Kryon Berlin Tour & Seminar - Berlin, Germany, Sept 17-22 2019 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Kryon Berlin Tour & Seminar - Berlin, Germany, Sept 17-22 2019 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)
30th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Council of Europe (CoE) - European Human Rights Court - founding fathers (1949)

Council of Europe (CoE) - European Human Rights Court - founding fathers (1949)
French National Assembly head Edouard Herriot and British Foreign minister Ernest Bevin surrounded by Italian, Luxembourg and other delegates at the first meeting of Council of Europe's Consultative Assembly in Strasbourg, August 1949 (AFP Photo)

EU founding fathers signed 'blank' Treaty of Rome (1957)

EU founding fathers signed 'blank' Treaty of Rome (1957)
The Treaty of Rome was signed in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, one of the Renaissance palaces that line the Michelangelo-designed Capitoline Square in the Italian capital

Shuttered: EU ditches summit 'family photo'

Shuttered: EU ditches summit 'family photo'
EU leaders pose for a family photo during the European Summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels on June 28, 2016 (AFP Photo/JOHN THYS)

European Political Community

European Political Community
Given a rather unclear agenda, the family photo looked set to become a highlight of the meeting bringing together EU leaders alongside those of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Britain, Kosovo, Switzerland and Turkey © Ludovic MARIN

Merkel says fall of Wall proves 'dreams can come true'


“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013. They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."
"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)
(Subjects: Who/What is Kryon ?, Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" Managed Business, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)




"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Iceland's special prosecutor arrests former Glitnir CEO: media

Reuters, REYKJAVIK, Wed Nov 30, 2011

A branch of Iceland's Glitnir Bank is seen in Reykjavik October 8, 2008.
(Credit: Reuters/Bob Strong)

(Reuters) - Iceland's special prosecutor arrested the former chief executive of Glitnir Bank on Wednesday and questioned nearly two dozen people related to the collapse of the bank in 2008.

Glitnir Bank was the first of Iceland's top three commercial banks to collapse three years ago, imploding under the weight of huge debts racked up during years of aggressive expansion.

Special prosecutor Olafur Hauksson said his office had made several arrests on Wednesday -- the first for activities related to Glitnir. He told local media that former CEO Larus Welding would be held in custody for up to one week.

"Welding is being held in the interest of the investigation in order to prevent him for influencing other suspects or removing evidence that we're after," he was quoted as saying by Morgunbladid.

Hauksson said he had initiated nine new investigations, made several arrests and questioned nearly two dozen people related to the fall of Glitnir.

Inquiries are being made into the purchase of Glitnir's shares, as well as into loans provided to a number of firms to purchase Glitnir shares. It also investigated a 15 billion Icelandic crown ($126 million) guarantee provided by Glitnir in connection with a share offering in FL Group.

The prosecutor has also been conducting investigations at Kaupthing and Landsbanki. Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir all collapsed in the space of a week during the 2008 crisis.

(Reporting by Omar Valdimarsson)

"Catholic church knew about sexual abuse in 1958"

RNW, 30 November 2011, by Eric Beauchemin

(Photo: RNW)  (Watch Video)

A Dutch current affairs programme has uncovered evidence that in 1958 the Netherlands’ Catholic Church hierarchy was told that children were being physically and sexually abused in its institutions.

The evidence is contained in a letter found in the archives of the Catholic child protection services. The letter was written by a judge who warned the board of the child protection services that clerics were sexually abusing children.

The board took action and sent various letters to the boards of institutions to warn them. The confidential letters mentioned a black list of abusers. But the church hierarchy failed to take steps to stop the abuse.


Related Articles:


Cardinal Ad Simonis: "wir haben es nicht gewusst"


" ...The former head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands, Cardinal Ad Simonis, says the church leaders were not aware of child sex abuse in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s... '' - (Read more ... )



Big auditors face being split up, renamed

Reuters, By Huw Jones, LONDON | Wed Nov 30, 2011

(Reuters) - The world's top four audit firms will have to split up and rename themselves under a draft European Union law to crack down on conflicts of interest and shortcomings highlighted by the financial crisis.

