Truth and trolls
With the publication of the new, fifth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the climate change denial trolls are predictably crawling out of their hiding places for one last round of regurgitated lies (“International climate change report says human cause ‘likely’, ” Oct. 1, page 9; “Climate change report is devastating, but skeptics see a conspiracy,” Oct. 1, page 9).
Scientific evidence is now so overwhelming and unequivocal that every scientific academy in the world and more than 95 percent of climate scientists agree with the conclusions of the IPCC that, without meaningful reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, global temperatures will rise by 2°C to 5°C by the end of the century, freak weather events will increase and the oceans will become more acidic.
Laudably, the Taipei Times which used to print articles and letters by climate change deniers like Bjorn Lomborg, Jason Lamantia or Taiwan’s very own denialist supremo, Michael Fagan, has stopped printing such flat-earth
nonsense for the last couple of years. Nevertheless, the usual denialist claptrap has been pushed around the globe, produced by the right-wing media and the other usual neoliberal, free-market suspects.
Their logic is easy to understand: Every year which passes by without meaningful global legislation on curbing greenhouse emissions is a few more trillion dollars in the bank accounts of the fossil fuel companies. Now, wouldn’t you lie for a few cool trillion in the bank?
Owners of fossil fuel companies like the Koch brothers and Gina Rinehart certainly think so.
Soon, humanity will reach a breaking point. Will it make lying about and inaction on climate change a crime (http://tinyurl.com/2cu4pza, http://eradicatingecocide.com)? Or will humanity continue to look the other way and let future generations pick up our bill?
Let’s hope humanity will embrace a healthy, low-carbon future for its own sake and the sake of all the other species it shares the planet with.
Flora Faun
Taipei
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations