Kidnappings in Nigeria reflect people's disgust with oil companies

[Above: children watch gas-flaring in the Niger Delta. There are thousands of gas flares in the region, where oil companies find it more economical to burn off gas rather than capture it.]
This week four oil workers were kidnapped by Nigeria resistance fighters in an effort to force justice for the people. The group has vowed to stop all oil exports from Nigeria and advised oil workers to leave. A flow station in Bayelsa has also been occupied by disenchanted Nigerians
Shell has evacuated 300 of it's workers feariung for their saftey[here]. Shell this month have defied a December court order to stop gas flaring, a practice that makes life hellish for residents of the area, spewing particulates and making noisy fire flares day and night. [story here] They were also ordered to pay N$1.8 billion in damages. [story here]
The kidnappers are alleged to have "staged a series of attacks on oil pipelines, platforms and workers over the past three weeks, denting supply from the world's eighth largest exporter and driving up world prices" (Reuters) [related story]
For almost a century oil companies have ravaged the Niger delta extracting oil for the global north while leaving a legacy of pollution, disposession of land and supporting military and corrupt regimes. The introduction of a so-called democratic state, after the outing of a military dictatorship in the eighties, has not brought an end to the abuse of the Nigeria people or their land by oil companies [story here]. Many oil companies have become very rich as a result of their exploitation of oil in Nigeria and yet the Nigerian people remain poverty stricken, ill and often abused as a result of the oil companies activities.
Oil Watch
http://www.oilwatch.org
Nigeria: The Ogoni:
Oil, Blood, and the Death of a Homeland
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/IPEIE/Ogoni.html

Comments
Terrorists kidnap for 'terror funds', not 'climate concerns'.
Hostages, but NOT 'oil hostages', again 'western platformers' attempt to add 'climate issues' to near everything that can, with no regard to the validity of their comments, or the damage they produce/cover.
This article has already been given a treatment, the peoples of Africa still have an median life expectancy of <~15, the population is wracked by civil war, pestilence and disease (including malaria and cholera).
The money from the oil is all that stands tween the population and famine/disease and death and now the Warlords want it also to continue the production of strife.
But the 'enviro-greenhouse-platformers' want to label it all 'anti oil' and have the UN concern itself with 'greenhouse issues' where instead the UN should be in there disarming the Warlords, making sure the oil is available for sale and looking after the INTERESTS of the people of Africa, as should be the REAL focus of the efforts regarding this situation.
Your's
Peter K Anderson aka Hartlod
hartlod@bigpond.com
(The word 'Hartlod' in the registered Trademark of Peter K Anderson.)
'Climate' is always altering, 'climate' only offers persistence.
There is NOT interest in WEALTH for people who can expect to live to only their MID TEENS. Again is displayed the 'western rhetoric' that is become separated from reality as platformed within the 'greenhouse' (anti oil/corporate) platform(s).
"Activists" trying to prevent the government gaining funds to provide the services needed are NOT due special consideration, their 'actions' are as 'social terrorists' within the situation present IN Africa, realise that in general AIDS is STILL in epidemic, it is not the only 'disease' in such a 'state'.
You "CH" are very right about the 'insular western rhetoric', it is alive and displayed in nonsense regarding 'people hating oil'. You cannot get much further from reality that such a concept, in any manner of regard to the situation within Africa.
There is nothing to indicate 'human induced' climate change is occurring. This is NOT saying however that climate alteration IS occurring.
The climate is always changing, the entire situation for the past 400 years is outlined in the following extract:-
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From 'A chronology of climate change'
.
.
1430 to 1880: This is a period of the fast but uneven cooling of Northern Hemisphere climates. Norwegian glaciers advance to their most distant extension in post-glacial times. The northern forests disappear, to be replaced with tundra. Severe winters characterize a lot of Europe and North America. The channels and rivers get colder, the snows get heavy, and the summers cool and short. The temperatures on the surface of the world are about 0.5-1.5 degrees cooler than present. In the United States, 1816 is known as the "year with no summer". Snow falls in New England in June. The widespread failure of crops and deaths due to hypothermia are common. The causes of this period of cooling are unknown.
