Copenhagen climate summit in disarray after 'Danish text' leak

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 December 2009
Developing countries react furiously to leaked draft agreement that would hand more power to rich nations, sideline the UN's negotiating role and abandon the Kyoto protocol
• Read the 'Danish text'
The UN Copenhagen climate talks are in disarray today after developing countries reacted furiously to leaked documents that show world leaders will next week be asked to sign an agreement that hands more power to rich countries and sidelines the UN's role in all future climate change negotiations.

The document is also being interpreted by developing countries as setting unequal limits on per capita carbon emissions for developed and developing countries in 2050; meaning that people in rich countries would be permitted to emit nearly twice as much under the proposals.

The so-called Danish text, a secret draft agreement worked on by a group of individuals known as "the circle of commitment" – but understood to include the UK, US and Denmark – has only been shown to a handful of countries since it was finalised this week.

The agreement, leaked to the Guardian, is a departure from the Kyoto protocol's principle that rich nations, which have emitted the bulk of the CO2, should take on firm and binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gases, while poorer nations were not compelled to act. The draft hands effective control of climate change finance to the World Bank; would abandon the Kyoto protocol – the only legally binding treaty that the world has on emissions reductions; and would make any money to help poor countries adapt to climate change dependent on them taking a range of actions.

The document was described last night by one senior diplomat as "a very dangerous document for developing countries. It is a fundamental reworking of the UN balance of obligations. It is to be superimposed without discussion on the talks".

A confidential analysis of the text by developing countries also seen by the Guardian shows deep unease over details of the text. In particular, it is understood to:

• Force developing countries to agree to specific emission cuts and measures that were not part of the original UN agreement;

• Divide poor countries further by creating a new category of developing countries called "the most vulnerable";

• Weaken the UN's role in handling climate finance;

• Not allow poor countries to emit more than 1.44 tonnes of carbon per person by 2050, while allowing rich countries to emit 2.67 tonnes.

Developing countries that have seen the text are understood to be furious that it is being promoted by rich countries without their knowledge and without discussion in the negotiations.

"It is being done in secret. Clearly the intention is to get [Barack] Obama and the leaders of other rich countries to muscle it through when they arrive next week. It effectively is the end of the UN process," said one diplomat, who asked to remain nameless.... Read all

More: 'Draft text' triggers Copenhagen furore

Where's Our Gold Coins?

Just in from Truthingold. Excerpt:

".. As a matter of fact the Gold Bullion Act of 1985 authorizes the U.S. Mint to use U.S. Government gold reserves if necessary:

In the absence of available supplies of such gold at the average world price, the Secretary may use gold from reserves held by the United States to mint the coins issued under section 5112(i) of this title. The Secretary shall issue such regulations as may be necessary to carry out this paragraph”.

It would seem that if the United States has 8100 tons of gold, as reported by the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury, then there should NEVER be a shortage of gold with which to mint coins. What gives?

Here is the complete text of Gold Bullion Act of 1985: Where's Our Gold Coins?

Again, inquring minds want to know, where is all the gold? How come the U.S. Mint didn't foresee the same shortage everyone else in the market has been seeing and make sure that it had plenty of production blanks to meet demand? If the Comex supposedly has 9 million ounces of 100 oz. bullion bars, the Mint should have been able to take delivery of some of that gold in order to meet its legal obligation to produce gold coins in an amount that meets demand. How come the U.S. Mint is not using U.S. Government gold reserves, as per the law?

Something smells fishy here, and I think we all know what it is: the physical supply of gold is extremely tight, the paper shorts in gold (Comex, GLD, LME, etc) are in big trouble and the price of gold is now at the mercy of the physical market. I would suggest this situation is one of the primary reasons that the Federal Reserve and its supporters in Congress are going to any lengths to derail efforts to force an independent audit of the Fed, which would include a physical audit of the gold it supposedly holds." Read all

Millions to Lose Unemployment Benefits

Millions to Lose Unemployment Benefits
By Mike Lillis
Washington Independent
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
For millions of unemployed workers, the recession is poised to go from bad to worse.

We're Doing a "Heckuva Job" Helping Those Devastated by the Economic Meltdown

25% of U.S. Homeowners Late on Mortgage
ABC News
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
More than one-quarter of homeowners receiving help under a U.S. government foreclosure prevention plan are behind on their new mortgage payments, a Treasury Department survey has found.

Jobs: The Bleeding Continues in November

Economic Data Points to Questionable Recovery

U.S. Mint has suspended sales of one ounce gold coins
Runaway demand is creating shortages of physical gold...

Moody's may downgrade credit ratings of US and UK
Day of reckoning for massive deficits approaches...

The 10 countries most likely to default

Update: Food Stamps Go to a Record 37.2 Million, USDA Says

Why "civilization" has to be imposed, or: on the inconvenience of the state

Scientists are finding that we have to re-learn anarchy from aboriginal societies:

...Scott argues in his book “The Art of Not Being Governed,” is nothing less than a refutation of the traditional narrative of steady civilizational progress, in which human life has improved as societies have grown larger and more complex. Instead, for many people through history, Scott argues, civilized life has been a burden and a menace.