"Investor confidence in audit has been shaken by the crisis and I believe changes in this sector are necessary," Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier said on Wednesday.

Policymakers have questioned why auditors gave a clean bill of health to many banks which shortly afterwards needed rescuing by taxpayers as the financial crisis began unfolding.

Barnier said recent apparent audit failures at AngloIrish and Lehman Brothers banks, BAE Systems (BAES.L) and Olympus (7733.T) "would strongly suggest that audit is not working as it should."

More robust supervision is needed and "more diversity in what is an overly concentrated market, especially at the top end," he said.

Just four audit firms -- Ernst & Young, Deloitte, KPMG, and PwC -- check the books of most blue-chip companies in the world, a situation the Commission said was "in essence an oligopoly."

Under Barnier's plan big audit firms -- the four top ones -- will have to separate audit activities from non-audit activities, such as tax and other advisory services -- "to avoid all risks of conflict of interest."

REBRANDING

Claire Bury, one of Barnier's top officials, said the plans, if approved by EU states and the European Parliament, would have an impact on the business models of the Big Four.

The audit and non-auditing operations of the big firms, defined as having a revenues of more than 1.5 billion euros in the EU, would have to have separate legal ownership structures.

"The will have to change names as well. I suppose we will have branding issues at the end of the day," Bury told a press briefing.

Public tendering of audit work by listed companies would be compulsory and include consideration of second-tier auditors.

Commission officials indicated that as the measure dealt with major structural reform of the market, the industry would need time to adapt but they hoped the new rules would be in place within 3-5 years.

"It's not something that can be rushed through," Barnier's spokeswoman said.

EU states and the European Parliament will have the final say on Barnier's draft law, a process that involves haggling and likely changes.

ROTATE

Barnier, under pressure from some fellow commissioners, dropped at the last minute a key element of his plans -- mandating "joint audits" of listed companies as a way to improve audit quality and help smaller auditors have experience of checking the books of big companies.

Instead, he has tried to introduce incentives to encourage joint audits by finessing another part of the measure -- the mandatory switching or rotation of auditors.

A sole auditor would only be allowed to audit the same firm for up to eight years but, if a joint audit was being done, this mandate could be extended up to 12 years.

An audit firm would not be allowed to offer non-auditing services, such as tax and other consultancy services, to a company it is auditing.

The EU plan also bans so-called loan covenants whereby banks lend money to companies on condition they are audited by one of the Big Four.

Officials from the big audit firms have warned that audit costs will increase and quality could suffer but their smaller rivals welcome Barnier's plans, which would open the door to new business for them.

The UK Competition Commission is already probing the sector and regulators in the United States are looking at audit firm rotation as well.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)




Related Article:


Iceland recognises Palestinian state

Icelandic parliament passes resolution making country the first in western Europe to accept Palestine as an independent state

guardian.co.uk, Associated Press, Wednesday 30 November 2011

Iceland's foreign minister, Ossur Skarphedinsson, said he would discuss
 the outcome of the vote with other Nordic countries before making a formal
 declaration on Palestinian statehood. Photograph: Alexander
Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images

Iceland has become the first western european country to recognise Palestine as an independent state.

The Icelandic parliament said in a statement on its website that it had passed a motion with 38 of 63 votes in favor of a resolution to recognse Palestine "as an independent and sovereign state" based on borders predating the six day war of 1967.

"Iceland is the first country in western europe to take this step," Ossur Skarphedinsson, the minister for foreign affairs, told RUV, the Icelandic national broadcasting service. He said the vote had given him the authority to make a formal declaration on the government's behalf, but before doing so he would discuss the move with other Nordic countries.

