long. A few treaties pre-date the 1970s, but focused environmental governance began in 1972 with the Stockholm Declaration, when governments recognized that biological diversity is a global asset for present and future generations—that Earth’s biological resources are vital to humanity's economic and social development. Following this foundation declaration came a mushrooming of treaties and agreements in the '70s and '80s, all seeking to address specific areas that threaten Earth's biological heritage.

There are now over 500 international treaties dealing with the environment. Many of these are small, or regionally specific. Most have a distinct focus, like banning the release of chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere, combatting the illegal wildlife trade or reducing the impact of shipping. The last major step was the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992. This treaty was intended as the unifier—the rallying point around which everything else would spin. But CBD blended into the crowd, and since 1992, nothing new has come along to energize the governance arena again.

This is not to suggest no attention has been directed to managing the environmental commons. A regular flurry of diplomatic activity is focused on fine-tuning the existing agreements around specific issues. Even the much-heralded Paris Agreement is progress against a program that was established many decades ago. Meetings are held, small progress steps are made, but there is no vigor in the system. Meanwhile, the threats to species and ecosystems have never been so great. Species extinctions, caused by human activities, continue at an alarming rate.

All of the 500 environmental treaties have been hard won. The detail each contains is important—the world is a complicated place and cannot be managed with simplistic motherhood statements. But governments are not bound by them; they can abide or ignore the treaties as they please. Despite the effort that went into their creation, environmental treaties are often referred to as "soft law" because they don't have any legally binding force.

For the past decade or so governments have complained that the field is now too crowded, complicated and reporting to them all is duplicated effort. To calm the disquiet, the United Nations General Assembly elevated the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP),giving it greater impetus through a new United National Environment Assembly. The idea is for UNEA to be a focal point for addressing important issues from different perspectives. For instance, UNEA3taking place in November 2017 will focus on pollution in all its forms.

Elevating UNEP and creating UNEA is still yet another incremental step that just helps to better focus the old issues. But recently, something new was born. Still in its infancy, anew Global Pact for the Environment is proposed to bring soft environmental law into the realm of hard law.If the U.N. General Assembly adopts the pact, hard law teeth will be given to the existing environment treaties. The pact will become a unifying legal document to sit over the complicated detail of the 500 treaties. Suddenly, international environmental law will have coherence because everyone will be paying attention.

If it survives to maturity, the pact will do more. It will also establish principles that compel nations and other legal persons to protect the environment, promote sustainable development and intergenerational equity, and ensure the right of access to information and environmental justice.

If the pact is adopted by the United Nations, environmental rights will have legal and binding power. For the first time, humans will have agreed that Earth and all her inhabitants have a right to survival. That is something worth fighting for.

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Saiya, Nilay. "Evangelizing Foreign Policy: Bush, Dispensationalism and the Middle East" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the MPSA Annual National Conference, Palmer House Hotel, Hilton, Chicago, IL, Apr 03, 2008  .  2013-12-14 Evangelizing Foreign Policy: Bush, Dispensationalism and the Middle East The integrating of politics into the novels should not be surprising given the political background of one of the authors. Rev. Tim LaHaye (cofounder of the Moral  Majority whose wife, Beverly LaHaye runs the conservative Christian organization Concerned Women for America) has emerged as one of the preeminent leaders of the Christian Right, joining the ranks of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Billy Graham. He even has a school of prophecy named after him at Falwell’s Liberty University.  In the 1980’s LaHaye was an important figure in the Christian Right in his roles as leader of Californians for Biblical Morality, an organization instrumental in electing Ronald Reagan as that state’s governor, and co-founder of the burgeoning Moral Majority. 43 Later, he was named a co-chair of Jack Kemp’s presidential campaign in 1988.  Recently,  he has established a Pre-Tribulation Research Center, which exists as “a ‘think tank’ committed to the study, proclamation, teaching and defending of the Pre-tribulational Rapture (pre-70th week of Daniel) and related end-time prophecy.” 44 Some speculated a connection between the apocalyptic writings of LaHaye and the Manichean dualism and  controversial Middle East policies of George W. Bush.  Pat Robertson’s 1991 best-selling novel The New World Order describes an elaborate conspiracy leading to the ascension of the antichrist to world power. The narrative, based on prophetic passages found in both the Old and New Testaments, presents an over 200-year-old plot to destroy the Christian faith. Individuals and organizations involved (whether knowingly or unknowingly) are as diverse as the Freemasons, the Illuminati, the United Nations, Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler, the Trilateral Commission, Henry Kissinger, and even the Council on Foreign Relations. As in the Left Behind novels, the backdrop for the ascent of the antichrist is the United Nations. =U.N. Chief Tries to Kick-Start Sagging Enthusiasm for Climate Deal