visitorq
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
|
 Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:19 am Post subject: Former Apartheid Spy to Head UN Climate Change Effort |
 |
|
| Quote: |
This week, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South Africa�s tourism minister, was nominated to head the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCC). Van Schalkwyk is a former apartheid operative who bartered his way into the black majority government by helping it smear its democratic opposition. He is a statist bureaucrat who is one of the most unpopular political figures in the new South Africa. He is just right for the job.
There is no one better to put in charge of the entire political enterprise of climate change as it is collapsing amidst failed negotiations and accusations of fraud. Van Schalkwyk will be sure to hasten the end. He did the same when he took over the rump of South Africa�s National Party, the party of apartheid, and led it to crushing defeat. He gave up and joined the African National Congress (ANC) government in return for his ministry.
That was bad news for South Africans, as Van Schalkwyk encouraged other politicians to defect from the country�s leading opposition parties to join the corrupt and hegemonic ANC. (An angry public began referring to those who crossed the floor for political favors as �crosstitutes.�) But it is good news for critics of the UN climate change bureaucracy, who now have a target who personifies everything there is to dislike about the system.
The worldwide �consensus� on climate change is unraveling amidst mounting evidence that the UN and senior scientists manipulated the data to suit their predictions of rapid warming and their prescriptions for drastic intervention in the global economy. It is, of course, true that carbon dioxide is a �greenhouse gas� that helps warm the earth; it is true that we have pumped more of it into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution.
It is also true that there is evidence of increasing average global surface temperatures over the same time period, and reason to believe that trend could continue over the next century. But it is also true that there are other factors affecting global climate, including some that reduce temperatures. And it is also true that our most sophisticated computer models cannot predict how warmer temperatures will affect our climate in the future.
That wasn�t good enough for those eager to create a sense of alarm. They projected worst-case scenarios and tried to convince the world that the potential costs of future warming far outweighed the costs of shutting down whole industries. They never explained whether climate change could actually be reversed; they did not need to, as long as they could scare people enough to avoid having to answer tough questions. |
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/03/09/former-apartheid-spy-appointed-to-head-un-climate-change-effort/
| Quote: |
MARTHINUS VAN SCHALKWYK, the leading contender to replace outgoing National Party leader FW de Klerk, was a paid agent of military intelligence during his student years at Rand Afrikaans University in the 1980s.
Van Schalkwyk was president of Afrikaans student organisation Jeugkrag (Youth Power), where his salary was paid from covert SA Defence Force funds. And Van Schalkwyk lied to his Jeugkrag colleagues about the source of his salary and the organisation's financing.
Van Schalkwyk on Thursday confirmed he had received covert funding for both Jeugkrag and himself, saying he is not ashamed of it. "This is an old story. I am very proud of what we did. Those were not normal circumstances ... We pushed hard for the African National Congress to be unbanned," he said.
Earlier this week, FW de Klerk, in announcing his resignation as NP leader, said: "It is my hope that my retirement will be seen for what it is: the last remaining high-profile link with the old National Party and its so-called baggage ... a rejuvenation and a new leadership which does not have this historical bond with the NP."
|
http://www.mg.co.za/article/1997-08-29-fws-heir-was-mi-agent |
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