1880 to 1940: A period of warming. The mountain glaciers recede and the ice in the Arctic Ocean begins to melt again. The causes of this period of warming are unknown.
1940 to 1977: Cooling period. The temperatures are cooler than currently. Mountain glaciers recede, and some begin to advance. The causes of this period of cooling are unknown.
1977 to present: Warming period. The summer of 2003 is said to be the warmest one since the Middle Ages. The causes of this period of warming are unknown.
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It is NOT possible to indicate such 'human induced climate alteration' is present using 'greenhouse concepts' due the paucity of the 'greenhouse theory'. It failed its validation in SCIENCE three times because it did not realise the ACTUAL behaviors of the materials it involves, which CANNOT produce the platformed 'greenhouse effect'.
"Greenhouse science'; is the formal study of a false positive. CO2 cannot produce 'greenhouse effects', the alteration to the surface is so capable, the population is rising in the same time as 'co2', the error was to try to make CO2 the 'cause' of the temperature rise, the 'false positive' obvious.
Your's, Peter K. Anderson a.k.a. Hartlod(tm)
From the PC of Peter K Anderson
E-Mail: Hartlod@bigpond.com
Mr Anderson you're wrong
It's not clear what you're trying to say above but:
- Human-influenced climate change is a reality
- the Nigerian government is Not responsible and hasn't brought "wealth" to the people of the region. The murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni activists is only the most visible example of this.
- environmental policy is a matter of "staying alive" in Africa. People in the West are insulated from the effects of environment abuse in a way that other people are not.
Climate change is constant, it is always occuring.
The climate is always changing.
There is nothing to indicate 'human induced' climate change is occurring. It is NOT possible to indicate such using 'greenhouse concepts' due the paucity of the 'greenhouse theory'. It failed its validation in SCIENCE three times because it did not realise the ACTUAL behaviors of the materials it involves, which CANNOT produce the platformed 'greenhouse effect'.
"Greenhouse science' is the formal study of a false positive. CO2 cannot produce 'greenhouse effects', the alteration to the surface is so capable, the population is rising in the same time as 'co2', the error was to try to make CO2 the 'cause' of the temperature rise, the 'false positive' obvious.
There is NOT interest in WEALTH for people who can expect to live to only their MID TEENS. Again is displayed the rhetoric that is become separated from reality as platformed within the 'greenhouse' anti oil/corporate platform.
"Activist" trying to prevent the government gaining funds to provide the services needed are NOT due special consideration, their 'actions' are as 'social terrorists' within the situation present IN Africa in general. AIDS is STILL in epidemic.
You are very right about the 'insular western rhetoric', it is alive and displayed in nonsense regarding 'people hating oil'. You cannot get much further from reality that such a concept, in any manner of regard.
Your's, Peter K. Anderson a.k.a. Hartlod(tm)
From the PC of Peter K Anderson
E-Mail: Hartlod@bigpond.com
If you would look at the link i made on www.climateimc.org
I thought little vague in my outline, however if you would look at the link I made, that being
http://www.climateimc.org/?q=node/312
you would see that it is indeed possible for a Human induced effect to be present; it is that such cannot involve CO2, due to the realities of SCIENCE and the properties OF CO2.
It is that the cultural and ethnic 'interactions' within African culture are wrought in violence, and conflict IS established to control OIL for its fiscal advantage. This is widely known.
Personal wealth is much LESS important to the 'average' African at present, as the AVERAGE AGE is less than 15 still.
The provisioning of food and medical support is more vital, the construction of infrastructure to support such provisioning even more so. It is this that the 'terrorists/rebels' attack, as well as the facilities established to prodeuce teh wealth to faciliate further improvements.
It is also known of the trade in Human cargo and other more unpleasant issues.
The attempt to promote western rhetoric over the actual needs of the majority of the people of Africa is far too common within the 'western environmental ideology'.
