Climategate: A Noxious Slurry of Dirty Tricks and Illegal "Hactivities"

"[Britain's former Chief Scientific Adviser Sir David King] suggested that British intelligence may have knowledge of who is behind the [Climategate] campaign.

[Sir David King said,] 'It is a security issue. We are talking about something that the British Government among others believes is putting our people at risk.'"---Telegraph (2-6-10)

Sir David King, Britain's former Chief Scientific Adviser, claims that lobbyists around the world have been trying to cast doubt on the science of climate change for more than a decade. Sir David believes that the fingerprints of the American lobby system are all over the "Climategate" hacking scandal; but in my opinion, the noxious slurry of dirty tricks and kompromat might also be the work of Russian "political consultants." In either case, the shameful witch hunt against Phil Jones employs the classic tactics of the KGB.

According to Sir David, the investigation of the hacking is a security issue. The British authorities are using investigators from the National Domestic Extremism Unit to expose the hackers because these investigators have a "good background knowledge of climate change issues, in relation to criminal investigations." Now how did the police develop such expertise?

The tactics being used by some global warming skeptics remind me of the dirty tricks of Russian political operatives. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (2-5-10) describe the tactics of political consultants for the ruling United Russia party in Saratov, Russia:

The United Russia party machine uses a noxious slurry of dirty tricks, illegal activities, and domination of the media to discredit and destroy any politician, businessperson, or anyone else deemed an enemy of the Saratov Oblast United Russia party boss and Duma deputy speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.

The authors of The Black PR Practitioners Of The White Bear, a forthcoming book on the tactics of political consultants for the ruling United Russia party explain:

At first when a person is identified as a personal enemy of Volodin they initiate a series of negative articles in the mass media. Next those representatives of the public who only imitate the feverish activity of building civil society are activated. These pseudo-activists create paid-for articles in the media that create the necessary public outcry. Or their activities become the excuse for new paid-for articles and television reports. When the number of publications reaches a critical mass, local deputies begin flooding the state organs of the Russian Federation with official inquiries and letters from residents of Saratov Oblast demanding decisive action be taken against the target of Volodin’s attacks, although they produce no real facts that the person has violated the law, because there are no such facts. They merely cite the numerous publications in the media. As a result, authorities higher up in the government form a false image of the real situation in Saratov Oblast. People who are undesirable to Volodin and his entourage and clan are seen in a negative light, which has negative consequences for the political climate inside the region and for the level of decision making here. In short, using such political tactics is a form of disinformation targeting the highest levels of government, which should be considered a premeditated, conspiratorial crime. [See the full text.]

The U. K. Telegraph (2-6-10) reports the opinion of Sir David King:

"I have been irritated by some of my colleagues who have overstated the science."

But Sir David said it was not necessarily the fault of the scientists. He said lobbyists around the world have been trying to cast doubt on the science of global warming for more than a decade.

"I know that when I was in Government this was very highly developed in the American lobby system and this has their fingerprints all over it if we look at the sophistication of this. It is a concerted effort and it looks just like the cigarette lobby".

He even suggested that British intelligence may have knowledge of who is behind the campaign.

"It is a security issue. We are talking about something that the British Government among others believes is putting our people at risk".

Sir David said the situation has become so serious that the public risked dismissing “the greatest danger civilisation has ever faced” because of a few mistakes.

"When cigarette manufacturers paid lobbyists to try to discredit the scientific theory that smoking causes lung cancer, they used the argument that it wasn’t a proven fact. Well it wasn’t then, and nor will it ever be, but would you now bet against it? We have built many successful enterprises by going with the balance of probabilities that science deals us. And in the case of climate change, the scientific probability that the world is warming, and that humans are the chief cause, is overwhelming."