Doesn’t Always Pay to Advertise

For whatever reason, when then-economic advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Andrei Illarionov, began touting an official 2002 UK document styled “Report of an Inter-departmental Analysts Group (IAG)” on greenhouse gas reductions that would be demanded under the Kyoto agenda, the document was suddenly not to be found on Internet portals where it had previously been available.

Having recently stumbled back upon the report, it is worth reviewing the following chart (3.1, on page 31 of the document), which set forth HMG’s expert view of what should be required of a “post-2012” global warming treaty, and which was of particular interest to Illarionov, revealing one possible reason why the document “disappeared”:

The meaning of this for the Average Joe might be found in the priceless quote from then-Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom (now EU Commission Vice President), that the pain appears to be intended to fall most heavily on the U.S. (80 percent reduction from 1998 levels):

“As Margot Wallstrom, the European Union’s commissioner for the environment told The Independent of London: ‘This [global warming] is not a simple environmental issue where you can say it is an issue where the scientists are not unanimous. This is about international economy, about trying to create a level playing field for big businesses throughout the world. You have to understand what is at stake and that is why it is serious.’ In other words, Ms. Wallstrom is saying it is necessary to hobble the U.S. economy to help the failing, over-regulated European economies.”