Trump's master and commander, President Vladimir Putin knows how to play his fool like a fiddle. Putin needs America's know-how to drill in the fragile Arctic, which is very rich with oil. With waterways still frozen, this poses expensive problems for transport, and extracting the very environmentally fragile supply of oil under the ice. So it's not surprising that Vladimir would like nothing more than to see that ice melt. If you haven't noticed, he's not terribly into being a philanthropist, and the environmental perils for humanity created by this dangerous warming don't concern him.
To the horror of billions worldwide, Hypocrite-in-Chief Trump decided in 2017 to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Accord and drill baby drill while resurrecting one of his favorite oxymorons, clean coal. In 2009, when President Obama traveled to Copenhagen for the first climate summit, Trump and his rare mammal-killing, champagne popsicle-eating offspring, placed an ad in the NY Times urging the President to PROTECT OUR PLANET.
Of course, Trump's opinions change like the wind, and delusions abound, like his insane claims of birtherism. This trend accelerated after the WHCD in 2011 when Seth Meyers and President Obama humiliated The Donald. So begun his descent into vengeful insanity, and to hell with climate change logic. In 2012, tweeted this:
In 2015, Obama described climate change as a 'major threat' to the US, to which Trump responded by saying that was "one of the dumbest statements I've ever heard in politics — in the history of politics as I know it."
On Friday, in St. Petersburg, Russia, at a summit hosted by new NBC host, Megyn Kelly, Putin said (in English, making light of Trump's withdrawal), "Don't Worry, Be Happy." How Adorable! His sarcastic mockery of the fallacy that climate change means exclusively a warming of the planet was an affirmation of Trump's stupidity. He then regurgitated the typical Fox "News" snowball nonsense. Translated from Russian:
"It's about not allowing the temperature to rise 2° Celsius. We are not feeling it that much here that the temperature is rising, although we should be grateful to 'president' Trump. They say it snowed in Moscow today. While here it rains and is very cold. So, now we can blame it all on Trump and American Imperialism. It is all their fault."
Didya see what he did there? He projected his own hegemony, like in Ukraine and Crimea onto the United States, exactly the way Trump projects his transgressions onto others. Birds of a crooked, nasty feather indeed!
Although Russia signed the latest agreement in Paris, but that doesn't exactly mean that Vladimir is remotely concerned about the future of humanity. Russian Oligarchs/Oil'garchs have plenty to protect themselves from the harsh elements, at least they are (illegally) banking on it!
With the misogynist tone familiar to Megyn Kelly, he not only told her to 'take a pill' for even suggesting that the Russians hacked our elections and negotiated illegally with the gang of Russian-owned Republicans, he had to ridicule the proven science of dangerous man-made climate change. He really could care less. Putin is under no obligation to make any sacrifices til long after his term ends in 2024, if it ever ends, that is.
(Putin) has delayed formally ratifying the agreement for at least two more years. Russia's voluntary reduction goals under the deal are among the weakest submitted by any country, potentially allowing it to spew more planet-warming emissions in future years, not less.
Russia pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by at least 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. That gives Putin lots of wiggle room because the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s triggered the collapse of the country's centrally planned economy, greatly reducing carbon emissions in subsequent years.
It is true that with the melting Arctic, Russia is expected to see increased shipping lanes and more moderate temperatures in its northern region. Russia is heavily invested in extracting Arctic oil reserves, as well, which could open up as the poles melt. Putin downplayed the need to act on climate, saying, through a translator, that people like Pruitt “who are not in agreement with opponents may not be at all silly.”
The question “isn’t about preventing global warming. I agree with those people who believe it is impossible. It may be related to some global cycles or some greater outer space cycles. It’s about how to adjust ourselves to it,” Putin said. “The local communities will get adjusted,” he added.
Suggesting that “local communities will get adjusted” in the context of global warming is cruel. Sea level rise and drought, specifically, are not events that people can “adjust” to. Moreover, the communities most at risk to the effects of global warming are also the communities that are least able to adapt.
Honestly, there's really no point in interviewing a known-liar and a misogynist autocrat. Vladimir Putin will be even more derisive to Kelly because she's just a woman. We know how Russians treat women.
This upcoming interview will be high-profile humiliation and a few meaningless soundbites.
Well done NBC. You have chosen to kowtow to the handful of conservative viewers while pissing off the much larger liberal audiences who are craving truth in broadcasting.
