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Quantitative Analysis  Exposes Pro-One Percenter  Obama's Pre-G20 Deceit
Over  Democracy, Climate Change Action & Green Climate Fund

By Dr Gideon Polya

17 November, 2014
Countercurrents.org

Just before the 2014 G20 meeting in Brisbane , Queensland , Australia , President  Obama made a speech at the University of Queensland in which he claimed US support for democracy, US climate action and US donation to a Green Climate Fund for Developing nations. Unfortunately, quantitative analysis  reveals massive deception in all these matters by the endlessly mendacious, pro-One Percenter  Obama.

Lord Kelvin ( William Thomson, born (June 26, 1824, died December 17, 1907, 1st Baron Kelvin, and often referred to simply as Lord Kelvin) was a Scottish mathematicians and physicist and often called (like French physicist Sadi Carnot) the  Father of Thermodynamics, the study of energy and entropy that was crucial in the energy-driven Industrial Revolution that has ultimately  generated the current climate crisis. Lord Kelvin is famous for saying “express it in numbers”(1883):  “I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of science , whatever the matter may be”. This principle has been applied below to Obama's pre-G20 rhetoric.

Warmonger and serial war criminal Obama is a Simon Legree rather than an Uncle Tom but he looks good only in comparison with the  appalling neoliberal, Christian  Zionist, racist, religious right Republicans (R4s) who seized control of the Congress in the recent mid-Term US Congressional elections. While Obama is very good at rhetoric, a numerical analysis reveals that when you “express it in numbers” his rhetoric simply doesn't stack up.  Below is such a numbers-based analysis  revealing  Obama's extraordinary mendacity in the lead up to the latest G20 meeting in Brisbane , Queensland , Australia , in relation to (A) democracy, (B) climate change action, and (C) a proposed Green Climate Fund for Developing countries.

A. Obama is lying about US support for democracy:

Obama told the University of Queensland : “And we believe in democracy -- that the only real source of legitimacy is the consent of the people; that every individual is born equal with fundamental rights, inalienable rights, and that it is the responsibility of governments to uphold these rights. This is what we stand for. That is our vision -- the future America is working toward in the Asia Pacific, with allies and friends… And the same is true when it comes to issues of democracy and human rights. There are times where when we speak out on these issues we are told that democracy is just a Western value. I fundamentally disagree with that. (Applause.) Japan , Taiwan , South Korea , they have built thriving democracies. Filipinos showed us the strength of People Power. Indonesians just voted in a historic election. I just came from Burma ; this is a place that for 40 years was under the grip of a military junta, one of the most closed and oppressive nations on Earth. And there, I was inspired by citizens and civil society and parliamentarians who are now working to sustain a transition to a democratic future” [1].

Obama's assertion  that “We believe in democracy” is a hollow and indeed patently false claim when one considers the following:

1. America, like the other Western democracies, is a One Percenter-dominated, Neocon American and Zionist Imperialist (NAZI)-subverted and  perverted Murdochracy, Lobbyocracy and Corporatocracy in which “one dollar one vote” has replaced “one person one vote”,  and Big Money purchases, people, politicians, parties, policies, public perception of reality and political power. In the US, Canada, the UK, Canada and Australia the One Percenter share of total income after 1980 variously increased from 4.5-8% in 1980 to 10-18% in 2005 (8% in 1980 to 18%   in 2005 for the US),  a phenomenon that Thomas Piketty describes as “the rise of the supermanager: an Anglo-Saxon phenomenon” (see Thomas Piketty, “Capital in the Twenty First Century”, Figure 9.2, p316) [2, 3]. Thomas Piketty is highly critical of the One Percenter supermanagers awarding themselves $10 million annual salaries and having a disproportionate political influence : “The takeoff of the supermanagers: a powerful force for divergence” ([2]; pp333-335). The share of total wealth by the top 1% and top 10% in the US was 38% and 75%, respectively, in 2010  ([2]; Figure 10.5, p348). The UK Guardian reports: “Over the past three decades, the share of household wealth owned by the top 0.1% has increased from 7% to 22%. For the bottom 90% of families, a combination of rising debt, the collapse of the value of their assets during the financial crisis, and stagnant real wages have led to the erosion of wealth. The share of wealth owned by the top 0.1% is almost the same as the bottom 90%” [4].