The resolution, which coincided with the UN's annual day of solidarity with the Palestinian people, recognised the Palestine Liberation Organisation as the legal authority for a Palestinian state and urged Israel and Palestine to reach a peace agreement.

The vote comes shortly after the Palestinians successfully gained admission to the UN's cultural agency Unesco. Iceland was among 11 European Union members to support that move, which was part of a larger effort to gain recognition as a state in the world body.

However, the suspected failure to win the required support of nine of the security council's 15 members, and a promise from the US that it would veto any council resolution endorsing membership, threats to stall the move for full UN membership.

In a message to the UN on Tuesday, the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, reaffirmed Palestine's bid for membership, saying it should complement peace negotiations provided Israel was prepared to negotiate on the basis of 1967 borders.

In a message read out by Palestinian UN observer Riyad Mansour, Abbas said Palestine's decision to apply to join the UN "is our legitimate right" based on the 1947 UN resolution to partition Palestine into two states.

Icelandic MP Amal Tamimi, who was born in Palestine, welcomed her parliament's move as a first step.

"I hope that more countries will follow suit," she said.


Related Article:


Tuesday, November 29, 2011

S&P downgrades top US banks' credit ratings

Associated Press, Nov 29, 2011

Latest News

NEW YORK (AP) -- Standard & Poors Ratings Services is adjusting the ratings on 37 of the world's largest financial institutions, including downgrading the biggest banks in the U.S.


Bank of America Corp. and its main subsidiaries were among those cut at least one notch on Tuesday, along with Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co.

S&P says the changes reflect its new ratings criteria for banks, which incorporate shifts in the worldwide financial industry and macroeconomic trends, including the role of governments and central banks in industry funding.

Top U.K. downgrades include Barclays, HSBC Holdings, Lloyds Banking Group and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

Ratings for several big European banks, including Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, ING and Societe Generale are unchanged.

Civil Action #8500, United States District Court for Southern District of New York,Nov 23, 2011

Fed secretly handed out $8 trillion

Downgraded:

  • Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.
  • Bank of America Corp.
  • Bank of New York Mellon Corp.
  • Barclays Plc
  • Citigroup Inc.
  • Rabobank Nederland
  • Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
  • HSBC Holdings Plc
  • JPMorgan Chase & Co.
  • Loyds Banking Group Plc
  • Morgan Stanley
  • Royal Bank of Scotland Plc
  • UBS AG
  • Wells Fargo & Co.

Upgraded:

  • Bank of China Ltd.
  • China Construction Bank Corp.

Kremlin accused of crackdown on Russians' access to western media

RIA-Novosti translator resigns from his job, saying news agency ordered stop on any articles critical of Vladimir Putin or his party

guardian.co.uk, Miriam Elder in Moscow, Monday 28 November 2011

The Kremlin has launched a campaign to crack down on Russians' access to critical western media, according to a former employee of the country's main state-run news agency.

The RIA-Novosti news agency last weekend reportedly ordered the employee to avoid stories critical of the prime minister, Vladimir Putin, and his United Russia party ahead of the elections.

Following the order, the employee, Grigory Okhotin, resigned his post at Inosmi, a website which translates articles from foreign press sources and is run by the news agency.

"They told me rather clearly not to translate harsh stories about Putin or United Russia," Okhotin said. "Or, they said, you can translate some but soften the headlines and don't put them on the front page." The order came from the RIA-Novosti leadership, Okhotin claimed.

But a RIA-Novosti spokeswoman, Alla Nadezhkina, said the organisation maintained a "neutral position and objective approach". She said published by Okhotin contained "clear distortions regarding the editorial politics of RIA-Novosti and Inosmi, based on his own fantasies". No order had to soften headlines, she said.

Marina Pustilnik, editor-in-chief of Inosmi, refused to confirm or deny the order. "I recommend you look at the website – there is quite a bit of material on the elections and Putin."

