Throughout this week Russia has been holding bail hearings for 30
Greenpeace activists from 18 nations who were arrested aboard the Arctic
Sunrise ship on September 19th 2013 (2013) and initially charged with
piracy. Those charges were then lowered to hooliganism and so far 18
have been bailed, 1 has been remanded in custody, 5 will have their
cases heard later in the week and I don't think even Greenpeace know
what is going on with the other 6.
Coming during the high level segment of the COP19/CMP9 these sudden
grants of bail are supposed to signal that Russia is taking a softer
position on measures to tackle climate change. After all the point
Greenpeace was trying to make is that Russia has long accepted that
greenhouse gas emissions are causing global warming and that warming is
causing Arctic sea ice to melt. However rather then taking action to
prevent this Russia seems to have actually been trying to speed it up in
order to take advantage of the melting ice opening up new shipping
lanes and making Arctic oil easier to access. So by being gentle on the
Greenpeace activists Russia is trying to send the message that it may be
reconsidering that position.
Obviously this message has been tempered somewhat by the sheer confusion
the bail hearings have caused. For example no-one is quite sure if the
activists have been granted conditional bail or unconditional bail or
whether they will be allowed Russia before their trial. Also there is
the question of whether Russia is trying to hold onto the one activist
whose been denied bail and those who were given the option to apply for
bail in order to punish or maintain channels of communication with
certain nations.
I am prepared to make allowances for Russia on this because since the
start of the Saudi and Qatari invasion of Syria Russia has come under
relentless pressure from all quarters. For example this protest by a
Greenpeace ship with a majority UK Commonwealth crew does not strike me
as the groups wisest move. As a result Russia is now on its version of a
global charm offensive in order to repair its reputation. The most
worrying element of this have been the increasing overtures Russia has
been making towards Egypt. On one level this is just Russia tying to
make friends while the US seems hellbent on destroying its reputation in
the region. However it also seems intended to send the message to the
Saudis and the Qataris that if Russia can find a replacement
Mediterranean sea port it will be happy to press ahead with this
chemical weapons destruction scheme giving the Saudis and Qataris
exactly what they want.
On a barely related topic that I'm including here because it's hardly
worth a full post the UK's efforts to disrupt the COP19/CMP9 has
obviously been my case and its aftermath. I've decided not to aid them
by commenting on this anymore then I have to. However one international
element has been the case of chronically obese Frenchman Kevin Chenais.
Chenais was due to fly back from the US to France last month but UK
airline British Airways refused to transport him because he was too fat.
After lengthy discussions he was flown to the UK last week by another
UK airline Virgin Atlantic. Today he tried to return to France via the
Eurostar but was told he was too fat to fit in the Channel Tunnel.
Finally the UK owned ferry company P&O agreed to sail him back to
France and Eurostar provided an ambulance to take him to the port. This
is all the UK trying to assess how people feel about lifted the long
standing travel restrictions on me. That's because the UK is now very
keen for me to able to fly off and meet off with Rihanna. It's almost as
if certain people have failed to generate the intelligence product they
were supposed to.
In slightly better and actual COP19/CMP9 news Norway (USD135million),
the UK (USD120million) and the US (USD25million) have together pledged
USD280million for a new scheme they are calling the BioCarbon Fund
Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL) which will
contribute to the REDD+. Although no-one's in a position to complain
about any money that's being pledged at the pointI hope this will be a
stop-gap measure while the Green Climate Fund (GCF) gets up and running
rather then a rival to it.
(Originally Posted) 18:00 on 20/11/13 (UK date).
No comments:
Post a Comment