2. Democracy in America is flawed through disenfranchisement of millions of voters. 5-6 million Americans have been disenfranchised because of felony convictions and more than a million of these disenfranchised Americans are black. Felony convictions restrict 13 percent of the country's black male population from voting. Other restrictions may also prevent African Americans from voting. Dr Michelle  Alexander (author of “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” ) states that  “If you take into account prisoners, a large majority of African American men in some urban areas have been labeled felons for life. (In the Chicago area, the figure is nearly 80 percent)”. African Americans  and Hispanic Americans  have  about half their “fair share” of representatives  in Congress and 5-6 times less Congressional  representation than  Jewish Americans [5].

3. Democracy is fundamentally about expression of the will of the people and the most fundamental popular desires are to remain alive and for one's children and grandchildren  to remain alive. One Percenter US state terrorism is linked to over 1.5 million preventable American deaths each year and 20 million such deaths since 9-11. The long-term accrual cost of the US War on Terror overseas is about $6 trillion and the Domestic cost of security arrangements since 2001 is about $1 trillion. Given a $9 million risk avoidance-linked Value of a Statistical Life (VOSL) , this $7 trillion cost of the War on Terror corresponds  to the cost of keeping  $7 million million /($ 9 million per American) = 0.8 million Americans  safe and alive. However the human cost overseas of the Zionist-promoted US War on Terror is 10 million Muslims killed by violence or by war-imposed deprivation since 9-11. Another way if seeing this is that the American  Neocon and Zionist Imperialist (NAZI) One Percenters have committed the US to spending $7 trillion on killing 10 million Muslims abroad (and half of them children) rather than keeping 20 million Americans alive at home since 9-11 [6]. This perversion is revealed as even worse one considers an estimated  long-term accrual cost of $40 trillion for Apartheid Israel and the Zionist-promoted US War on Muslims [7].

4. Fundamental popular desires around the world are  to be free from war, invasion,  subversion and poverty. However the US has invaded 70 nations [8]  and, as revealed by Julian Assange, Chelsea Mannning,  Edward Snowden and William Blum, is actively involved in subversion of all other countries [ 9, 10]. Currently Nobel Peace prize-winner Obama is involved in war against Libya , Somalia , Palestine , Syria , Iraq , Yemen , Afghanistan and Pakistan , ably assisted by US lackey Australia whose joint US-Australian Pine Gap facility in Central Australia  is critical for the targetting of illegal and war criminal US drone strikes from Africa to South Asia .  About 17 million people die avoidably from deprivation each year on Spaceship Earth with Neocon American and Zionist Imperialist (NAZI)-dominated One Percenters largely  in charge of the flight deck [10].   America  with 4.5% of the world's population consumes about 25% of the world's resources. In an American-dominated world the top One Percent has about 50% of the wealth and the bottom 50% has about 1% of the wealth [11-13].

5. And as for Obama's optimistic noises about democracy in Myanmar , the overwhelmingly popular National League for Democracy  party of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has only 42 seats in the bicameral Myanmar Parliament – this is 6.3% of the seats. By way of comparison, Arabs have only 12 or 10% of the seats in the 120-member Apartheid Israeli Parliament, the Knesset,  even though Indigenous  Palestinians represent about 20% of the Israeli population and  about 50% of the population of the former Mandated Palestine presently  ruled by  US-backed, Obama-backed, democracy–by-genocide Apartheid Israel. Further,  of  the 12 million Palestinians,  6 million are prevented from even stepping foot in Palestine on  penalty  of being shot and if all Palestinians were eligible to vote for the parliament presently ruling all of Palestine their “fair share” of seats would be about 79 seats or 66% of the seats. Hamas, which overwhelmingly won the democratic  2006 Occupied Palestine elections held under Israeli occupier  guns, is conveniently called a “terrorist organization” by Apartheid Israel , by Obama and by the US , Australia and other supporters of neo-Nazi Apartheid Israel which has variously imprisoned, killed or  highly abusively confined the Hamas MPs in the Gaza Concentration Camp. Obama as a supporter of democracy-by-genocide Apartheid Israel utterly rejects one-person-one-vote democracy as surely as the Southern racist red-necks and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) utterly rejected one-person-one-vote democracy for African Americans.  

B. Obama is deceptive about climate change action.

Obama told the University of Queensland : “As we develop, as we focus on our econ, we cannot forget the need to lead on the global fight against climate change. Now, I know that's -- (applause) -- I know there's been a healthy debate in this country about it. (Laughter.) Here in the Asia Pacific, nobody has more at stake when it comes to thinking about and then acting on climate change.

Here, a climate that increases in temperature will mean more extreme and frequent storms, more flooding, rising seas that submerge Pacific islands. Here in Australia , it means longer droughts, more wildfires. The incredible natural glory of the Great Barrier Reef is threated. Worldwide, this past summer was the hottest on record. No nation is immune, and every nation has a responsibility to do its part.

