Great Britain wants to punish Russia for using a dangerous nerve agent in their country. Good for them; standing up to a dangerous autocrat. But how do they plan to hurt Russia? Trade? Great idea. Sanctions!! Oops. Great Britain needs Russia the way a baby needs its mother’s breast because Great Britain signed the Paris Climate Accord and proudly shut down her God-given coal mines. She now depends on imported gas which comes, partly, from Russia.
It never crossed the mind of the leaders of Great Britain to reach out to the greatest minds around the world and develop ways to produce cleaner coal. Instead they felt the need to virtue signal. Because appearances are far more important than reality. Now instead of worrying about carbon in the air the citizens of Great Britain can worry about nerve agents being dropped anywhere at any time around the country. That should make the people breathe easier.
Canada has done the same thing. Blessed with resources that we could share, we have the grand master of virtue signalling promoting the Paris Accords by shutting down Alberta’s oil sands, putting stumbling blocks in front of anyone who wants to get that oil to market, including the Indigenous Peoples whom our PM has promised to help. Keep in mind, oil companies are required to return the land to its original condition.
This is the reclaimed land at the oil sands in Alberta.
How much better it would have been for Canada and the world if Trudeau had promoted better ways of producing cleaner oil. Instead, we are putting our own people out of work while we continue to import oil from Saudi Arabia, making us beholden to the theocrats of the Middle East. Great.
Interesting:seems we have no problem with ships criss-crossing the oceans with foreign oil.
Only Donald Trump realized that the Paris Climate Accord was really an attack on the West: trying to tie our hands behind out backs. Obama had given away the store when he shut down the coal mines and signed the treaty as he had done with Iran. Making us dependent on cultures that do not accept our values. Trump opened up America, turning her into an energy exporter. He can punish Russia: Britain can’t.
And then there are China and India. They did not promise anything in the accord. Read these reports on India and China. Is it any wonder that intelligent people-not virtue signallers- wonder about the Accord? It is bafflegab.
It’s all well and good to threaten others for breaking laws. But without the power to inflict pain, it is pointless. Russia knows that. So does Donald Trump.
From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”
