RIA Novosti Floats a Florid Conspiracy Theory about Global Warming

UPDATE: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (7-30-10) confronts Russian scholar/conspiracist Andrei Areshev, who now characterizes his defamatory article about U.S. scientists using secret "climate weapons" as a "theory."

"Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eye are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he seees any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter life, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by the excess of light. And he will count the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity the other; or, if he have a mind to laugh at the soul which comes from below into the light, there will be more reason in this than in the laugh which greets him who returns from above out of the light into the den."---Plato, The Republic

After having published quite a few informative articles in recent weeks on global warming that seemed based on scientific research, the Russian government’s official press agency RIA Novosti (7-27-10) has done an about-face and is publishing a florid conspiracy theory about global warming that outdoes even the the stupidities spread by the tabloid Pravda and by Western denialists on the Kremlin-financed Russia Today T.V.

According to this latest conspiracy theory, secret “climate weapons” built by American scientists may be causing global warming. [See "Climate Weapons: More Than Just a Conspiracy Theory?" (7-27-10)].

Western conspiracists used to pop up on Kremlin-financed satellite television and claim that global warming wasn't happening and that it was a "hoax" perpetrated by climate scientists. Now it is claimed that American scientists are causing global warming in Russia with "climate weapons."

We need to let Virginia's Attorney General Chicken Little know about this right away so he can also persecute Michael Mann for making "climate weapons" and causing global warming!

Last winter before the Copenhagen climate summit, Russia Today promoted the conspiracy theories of Western global warming denialists. For example, the British global warming denialist, Lord Monckton, appeared on Russia Today and claimed that man-made global warming was nothing but a hoax cooked up by dishonest Western scientists.

Now some equally nutty Russian Ph.D. in history, a clown named named Andrey Areshev, seems to have slipped a cog and is claiming that American scientists have built "climate weapons" to destroy Russia.

The poor climate scientists are getting it from both sides. First, they were in hot water because they concocted the "hoax" of global warming, and now they are being accused of causing global warming with "climate weapons." I wish all these conspiracists would come to some kind of consensus!

Russia sometimes reminds me of that mentally-challenged bakery worker in the 1969 Academy Award-winning film Charly, which is based on Daniel Keyes' 1959 short story and the subsequent 1966 novel Flowers for Algernon. The mentally-challenged Charlie is given an operation that turns him into a genius, but the effect eventually wears off. The film ends with Alice, Charlie's teacher, watching Charlie playing with children in a playground, having reverted to his former self. Sometimes the Russian government gets smart for a little bit, too; but it never lasts.

According to the new line on global warming being floated by the Russian government's press agency, RIA Novosti, global warming is real (DUH!); but it is supposedly happening because the American scientists are zapping Russia with "climate weapons."

This is just like the stupid KGB conspiracy theory that the American scientists made AIDS for biological warfare.

The well-known Canadian Internet conspiracist M. Chossudovsky is cited by the Russian "scholar" Areshev. These Russian conspiracy theories sometimes get the factual tidbits they rework into disinformation from Western conspiracists instead of believing scientific research.

Ph.D. Areshev notes that some debates about global warming are “unscholarly” but comes up with something just as crazy; he suggests that climate change may be helped along by America’s secret “climate weapons.”

When the Russian government can’t solve their people’s problems, they blame it on the Jews…or the plots of American scientists.

The Russian government may be trying to back out of their denialist propaganda because the heat wave, drought, and burning peat bogs make their denialist propaganda sound stupid, but they can’t just admit that their propaganda was stupid.

This destructive conspiracy theory should be immediately countered. The AIDS conspiracy theory was still being repeated by President Obama’s minister Rev. Wright, even though KGB chief Primakov admitted in Izvestia in 1992 that the KGB made up those stories about the plots of crafty US scientists. As Izvestiya (3-19-92) famously reported:

[KGB chief Yevgeni Primakov] mentioned the well known articles printed a few years ago in our central newspapers about AIDS supposedly originating from secret Pentagon laboratories. According to Yevgeni Primakov, the articles exposing US scientists' 'crafty' plots were fabricated in KGB offices.

I wonder if our domestic denialists and 9-11 Truthers will also change their line and start claiming that global warming is happening but American scientists did it with their “climate weapons.” Perhaps Virginia's lunatic Attorney General Cuccinelli will even claim that Michael Mann is making "climate weapons" with his grant money.

According to RIA Novosti, "Climate Weapons: More Than Just a Conspiracy Theory" was pubished by International Affairs, but the link actually takes you to the American Publication Foreign Affairs:

This story by Andrey Areshev, political scientist, PhD (History), Strateic Culture Foundation expert, was published in International Affairs magazine.

The Russian publication International Affairs is a publication of the Strategic Culture Foundation. According to the "About Us" page of International Affairs:

Founded in 1954 by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Affairs is a leading foreign politics monthly with wide audiences in Russia and other countries. The International Affairs council is chaired by Russian Foreign Minister S. Lavrov. The journal's editor in chief is renown journalist and political scientist A. Oganesyan.

The affiliation with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is one of the factors making International Affairs an authoritative source of information on Russia's foreign politics and diplomacy. The journal provides broad and unbiased analysis of the political problems currently confronting Russia and the international community.

