beyondzerosum

Photo credit: dsearls via Flickr/CC BY

For several years, I have been trying to figure out why there has been such a vigorous campaign by the right-wing to discredit Global Warming.  Well, today I found out why.  An Alternet posting on June 7 by Rania Khalek outlined five critical nuggets of information gleaned from the Wikileaks documents that have significant global implications – but which the Main Stream Media have virtually ignored.  The most eye opening for me was evidence that there are potentially some very lucrative side effects to global warming:  1) The opening up of a tremendous amount of oil and gas resources that are currently unexploitable because they lie beneath the Arctic ice cap, and 2) the very real possibility of having an actual “Northwest Passage” – allowing shipping to move from Europe and Asia to North America over the poles – open up to twelve months per year.  Other reports have indicated that these polar routes may become navigable for a few months as early as next year!

The Alternet report states the following:

“WikiLeaks, with impeccable timing, published a new trove of cables highlighting a race to carve up the Arctic for resource exploitation. Nations battling to poison the arctic with oil drilling include Canada, the US, Russia, Norway, Denmark, and perhaps even China, which all have competing claims to the Arctic.  The leaks illustrate a frightening reality, where world leaders are greedily awaiting the opportunity to exploit the oil and natural gas that lie beneath the melting Arctic ice, even arming themselves for possible resource wars…A 2009 cable suggests US paranoia about Russia: ‘Behind Russia’s policy are two potential benefits accruing from global warming, the prospect for an [even seasonally] ice-free shipping route from Europe to Asia, and the estimated oil and gas wealth hidden beneath the Arctic sea floor.'”

The full article can be found here:  http://tinyurl.com/6ewjusw

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