Saudi Oil Money (UPDATE)

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Matt Osborne

Climate scientists are not backing down, and that’s a good thing. But this bit of information in the NYT is what caught my attention:

The debate, set off by the circulation of several thousand files and e-mail messages stolen from one of the world’s foremost climate research institutes, has led some who oppose limits on greenhouse gas emissions, and at least one influential country, Saudi Arabia, to question the scientific basis for the Copenhagen talks.

The uproar has threatened to complicate a multiyear diplomatic effort already ensnared in difficult political, technical and financial disputes that have caused leaders to abandon hopes of hammering out a binding international climate treaty this year.

It’s not enough the Saudis talked Bush into deregulating gas futures trading to drive up the price of oil. It’s not enough they scuttle every effort at meeting the challenge of global warming. They help fund the climategate nontroversy with support for the foundations that keep hacks and professional conspiracy nuts on the payroll. That’s a real conspiracy, and a transparent one.

UPDATE: He of the Little Green Footballs has anticipated me:

The very last thing the Saudis want is for the western world to get serious about alternate sources of energy.

And climate change deniers are playing right into their hands.

I’d like to see a debate between the Charles Johnson of 2007 and the CJ of 2009. Not that I hold anything against CJ; it’s the debate the GOP needs to have with itself and keeps putting off.




About Matt Osborne

Veteran blogging the culture wars from Alabama. Video journalist, mash-up artist, aspiring novelist, and metalhead. Expect bunnies, geekery, dark humor, and snarky empirical analysis to annoy idealists of all stripes. You can follow me on Twitter, but be ready 'cause it might get loud.
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  • Paul

    So the Saudis "hid the decline", not the East Anglia Uni Climate Research Unit? Good. Glad we've straightened that one out.

  • Matt Osborne

    Oh, "Paul." Weren't we just having this discussion over at HuffPo?

    Here's how data works: you have hundreds, even thousands of variables on a graph. One of them doesn't match the rest of the data set; it's a statistical outlier. So you put it in the background to make it clear that it is, in fact, a statistical outlier while you do further research to find out what the intervening variable is. That's the "trick" CRU used, in a nutshell.

    Denialists are politicizing legitimate mathematics.

  • Thebes

    Wow!

    A few years ago I was allegedly a professional protestor paid by the "Eval Sodom Hussain".

    Now I am on the bank roll of the Saudi's?

    Where is this money you establismnetarian enforcers keep talking about?

    I sure haven't seen any. Spent thousands and thousands of dollars to speak my mind, think I've made like 29 bucks from amazon or something…

    BTW, I've published in peer reviewed scientific journals. The work I've seen leaked would have gotten my professors kicked out despite tenure or the grad student using it on a thesis expelled.

    Also, convenient you FORGET TO MENTION that 12 of the 26 authors of the Copenhagen Diagnosis are "scientists" involved in this scandal.

    Oh, and I live in an off-grid cabin built 50% of recycled materials. I live sustainably, I am just sick of this man made global warming scam taking presidence while we continue to allow mountain top removal, the giant cesspool of plastic we've made in the Pacific, etc. Its a scam to make the corporatists more money, its the next bubble, and it won't do Mother Earth more than a tiny bit of good while covering for massive harms that remain ignored.

  • Matt Osborne

    Thebes, my sympathies. I am still waiting for the first check to arrive from George Soros.

    As for the subject of this post: I didn't make any such claim about you. However, the hack was definitely a professional job. That takes money and resources. Somebody paid for these emails, and they did it in desperation to stop climate change legislation.

    Now, as to your thesis: if "the corporatists" are scamming us to make money off climate change legislation, then why are they spending so much to defeat Waxman-Markey? Perhaps you can form a synthesis and determine the "true" designs of Teh Evil Plan™ whilst typing your next manifesto in that eco-friendly cabin?

    You've fully internalized the insanity of denial. Every one of your talking points comes straight from the fear factory complex. You're denouncing corporations in one breath and repeating their crap with the next. You are confused.

  • Anonymous

    if the statistical "trick" the alarmist used is "legit" mathematics, then why the "hide the decline" comment? Science is about constant questioning, not consensus. Seems some scientists have been bribed by grant money to reach the so called consensus and thus they are no longer valid scientists.

  • Matt Osborne

    Anonymous, as the video explains the "trick" is to put the data variable amongst other variables on the chart so that it shows up visually as an intervening variable.

    Statistics 101.

  • Anonymous

    Matt Osborne, I think the problem is bigger than statistics 101. Now you have the ENEMIES of humanity screaming loud against the development and progress of mankind as a whole, and of poor countries in specific. Maybe this energy regarding climate change should be put into more useful channels. As far as the evidence shows, we already have the means to produce pollution free energy using highly classified technology within the the "showdow" goverment of the United States. Please research Dr. Steven Greer and combine your efforts with to reach that goal faster. We are already hundreds of years behind in terms of technology, thanks to the secrecy and special interest surrounding these amazing technologies that exist TODAY.

    How come when we hear about an amazing new invention, like an engine that runs on water, we don't see

  • Matt Osborne

    Anonymous: "ENEMIES of humanity"? Please tell me you're not getting this from Infowars.