I like so many people, have watched and read about the unfolding horror taking place between the Israelis and Palestinians and the shedding of the blood of the innocent on both sides.
However, I want to vent my spleen in the direction of Joe Biden for his appalling act of sending aircraft carriers and munitions to Israel.
This from a man who came to our country several months ago and preached to us from his “gospel of reconciliation”.
The USA’s gung-ho response is so hypocritical, especially when the Democrats’ stance on this running sore in the Middle East was to work towards a two-state solution. It now looks like this conflict has the potential to spread throughout the region.
This cack-handed, knee-jerk reaction comes from a man whilst dancing the Irish jig metaphorically in Ballina and Carlingford.
He has committed an unforgivable wrong and I hope he never again sets foot in my country. I hope the “leader of the free world” rests easy in his bed tonight.
Larry Mc Dermott
Belfast BT11
General public being excluded from climate change debate
This summer has spawned a sequence of forest fires in Mediterranean countries and Canada. These infernos were euphemistically deemed to be “extreme weather events” in the climate change idiom. However, they are now occurring with such regularity and intensity that they can be judged to be completely normal events. Some climate scientists now refer to “climate burning” instead of climate change.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted in its annual report that “the choices and actions implemented in this decade will have impacts now and for thousands of years.” The integrity of the global food system, the frequency of ‘extreme weather’ events, the stability of ecosystems, will all depend on these political choices. Unfortunately, in Britain, they are not being made for the benefit of our precious blue planet. In fact current political and economic choices are likely to contribute to pushing planet earth beyond its habitable parameters. This leads us to the pertinent question – who is making the critical decisions in relation to climate change?
Opinion polls demonstrate that 75 per cent of British adults now express serious concerns about climate change. Yet, alarmingly, there has been a complete failure of the UK government to reflect this perspective or take even its own unimpressive climate goals seriously. The views of oil giant lobbyists, political donors and investment firms that dominate Westminster take precedence. The UK political system completely fails to reflect the strong public support for the introduction of tangible measures to fight climate change.
Several recent examples highlight the growing cleavage between the prevailing majority public will and government policy.
The recent government auction for offshore wind has been described as the “biggest policy failure in decades”. Prices were set too low and the government failed to secure any investments.
The Tory government shamelessly opposes London’s very sensible Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) scheme on the spurious premise that attempting to reduce carbon emissions is restricting people’s freedom.
Both Labour and the Conservatives are now reassessing Britain’s modest net zero targets. Both are increasingly retreating from concrete commitments to reduce emissions. The faltering Labour pledge to make a significant investment in wind farms is but one example.
The outlook seems bleak. The general public are being excluded from the climate change debate, the government are failing to properly address this problem and the earth is literally burning. The UK democratic system urgently needs to be reformed so that the people can be heard. It means a more proportional voting system. It means an end to the inordinate influence of lobbying and donor groups at Westminster. It means accountability for MPs and ministers with conflicts of interest. The UK can’t go green without embracing a much more representative democracy.
George Workman
Donabate, Co Dublin
Wars and genocide could and should be prevented
THE US-dominated international mainstream media quickly moves from one catastrophic crisis to the next.
The media focus on the war in Ukraine has been replaced with the dreadful conflict in Israel/Palestine. The ethnic cleansing of Armenian people from Nagorno Karabakh never received the attention it deserved. The ongoing genocide and conflict chaos is once again happening in Darfur Sudan, with little publicity. The killing and human rights abuses continue in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
No serious efforts are being made by the so-called international community to resolve or prevent all these and other conflicts. On the contrary, several of the most powerful states, including four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (the P5), have been actively instigating and supporting these conflicts.
Trillions of dollars are being spent on wars and militarism, while only a pittance is being spent on promoting peace and preventing conflicts. Worse than that, the UN is being prevented by these P5 members from achieving its primary role of creating and maintaining international peace.
International chaos benefits those who are using resource wars to maintain their access to an undue share of the world’s limited resources. What is happening now in Gaza, Darfur and Nagorno Karabakh could amount to genocide. After the Holocaust the international community said never again, but allowed genocide to occur in Cambodia, East Timor, Bosnia, and Rwanda. Once again, the international community said never again, but is now once again doing little to prevent further genocides.
Dr Edward Horgan
Castletroy, Co Limerick
