Tag Archives: Gore

Al Jazeera, a multi billion-dollar influence buyer

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Given the hand-wringing over the $300,000 spent by Russia to influence the 2016 US election, I thought it worthwhile to point out that Qatar spent roughly 2.5 billion on influence, mostly through Qatar’s news agency, Al Jazeera. Qatar is a Shiite (Shia) Moslem Emirate solely ruled by a Sunni Emir (king). Here’s a joke to help distinguish Sunni from Shia. It is also the 4th largest exporter of natural gas in the world behind Russia, Norway, and Canada. It’s a solid supporter of leftist political causes from anti-climate change to Hamas and Al Qaeda/ ISIS, and it is the host for the FIFA world cup of soccer, 2022. For more about Qatar and the logic of its behavior, see the American Foreign Policy Analysis. Interesting in general, but I’d like to focus on influence buying.

FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2013 file photo, Al Jazeera America editorial newsroom staff prepare for their first broadcast in New York. Shannon High-Bassalik former head of Al Jazeera America’s documentary unit has sued the news network, claiming it is biased against non-Arabs in stories that it produces and how it treats employees. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

Al Jazeera America prepares for its first broadcast from New York, August, 2013. AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews.

The Emir of Qatar is the sole owner of Al Jazeera, a news organization, that he uses as profit-losing, influence machine. It allowed him to support leftist politicians who he believes to be pro-Arab, pro-Muslim Brotherhood, anti-Israel, and anti-American. In Europe he pursues pro-immigration, anti-fracking policies. In conservative, Islamic countries, like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Iran, he’s used Al Jazeera to supported free elections to unseat the king, Shah, or military president. Al Jazeera uniformly portrays Qatar and its emir well, helping it get rights to host the FIFA world cup. No other country gets anywhere near such uniform, positive support.

A bit of history: Al Jazeera began operations in Doha, the capital of Qatar in 1996, as an antidote to Saudi Arabia’s arabic-language news outlet, MBC (Mid-East Broadcast Company, now called Al Arabia). By 2003, Al Jazeera was broadcasting in Europe in various EU languages, and had an english language version broadcast out of London, Al Jazeera-English. It is available in the US via cable TV, Channels 100, 200, and 300. In 2013, the Emir of Qatar expanded Al Jazeera directly to the US, paying 1/2 billion dollars for an Emmy-winning, non-profitable, cable news company “Current TV”, partially owned by Al Gore. “Current TV” operated out of San Francisco with a left-leaning, pro-environment message and a modest audience. Their shows include The War Room with Jennifer Granholm (Jennifer is the ex-governor of Michigan), Talking Liberally, The Stephanie Miller Show, and  Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer. The Emir added a news headquarters in New York and gave it a new name: Al Jazeera America, or AJAM. The old Current TV was retained as AJ+, a video arm. Over the next 5 years the emir spent 2 billion dollars setting up 12 news bureaus in the US with instructions that there was no need for profit, but only for “influence”. It is arguable how much influence he got, but it is clear he didn’t make any profit.

Despite what you might imagine would be the opinions of a petro-monarch, AJAM continues to back Gore’s anti-fracking message. I will speculate this is because he is against US gas because it competes with Qatari gas. AJAM also strongly supports the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and ISIS. Perhaps that’s radical chic (radical sheik?). He’s against any authoritarian ruler that isn’t him.

Trump, his daughter, el Sisi, and the King of Saudi Arabia. No Emir of Qatar.

Trump, his daughter, Ibn-Said (king of Saudi Arabia) and el Sisi, (president of Egypt). Global control with no Emir.

Some notable controversies — I got these from Wikipedia –Ahmed Mansour, a prominent Al Jazeera anchor, is quoted saying that Egyptian president, el-Sisi was “a Jew carrying out an Israeli plot.” Faisal al-Qassim, another Al Jazeera presenter, hosted a segment on whether Syria’s Alawite (Shia) population deserved to be killed en-mass, and in 2014, the channel’s Iraqi affairs editor tweeted approvingly about the Islāmic State killing more than 1,500 air-force cadets in Tikrit, singling out those who were Shia and non-Muslim. Closer to home, they charged a half-dozen athletes with doping, including Peyton Manning, hero of the super bowl. In the end, Shannon High-Bassalik, former head of the documentary unit, also sued claiming bias against non-Arabs in stories and in how it treats employees.