On Monday, the day after a party congress officially cementing Putin's candidacy in the 4 March presidential election, the top stories on Inosmi concerned modernisation, the eurozone crisis and Iran.

The Kremlin has become increasingly nervous about public support as it prepares for a parliamentary vote on Sunday and presidential elections in the spring. Polls show a steady decrease in support for United Russia, as well as for Putin, who is expected to return to the presidency after serving four years as premier.

Most Russians get their news from state-run TV, which is curated by Vladislav Surkov, the Kremlin's ideologist and a Putin ally. But with internet use skyrocketing, many Russians are turning to the web as an independent source of news.

Livejournal, Russia's main blogging platform and a hotbed of opposition thought, came under DDoS [distributed denial of service] attack , an action many bloggers linked to Sunday's vote. The platform last came under large-scale attack in April. "These attacks are against multiple journals worldwide, several of which are political in nature," the group said at the time.

The alleged censorship attempt at the state-run project came as Putin, speaking at his party congress, accused "representatives of some foreign countries" of seeking to undermine Russia's elections.

"You can't pressure the western press, can't ask them to soften their tone ahead of the elections," Okhotin wrote in an essay about the affair, published on a popular blog alongside internet chat with an Inosmi editor about the censorship order.

The essay was sent to translators, he said, "because you can't just plug up the throat of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Guardian and other western media".

He added: "It's an astonishing tale that will astonish nobody. I was ready to quit at any minute, since joining nearly a year ago. It wasn't unexpected."



Monday, November 28, 2011

Fed secretly handed out $8 trillion

RT.com, 28 November, 2011, 20:24

An anti-Wall Street demonstrator shouts slogans in front of the
Federal Reserve Bank (AFP Photo / Frederic J. Brown)

We knew the last bailout from the Federal Reserve was pretty big, but not until now did we have statistics on the actually tally. If you thought that the $700 billion bailout for TARP was big, get a load of this.

Just exactly how big was the Federal Reserve’s bailout of the banks between the years of 2008 and 2010? Thanks to a Federal Request of Information Act gone fulfilled, America now knows the truth behind a colossal cover-up: almost $8 trillion.

Ever since the Fed stepped in to bail out the biggest banks in the country, Ben Bernanke and company have gone to great lengths to keep the exact details of the transactions a secret, citing that the truth would cause concern for the world financial crisis far greater than what was already at hand, saying in particular that investors would step away from the “too big to fail” banks that were benefiting from the bailout. And while Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke went on the record to call the bailouts to even the most “sound institutions” only “marginal,” details of the FOIA request obtained by Bloomberg News now reveals that the Federal Reserve spent nearly half of the entire production output of the US during that span of less than two years — the biggest bailout in the country’s history — while going to great lengths to keep Congress and the American people in the dark.

By March of 2009, the Fed had already dished out $7.77 trillion to save the US financial system, dwarfing other assistance programs several times over. As the financial sector was on the brink of collapse, neither the Fed nor the banks involved came clean with the truth, instead lying through their teeth to keep the total facts a mystery. Until now.

While the banks kept the bailout a secret from Congress, they lobbied to the Legislative Branch to imply more lax governmental regulations on the industry, something that would haven arguably been near impossible had the truth surfaced at the time.

The website Naked Capitalism explains it pretty clearly in not so many words: “The bottom line is everybody close to the process lied like crazy.”

On November 26, 2008, Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D. Lewis told shareholders that he ran “one of the strongest and most stable major banks in the world.” On that very day, BofA was indebted to the Fed something to the tune of nearly $90 billion. Less than two weeks later, the Federal Reserve blew $1.2 trillion total in a single day to bail out the breaking financial institutions.

All the while, of course, banks were borrowing loans at interest rates of as low as 0.01 percent. “No one calculated until now that banks reaped an estimated $13 billion of income by taking advantage of the Fed’s below-market rates,” writes Bloomberg now.