And you'll recall at the beginning I said the United States and Australia has a lot in common. Well, one of the things we have in common is we produce a lot of carbon. Part of it's this legacy of wide-open spaces and the frontier mentality, and this incredible abundance of resources. And so, historically, we have not been the most energy-efficient of nations, which means we've got to step up.

In the United States , our carbon pollution is near its lowest levels in almost two decades -- and I'm very proud of that. Under my Climate Action Plan, we intend to do more. In Beijing , I announced our ambitious new goal -- reducing our net greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2025, which will double the pace at which we're reducing carbon pollution in the United States . Now, in a historic step, China made its own commitment, for the first time, agreeing to slow, peak and then reverse the course of China 's carbon emissions. And the reason that's so important is because if China , as it develops, adapts the same per capita carbon emissions as advanced economies like the United States or Australia , this planet doesn't stand a chance, because they've got a lot more people.

So them setting up a target sends a powerful message to the world that all countries -- whether you are a developed country, a developing country, or somewhere in between -- you've got to be able to overcome old divides, look squarely at the science, and reach a strong global climate agreement next year. And if China and the United States can agree on this, then the world can agree on this. We can get this done. And it is necessary for us to get it done. (Applause.) Because I have not had to go to the Great Barrier Reef -- (laughter) -- and I want to come back, and I want my daughters to be able to come back, and I want them to be able to bring their daughters or sons to visit. (Applause.) And I want that there 50 years from now” [1].

Obama is deceiving the world over American climate change inaction as revealed by the following:

1. The worsening climate crisis  has finally been recognized as a major issue by the Obama Administration. However the latest policy announcement on climate change by President Obama -  30% off 2005 greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution of America's dirty power plants by 2030 enforceable by the US Environment Protection Authority (EPA)  under the Clean Air Act  -  represents too little too late and falls far short of what is needed to address the worsening  climate crisis. Thus the annual GHG pollution to be saved in 2030 through this measure  will be only 4.5% of America's current total annual GHG pollution that is re-assessed at 10.3 billion tonnes CO2-e (CO2 equivalent) if the latest data on methane  emissions are considered [14]. In stark contrast,  the whole world's 2010-2050  terminal carbon pollution budget that must not be exceeded if we are to have a 75% chance of avoiding a catastrophic 2C temperature rise, is 600 billion tonnes CO2 and the US finally used up its “fair share”  of this terminal Carbon  Budget in 2014 i.e. the US as a disproportionately high annul per capita GHG polluter (33 tonnes CO2-e per person per year as compared to 0.9 for Bangladesh)  is stealing from the entitlements of all other countries.

2. Just before the Brisbane G20 Meeting, Obama announced a proposed cut to US emissions of 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2025, but with both  Houses of  Congress now dominated by climate change denialist or effective climate change denialist  Christian  Zionist, racist, religious right Republicans (R4s), it is not at all clear whether this proposal will be realized [15].  


3. Pro-gas Obama has only been exceeded by the pro-fossil fuel Republicans in contempt for the lives of ordinary Americans, of whom about 1.5 million die preventably each year [6, 7] and 200,000 die preventably each year from the effects of carbon particulates and ozone from carbon burning [16].

4. The GHG pollution cuts announced by Obama fall far short of what is needed for the US (the US finally used up its “fair share”  of the world's  terminal Carbon  Budget in 2014). However the world as a whole has failed to tackle climate change and the 2C target of most governments is already set to be exceeded as a result of global climate change inaction. Thus the international consensus basis of the latest IPCC Summary for Policymakers (2014) has resulted in a report that softens the present acute seriousness of unaddressed man-made climate change. The IPCC Summary argues for a limitation of temperature rise to 2C through limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution of the atmosphere to 450 ppm CO2-equivalent, but hard evidence  says that we have already reached 478 ppm CO2-equivalent, that 2C is dangerous and essentially  inevitable (yielding a sea level  of plus 25 meters at equilibrium) , and that the world will use up its Carbon Budget for a 75% probability avoiding of 2C within about  4 years [17, 18].  

C. Obama is grossly deceptive about the US Green Climate Fund donation to help Developing nations.

Obama told the University of Queensland “Now, today, I'm announcing that the United States will take another important step. We are going to contribute $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund so we can help developing nations deal with climate change. (Applause.) So along with the other nations that have pledged support, this gives us the opportunity to help vulnerable communities with an early-warning system, with stronger defenses against storm surges, climate-resilient infrastructure. It allows us to help farmers plant more durable crops. And it allows us to help developing countries break out of this false choice between development and pollution; let them leap-frog some of the dirty industries that powered our development; go straight to a clean-energy economy that allows them to grow, create jobs, and at the same time reduce their carbon pollution” [1].

