Anyone For Metaphysics?

Between August 31st (31/8/15) and September 4th (4/9/15) parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held a meeting at the UNFCCC headquarters in Bonn, Germany.

Much of the work of this meeting focused on the Ad-Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform (ADP) that is tasked with producing a new global climate change agreement to be signed at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) Summit that takes place in Paris, France at the start of December.

The US took the meeting as an opportunity to disrupt the process by heightening fears that no matter how good the agreement is the US - as the world's largest emitter of Green House Gases (GHG's) - would refuse to sign up to it. The majority of this effort focused on the weakening of US President Barack Obama in the wake of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest movement.

Amid people who operate their own courts, their own police forces and their own intelligence agencies it is widely accepted that BLM is a false protest movement - "AstroTurf" rather then "Grassroots" - which is being orchestrated by Obama's Democrat Party. The idea being that it would create a wave of anti-racist feeling that the Democrats could ride to victory in the November 2014 mid-term elections gaining in control of both houses of Congress. In reality it backfired badly with the Republican Party achieving their biggest majority in Congress since the Second World War.

Following the execution of a police officer in Harris County, Texas on August 28th (28/8/15) which although not directly planned was linked to the BLM protests the local police chief called on America's "silent majority" to rally around and support the police. Looking at the results of the mid-term elections I'm inclined to say that the silent majority has already spoken loudly and clearly. It's just that Obama refused to listen.

If the protests, riots and murders of police officers continue then I think it is fair to assume that Obama's popularity is going to continue to collapse. That means that it is going to be extremely unlikely that he will be able to get a climate change deal through Congress.

During that week we got a clear example of Obama's problem when he excitedly announced that he had secured enough votes in Congress to go ahead with the agreement over Iran's nuclear program. However this does not mean that Congress would vote to pass the agreement. Instead it meant that Obama had just succeeded in talking enough members of his own party into not rebelling against him by voting for Congressional legislation which would have prevented Obama putting the Iran deal into action by executive order.

The mere presence of BLM is something of an insult to the UNFCCC because if Obama is going to all this trouble to establish an AstroTurf protest movement he could be supporting a movement that calls for action on climate change. For example US popstar Pharrell Williams was trying to organise a series of "Live 8" style concerts to draw attention to the climate change issue over the summer but had to drop the idea due to a lack of support. Although I was able to swoop in and steal the glory during Live 8 in 2005 I am well aware that the movement for international debt relief actually began all the way back in 1997 with the election of Tony Blair's Labour government in the UK.

Aside from causing offence and raising questions over Obama's ability to pass legislation BLM also poses serious questions over whether Obama even understands the concepts of good governance that will be core to a successful agreement.

Although there is still extensive debate over whether this new agreement will be classed as a legal instrument it does seem to share many elements with civil law and in particular contract law. As with criminal law which tends to steal all the headlines the central principle civil law is that it provides equity and protection to the honest people from the dishonest people.

A completely unglamourous example would be a wholesaler who sells goods to a retailer on credit. If the retailer fails to pay up on time or at all in a country with a strong legal system the wholesaler knows they can take the the retailer to a court which will order them to either return the goods or pay their debt. If the retailer still refuses the court can send in Sheriffs/Bailiffs to recover the debt by force and ultimately the retailer could go to prison for contempt of court.

Without this assurance that the law will protect the honest business owner the entire system of credit would cease to exist and the economy would grind to a halt. An example that is particularly relevant to climate change negotiations are electricity markets which are overwhelmingly run on credit with people using what they need and then paying for it at a later date.

In every single one of the cases related to BLM Obama and the Democrats have seen fit to completely disregard this system of legal protection in order to gain some perceived political advantage. However the one the US focused on particularly during the Bonn meeting was the Freddie Gray case in Baltimore which I've written about extensively.

At the centre of this story there is Baltimore's State Attorney or lead prosecutor Marilyn Mosby who is an elected member of Obama's Democrat Party. She is married to Nick Mosby who is also a Democrat elected to the Baltimore city council for the district in which Freddie Gray lived and died. Nick Mosby is up for re-election in - I think - November of this year.