“The reason why some people didn’t become civilized, why some people didn’t ‘develop,’ may not be a question of them not having the talent, or being backward and so on, but may be historically produced by their desire to avoid what they saw as the inconveniences of states,” says Scott...
Read all

Senior Government Officials Killed in Russian Train Attack

Very unlikely misfortune for the head of Russia's Federal Reserve Agency. Mmm...

"Among the named dead so far were several senior Kremlin bureaucrats, including Boris Yevstratikov, the head of Russia's Federal Reserve Agency, and Lyudmila Mukhina, a deputy head in the Federal Fishing Agency. A former St Petersburg senator, Sergei Tarasov, also died."
Read all

Or...: RUSSIA ANNOYS ISRAEL; RUSSIA GETS HIT

FT on Berlusconi

A very good editorial by the FT on Monday on Berlusconi, which says that the guy is fighting so many legal issues now, that his erstwhile claim that he cannot both govern and defend himself in court, are actually becoming true. For as long as he is prime minister, Italy will not get on with the job to reform the economy. The article also presents a useful summary of the latest legal problems, including a convicted killers’ remarks that implicated him with the Mafia in an early 1990s bombing spree. While the Italians have forgiven him his sexual affairs, Mr Berlusconi may be skating on thin ice.

Copenhagen's Hidden Agenda: The Multibillion Trade in Carbon Derivatives

Architect of Credit Default Swaps behind the Development of "Carbon Derivatives"

by Washington's Blog - Global Research, December 8, 2009

As I have previously shown, speculative derivatives (especially credit default swaps) are a primary cause of the economic crisis. And I have pointed out that (1) the giant banks will make a killing on carbon trading, (2) while the leading scientist crusading against global warming says it won't work, and (3) there is a very high probability of massive fraud and insider trading in the carbon trading markets. Now, Bloomberg notes that the carbon trading scheme will be centered around derivatives: The banks are preparing to do with carbon what they’ve done before: design and market derivatives contracts that will help client companies hedge their price risk over the long term. They’re also ready to sell carbon-related financial products to outside investors. [Blythe] Masters says banks must be allowed to lead the way if a mandatory carbon-trading system is going to help save the planet at the lowest possible cost. And derivatives related to carbon must be part of the mix, she says. Derivatives are securities whose value is derived from the value of an underlying commodity -- in this case, CO2 and other greenhouse gases... Who is Blythe Masters? She is the JP Morgan employee who invented credit default swaps, and is now heading JPM's carbon trading efforts. As Bloomberg notes (this and all remaining quotes are from the above-linked Bloomberg article): Masters, 40, oversees the New York bank’s environmental businesses as the firm’s global head of commodities... As a young London banker in the early 1990s, Masters was part of JPMorgan’s team developing ideas for transferring risk to third parties. She went on to manage credit risk for JPMorgan’s investment bank. Among the credit derivatives that grew from the bank’s early efforts was the credit-default swap. Some in congress are fighting against carbon derivatives: “People are going to be cutting up carbon futures, and we’ll be in trouble,” says Maria Cantwell, a Democratic senator from Washington state. “You can’t stay ahead of the next tool they’re going to create.” Cantwell, 51, proposed in November that U.S. state governments be given the right to ban unregulated financial products. “The derivatives market has done so much damage to our economy and is nothing more than a very-high-stakes casino -- except that casinos have to abide by regulations,” she wrote in a press release... However, Congress may cave in to industry pressure to let carbon derivatives trade over-the-counter: The House cap-and-trade bill bans OTC derivatives, requiring that all carbon trading be done on exchanges...The bankers say such a ban would be a mistake...The banks and companies may get their way on carbon derivatives in separate legislation now being worked out in Congress... Financial experts are also opposed to cap and trade: Even George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund operator, says money managers would find ways to manipulate cap-and-trade markets. “The system can be gamed,” Soros, 79, remarked at a London School of Economics seminar in July. “That’s why financial types like me like it -- because there are financial opportunities”... Hedge fund manager Michael Masters, founder of Masters Capital Management LLC, based in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands [and unrelated to Blythe Masters] says speculators will end up controlling U.S. carbon prices, and their participation could trigger the same type of boom-and-bust cycles that have buffeted other commodities... The hedge fund manager says that banks will attempt to inflate the carbon market by recruiting investors from hedge funds and pension funds. “Wall Street is going to sell it as an investment product to people that have nothing to do with carbon,” he says. “Then suddenly investment managers are dominating the asset class, and nothing is related to actual supply and demand. We have seen this movie before.” Indeed, as I have previously pointed out, many environmentalists are opposed to cap and trade as well. For example: Michelle Chan, a senior policy analyst in San Francisco for Friends of the Earth, isn’t convinced. “Should we really create a new $2 trillion market when we haven’t yet finished the job of revamping and testing new financial regulation?” she asks. Chan says that, given their recent history, the banks’ ability to turn climate change into a new commodities market should be curbed... “What we have just been woken up to in the credit crisis -- to a jarring and shocking degree -- is what happens in the real world,” she says... Friends of the Earth’s Chan is working hard to prevent the banks from adding carbon to their repertoire. She titled a March FOE report “Subprime Carbon?” In testimony on Capitol Hill, she warned, “Wall Street won’t just be brokering in plain carbon derivatives -- they’ll get creative.” Yes, they'll get "creative", and we have seen this movie before ...an inadequately-regulated carbon derivatives boom will destabilize the economy and lead to another crash.