Obama is deceiving the world over the US Green Climate Fund donation to help Developing nations:

1. Dr Chris Hope from 90-Nobel-Laureate Cambridge  University has estimated a damage-related Carbon Price for effective climate change action of $150 per tonne CO2-equivalent [19]. The US already has a 1751-2006 Historical  Carbon Debt of 92.12 GtC or 92.12 Gt C x (3.67 Gt CO2-e/Gt C) = 338.0 Gt CO2-e [20]. To this we can add 5 years x 10.3 Gt CO2-e /year = 51.5 Gt CO2-e to give a total US Carbon Debt of 338.0 + 51.5 = 389.5 Gt CO2-e, this corresponding  to a Carbon Debt of   389.5 Gt CO2-e x $150/t CO2-e = $58,425 billion. The $3 billion Obama is offering to the Developing World for the Green Climate Fund is a derisory $3 billion x100/ $58,245 billion = 0.005% of the American Carbon Debt and $3 billion x100/ $1,545 billion =. 0.2% of the annual increase in the US Carbon Debt.

2. Something is better than nothing. Obama has offered the Developing World 0.005% of America 's Historical Carbon Debt and 0.2% of America 's annual increase in Carbon Debt. However  climate criminal, US lackey Australia with a world leading  annual per capita Domestic plus Exported GHG pollution of 83 tonnes CO2-e per person per year (compared to Bangladesh's 0.9) [21] and  a 1751-2014 Carbon Debt of 22.315 Gt CO2-e or $3.347 trillion which is  increasing at $300 billion every year, refuses to contribute 1 cent to the Green Climate Fund.

3. Another way of assessing the US obligation to help Developing countries cope with the consequences of mainly Western historical carbon pollution is through an Annual Wealth Tax. There is a largely ignored Global Avoidable Mortality Holocaust in which currently17 million people die avoidably each year from deprivation and deprivation-exacerbated disease in the Developing World (minus China) [10]. This is happening on Spaceship Earth with the flight deck under the control of the 10% richest who have about 90% of the wealth of the World and who in turn are controlled by One Percenters who own about half the wealth of the World. An annual global wealth tax of about 4% would yield US$16 trillion annually and enable raising all countries to annual per capita incomes equivalent to the $6,000 per person per year of China and Cuba, countries for which annual avoidable mortality is zero (0) [10].  This is a feasible option for stopping the Global Avoidable Mortality Holocaust. Indeed a progressive annual wealth tax ranging up to 10% for the richest has been proposed for democracy and economic sustainability  reasons by French economist Professor Thomas Piketty in his important book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century”  [2, 3]. However the US has $83.708 trillion in wealth that represents 31.8% of the world's  total wealth of $263.242 trillion. Obama's  offer of $3 billion represents a one-off 0.004% tax on American wealth [23]. Japan has a wealth of $23.172 trillion or 8.8% of world wealth but its offer to the Green Climate Fund of $1.5 billion represents a one-off  mere 0.006% tax on Japanese wealth.  Climate criminal Australia 's offer of $0 to the Green Climate Fund represents bottom-of-the-barrel immorality.

Conclusions.

As revealed by the mid-term US Congressional elections, even Democrats are disenchanted with pro-One Percenter Obama's failure to live up to his rhetoric. Obama's pre-G20 speech to the University of Queensland reveals the same deficiency on quantitative analysis: (A) the US has an appalling record of subverting, overthrowing and perverting democracy; (B) the Obama climate action policy does not stand up to scrutiny and is opposed by the Republicans who now dominate Congress; and (C)

Obama is grossly deceiving the world over the US Green Climate Fund donation to help Developing nations – his offered $3 billion is a mere 0.005% of the American Carbon Debt.

The world is rapidly running out of time to deal with man-made climate change. Indeed a catastrophic temperature rise of 2C now appears inevitable [17]. However endlessly lying, Orwellian  Mainstream media ensure that the public remain unaware of this unfolding disaster. Obama's “too little too late” climate change inaction proposals are hailed as decisive climate change action. Thus, for example, the latest IPCC Summary for Policymakers (2014) offers a RCP2.6 scenario  that will “limit greenhouse gas concentrations to low levels (about 450 ppm CO2-eq, likely to limit warming to 2C above pre-industrial levels)”. However, using  the IPCC data-based Global Risk and Opportunity Indicator we find that the Exceedance Probability for a  2C temperature rise with an equilibrium greenhouse gas (GHG)  concentration of 450 ppm CO2-eq is 58.4% , and that if this were the  annual probability of fatal flight accidents there would be 17,520,000  fatal flight accidents per year instead of 30 per year [18, 24].

