Geologist Ian Plimer takes a contrary view, arguing that man-made climate change is a con trick perpetuated by environmentalists. Plimer has outraged the ayatollahs of purist environmentalism, the Torquemadas of the doctrine of global warming, and he seems to relish the damnation they heap on him. Plimer is a geologist, professor of mining geology at Adelaide University, and he may well be Australia's best-known and most notorious academic. Plimer is an unremitting critic of "anthropogenic global warming" -- man-made climate change to you and me -- and the current environmental orthodoxy that if we change our polluting ways, global warming can be reversed. But Plimer shows no sign of giving way to this orthodoxy and has just published the latest of his six books and 60 academic papers on the subject of global warming. Plimer presents the proposition that anthropogenic global warming is little more than a con trick on the public perpetrated by fundamentalist environmentalists and callously adopted by politicians and government officials who love nothing more than an issue that causes public anxiety. While environmentalists for the most part draw their conclusions based on climate information gathered in the last few hundred years, geologists, Plimer says, have a time frame stretching back many thousands of millions of years. There is no problem with global warming, Plimer says repeatedly. He points out that for humans periods of global warming have been times of abundance when civilization made leaps forward. Ice ages, in contrast, have been times when human development slowed or even declined. So global warming, says Plimer, is something humans should welcome and embrace as a harbinger of good times to come.
The International Court of Justice is to hold public hearings in December on the legitimacy of Kosovo's unilateral secession from Serbia, it said Wednesday. "The public hearings will open on December 1 at the Peace Palace, the seat of the court," said a statement from the U.N.'s highest court based in The Hague. "During these hearings, statements and comments may be presented orally by the United Nations and its member states. "The authors of the unilateral declaration of independence ... will be able to present an oral contribution." Last October, the ICJ received a request from the U.N. General Assembly to render an opinion on whether Kosovo's declaration of independence conformed to international law. Thirty-six U.N. member states have to date filed written statements with the court on the issue, as have Kosovo authorities and Serbia. Last month, Serbian President Boris Tadic said his country would be ready to negotiate with Kosovo after the ICJ ruling, adding he was "convinced" the court wouldn't recognise the secession. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian-dominated parliament unilaterally seceded from Serbia in February 2008, despite fierce opposition from Belgrade. The move has so far been recognized by 60 countries, including the U.S., and all but five of the European Union's 27 member nations. The ICJ was set up to rule on disputes between sovereign states, but can also be asked by the U.N. to give an advisory opinion on legal questions. It has issued 25 such advisory opinions since it started work in April 1946. Unlike its rulings in contentious proceedings between states, the court's advisory opinions have no binding effect.
The independent commission, created in December last year by the Council of Ministers of the European Union to investigate the causes and the developments of the Georgian War of August 2008, is due in Moscow on Friday. It will probably be the last step before the official publication of the results of its seven-month-long work, conducted by a panel of international experts, diplomats, officers and prosecutors. The conclusion was already made public, unofficially, two months ago by a German newspaper. The mysterious leak was, probably, the result of an internal fight inside the European institutions – between those aiming to find the facts and those trying to defend Saakashvili along with the idea of pushing Georgia ahead as a NATO member. The question is crucial from many points of view. If Saakashvili lied to the international community, accusing Russia of having begun the conflict, or having provoked (the second Georgian version) Georgia to react, the credibility of Georgia and Saakashvili himself will be seriously undermined. And with that, the possibility of its becoming a NATO member in the foreseeable future. The independent panel, according to the leaked information, reached the conclusion that it was the Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, who ordered the attack, independently and before any so-called, “Russian invasion of the Georgian territory.” However, the recent visit to Georgia by American Vice President Joe Biden has given Mr. Saakashvili a second wind. After the visit, The International Herald Tribune titled the article: “Improbably, leader of Georgia survives”. This conclusion is probably not only wishful thinking from the American side. It means that the American administration will give Mr. Saakashvili time to finish its own electoral mandate. President Obama sent Joseph Biden there exactly to signal to Moscow that he is determined to support Saakashvili. To what extent is a question that remains unanswered. This is also a signal to Europe: don’t abandon the idea to have Georgia inside NATO. If this indeed was the goal of Joe Biden’s trip to Georgia, it would not be a surprise if the information leaked to the German newspaper is changed to the contrary before its official release.
