International Briefs

Heartland Institute To Organize Counter-Summit in Glasgow

The Scotsman reported Oct. 10 that the Heartland Institute, which is opposed to the climate change hoax, plans to hold an alternative summit in Glasgow during the COP26 conference, Oct. 31-Nov. 12. James Taylor, the Institute’s president, calls their meeting a “climate reality forum,” designed to counter the hysterical anti-science propaganda of the Greenies.

The Heartland Institute just concluded a conference in Las Vegas, the 14th annual International Conference on Climate Change (Oct. 15-17) with speakers including Christopher Monckton, a former deputy leader and Scottish president of UKIP; Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, the climate skeptic group founded by former Conservative chancellor Lord Nigel Lawson; and Princeton Professor Emeritus William Happer, a former advisor to the Trump White House.

Study Confirms Sun/Cosmic Ray Climate Connection that IPCC Denies

A study published Oct. 11 in Scientific Reports by a team including Henrik Svensmark of the National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark and Nir Shaviv, at the Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, supports the conclusion that changes in the Sun’s magnetic field alter the effects of cosmic rays, causing an increase or decrease in cloud formation on Earth.

Their conclusions put into question all of the IPCC’s contrary assumptions, most recently issued in its infamous Sixth Assessment Report. The IPCC estimates only an average of 0.01 Watts/m² from 1750-2019, from which it concludes that the effect of galactic cosmic rays (GCR) on cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) “is too weak to have any detectable effect on climate and no robust association was found between GCR and cloudiness.... There is high confidence that GCRs contribute a negligible ERF (effective radiative forcing) over the period 1750 to 2019.” On the other hand, the Svensmark-Shaviv observational data indicate that the Earth absorbs about 1.7 W/m² additional energy within four to six days of the cosmic-ray minimum, a result more than two orders of magnitude higher than the IPCC’s! That is much too great a difference to be ignored.

Mark Carney Seeks $150 Trillion ‘Green Investment’ Bubble

In an Oct. 12 video interview with Libby Casey of Washington Post Live, Mark Carney—the former Governor of the Bank of England who is now the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance—explained what it’s going to take to force the world to go carbon neutral. The private banks and financial sector have to produce a radical change in “the plumbing” of the financial system to force-feed financial flows into the green speculative bubble alone and apply a tourniquet to any investment in the productive economy.

“Basically, the plumbing of the financial system has to be put in place so that financial institutions, whether they’re banks or pension funds or insurers or asset managers, have the information, the tools in the market so they can take climate change into account. So, in other words, it’s a fundamental driver of every investment decision or lending decision. The second thing we need for COP26, to put it bluntly, is money, a lot of it. This is going to be an enormous investment across the world that’s required. Somewhere between $100-150 trillion of external finance over the next three decades.”

U.S. and Allies Reported To Be Training Neo-Nazis in Ukraine

George Washington University’s Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies released a report in September claiming that NATO instructors are training associates of the neo-Nazi Azov movement at the Ukrainian army’s National Academy of Ground Forces (NAA). The group, called Centuria, “led by individuals with ties to Ukraine’s internationally active far-right Azov movement, has attracted multiple members, including current and former officer cadets of the NAA now serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Apparent members have appeared in photos giving Nazi salutes and made seemingly extremist statements online,” the report’s summary says, according to a Sept. 28 article in Ukraine’s 112.international English-language news platform.

Austin Promises Kiev Continued U.S. Support in Its Conflict with Russia

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin landed in Kiev Oct. 19, promising the regime’s leaders that the U.S. will back Ukraine against Russia. “Let me underscore what President Biden said during President Zelensky’s recent visit to Washington. U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is unwavering,” he declared at a press conference at the Ukrainian defense ministry. “So, we again call on Russia to end its occupation of Crimea ... to stop perpetuating the war in eastern Ukraine ... to end its destabilizing activities in the Black Sea and along Ukraine’s borders ... and to halt its persistent cyber attacks and other malign activities against the United States, and our Allies and partners.”

As for Ukraine’s future membership in NATO, Austin declared that “no third country has a veto over NATO’s membership decisions. Ukraine ... has a right to decide its own future foreign policy and we expect that they will be able to do that without any outside interference.” Austin was apparently responding to a statement that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made on Oct. 17, referring to Ukraine’s NATO membership as a “red line,” that “could force Moscow to take active measures to ensure its security.”

Taliban Briefs VOA on U.S. Delay of Funds, as China Ready To Invest Billions

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid gave an off-the-cuff but measured interview on Oct. 14 to Voice of America, in which he called Afghan assets frozen by the American government the “Afghan people’s bread and butter,” and the freezing of the assets, an injustice. He further stated that they are negotiating with the United States over the matter. He indicated that the U.S. is balking over expressed concerns for the rights of women, even though they have assured the U.S. that the plans for education and treatment of women are being worked out. Islamic scholars have been tasked with updating arrangements consistent with the religion that respect the safety and minds of women at work and school.

Otherwise, he gave reason for optimism: “China is a neighbor and has a strong economy. We are trying to develop trade and economic relations” with China. “They want to invest billions of dollars,” he said, and he mentioned the Mes Aynak copper mines in particular. “We will not tolerate any interference in our internal affairs,” and they want “security for their workers and their assets.”

Assassination of Haiti President: Investigative Lead in Drug Connection

On Oct. 11, joined by two of her children, former First Lady of Haiti Martine Moïse, whose husband President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated on July 7, filed a complaint against Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry, alleging his involvement in the assassination. The Justice Minister and Public Prosecutor had also called for Henry to be arrested in connection with Moïse ’s murder, based on phone calls he placed, after the murder, to Joseph Felix Badio, a suspect in the killing who is now in jail. All of the people named by Martine Moïse are suspects and are already in jail. Of particular interest, though, is the case of Dimitri Herard, who was the head of Moïse’s security detail at the presidential residence on the night of the murder, and did nothing to stop the hit squad from entering the residence. Latest developments suggest that drugs were a key factor, more than a political or economic motive as such, behind the assassination. Haiti is a major transshipment point for drugs into the U.S. EIR is pursuing this lead.

Putin on U.S. Inflation: U.S. Undermines Dollar by Weaponizing It

In an interview with CNBC, following the Oct. 13 plenary session of the Moscow Energy Week, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded that the U.S. is undermining the dollar as a world reserve by using it as a weapon, concerning sanctions.

Putin went on to note the increase of U.S. sovereign debt with the lifting of the debt ceiling, asking, “What does this mean? Money printing. What would be the result? Higher inflation. This is probably the first time inflation in the United States is growing at a speed that has not been seen for quite a while. These are economic reasons that undermine confidence in a currency. Everyone is asking themselves: What next? What will the U.S. economic authorities do with this huge debt? What will they do? Manipulate the dollar and depreciate its value? What will they do with the debt?” As he described earlier, “We can say that the United States is cutting the branch it is sitting on, because the status of an international reserve currency is a major competitive advantage, but through their actions they are undermining it, undermining their strategic economic interests for the sake of momentary political gain.”