Yes, a reference if ever there was one. Yet in the stage of an article that was the thought that hit me a second later. The article came from the Guardian titled ‘Fossil fuel firms ‘have humanity by the throat’, says UN head in blistering attack’. The article (at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/17/fossil-fuel-firms-un-head-antonio-guterres-blistering-attack) gives us all kinds of ‘information’ And we pause when we see “Fossil fuel companies and the banks that finance them “have humanity by the throat”, the UN secretary general has said, in a “blistering” attack on the industry and its backers, who are pulling in record profits amid energy prices sent soaring by the Ukraine war.” Yet the truth is not really that profound, is it? We can blame the oil dealers, but the truth of the matter is that for well over 20 years governments were dragging its heels in the investment that was essential for their nation, The US, the UK, Commonwealth nations, EU nations. None of them are without blame. And as such United Tony goes on a ramble of blaming. And with “They exploited precisely the same scandalous tactics as big tobacco decades before. Like tobacco interests, fossil fuel interests and their financial accomplices must not escape responsibility.” And where were the governments? Filling their pockets on that taxation. But that is something we do not get to see either is it? For centuries the world created a commodities environment and that should have stopped 30 years ago, or should have been deflated 30 years ago and now that the hole is deeper than one thought the blame game starts and the pointing fingers commences in earnest, but if you want to see the guilty party you only need to look into a mirror.
And in the USA, where we see average diesel prices at $5.798. In November 2020 is was $2.462, in May 2008 it was $4.723, In June 1996 is was $1.179. This was a volatile market to begin with, there were clear warnings in 2008, which was 14 years ago and the 12 years before that there were more indicators. So where was the United Nations then? Where were the politicians then? So the tantrum the Guardian is giving us sounds nice, but the lack of actions is overwhelming as such we could go with the blame on ‘fossil fuel producers and financiers’ yet in all this where were the politicians, where was the media? The same media that shorted an EEA report that CLEARLY showed that 50% of ALL pollution was created by 147 facilities and I illuminated that in earlier articles, where was the Guardian at that point where its reporter was eager to blame all those jet owners?
As such United Tony should get contemplate a decent grip on reality.
So whilst we now see “The Guardian understands Guterres has been incensed by the recent behaviour of fossil fuel companies, which have been reaping a bonanza from energy prices sent soaring by the Ukraine war. Much of these bumper profits are likely to be invested in fresh exploration and expansion of fossil fuel resources.” All this with an earlier jab towards Saudi Arabia and the ‘need’ for President Biden to go there. Yes, there is a splinter of truth there, but the larger issues is that oil is a commodity, one many do not have and lets face it. The top three are United States, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. So if the US is one of the three top producers, why does it need Saudi oil? Did anyone consider THAT part of the equation? The US should have limited fossil requirements decades ago, but did they? So why is United Tony ignoring that part of the equation? And then we see the political ‘outrage’ with headlines like ‘Biden Was Always Going to Need Saudi Arabia’ and “Why Biden Needs Saudi Arabia: to produce oil and deter Iran” yet the simple truth is that Saudi Arabia needs to do what is best for Saudi Arabia and the US needs to produce more oil, or set the stage that less oil is required a simple setting that was out in the open for decades. Yet we also see a lack of actions from the United Nations and United Tony to set a clear agenda to LIMIT the need for oil. We see a lot of noise and we saw that for the longest of times, but how much ACTUAL actions were taken? Consider that one of the top three nations is appealing to Saudi Arabia to produce more. We get that he is not going to Moscow, we get that his actions are limited but this is a train-wreck from beginning to end. And the United Nations are a mere sample of Mukimono on the diner table and we need to realise this.
So when we see “Fossil fuel firms ‘have humanity by the throat’” we want to blame, but who can we blame but our own reflection? So when people ask me ‘What did you do?’ I can say “I never bothered with a drivers license, I never owned a car. I walked nearly every day to and from public transportation” and in over half a century I only desperately needed a car LESS than a dozen times and they nearly all were part of moving day actions. Who else can make that claim? Yes, some call me Dopey for not having a car. Yet I saw people requiring $80 a week just to park the bloody thing, so who is the Dopey? Them or me?
Dependence on oil is a bad thing, but not addressing that need is worse. The politicians and people are mere junkies for the black goo. They can alter the language and give excuses but that is what a junkie does and those who wanted a solution found another way, so which nations have another solution? Yes, I reckon you will not be able to find one, even as New Zealand might be the closest to being one, it is in the same goo, just not as deep as all the other nations.
It would have been nice for António Guterres (United Tony) to address the needy (US) the greedy (the political players) and tell the Dopey’s (the people) that the first step in addressing this problem is admitting to yourself in the mirror that you have one. Because the people are just as much to blame as anyone else. If you want to make claim that you are not the problem then leave your car at home for a week, for one week do without it. You will be surprised how many excuses you can come up with to grab the car, just like a junkie does. I feel fine, I have been without a car for half a century. So from the time we saw the Morris Marina until the Maruti Swift, I never had any of them. I get that there are times that a car is essential, we all get that, but I throw back at you that this year alone there are 1.446 billion cars, in 1970 the world had 200,000,000 cars. Over 50 years we saw a 723% growth of cars and some are essential, I get that, but 723%? We are all part of that problem, we drove the commodity of oil into the stratosphere and we are too scared (or cowardly) to admit that and the oil producing nations are having a great day, the Ukrainian war is merely an excuse. You see, 50% of that war (Russia) has its own supply and they have plenty. But that part is equally not illuminated. Why is that?
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 