All the 'western' based propaganda has done is closed the eyes and minds of the 'western believers'. In the next few decades, if not sooner, 'western attitudes' will be reduced in relevance as population distribution alters the situation of International Politics.
See also http://www.climateimc.org/?q=node/312 (with slides also.)
It seems that indoctrination of belief in a concept, as is tried in relation to 'greenhouse warming' concepts, produces little real justification for the 'belief' and little displayed comprehension of the realities beneath the situations our society presents. For example, fossil oil is not only used for fuel, and apart from eating it, Humanity has become near totally reliant on 'fossil' derivatives for everything from hosiery to carpet, cloths to cars, and furniture to homes. Look for the word 'synthetic' and begin to realise.
The situation is that ALL the other products derived from fossil oils will STILL be needed, so the diffraction of fossil oils WILL continue, and so there WILL be fossil oil based fuel products, but maybe not in the same volume, which will be supplemented with bio-fuel oil volume and be combustible in present technology engine designs near immediately often with little alteration.
One Humanity realises it is NOT above the 'natural law', stops being worrisome of its future and makes some attempt to notice NATURE, rather than opinions regarding the 'nature of nature', Humanity can dispose of the providers' of rhetoric, masquerading their propaganda as 'climate science research' with it's cavalcade of 'talking heads' presenters.
To quote Dr. Michael Pidwirny (slides provided, Figure seen in link above):-
["By 2050, the oldest countries of the world will be Canada, Russia, China, Japan, Thailand, and almost all of Europe. Some other areas of the world affected by ageing will be the United States, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, most of South America, Northern Africa, India, the Caribbean, and some other Asian nations. Africa will be the youngest major area of the world with about twice as many children as elderly."] ["The ageing of the world's population will have several important socioeconomic impacts. Currently, the economic productivity of young people plays an important role in financially supporting a variety of social programs in more developed countries. In the future, this economic productivity will be significantly reduced."] ["Many counties will probably increase retirement age in the future to lower financial payments to pension plans. It is also possible that many countries will have a hard time financing government supported health care programs. A United Nations report (Replacement Migration: Is It a Solution to Declining and Ageing Populations?) has suggested that countries experiencing problems due to an ageing population (and population growth rate decline) should adopt policies encouraging replacement migration. Replacement migration can be defined as the international migration that a country would require to offset population decline and population ageing resulting from low fertility and mortality rates."]
In short, most 'western nations' with their loud AGING 'activists' demanding 'Kyoto, Kyoto' and 'beware change', will simply cease to be relevant to the newer economies of younger and more VIGOROUS nations. The 'western GW platform' seems also deliberately avoiding that there has been a noted warming/cooling/warming mini oscillation occurring in global climate since 1880. This micro-oscillation has been noted in many comments in many places by many people.
There is also the motion of human population across the surface in line with population growth, with the alteration of the surface associated with this increase in population that has led to alterations of what would be 'pleasant green terrain' to become covered to various densities in coverage of concrete and asphalt. WE all know that concrete and asphalt get very much hotter than even grassed terrain, and this has led to the small increase in average SURFACE temperatures observed as 0.6 degrees C.
The population motion will also be directed, if you consider the geographical distribution of present population density, overlay marginal terrain (deserts etc) you will see where the population growth distributed by presently 'lesser developed nations' shown as the lighter colour in the column graph, will spread whilst the darker colour of the columns graph, the present 'developed nations' will stagnate in size and sprawl. Again slides in link as shown.
The resurfacing will thus spread through what is now mostly 'greened spaces'. If you look at the geographical plot you will note the 'empty space' above India and west of the Chinese coast. This is one place I proposed would see population sprawl in attempts to discuss this all in various places.
The overall natural climate cycle saw an 'Ice Age' being to revert ~20,000 years ago, which occupies the 'trough' of the climate oscillation. We are all now at, if not even within, the 'peak' of that oscillation. WE have a dry equatorial zone, with a heavily photosynthetic covering of the temperate zone (if you include the photosynthetic mass so far removed by Humanity within the last 400 years) and warming Polar Regions.