That’s not the worst part, either. As the Fed continues to operate without oversight from the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches, further bailouts are guaranteed to keep being generated at the cost of the American taxpayer while a recession still seems imminent — if not already occurring. Critics including presidential hopeful Congressman Ron Paul have lobbied to abolish the Federal Reserve once and for all. Could the next president help make that dream a reality? In the meantime, don’t be surprised if billions get borrowed at America’s expense minute by minute.



Sunday, November 27, 2011

UK secretly helping Canada push its oil sands project

Canadian interests and oil lobby win coalition's support for highly polluting process in runup to European fuel quality vote

guardian.co.uk, Damian Carrington, Sunday 27 November 2011

Tar sands excavation mine in Fort McMurray, Alberta. The European
proposal  would designate fuel from such a source as producing 22% more
greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels.
Photograph: Orjan F Ellingvag/Dagens Nar

The UK government has been giving secret support at the very highest levels to Canada's campaign against European penalties on its highly polluting tar sands fuel, the Guardian can reveal.

At the same time, the UK government was being lobbied by Shell and BP, which both have major tar sands projects in Alberta, and opened a new consulate in the province to "support British commercial interests".

At least 15 high-level meetings and frequent communications have taken place since September, with David Cameron discussing the issue with his counterpart Stephen Harper during his visit to Canada, and stating privately that the UK wanted "to work with Canada on finding a way forward", according to documents released under freedom of information laws.

Charles Hendry, the energy minister, later told the Canadian high commissioner: "We would value continued discussion with you on how we can progress discussions in Brussels," with Hendry's official asking the Canadians if they had "any suggestions as to what we might do, given the politics in Brussels".

Canada's vast tar sands – also known as oil sands – are the second largest reserve of carbon in the world after Saudi Arabia, although the energy needed to extract oil from the ground means the process results in far more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil drilling, as well as causing the destruction of forests and air and water pollution.

Nasa scientist James Hansen says if the oil sands were exploited as projected it would be "game over for the climate".

The European proposal is to designate transport fuel from tar sands as resulting in 22% more greenhouse gas emissions than that from conventional fuels. This would make suppliers, who have to reduce the emissions from their fuels by 10% by 2020, very reluctant to include it in their fuel mix. It would also set an unwelcome precedent for Canada by officially labelling fuel from tar sands as dirtier.

The UK and Canada's shared opposition to the European plan puts the UK in a minority among EU countries and will be deeply embarrassing as a new round of global negotiations on tackling climate change begins in Durban, South Africa on Monday. Chris Huhne, the energy and climate change secretary, claimed on Thursday that the UK was showing "leadership" in the UN negotiations, while Canada's prime minister has blocked climate laws. The revelations are also the latest blow to Cameron's claim to be the "greenest government ever".

The vote to approve the European fuel quality regulations takes place on Friday. In advance of that, William Hague, the foreign secretary, has also given support to Canada, sending an "immediate action" cable in September to the UK's embassies there asking "to communicate our position and seek Canadian views on what might be acceptable".

However, the Department for Transport, in which the Liberal Democrat minister Norman Baker has responsibility for tar sands issues, has released only two presentations made to it by Shell, both heavily redacted. The DfT rejected requests to release at least six other relevant documents on the grounds of commercial confidentiality and adverse effect on international relations, as did the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), where Shell also met ministers.

BP has lobbied ministers, too. Its vice president in Europe, Peter Mather, has been, in his own words, "bending the ear" of Baker. Mather also sent a letter in which he wrote: "The regulatory burden would be considerable at a time when the industry is already creaking under the weight of a heavy regulatory regime."

John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: "The scale of oil industry lobbying exposed in these documents is quite extraordinary. It's especially worrying that Baker held a secret meeting with Shell about this key European vote on tar sands. But worse still, he's now covering up what was discussed."