An attempt by Cyprus Turkish Airlines and a tour operator CTA Holidays to overturn a 35 year ban on direct flights to the self-declared "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" has failed to achieve a judicial review. In the decision to reject the appeal the government argued that lifting the ban would "contravene the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation." At present anyone wanting to fly to northern Cyprus must first go to Turkey first via Mersin and then take a short journey to pseudo-state. It is believed around 100,000 Brits fly to northern Cyprus each year, with the CTA tour operators arguing that direct flights would mean cheaper air fares and shorter travelling times. The court heard that the flight ban unfairly restricted Turkish Cypriots and their companies wishing to travel and conduct business with the EU and the rest of the world. Currently the Republic of Cyprus is investing 650 million Euro's in the new Larnaca International Airport and upgrades have already been made to the Paphos International airport, with capacity of 7.5 million passengers when construction completes this year.
Vice President Biden often gets labeled as a gaffe machine. But he's more like the Democrats' version of the Straight Talk Express. Love him or leave him, the man speaks his mind. The Obama administration this week was compelled, once again, to explain and defend the vice president after he made some tough comments about Russia. Biden had suggested in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that Russia would have no choice but to cooperate with the United States because it is on the brink of sharp decline. As the vice president lives up to his campaign trail persona by adding more foreign policy tasks to his portfolio, the administration can reasonably expect more "straight talk" on the world stage, which could continue to lead to a clash of styles with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama. But blunt Biden, in committing a truth about Russia, ran afoul of his own advice, which he gave in the very same interview with the Journal. "It is never smart to embarrass an individual or a country when they're dealing with significant loss of face," Biden said. "My dad used to put it another way: Never put another man in a corner where the only way out is over you." Democratic consultant Tara Dowdell said the issue with Biden is not his experience or know-how, which she described as vast, but his candor -- it's akin to the "straight talk" that Sen. John McCain used to define his campaigns but its delivery often get Biden into trouble. "You know what you get when you get Joe Biden," she told FOX News. "I think he's pretty candid. I think a lot of the stuff he says is actually what he's thinking. In politics, unfortunately you can't always say what you're thinking." In the last several months alone, Biden has caused problems for the administration by doing just that.
#1: Russia - "Russia has to make some very difficult, calculated decisions. They have a shrinking population base, they have a withering economy, they have a banking sector and structure that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years, they're in a situation where the world is changing before them and they're clinging to something in the past that is not sustainable." (WSJ interview 7/25/09) #2: Ukrainian Women - "I cannot believe that a Frenchman visiting Kiev went back home and told his colleagues he discovered something and didn't say he discovered the most beautiful women in the world. That's my observation. It's certain you have so many beautiful women." (7/21/09) #3: Georgia - “The Rose Revolution will only be complete when the government is transparent, accountable and fully participatory; when issues are debated inside this chamber, not only out on the street; when you fully address key constitutional issues regarding the balance of power between the Parliament and executive branch and leveling your electoral playing field; when the media is totally independent and professional, providing people the information to make informed decisions and to hold their government accountable for the decisions it makes; when the courts are free from outside influence and rule of law is firmly established and when the transfer of power occurs through peaceful, constitutional and democratic processes, not on the street.”
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia attacked what he described as "liberal philosophy," on Wednesday. The Patriarch accused liberalism of drawing "no distinction between sin and holiness, [and consequently no] distinction between truth and lies," and cited the legalization of same-sex marriages in some countries as an example to back up his point. "That is, indeed, the way post-modern civilization sees the relationship between good and evil: there is no good and evil but there is pluralism of opinions. And if there is no distinction between good and evil, what does it mean? It is an apocalypse," the Patriarch said at a meeting with students and lecturers at the Kiev Theological Academy. "In liberal philosophy there is no concept of sin at all, there is no distinction between good and evil," he said. Legalization of same-sex marriages in some countries is one example, he argued. "Until recently no one could even have thought that same-sex marriages would receive legislative support and would be put on a par with natural marriages," he said. "Liberal philosophy declared any form of conduct legitimate if it does not prevent other people from exercising their own freedom," the Patriarch said. "In liberalism, every person is autonomous, both from God and from other people, he creates his own system of values and this ultimately leads him to losing his inner control," he said at the meeting, held at one of the churches of the Kiev Monastery on the Caves.