Big Green Ogres

Saudi newspaper Arab News has an article proclaiming that
Global Warming Is Mankind’s Greatest Threat

Yesterday was a black day with an attack on the US Consulate in Jeddah, exacting a terrible toll in human lives and suffering. Yet, as dreadful as these kinds of occurrences are — and nobody can deny that terrorists are, indeed, a global and worsening plague — one wonders whether the Bush administration should concentrate on this to the exclusion of all others, in particular the urgent need to curtail global warming.

At the end, the article notes "Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback.".

As far as I can tell, she mainly writes for middle eastern media, so it's not a syndication of something written for The Guardian or the like. And yet Saudi Arabia's major (legal) export is not mentioned in the article.

I may send her feedback. I hope she welcomes it.

Update Friday December 17: Yes, she does welcome feedback.

I asked

I read your article “Global Warming Is Mankind’s
Greatest Threat” in Arab News. In the article, you
deplore excessive consumption of oil without
criticising the countries that supply the western
world with as much oil as is asked for. Would you be
able to explain why you didn't criticise those
countries?

and in less than 24 hours I got the following reply:

Dear Andrew,

When oil producing countries attempt to cut production, prices shoot up and they are blamed for consequent worsening economies. We must also consider politics when it comes to Mid-East oil producers. When supplies were severely cut in response to the 1973 war, this was considered by the West as a hostile act. We should ask ourselves whether Mid-East suppliers, in particular, truly have a free hand and what the consequences would be if they unilaterally decided to severely curtail flows.

More importantly, the biggest polluters are not oil producing countries but oil importers. If the polluters sought other, environmentally friendly, sources of energy then the producers would eventually lack buyers and prices would substantially decrease benefiting everyone.

Best regards,

Linda Heard

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A news service called "Executive Intelligence Review", associated with Lyndon LaRouche, is syndicating on Google News. Opinions about Lyndon vary: some think that he's a Jew-hating fascist, while others think he's just plain nuts.

Meanwhile, Daily "Screw them" Kos has been removed from Google News.

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