Climate imperialism is coming

The Israeli soldiers, while heavily armed, kill Palestinian boys who mostly have slingshots in their hands. It is the Israelis who have occupied the Palestinian land forcefully, yet, complain about terrorism from the Palestinian boys. The French dictate religious freedom to developing countries, yet, France has been home to legalised religious discrimination such as Hijab banning.

India is headed by a terrorist. This is no hyperbole. Modi was directly responsible for the murder of more than a thousand innocent Muslim villagers in the Indian state of Gujarat, where he was the chief minister. Yet, Indians have successfully inculcated the narrative that it is rather Pakistan that does terrorism and India is fighting against it. The United States and England have labeled themselves as the global leaders leading the fight against terrorism and radical jihadism. However, a very recent history of how they supported this jihad has almost disappeared from journalistic discussion in the Western media. Anti-terror regimes are erected to control nations’ behaviour to ensure they do not support terrorism in any direct or indirect manner.

Climate change is going to be no different. The US, China, and the EU are responsible for 52% of global carbon emissions. The rest of the emissions come from the rest of the world. As far as facts and numbers are concerned, the richest nations and richest people are the main culprits and the biggest criminals in the story of climate change. However, very soon with a few steps in the name of saving the planet from the worst effects of climate change, the same worst polluters will award themselves the credentials of the saviours of the earth and can start dictating the world, especially the developing economies, to count their carbon emissions and ensure a minimum or no footprint on carbon emissions.

Even if carbon emissions become zero today, the effects of what has been done would be felt for years if not decades. The reason aggression is a supreme international war crime is because it involves in it everything that follows. So, this is sort of like climate aggression, if you will, because the poverty, migration, refugee crisis, biodiversity destruction, and so forth are driven by climate change. Once the West starts driving electric cars and generating solar energy, it would gain the moral courage to raise the accusing finger at others, while comfortably ignoring the fact that the mess we would be living in would be of their making. As mentioned above, even with zero emissions today, the effects of global warming wouldn’t disappear in a blink.

Just as the terror financing regime such as FATF, there would be regimes checking carbon footprints of other nations. And in the name of the noble cause of saving the planet from destruction, powerful nations would get busy ensuring power and control over the world.

The machines that use work using dirty energy creating enormous carbon pollution are designed by the West. Yet, developing nations would be dictated to avoid using them and adopt the latest technology in the same manner in which democracy was rammed down the throat of countries where dictatorial regimes were propped up by the very West.

I can’t help but remember the talk former CIA director Michael V Hayden gave in Houston, which I attended. He said that the difference between what America did before 9/11 was that during the Cold War, America was supporting the local Jihadist groups in various countries so that they’d keep fighting against the communist regime. He said post 9/11, America was busy supporting those regimes in order to put down the Jihadist groups. We will soon see a déjà vu of that split personality behaviour in the name of tackling climate change.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2021.

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