Economy, both Russian and international, is another key theme addressed in contributions to International Affairs. In particular, the journal hosts presentations organized by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs jointly with Russian regions, ministries, and departments to attract investors to Russia.

The readership of International Affairs includes the Administration of the Russian President, the Russian government, and influential diplomatic, financial, economic, and academic circles in various countries.

The English-language version of International Affairs is published by East View Information Services.

The mass media registration certificate of International Affairs is 016560 (issued on August 29, 1997).

Dr. Areshev's goofy conspiracy theory is the stupidest thing I have seen in the Russian media since the Soviets claimed that Pentagon scientists were making the AIDS virus as an instrument of genocide:

This story by Andrey Areshev, political scientist, PhD (History), Strateic Culture Foundation expert, was published in International Affairs magazine.

The abnormally hot weather in the central regions of Russia has already caused serious economic damage. It has destroyed crops on roughly 20% of the country's agricultural land lots, the result being that the food prices are clearly set to climb next fall. On top of that, fires are raging over peat lands around Moscow. These days, the majority of forecasts concerning the climate are alarming: droughts, hurricanes, and floods are going to be increasingly frequent and severe. Director of the climate and energy program of the Wildlife Fund A. Kokorin says that the current trend is not a random phenomenon and should not be expected to subside 1.

In this particular context, the credibility of projections emanating from the Wildlife Fund, an influential international organization running worldwide operations styled as environment-protection programs, is beyond question 2. The reason is that the global warming which is the subject of heated academic (or, occasionally, absolutely unscholarly) debates is not necessarily an uncontrolled process. At least, the incidence of the current anomalously high temperatures exclusively in Russia and some adjacent territories invites alternative explanations.

Back in the 1970ies, Z. Brzezinski invoked in his Between Two Ages the theme of weather control, which he regarded as a form of broader social regulation. No doubt, the heavyweight of the US geopolitical thinking had to take interest not only in the immediate social but also in the potential geopolitical implications of influencing the climate. He was not the only author to probe into the issue but, due to obvious regards, information on the progress in the sphere of climate weaponry is unlikely to spill over secrecy barriers in the foreseeable future.

M. Chossudovsky, an economics professor from the Ottawa University, wrote in 2000 that in part the ongoing climate change could be triggered by the use of new-generation nonlethal weapons. The US is certainly exploring the possibilities of controlling the climate in several regions of the world. The corresponding technology is being developed in the framework of the High-Frequency Active Aural Research Program» (HAARP) 3, the objective being to build a potential to launch droughts, hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes. From the military standpoint, HAARP is supposed to create a novel type of weapons of mass destruction and an instrument of expansionist policy which can be used to selectively destabilize environmental and agricultural systems of target countries 4. Technically, the system is known to be a set of sources of electromagnetic radiation affecting the ionosphere. It comprises 360 sources and 180 aerials having the height of 22 meters 5. Altogether the station emits 3,600 kW towards the ionosphere, being the world's most powerful system of the kind6. The program opened in 1990, is jointly funded by the US Office of Naval Research and the US Air Force Research Laboratory, and is implemented by several university laboratories.

Far-reaching hypotheses arise naturally in the situation. Venezuelan leader H. Chavez was ridiculed for attributing the Haiti earthquake to the impact of HAARP (http://fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2755) but, for example, similar suspicions crept in following the 2008 earthquake in China's Sichuan province. Moreover, there is evidence that the US climate influence program not only spans a number of countries and regions but is also partially based in space. For instance, the X-37B unmanned vehicle orbited on April 22, 2010 reportedly carries new types of laser weaponry. According to New York Times, the Pentagon rejects any connection between X-37B and whatever combat weapons but recognizes that its purpose is to support ground operations and to handle a number of auxiliary tasks 7. The vehicle was built 11 years ago as a part of a NASA program which was taken over by the US Air Force 6 years ago and completely classified 8.

Demands to unveil details of the experimental program put into practice in Alaska are voiced both in the US and in several other countries. Russia never joined the chorus, but the impression is that efforts aimed at deliberate climate change are not a myth, and that in the nearest future Russia – together with the rest of the world – will face a new generation of threats. At the moment the climate weapons may be reaching their target capacity and used to provoke droughts, to erase crops, and to induce various anomalous phenomena in certain countries.

1. Odnako. – 2010. – № 28. - p. 33.
2. For details concerning the Wildlife Foundation, see: http://www.globoscope.ru/content/articles/2892/
3. Program site: http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/. The HAARP station is located in Alaska, 250 km north-east of Ankoridge.
4. Chossudovsky M. Washington's New World Order Weapons Can Trigger Climate Change // http://www.mindfully.org/Air/Climate-Change-Weapons.htm
5. http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/gen.html
6. http://www.kp.ru/daily/24494/648410/
7. Surveillance Suspected as Spacecraft’s Main Role. By William J. Broad // http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/science/space/23secret.html?_r=1&hp
8. The Times claimed that the secret unmanned vehicle might be testing laser weapons: http://www.newsru.com/world/24may2010/kosmorazvedhtml