Good morning,
Belarus Crisis
Belarus’ dictator, (unelected and supported by Russia), Aleksander Lukashenko has now threatened to shut off a gas pipeline that transits his Country from Russia to Europe. The situation is escalating, as Lukashenko has by all account lured 2000 migrants to the Polish border and is forcing them to cross into Europe.
Poland has increased its border guards and barbed wire, and refuses to let the migrants pass. People caught between the two countries are freezing to death. Europe is promising to hit Belarus with more sanctions, in addition to those in place after Lukashenko ordered a Ryan airplane to be forced to land so that he could arrest an opposition blogger.
The US, UK, France, Ireland, Norway, Estonia and Albania blamed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for the dire situation.
On Back Story with Dana Lewis podcast we interview the former Foreign Minister of Lithuania, a country which also shares a border with Belarus and has declared an emergency. Ambassador Linus Linkevicius says President Putin of Russia is clearly behind the attempt to destabilize Europe.
And also on this weeks podcast, we talk to Project Dynamo organizer Bryan Stern. This is a volunteer/charity mission to rescue those left behind in Afghanistan.
Subscribe to the podcast for free.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/9532447
Climate
We are nearing a new extinction event, as temperatures rise from Global Warming. At the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow which ends today, goals to keep temperatures below 1.5 C are failing.
Philip Davis, prime minister of the Bahamas, said: "I invited them to be brave, to be courageous and act because, as you said, it's a lot of fancy words.
"They don't seem to have any teeth to them. It's aspirational."
We will hear words in the final document which say things like “recommitted” to reducing emissions, and “resetting” efforts.
But the fact is this was the 26th summit which failed to bring nations in line with reducing emissions. Time is running short, or simply running out to reverse massive shifts in the melting polar icecaps, the disappearing coral reefs, and the rising sea levels that threaten nations like Bahamas.
Even the host of the conference, Scotlands Nicola Sturgeon has come under heavy criticism for refusing to join a ‘Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance"‘ that has been launched by Denmark and Costa Rica to halt new drilling, with France, Greenland, Ireland, Sweden, Wales and the Canadian province Quebec signing up as founding members.
If all of this talk of 1.5 degrees is confusing, or lost in different sub discussions, for you I highly recommend David Attenburough’s Witness Statement on Netflix. It clearly gives you a time line on our Extinction Event as its called and tells you how we can head off a catastrophic future with reductions of emissions and re-wilding of forests.
COP26 made some progress, but the climate won’t respond to rhetoric and promises and we need to act yesterday!
Inflation
Many nations including the U.S. are seeing rapid inflation and the risks of political upheaval is real as families struggle to pay bills and we witness rapid debasing of currencies.
Prices have picked up by 6.2 percent over the past year, the fastest pace in 31 years and far above the Federal Reserve’s inflation target. President Biden is pushing his 1.85 trillion dollar spending bill which includes spending programs and tax cuts, as an answer to inflation. But Republicans argue that the bill’s spending, much of which is spread over several years, will push prices higher.
Cop26 -
Footnote on the climate summit. The talks scheduled to end tonight are likely to be extended through the weekend., but experts say they are so far away from the 1.5C target, it is “FRIGHTENING”.
Try to have a good weekend everyone. And if you like this newsletter help us grow it by sharing the link. And we appreciate people who convert their free subscriptions into paying but you don’t have to.
Dana
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/11/business/economy/biden-inflation.html
https://inews.co.uk/news/cop26-nicola-sturgeon-first-minister-criticised-beyond-oil-and-gas-1296785
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/12/hold-belarus-accountable-for-bid-to-destabilise-eu-border-says-west