Throughout this week Russia has been holding bail hearings for 30 Greenpeace activists from 18 nations who were arrested aboard the Arctic Sunrise ship on September 19th 2013 (2013) and initially charged with piracy. Those charges were then lowered to hooliganism and so far 18 have been bailed, 1 has been remanded in custody, 5 will have their cases heard later in the week and I don't think even Greenpeace know what is going on with the other 6.
Coming during the high level segment of the COP19/CMP9 these sudden grants of bail are supposed to signal that Russia is taking a softer position on measures to tackle climate change. After all the point Greenpeace was trying to make is that Russia has long accepted that greenhouse gas emissions are causing global warming and that warming is causing Arctic sea ice to melt. However rather then taking action to prevent this Russia seems to have actually been trying to speed it up in order to take advantage of the melting ice opening up new shipping lanes and making Arctic oil easier to access. So by being gentle on the Greenpeace activists Russia is trying to send the message that it may be reconsidering that position.
Obviously this message has been tempered somewhat by the sheer confusion the bail hearings have caused. For example no-one is quite sure if the activists have been granted conditional bail or unconditional bail or whether they will be allowed Russia before their trial. Also there is the question of whether Russia is trying to hold onto the one activist whose been denied bail and those who were given the option to apply for bail in order to punish or maintain channels of communication with certain nations.
I am prepared to make allowances for Russia on this because since the start of the Saudi and Qatari invasion of Syria Russia has come under relentless pressure from all quarters. For example this protest by a Greenpeace ship with a majority UK Commonwealth crew does not strike me as the groups wisest move. As a result Russia is now on its version of a global charm offensive in order to repair its reputation. The most worrying element of this have been the increasing overtures Russia has been making towards Egypt. On one level this is just Russia tying to make friends while the US seems hellbent on destroying its reputation in the region. However it also seems intended to send the message to the Saudis and the Qataris that if Russia can find a replacement Mediterranean sea port it will be happy to press ahead with this chemical weapons destruction scheme giving the Saudis and Qataris exactly what they want.
On a barely related topic that I'm including here because it's hardly worth a full post the UK's efforts to disrupt the COP19/CMP9 has obviously been my case and its aftermath. I've decided not to aid them by commenting on this anymore then I have to. However one international element has been the case of chronically obese Frenchman Kevin Chenais. Chenais was due to fly back from the US to France last month but UK airline British Airways refused to transport him because he was too fat. After lengthy discussions he was flown to the UK last week by another UK airline Virgin Atlantic. Today he tried to return to France via the Eurostar but was told he was too fat to fit in the Channel Tunnel. Finally the UK owned ferry company P&O agreed to sail him back to France and Eurostar provided an ambulance to take him to the port. This is all the UK trying to assess how people feel about lifted the long standing travel restrictions on me. That's because the UK is now very keen for me to able to fly off and meet off with Rihanna. It's almost as if certain people have failed to generate the intelligence product they were supposed to.
In slightly better and actual COP19/CMP9 news Norway (USD135million), the UK (USD120million) and the US (USD25million) have together pledged USD280million for a new scheme they are calling the BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL) which will contribute to the REDD+. Although no-one's in a position to complain about any money that's being pledged at the pointI hope this will be a stop-gap measure while the Green Climate Fund (GCF) gets up and running rather then a rival to it.
18:00 on 20/11/13 (UK date).
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