US defense technocrats will now include Climate in prioritizing threats; in strategies for countering threats; in planning missions of the armed forces; in what weapons to develop and five-year plan for investments that support strategy #GeopoliticsOfGHGs media.defense.gov/2021/Oct/21/20…
gotta love the big nerd brain energy in Pentagon planners.
Guys guys this climate change thing that our scientists are telling us about for 50 years? What if, like, its too hot for planes to take off or, get this, wildfire smoke makes bombing harder? media.defense.gov/2021/Oct/21/20…
4/"Climate change is a threat multiplier"??
US Military call air-strikes, advise & assist militaries in a staggering 76 countries. 33 of them are in the fastest growing continent -Africa. Libya horrible enough;2020s could see escalation in Horn of Africa & Great Lakes @nickturse
5/ Pentagon unclas report:guys guys,the warming is, like, GLOBAL. Anything could happen, think big picture here.
"While certain climate hazards and impacts are specific to particular regions of the world, many are cross- cutting, cascading, and/or global" media.defense.gov/2021/Oct/21/20…
6/ Taking the piss coz pentagon is full of technical people who want more to be done on climate. They have talked about climate change at NSC since 1960s!
However, the word adaptation is mentioned 15 times. Mitigation, actually cutting carbon? 5 times.
7/ Pentagon's role as driver of industrial policy & employer is going to be v imp for Green New Deal. A burst of thinking to REPURPOSE military as wars end. Eg. 1992 report "Cold War peace dividend" set out blueprint for an Office of Economic conversion epi.org/files/page/-/o…
8/ The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) today released a National Intelligence Estimate on climate change.
11/ US Natl Intelligence, ACTUALLY these EVENTS would change our climate assessment:
Zero Carbon Technological breakthrough
Climate TIPPING POINT disaster
Russia or China military action in Arctic
A scared country doing geoengineering #GeopoliticsOfGHGs dni.gov/files/ODNI/doc…
12/ Pentagon - don't you climate people who think solving climate change is about markets, tech, etc know that it is about POWER. #GeopoliticsOfGHGs
Don't forget the only reason you have Climate Models is because of Nuclear Weapons dni.gov/files/ODNI/doc…
2/ Ecology: With super hot oceans, we are very worried about this Atlantic hurricane season. THIRTY storms are predicted plus minus 5, depending on el nino
3/London, Zurich, Bermuda are home of reinsurance.
Insurance model rely on risks being 1 Uncorrelated 2 Calculable 3 Paid for by mkt returns elsewhere
But #globalwarming upends Insurance
It correlates risks (global!); creates catastrophic fat-tails; and crimps returns everywhere.
what reading one book by Brett Christophers does to a mf
‘while it is possible to prevent businesses from doing profitable things, it is impossible to make them do things they consider insufficiently profitable’. Why do all this 'market failure' nonsense ft.com/content/b2b6fb…
Brett Chrisopher's work on Rentier Capitalism has been eyeopening. Asset Managers like Blackrock now run the roads we drive on; the pipes that supply our drinking water; the farmland that provides our food; electricity & heat. Nice profile
Under capitalism, profit expectations drive companies’ invstmt decisions. Building solar/wind & selling the electricity they generate, however, generally is not a very profitable business What sort of returns do investors earn, asks Brett Christophers time.com/6958606/climat…
Yes, BJP still sets the terms in the Indian parliament. But it will not have the decisive electoral majority of 2019-2024 lok sabha where it ran bills with zero opposition or consultation. After this election it will have to respect India’s opposition and democracy
India's stock market slides. Their logic?
BJP not winning in a landslide -> forced to have a NDA coalition government that will inevitably have to be more pro-welfare
--> hence the BJP cannot do nakedly pro-rich liberal reforms --> Oops, sell sell sell
Adani's reversal tells you everything.
"In 9yrs of Modi’s tenure, Adani’s wealth grew from $8bn to $137bn. In 2022 alone, he made $72bn, which is more than the combined earnings of the world’s next 9 billionaires" ht @AnnPettifor
1/ "What's happening in Guyana isn't just happening there. All over the globe, oil companies are racing to tap as many of the remaining fossil fuel reserves as they can"
@jeffgoodell :
2/ This is not a a story of Guyana’s PM lecturing western liberals over hypocrisy climate, oil & Amazonian forests.
But a geopolitical story of developing country elites working with western firms (Exxon) to sell to western markets (oil goes to europe) phenomenalworld.org/analysis/offsh…
3/ "Guyana is now producing nearly as much oil as Venezuela -1 of the largest oil exporters since the 1920s & founder of OPEC
This amazing article on Exxon shows that the logic of imperial exploitation of natural resources is alive & kicking"-@GaraviniG phenomenalworld.org/analysis/offsh…
White House request to Congress for $106 billion in emergency funding for foreign aid.
A budget tells you more than words about actual priorities. Full breakdown in this PDF incl military aid to Ukraine, Israel, intl development (World bank) etc Thread whitehouse.gov/wp-content/upl…
2/ UKRAINE: US so far has sent more than $75 billion to Ukraine. Of new $106B, Biden asks $61B for Ukraine.
~$50B military aid, loans for military gear, DOD stocks of weapons etc (Pg 4-27_
~$11.75B economic (pg 42)
3/Reminder why Biden's request for emergency funding looks the way it does-$106B for ukraine,israel,border, humanitarian. US congressional politics when governed by Dem president+Dem senate+Republican house makes funding requests look like a dogs breakfast