There is no reason to think that the motion of the oscillation peak will progress any faster than through a trough (and its often contained "Ice Age") and so 'peak oscillation climate fluctuations' could last multiple centuries.
As such the 'peak' will present shifting behaviors; in as far as Humanity defines 'seasons' (which need not be considered 'natural and permanent' being definitions OF Humanity only) without any needed periodicity in these alterations. Rain patterning will alter its density and distribution. Wind and ocean currents will show some disturbances to various degrees.
These will manifest differing behaviors within regions that are NOT 'global' in scale. One such region is in and around the Gulf of Mexico, which can at this point within the oscillation, produce storms of vast surface coverage from little more kinetic energy than currently available. These events are those that open the multiple sea channels along the Florida coastline and nearby environs (New Orleans for example has seen ONE open) which produce the 'Lake Land' that the State of Florida region HAS been in the 'past'.
The rhetoric to 'deal with climate change' by trying to stop it is as pointless as attempting to stop the tide. It is that most of majority agree we need to DEAL with it, that is to accept it is NATURAL and ongoing, not as some attempt to imply (with attachments of other policy) as being agreeing to 'greenhouse' innuendo of influence.
Your's, Peter K. Anderson a.k.a. Hartlod(tm)
From the PC of Peter K Anderson
E-Mail: Hartlod@bigpond.com
Environmentalism or blind propaganda?
Perhaps it is the factional battle for 'power and funding' within the African continental 'cultural and socio-political interactions' that are responsible. The average age of individuals within Africa is less the 15. This is due to generally poor living conditions.
Warlords kidnap children and it seems sell the surviving adults for 'transplant organs', destroying entire villages. The children are forced to fight as 'soldiers', with many female children sold and/or used as 'slaves'.
The money from the organised sale of oil aids responsible Government to bring Medicine to the people, to equip an army to fend of these Warlords as well as train this army.
Thus the 'terrorism' against those who create the oil infrastructure; these individuals being the 'softest targets'.
It seems that indoctrination of belief in a concept, as is tried in relation to 'greenhouse warming' concepts, produces irrational behaviors, with unreasonable aggression in those who consider the 'belief' to be threatened. But little real justification for their belief or any comprehension of the realities beneath the situations our society presents.
Oil is not only used for fuel, apart from eating it, Humanity has otherwise become near totally reliant on 'fossil' derivatives for everything from hosiery to carpet, cloths to cars, and furniture to homes. Look for the word 'synthetic' and begin to realise.
The situation is that ALL the other products derived form fossil oils will STILL be needed, so the diffraction of fossil oils WILL continue, and so there WILL be fossil oil based fuel products, but maybe not in the same volume, which will be supplemented with bio-fuel oil volume and be combustible in present technology engine designs near immediately often with little alteration.
'Kyoto offers the environment nothing'', is the concise form. There is not yet shown ANY valid documentation of a 'greenhouse effect' and thus there is NOTHING to suggest such an effect even exists. See http://www.climateimc.org/?q=node/312 .
I noted a TV documentary from CANADA, televised even here in Australia, outlining the use by WESTERN transplant seekers of cheap "African Organs".
It sickens me to see the BLATANT propaganda of puerile 'environmental concern' in the face of REAL and documented reasons of blatant abuses of welfare, human rights and the conduction of atrocities such as are KNOWN to occur.
There is a problem, it is just NOT involving any supposed 'greenhouse effect'. I do not think that the general population of the poorer Africian nations care at all for 'western environmental policy'. Staying alive could be the greater problem for many, even if you overlook the 'AIDS' situation.
See link http://www.climateimc.org/?q=node/312 .
Your's
Peter K Anderson aka Hartlod(tm)
Member of the Public, NSW, Australia.
From the PC of Peter K Anderson
E-Mail: Hartlod@bigpond.com