Colin Baines, toxic fuels campaign manager at the Co-operative, the UK mutual business group which targets tar sands as part of its climate change campaigning, said: "It is very disappointing that the UK government is supporting Canada's efforts and we hope it has a rethink and puts tackling climate change ahead of Canada's trade interests when it comes to vote on the European commission's commonsense proposal."

The documents were obtained by the Co-operative under environmental information regulations, a type of freedom of information law. They include letters to and from ministers, diplomatic correspondence and notes of meetings.

Baker said: "The government is staying true to its aspiration to be the greenest ever by seeking to secure the best deal it can for the environment from the discussions ongoing in the EU about the fuel quality directive.

"We believe that means tackling all highly polluting crudes equally, not simply oil sands from one particular country. These certainly represent a problem, but so do other crudes, and it makes no environmental sense to ignore these.

"This is not about protecting one particular country – we want to deal with all crudes, not just one type, and in a way that is based on robust and objective data, related to their carbon emissions."

Like Baker, Canada also argues in the newly revealed documents that it is unfair to single out one nation and that other types of oil can be as dirty as tar sands.

But Baines says these arguments are "myths", as the European proposal does not name any nation and on average fuel from tar sands is a greater source of carbon by a clear margin, according to a Stanford University study for the European commission.

Furthermore, the European commission proposal allows for changes in the emissions designated for fuel types.

Canadian ministers and diplomats state they support an "overarching ambition" to reduce carbon emissions. But Canada has admitted it will fail to meet its Kyoto protocol target of a 6% cut compared with 1990 levels: in 2009 its emissions were 34% higher.

In September, Lord Sassoon, the UK Treasury minister for commerce, spent two days in the Albertan capital Calgary, a few hundred miles from the vast oil sand pits excavated by 1,500-tonne diggers. The International Energy Agency expects production to treble in the next 20 years. Sassoon met politicians and oil executives to discuss boosting trade with the UK and told reporters that Alberta is "one of the main focuses of British business". Alberta's energy minister, Ron Liepert, told Sassoon privately he "was grateful for UK efforts" on the tar sands issue in Europe.

The new British consulate-general in Calgary was announced by Hague on 18 October, the same day as Canadian energy minister Joe Oliver said: "[The British] have been very, very helpful and we're pleased about that. Many European companies are heavily invested in the oil sands and they also would be concerned." The new documents and diplomatic sources suggest the Netherlands, Spain and Poland are among those backing the British-Canadian position.

In London, a senior Canadian diplomat, Sushma Gera, told BIS: "Canada will not hesitate to defend her interests," perhaps via a World Trade Organisation dispute, a possibility also raised by Shell in its presentation to DfT.

Bill McKibben, a leading US environmentalist, who was arrested in August protesting against a major oil sands pipeline called Keystone XL said: "The UK seems to have emerged as Canada's partner in crime, leaning on Brussels to let this crud across the borders. This will be among the biggest single environmental decisions the Cameron government makes."

Greenpeace's Sauven, along with the head of Friends of the Earth, Andy Atkins, and David Nussbaum, leader of WWF-UK, have written to Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister and Lib Dem leader.

The letter says: "We ask you to intervene personally on this, to ensure that your party's green ambitions are more effectively upheld across Whitehall."


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Two companies both managed to excise, completely legally, a huge
coal plant from their pollution record. Photograph: John Giles/PA


GLOBAL WARMING / CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUE (THRU CHANNELING)

7. Let us give you another prime example of duality, the controversial issue you call global warming. Those who believe this is a natural occurrence cite Earth’s ice ages as proof that humankind has no hand in today’s record temperatures, the melting of glaciers and the harsh climate anomalies. They believe that there is no need to change manufacturing operations or turn to alternative energy sources because doing so would be cost-prohibitive. Then there are those who believe that science proves climate change is manmade. They point to industrial pollution and the use of biofuels as the cause, and they maintain that unless action is taken to end those practices, the cost will be total destruction of the environment. With the two sides at loggerheads, no large scale efforts are underway to change business as usual.