Washington's Blog is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Washington's Blog

More: UK’s richest man could make more than £1bn from carbon trading scheme

More: The Copenhagen Cult, Green Religion, and Money Grabs
Bill Muehlenberg - CultureWatch
December 7, 2009

More: Has Anyone Read the Copenhagen Agreement?
Has Anyone Read the Copenhagen Agreement? The aim is to give a new as yet unnamed U.N. body the power to directly intervene in the financial, economic, tax and environmental affairs of all the nations that sign the Copenhagen treaty. [...] Lord Monckton warns that the aim of the Copenhagen draft treaty is to set up a transnational "government" on a scale the world has never before seen. Interviewed by broadcaster Alan Jones on Sydney radio Monday, Lord Monckton said "this is the first time I've ever seen any transnational treaty referring to a new body to be set up under that treaty as a 'government.' But it's the powers that are going to be given to this entirely unelected government that are so frightening." He added: "The sheer ambition of this new world government is enormous right from the start—that's even before it starts accreting powers to itself in the way that these entities inevitably always do." United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (.pdf)

More: Meteorologist suggests NOAA manipulates data to support climate claims and political goals
Marc Morano - Climate Depot - December 5, 2009

More: Scare the Children: Opening Ceremony Film at Copenhagen

More: ClimateGate: The Fix is In

...This is an enormous case of organized scientific fraud, but it is not just scientific fraud. It is also a criminal act. Suborned by billions of taxpayer dollars devoted to climate research, dozens of prominent scientists have established a criminal racket in which they seek government money-Phil Jones has raked in a total of £13.7 million in grants from the British government-which they then use to falsify data and defraud the taxpayers. It's the most insidious kind of fraud: a fraud in which the culprits are lauded as public heroes. Judging from this cache of e-mails, they even manage to tell themselves that their manipulation of the data is intended to protect a bigger truth and prevent it from being "confused" by inconvenient facts and uncontrolled criticism.

The damage here goes far beyond the loss of a few billions of taxpayer dollars on bogus scientific research. The real cost of this fraud is the trillions of dollars of wealth that will be destroyed if a fraudulent theory is used to justify legislation that starves the global economy of its cheapest and most abundant sources of energy.

This is the scandal of the century. It needs to be thoroughly investigated-and the culprits need to be brought to justice...

More: The Orwellian Language of the Term "Climate Skeptic"

More: Nick Griffin covers Climate gate and denounces NWO Scam

More: Copenhagen Con Men Launch Global Carbon Tax Heist
While flying into Danish capital on luxurious private jets and being shuttled around in limousines, climate crooks get ready to rape the middle class
Paul Joseph Watson - Prison Planet.com - Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Hours after flying into Copenhagen on luxurious private jets and being chauffeured around in gas-guzzling limousines, climate con men convening in the Danish capital announced that the shrinking bank accounts of the middle class would be further eviscerated via the introduction of global carbon taxes.

More: Climategate: Be Skeptical Of Envirojournalism

More: The real criminals
For months, the UN climate change summit that began yesterday in Copenhagen has been billed as the world's last best hope to match the scientific consensus on global warming with a policy consensus. But now it turns out there is little of either, and Copenhagen looks like it will go down as one of the more remarkable cases of political hubris in recent memory.

So declares the Wall Street Journal which suggests that much of the momentum for Copenhagen is now driven by the alternative fuels industry and its investors, who stand to lose vast sums unless governments artificially raise the price of carbon.

These, we are told, include our friends at Kleiner Perkins, the ecoventure capital fund that includes Al Gore as a partner. And of course that part of the political class congenitally eager to redistribute taxpayer monies also wants to dispense "carbon credits" to friends and political donors.

I don't think the majority of people even begin to realise quite what how big a scam the "carbon" market really is.

We saw yesterday an example of how one company, the Tata Steel Group, stood to gain £400 million a year from this market, without reducing in any way the amount of carbon dioxide produced. The alternative fuel industry, we know, actually consumes in total, more energy than it produces and the hugely inefficient wind industry survives only on a colossal raft of subsidies.

While Pachauri is eager to dismiss the sceptics as "criminals", these rent-seekers are the real criminals, and their are not victimless crimes. The money that Tata Steel so diligently milks from the system does not grow on trees...

Update: You are now officially a threat to public health (since you are exhaling CO2).