Among Republicans, AJAM became to be known as “The Terror Network”, while they retained some good reputation on left. The Emir bought not only the network, but spent liberally on sympathetic experts, and on academic think tanks. Further, it seems that Al Jazeera writers had no fixed budget or expense limit. The Russians are nowhere near this generous.

In April of 2016, with the world cup coming to Qatar, and American oil reviving, the emir cut AJAM staff by 900 workers. Part of the decision may have been that it looked like he had the 2016 election in the bag. Al Jazeera English remains, still operating out of London, and AJ+, the old Current TV, still operating out of San Francisco. And then Donald Trump was elected 45th US president. AJ / AJ+ was shocked (as was I); and called for protests. Trump, in a publicized meeting with el-Sisi of Egypt (the Jewish Spy), and Salmon al-Saud, (above, 2017) issued a set of 13 demands including that the emir stop to support for Hamas and the Brotherhood, and that he shut Al Jazeera. The emir has not complied, and the world cup is still on for Qatar.

I should mention that the Emir and Putin work together on some things and oppose on others. They both support politicians who oppose oil and gas production while opposing each other on pipeline construction. Qatar backs the pan Arabian pipeline to Turkey, while Russia funds Assad and the PKK (Russia-friendly, Kurdish independents) to block such access. The Emir supports ISS, Hamas, and Turkish Kurds, I suspect, as a way to fight Russia. It’s Byzantine politics in both senses of the word. Given how much Qatar has spent buying influence with Clinton and Gore, I don’t understand why the FBI is so focussed on Trump and Russia.

Robert Buxbaum, May 29, 2018.

Ocean levels down from 3000 years ago; up from 20,000 BC

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In 2006 Al Gore claimed that industry was causing 2-5°C of global warming per century, and that this, in turn, would cause the oceans to rise by 8 m by 2100. Despite a record cold snap this week, and record ice levels in the antarctic, the US this week banned all incandescent light bulbs of 40W and over in an effort to stop the tragedy. This was a bad move, in my opinion, for a variety of reasons, not least because it seems the preferred replacement, compact fluorescents, produce more pollution than incandescents when you include disposal of the mercury and heavy metals they contain. And then there is the weak connection between US industry and global warming.

From the geologic record, we know that 2-5° higher temperatures have been seen without major industrial outputs of pollution. These temperatures do produce the sea level rises that Al Gore warns about. Temperatures and sea levels were higher 3200 years ago (the Trojan war period), without any significant technology. Temperatures and sea levels were also higher 1900 years ago during the Roman warming. In those days Pevensey Castle (England), shown below, was surrounded by water.

During Roman times Pevensey Castle (at right) was surrounded by water at high tide.If Al Gore is right, it will be surrounded by water again soon.

During Roman times the world was warmer, and Pevensey Castle (right) was surrounded by water;. If Al Gore is right about global warming, it will be surrounded by water again by 2100.

From a plot of sea level and global temperature, below, we see that during cooler periods the sea was much shallower than today: 140 m shallower 20,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, for example. In those days, people could walk from Asia to Alaska. Climate, like weather appears to be cyclically chaotic. I don’t think the last ice age ended because of industry, but it is possible that industry might help the earth to warm by 2-5°C by 2100, as Gore predicts. That would raise the sea levels, assuming there is no new ice age.

Global temperatures and ocean levels rise and sink together

Global temperatures and ocean levels change by a lot; thousands of years ago.

While I doubt there is much we could stop the next ice age — it is very hard to change a chaotic cycle — trying to stop global cooling seems more worthwhile than trying to stop warming. We could survive a 2 m rise in the seas, e.g. by building dykes, but a 2° of cooling would be disastrous. It would come with a drastic reduction in crops, as during the famine year of 1814. And if the drop continued to a new ice age, that would be much worse. The last ice age included mile high glaciers that extended over all of Canada and reached to New York. Only the polar bear and saber-toothed tiger did well (here’s a Canada joke, and my saber toothed tiger sculpture).

The good news is that the current global temperature models appear to be wrong, or highly over-estimated. Average global temperatures have not changed in the last 16 years, though the Chinese keep polluting the air (for some reason, Gore doesn’t mind Chinese pollution). It is true that arctic ice extent is low, but then antarctic ice is at record high levels. Perhaps it’s time to do nothing. While I don’t want more air pollution, I’d certainly re-allow US incandescent light bulbs. In cases where you don’t know otherwise, perhaps the wisest course is to do nothing.

Robert Buxbaum, January 8, 2014