8. The truth is, both sides have validity even though neither knows that Earth herself is in the process of restoring the moderate climate of Eden times, when her body was pristine and healthy. And pollution, a product of humanity, must stop because it is harming the planet and all of its life forms. Eventually the two sides of the global warming issue will realize that protecting and repairing the environment is essential, and formerly extreme views will be reconciled into effective methods to remedy the present critical state. Read more ..... (Q&A - November 2010 (Matthew Channeling))

Occupy London sets out agenda on how it wants to change the economic world

Campaigners' policy statement calls for an end to tax havens and tax avoidance

guardian.co.uk, Peter Walker, Sunday 27 November 2011

Occupy London protesters have been camping outside St Paul's Cathedral
 in London for more than a month and have now issued a statement on how
 they want to end the injustices of the global financial system.
Photograph: Paul Hackett/Reuters

The Occupy London movement has agreed its first specific set of proposals about corporations, just over six weeks since it first set up camp outside St Paul's cathedral to campaign against the perceived excesses and injustices of the global financial system.

While the protest has gathered considerable publicity and expanded to three sites – as well as St Paul's, there are offshoot camps in Finsbury Square, further east, and inside a vacant office complex nearby owned by the Swiss bank USB – it has faced criticism about a lack of concrete demands. Agreeing these has proved a complicated process, as all decision are reached by consensus at mass meetings.

The first policy statement on corporations calls for an end to tax havens and tax avoidance, more transparency over business lobbying, and legal reforms to make individual executives more liable for the consequences of their decisions.

"Globally, corporations deprive the public purse of hundreds of billions of pounds each year, leaving insufficient funds to provide people with fair living standards. We must abolish tax havens and complex tax avoidance schemes, and ensure corporations pay tax that accurately reflects their real profits," the statement said.

On lobbying, it calls for laws to ensure "full and public transparency of all corporate lobbying activities". Finally, the statement argues that executives must be "personally liable for their role in the misdeeds of their corporations and duly charged for all criminal behaviour".

Soon after the first camp was set up on the western edge of St Paul's, after police prevented activists basing themselves near the headquarters of the London Stock Exchange, the group issued a general list of proposals, calling the current economic system "unsustainable" and opposing public spending cuts. The only other such statement called for more transparency and democracy within the Corporation of London, the governing authority within the City district, which owns some of the land adjoining St Paul's and which is taking legal action to evict the campers.

"From the moment the Occupy London Stock Exchange occupation started, in the full glare of the media and in the court of public opinion, we have continually been asked, 'What do you want?' "What are your demands?'" said Jamie Kelsey, a member of the corporations policy group.

"We are calling time on a system where corporates and their employees pursue profit at all costs. Just as corporates have played their role in the iniquities of the current system, they are also part of the solution and we invite them to join this important conversation."


Saturday, November 26, 2011

Durban? What a waste of time!

RNW, 26 November 2011, by Robert Chesal

   (Photo: RNW)
             
Don't bother keeping an eye on the Durban climate conference this week. That advice is from Marjan Minnesma. The woman voted top green entrepreneur in the Netherlands has a 'sisters are doing it for themselves' attitude. Not governments, but businesspeople like herself will save the planet, she says.

It's not easy for journalists to ignore events like Durban, where governments will be talking about reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But little has been achieved on the international stage since the Kyoto conference. "All talk and no action," sneers Minnesma. "Scientists disagree, voters underestimate the problem, and therefore governments don't do a thing about climate change."


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Promoting solar

Marjan Minnesma's Amsterdam-based company Urgenda purchased 50,000 solar panels in China last year. The huge order meant she could bargain for a low price, and she passed the savings on to the thousands of Dutch home and business owners who bought them. "In a single business deal," Minnesma says, "we did more to promote solar power than the Dutch government has done for the past few years put together."
Urgenda has an ambitious plan to turn the Wadden Island of Texel into a model of sustainability that generates its own solar power, grows its own sustainable crops and serves as a testing area for new green technology. Texel has great showcase potential with 800,000 tourists on the island each year.