In what can be seen as an attempt to assist with her husband's re-election campaign on May 1st (1/5/15) Marilyn Mosby gave a theatrical press conference in which she accused three white police officers of inventing a story of Gray carrying an illegal knife in order to illegally arrest him. She went on to claim that these three officers had conspired with the three black officers who were tasked with transporting Gray to jail to injure him resulting in his death. Ms Mosby then ordered that all six officers be immediately arrested.

This order to arrest immediately disregarded a legal protection laid down in the 5th Amendment to the US Constitution which prevents a person being held for such a crime unless they have been indicted by a Grand Jury.

When the case did finally make it to a Grand Jury the accusation that Gray had been illegally arrested was dismissed immediately. This should have been the end of the case against the three white officers because they were not physically in contact with Gray at the time it is claimed he sustained his injuries and they had no duty of care over him. With them acting totally lawfully there was also no motive for them to conspire to injure Gray with the three black officers who did have both physical contact and a duty of care. However under Ms Mosby's direction the Grand Jury decided to indict all six officers anyway.

Mid-way through the Bonn meeting on September 2nd (2/9/15) a Baltimore Court ruled on three motions brought by the defence in the case. The first of these asked for Ms Mosby to be removed from the case. Given Mr Mosby's re-election campaign and Ms Mosby's clear disregard for the law by ordering the arrests prior to a Grand Jury indictment you would think that Judge Barry Williams would grant this motion. However he denied it.

The second motion called for the trial to be moved away from Baltimore because the intense media coverage and the rioting made it impossible for a fair trial to take place. Given that the Grand Jury had clearly ruled that there was no case for the three, arresting white officers to answer but indicted them anyway - the very definition of an unfair trial - you would think that again Judge Williams would grant this motion. Again though he denied it.

The third motion called for the 6 defendants to be tried separately. As the issue of conspiracy is core to the prosecution's case it should have been impossible for Judge Williams to grant this motion. However grant it he did. Rather then acting impartially as he should have done here Judge Williams appears to have abused his position to assist the prosecution.

If a defence can quite clearly show a jury that the case against three of the defendants is both false and malicious - as can be done here - it becomes extremely difficult for the prosecution to convince that same jury that it's telling the truth and the other three defendants are guilty. Separate trials means separate juries and therefore less chance of the flaws in Ms Mosby's case being picked up on.

Alongside the behaviour of Ms Mosby and Judge W. Michel Pierson's decision to deny the defendants a plea hearing back in July these latest rulings by Judge Williams certainly give the impression that the justice system in Baltimore is utterly rotten to the core - beholden to the whims and corruptions of local politicians rather then the law which is supposed to protect against such things.

The US Federal Department of Justice (DoJ) decided to end off the week by announcing that it will be seeking the death penalty for Dylann Roof over June's mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. Roof's best defence to this allegation is that due to the law's failure in cases such as that of Freddie Gray and in particular the Micheal Slager case, also in South Carolina, his actions were both lawful and necessary in order to protect the wider public.

With the US kicking out hard against efforts to combat climate change it seems that the environment has decided to kick back with a deluge of its own.

Although all the 165 nations signed up to the UNFCCC can and do insist on thinking for themselves there are a number of almost cliques within negotiations. At the centre of one of these is the US while at the centre of another is China.

Through his "Pivot Towards the Pacific" Obama has made undermining China's economic development one of the core policies of his Presidency. Towards the west this involved doing trade and security deals with nations such as Myanmar (Burma), Thailand and Vietnam. Whilst in the east it is focused on the rivalry between China and Japan particularly over a series of islands in the East China Seas.

On September 10th (10/9/15) during a meeting of the UNFCCC's Technical Experts Committee (TEC), also in Bonn Japan experienced some of the worst flooding in a generation with more the 3 million people having to be evacuated across 10 Prefectures (roughly counties) and at least 27 killed.

Although we can't yet definitely say that this flooding was the result of climate change we do know that the melting of global ice stores such as glaciers has increased the amount of water in the system - known as the hydrosphere. This extra water is going to fall as rain somewhere and because rain laden clouds move more slowly and not as far it could prevent rain falling in areas that need it such as California on the US' Pacific coast.

