As this is being written, the gathering of mass murderers at this year’s COP 27 Conference, at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, is nearing its conclusion.  About 35,000 people attended this 2022 edition of the “Conference of the Parties,” including the expected green aristocracy from the United Nations and the World Economic Forum, together with oodles of NGO workers and hundreds of activists representing a kaleidoscope of “woke” causes.  More than 100 heads of state joined in, mostly from Africa and under-developed nations elsewhere.  The United States was proudly represented by the best-and-brightest of the current regime:  Joe Biden, John Kerry and Al Gore.

Before we get to the more gruesome aspects of this year’s gathering, perhaps it is best to begin with a little levity, because the humor and ironies—although entirely unintended—were in some ways the most revealing aspects of the whole affair:

• To guarantee that the scientific credentials of the proceedings were impeccable, Al Gore was chosen to give the keynote address.
• This was followed by a solemn message from the Pope Francis I, urging everyone to immediately return to the holy worship of mother Gaia and quoting from his own encyclical, Laudato Si’, which in his words “promotes ecological conversion and lifestyles consistent with it.” It is not reported whether anyone genuflected upon hearing these words.
• The arrival of the 72 year-old “eco-warrior” Dorothee Hildebrandt, who pedaled her bicycle 8,000 kilometers from Sweden to Egypt—and upon arriving proclaimed that she was there to “Stop Climate Change”—was hailed as inspirational and immediately covered in media outlets worldwide.
• With great fanfare, Egypt announced a revolutionary scientific breakthrough, whereby all plastic bottles can be replaced with a product they call “Good Water” made from a derivative of sugar cane, which can be replanted as carbon dioxide-absorbing plants.
• In his remarks, President Joe Biden declared, “The very life of the planet is at stake,” thus setting to rest any fears that he is no longer able to pronounce two-syllable words.
• Perhaps most reassuring was the announcement that the Fashion Industry is now tackling the climate crisis, with a COP 27 feature panel titled “Fashion Takes Action!”
• Al Gore called for “radical transparency” to guide us toward a net-zero emissions future, intoning, “You can’t manage what you cannot measure,” thus demonstrating his scintillating grasp of advanced mathematics.
• The poor cows took another beating, as Canada, the United States and Nigeria announced new regulations to tackle emissions of methane.
• For those paying attention to the world-wide fresh water crisis, have no fear! COP 27 devoted an entire day to “Gender and Water.”  Expect “Transgender and Water” at COP 28.
• After courageously struggling through all of these events, the Conference declared a well-earned day of rest on Sunday, November 13, and the participants immediately fled in droves to the nearby beaches, tourist shops and gourmet restaurants.

Rumblings on the Plantation

This year’s event has been dubbed the “African COP.”  Given this, it is particularly ironic to consider what emerged as decidedly the most acrimonious fight at the Conference.  This confrontation essentially boils down to complaints by African and other Third World leaders that they are not being paid enough money to kill their own populations.  Michael Shellenberger has an interesting November 11 Substack posting, titled Imperialism Of The Apocalypse, where he covers some aspects of this, but, in a nutshell, this issue goes back to COP 26 and even earlier, when the European Union, the United States and other advanced nations promised to donate $100 billion dollars to poor nations, to bribe them to not build any advanced energy systems or industrial complexes which emit so-called “greenhouse gases.”  Supposedly, the recipients would use the money to build solar, wind-power and other low-energy systems, thus ensuring perpetual poverty and high death rates in their own nations.  This is euphemistically described as “payment for loss and damages.”

As it turns out, the advanced nations never paid most of the money, but that didn’t stop them from demanding that the poor nations stop all construction of coal and natural gas power plants.  At last year’s COP 26 in Glasgow, an agreement was reached mandating that every nation be required to submit yearly reports documenting their progress in reducing “greenhouse gas” emissions (“Nationally Determined Contributions”), but only 24, out of more than 200 nations have complied.  Now, many African and other impoverished countries are demanding more money.  In response, the United Nations just published the “Emissions Gap Report 2022,” wherein they propose that a fund of $1 trillion be established to finance “energy transition” in the poor nations.