"There are already 30 entrepreneurs there who drive electric cars daily. There are 50 stations in Texel where you can charge your car battery."

Pre-seasoned potatoes

The newest innovation being tested on the island is farming on salty soil. "They grow salty potatoes there. So you don't need to cook with salt anymore. You just throw your salty potato in the water and it's already seasoned," Minnesma says.

"A lot of the Dutch groundwater is full of salt. We can keep irrigating with fresh water, which costs a lot of energy and water, or we can say we were the first in the world to develop the salty agriculture business."

Impatient

Marjan Minnesma began her career at Royal Dutch Shell, of all places. She thought she could change the company from within. "I discovered I would need to stay there 20 or 30 years to make real changes." Minnesma doesn't have that much patience, or time for that matter. Nor does the planet, she says. "Climate change is an urgent problem."

Urgenda does a lot of awareness-raising because the mindset needs to change. People have to be convinced to take steps, even if their government is lagging behind. Minnesma works with people she calls "frontrunners", she explains.

"People who do things for the first time. People who stick their neck out and are willing to spend a bit more to be the first."

Spreading the word

The idea is that these trendsetters start using clean technology and "the masses" follow them, the entrepreneur says. "We try to change society by setting an example, getting others to follow and making the group of followers bigger and bigger." She points to England, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and Austria as the countries where this model could work right away.

But in Russia and the USA, Minnesma warns, the oil and gas industries have too much influence. Even our southern neighbour Belgium is not moving fast enough.

"They have a rich subsidy programme for solar panels, but I don't see sustainability in the rest of their lifestyle. The subsidy has mainly made a few entrepreneurs very rich."

Unilever

Minnesma believes big business can provide the real solution to environmental problems, as long as they have the right approach. She praises Unilever, which has set the goal of doubling its turnover and cutting its ecological footprint in half. "That is an enormous statement. If they really succeed within ten years they have done a major job."

Dying breed

On the downside, some companies are refusing to budge from their old ways.

"Energy companies are not playing a good role. They are old-fashioned, big animals of the last century that are going to die, and soon I hope. There are a few big electricity companies in the Netherlands that are still opening coal-fired power plants. That should be seen as immoral. We don't produce asbestos anymore, so we shouldn't be burning coal either."

Forget Durban

But Minnesma doesn't give a moment's thought to what the Dutch government might be pushing for at the climate conference in Durban this week.

"Forget these international negotiations. They won't do the trick. They will certainly delay. And we don't have that much time anymore. We can't wait until 186 countries come to a conclusion. Let's do it ourselves."


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GLOBAL WARMING / CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUE (THRU CHANNELING)

7. Let us give you another prime example of duality, the controversial issue you call global warming. Those who believe this is a natural occurrence cite Earth’s ice ages as proof that humankind has no hand in today’s record temperatures, the melting of glaciers and the harsh climate anomalies. They believe that there is no need to change manufacturing operations or turn to alternative energy sources because doing so would be cost-prohibitive. Then there are those who believe that science proves climate change is manmade. They point to industrial pollution and the use of biofuels as the cause, and they maintain that unless action is taken to end those practices, the cost will be total destruction of the environment. With the two sides at loggerheads, no large scale efforts are underway to change business as usual.


8. The truth is, both sides have validity even though neither knows that Earth herself is in the process of restoring the moderate climate of Eden times, when her body was pristine and healthy. And pollution, a product of humanity, must stop because it is harming the planet and all of its life forms. Eventually the two sides of the global warming issue will realize that protecting and repairing the environment is essential, and formerly extreme views will be reconciled into effective methods to remedy the present critical state. Read more ..... (Q&A - November 2010 (Matthew Channeling))