Development campaigners have accused the UK government of making a stealth cut to an £800m fund designed to help poor countries adapt to climate change.
Ministers said they were proud to have set a moral lead when the Environmental Transformation Fund was launched.
The government now says an unspecified amount will go out as interest-free loans but insists it never pledged all the money would be used as aid.
One campaign group attacked the loan element of the fund as "outrageous".
Yes. How dare them to believe that "development" money might lead to, oh I don't know, maybe development... Enough development so that they might be able to pay back the development loan. The way they talk you would think the money wasn't going to be used for a constructive or profitable purpose.
The International Institute for Environment and Development, based in London, has criticised the decision.
Spokesman Saleem ul-Huq said: "Rich countries like the UK have caused the climate problem and poor countries are predicted to suffer most.
"It is outrageous that the UK is prepared to make poor countries even more heavily indebted trying to combat a problem they did not cause".
Actually, wouldn't the "development" of poorer countries merely cause more of the stuff causing the so-called problem in the first place?
Actually, this is just Lenin's essay on "Imperialism" dressed up for the 21st Century. The big bad capitalist countries are, so we are told, wealthy only at the expense of the poor nations, but instead of embracing economic (and socialistic) nationalism (ala Lenin) we will instead get the rich countries to pay cash outlays to poor countries. Why are so many people still buying into that moldy oldie? It has all the intellectual probity of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion"...which also, sadly, finds a ready audience these days. As a species we must be getting dumber to be re-embracing such stupidity.
No comments:
Post a Comment