As such the environment seemed to be giving the US a stark reminder of the dangers of continuing to block action on climate change in a country that the US claims it's committed to defending against the evil China. It could also highlight China's island building. Although clearly not environmentally friendly this practice of building new islands could offer a solution to other Pacific islands that face being lost to rising sea levels. Albeit an extremely expensive one.

Another major threat to a climate change agreement is Saudi Arabia and its efforts to rebuild the Islamic world in its own image. So far this has affected Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, Somalia, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Kenya and Ethiopia. Those sub-Saharan African nations in particular have a lot to gain from signing up to a functioning climate change agreement. If there is no agreement they stand to lose a lot from the effects of climate change but as a happy side-effect action to prevent climate change will also help with their economic and social development.

However it is difficult to get politicians in those nations to consider those long-term benefits when in the immediate term Saudi Arabia is threatening to send the terrorists round to blow up markets, refugee camps and shopping malls in any nation that dares to sign up to an agreement that might hurt the al-Saud's profit margins.

On September 11th (11/9/15) - the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US - an extreme storm caused a construction crane operated by the bin Laden construction group to collapse onto Mecca's Grand Mosque killing 118 Muslims who were making the Hajj pilgrimage to Islam's holiest site. To me that seemed a very clear sign that Saudi Arabia's terrorist infused building plans need to be struck down.

Then of course there has been the recent unrest over the Al-Asqa/Temple Mount complex in Jerusalem.

All Jews, Christians and Muslims believe that God created the universe by establishing the Garden of Eden. The entire earth and then the universe then expanded out from that site. It is believed that the Garden of Eden once stood where the Al-Asqa Mosque now stands atop of the Temple Mount making it the most important site in Judaism and one of the most important sites in Christianity. Rather conveniently Muslims also believe that it was from this site that the Prophet Mohamed's spirit ascended into heaven making it the third most holy site in Islam behind Mecca and Medina.

Since the 1967 war the Al-Asqa/Temple Mount complex has become almost a symbol for the entire Israeli occupation of Palestine. The mentality very much being that if Muslims can keep Jews from praying at the site it will maintain Jerusalem and Palestine's identity as a Islamic, Arab state rather then one that has been swallowed up by an ever expanding Jewish state. Unfortunately it has also started to pick up the more nasty elements of the Palestinian cause which in recent years has shifted away from being pro-Palestinian into a darker and more nihilistic anti-Jews campaign.

For example this latest round of unrest has been caused almost exclusively by Palestinians who used Al-Asqa Mosque to stockpile weapons in order to attack Jews who wished to visit - not pray at - the site during the holy period of New Year (Rosh Hashanah).

The way that Saudi Arabia and their mini-me Turkish President Erdogan have piled on demanding that action is taken against Israel over what are primarily Palestinian violations of the holy site highlights the way that the Palestinian cause has been hijacked as part of the al-Saud's attempts to re-make the Islamic world.

Meanwhile in Yemen Saudi Arabia is treating Muslims in a way that would make even Israel blush and none of those billions of dollars pledged to help re-build Gaza have actually turned up.

Whilst most Christians believe in the importance of Jerusalem there is still the Church Latter-day Saints aka; "The Mormons." Specifically the "Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" founded by Warren Jeffs. While they believe that God created the Garden of Eden and then the universe they don't believe this happened in Jerusalem. Instead they believe that it happened in the US state of Utah.

On Tuesday (15/9/15) flash flooding tore through the area killing 12 members of the Jeff Sect along with 4 hikers in the near-by Mount Zion National Park. Unlike other places in the US named after Mount Zion this isn't a reference to Jerusalem. Instead the Mormons believe the national park actually contains Mount Zion. I suspect flash flooding in Jerusalem to pour cold water on the Al-Asqa/Temple Mount unrest would have been a bit too biblical even for the Bible.

At around 16:00 on 17/9/15 (UK date) I haven't even got onto the weird bit yet. I have though given myself a headache so I'll continue after dinner.

Edited at around 19:00 on 17/9/15 (UK date) to add;

Last night saw the second Republican leadership in California, US. Judging by the way Obama and the Democrats are going one of the people in last night's debate will be the next President of the US. However the only one prepared to mention the climate change issue was Ted Cruz and unfortunately he only did so to disagree with the top climate scientists from 191 nations including the US to deny that it was happening.