As if on cue, during the first few days of COP 27, pre-planned demonstrations erupted, with hundreds of young participants carrying signs with slogans like “Pay Your Climate Debt.”   It must be noted that none of the organizers of these protests actually proposed economic development for their nations.  It was all about the money.  One “climate champion” from Chad stated, “We cannot accept any decision here without loss and damage reparations.”  Tasneem Essop, the executive director of Climate Action Network, addressed a rally, stating, “The governments who have caused the climate crisis. . .  they owe us these reparations and they need to pay up now!”

A cynical footnote to all of this is that while London, Wall Street and Brussels exert enormous pressure on poor nations to commit suicide—South Africa and Indonesia both recently agreed under pressure to eliminate the use of coal—Germany and other European nations are moving forward to build natural gas facilities in Africa, not for Africa but for the export of natural gas to Europe.

Green Finance

As in previous COP gatherings, as well as a primary focus for both the WEF (World Economic Forum) and the UN, the demand for “Green Finance” remains persistent and unyielding.  This is an ongoing priority, fanatically supported by Janet Yellen and the Biden administration.  All banking, and all institutions capable of issuing credit, must be compelled to participate in the destruction of the productive economy.   Of course, for some of them, they don’t need to be asked twice.

COP 27 devoted ample time to this subject.  Presentations, of one type or another, were made by the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (an alliance of banks representing over 40 percent of global banking assets);  by something called Sustainable Blue Finance;  by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures;  and others.  There was a great deal of discussion about the “Principles for Responsible Banking,” a framework for investment which has been signed by over 45 percent of the global banking industry.  These “Principles”—and all of these organizations—are pledged to deny loans or financial assistance to any energy or industrial/agricultural/construction company whose projects contribute to “global warming.”

At Sharm el-Sheikh, John Kerry introduced the “Energy Transition Accelerator” (ETA), a new mechanism intended to eliminate the use of coal.  This “Accelerator” falls within the realm of the already existing practice of “carbon trading,” whereby carbon dioxide becomes the object of massive financial speculation.  What Kerry now proposes is a scheme whereby banks and companies will receive generous “emissions credits”—which can be traded and speculated on—in return for giving cash to poor countries that cut their carbon dioxide output.  Thus the entire financial system will be integrated into a straitjacket of depopulation and enforced backwardness worldwide.  This is now policy in the Biden administration.

Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

Despite the wretched evil that was on display, it is very clear that, from the vantage point of the imperial elite,  COP 27 is pretty much a disappointment all the way around.  To date it has produced fewer agreements and accomplished less than any recent climate conference.  On the one hand, everyone is balking at further cuts in carbon emissions.  Camaraderie is non-existent as nations scramble for their own survival.  Several high level delegates, speaking off the record, described the conference as completely bogged down, with many issues impossible to resolve.  One stated that “We have seen disappointing commitments and action this year.”  Others described the proceedings as “depressing.” 

At the same time, it is also clear that this year’s COP conference has been overshadowed by the upcoming November 15-16 G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia.  Unlike COP 27, the G20 is expected to host a multitude of Heads of State, including Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi, Ursula von der Leyen, Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz.  The theme of the Summit has already been announced as “Recover Together, Recover Stronger,” and the agenda items are listed as “global health architecture, sustainable energy transition, and digital transformation.”  Thus, it would seem to complement the aims of COP27.  However, this Summit occurs as the crisis in Ukraine intensifies, while Biden warns of nuclear war, and his underlings move us ever closer to a military confrontation with China.

Already, these strategic realities have thrown a giant monkey-wrench into the proceedings.  Russia is a member of the G20, but earlier this year, Poland called for excluding Russia from the Bali Summit.  Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau indicated tentative support for doing so, but China rejected this, and it was dropped.   On November 10, Putin announced that he will not attend, and that Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov will take his place.  But the turmoil is escalating.  Janet Yellen announced that she will not participate in sessions which include Russian delegates.  Others have made similar statements.  Things are so wild that the G20 Summit organizers have now announced that they are cancelling the traditional “family photo,” the group picture of all of the participants, because several world leaders have conveyed their refusal to have their picture taken even with Lavrov, let alone Putin.

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