Mid-way through the so-called "Undercard" debate before the main candidates took the stage a magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck just off the coast of Chile close to the capital Santiago. Even though Chile is used to earthquakes 8.3 is the sort of magnitude that makes sit up an pay attention.

This is exactly what the Chilean authorities did evacuating around a million people from the area. The earthquake also triggered a Tsunami warning for the Pacific region including nations as far away as New Zealand and the US state of California where the debate was being held and Obama's home state of Hawaii.

Although I'd long since gone to bed I suspect that behind the scenes of last night's debate there were a lot of people in TV studios holding their breath to find out if they'd have to frantically cut away from the debate to cover the emerging humanitarian disaster.

While I think it's hard to argue that earthquakes are influenced by climate change a tsunami is simply a dramatic rise in sea level. So if climate change does lead to a permenant 15ft (4.7m) rise in sea levels we now know what the coast of Chile is going to be left looking like.

Although we're not exactly sure what triggers earthquakes under the Pacific there is what is known as the "Ring of Fire" which sees several tectonic plates all rubbing up against each other causing frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Over the past week there has been a lot of activity in Japan with the eruption of the Mount Aso volcano.

It's not a huge leap of logic to suspect that a dramatic shift on the Pacific plate on which Japan sits would have a knock on effect on the Nazca plate which was responsible for last night's earthquake. If that is the case then it certainly provides another link to Japan and Obama's "Pivot Towards the Pacific."

Obviously suggesting that the environment can participate in a human discussion about its future sounds more then a little bit crazy. However due to something known as "Quantum Field Theory" it is not entirely beyond the realms of possibility.

Largely proved by the discovery of the Higgs-Boson particle Quantum Field Theory proposes that everything in the universe exists as part of an almost force-field made up of tiny, sub-atomic particles. There is still some debate as to whether these particles contain at their core resonating strings of energy.

Although it's quite a hard concept to get your head around unless you're Stephen Hawking you can almost think of it as being submerged in a swimming pool with the particles acting as the water. Rather like with water in a swimming pool a small movement in the field could ripple through and have a much larger effect elsewhere.

The US has previously tried to confuse climate change negotiations with Quantum Feild Theory by suggesting that it rather then global warming is responsible. Specifically they tried to get everyone studying the popstar Rihanna during her 2013 Diamonds World Tour in order to determine if her various mood swings during that very stressful tour triggered any extreme weather events. Rihanna is scheduled to perform in Santigago, Chile on September 29th (29/9/15).

This rather batty theory that Rihanna controls the weather with her moods stems from her 2007 breakthrough hit "Umbrella" which stayed at number 1 in the UK charts for 10 weeks throughout a humid, wet and miserable summer.

As most UK summers since then have been humid,wet and miserable I'm inclined to think that this was caused by climate change. However it was suggested - largely as a joke - that all the people humming the song's "It's raining, raining, raining" chorus caused it to rain. This has been termed the "Rihanna Curse."

So the theory has never been that Rihanna controls the weather with her moods. Instead it's that all her fans, and people who just happened to hear her on the radio, all thinking the same thing at the same time caused a ripple in the Quantum Field altering the weather. After all thought is just a form of electrical energy.

If we're going do this route to explain the recent weather events then we must also consider that all of the world's Jews have just marked the new year and are preparing for Yom Kippur - the day of atonement. Meanwhile all of the world's Muslims have been preparing for Eid al-Adha- day of sacrifice - which coincides with the Hajj pilgrimage season. Catholic Christians meanwhile are preparing for the Pope's visit to the US and South America where he is absolutely huge.

So during this time literally billions of people have been quietly looking towards the same God for guidance. Perhaps these weather events have been God's answer.

To my mind though that poses even more questions such as; "Does God Exist?" and "If God exists maybe it's not as some old bearded dude sitting on a cloud but as the pure energy within the universe that makes up the quantum field?" After all in the book of Exodus God is said to have appeared to Moses as a burning bush. Maybe Moses was inspired by this sight rather then the bush literally speaking to him?

Or maybe God does exist as an old bearded dude sitting on a cloud in the heavens having created the entire universe including the quantum field?

So in summary; I've done absolutely no work on the ADP text because I've been trying to get my head around all this.

20:30 on 17/9/15 (UK date).