What can people do to avert disaster? Sensible people around the world must (a) make themselves informed about the science and science-informed actions (for example see “Are we doomed?” [18], “2011 climate change course” [25] and “300.org – return atmosphere CO2 to 300 ppm” [26]),  (b) inform everyone they can , and (c) adopt a resolute, no-compromise, zero tolerance approach towards the terracidal,  neoliberal,  corporatist climate criminals by urging  and applying  Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against all the people,  politicians, parties, countries, companies and corporations which are remorselessly destroying the  environment crucial for Humanity and the Biosphere.   

References.

[1]. Barack Obama, “Remarks by President Obama at the University of Queensland , Brisbane , Australia ”, The White House, Office of the Press Secretary. November 15, 2014: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/texttrans/2014/11/20141115310899.html#axzz3JBOkz0ZF .

[2]. Thomas Piketty, “Capital in the Twenty First Century”.

[3]. Gideon Polya, “Key book review: “Capital in the Twenty First Century” by Thomas Piketty”, Countercurrents, 1 July 2014: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya010714.htm .

[4]. “ US wealth inequality – top 0.1% worth as much as the bottom 90%” , The Guardian, Economics, 2014: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/13/us-wealth-inequality-top-01-worth-as-much-as-the-bottom-90?CMP=ema_565 .

[5].  Gideon Polya “Truth & Boycotts, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) can overcome huge inequities suffered by African Americans under American Apartheid”,  Countercurrents, 29 September, 2014: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya290914.htm .

[6].   Gideon Polya, “One Percenter greed & war means over 1.5 million Americans die preventably each year”,  Countercurrents, 19 September, 2014: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya190914.htm .

[7].   Gideon Polya, “American Holocaust, millions of untimely American deaths and $40 trillion cost of Israel to Americans”,  Countercurrents , 27 August, 2013: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya270813.htm .

[8]. Gideon Polya, “The US has invaded 70 nations since 1776 – make 4 July Independence From America Day”,  Countercurrents , 5 July, 2013: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya050713.htm .

[9]. William Blum, “ Rogue State ”.

[10]. Gideon Polya, “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” that includes an avoidable mortality-related history of every country since Neolithic times and is now available for free perusal on the web: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/  .

[11]. Oxfam, “Rapidly growing inequality is worsening poverty around the world”, 20 January 2014: https://www.oxfam.org.au/2014/01/rapidly-growing-inequality-is-worsening-poverty-around-the-world/ .

[12]. Oxfam, “Working for the Few”, 20 January 2014: https://www.oxfam.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/bp-working-for-few-political-capture-economic-inequality-200114-embargo-en.pdf .

[13]. Credit Suisse, “Global wealth report 2014”: http://www.nbr.co.nz/sites/default/files/credit-suisse-global-wealth-report-2014.pdf .

[14]. Gideon Polya, “Pro-gas Obama's EPA-based plan to reduce coal-based pollution amounts to climate change inaction”,  Countercurrents, 7 June, 2014: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya070614.htm .

[15]. David Nakamura and Steven Mufson, “US, China reach carbon emissions deal”, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 November 2014: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/us-china-reach-carbon-emissions-deal-20141112-11l2ro.html .

[16]. Caiazzo, Fabio; Ashok, Akshay; Waitz, Ian A.; Yim, Steve H.L.; Barrett, Steven R.H. (November 2013). "Air pollution and early deaths in the United States . Part I: Quantifying the impact of major sectors in 2005",  Atmospheric Environment , 79: 198–208: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231013004548 .

[17]. Gideon Polya, “International consensus-based IPCC Summary For Policymakers (2014) downplays acute seriousness of Climate Crisis”,  Countercurrents, 12 November, 2014: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya121114.htm .

[18].  “Are we doomed?”: https://sites.google.com/site/300orgsite/are-we-doomed .

[19]. Chris Hope, “How high should climate change taxes be?”, Working Paper Series, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, 9.2011: http://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/media/assets/wp1109.pdf .

[20]. “Carbon debt, carbon credit”: https://sites.google.com/site/carbondebtcarboncredit/ .

[21]. “Climate Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/climategenocide/ .

[22]. Gideon Polya, “4 % Annual Global Wealth Tax too stop the 17 million deaths annually”, Countercurrents, 27 June, 2014: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya270614.htm .

[23]. “National wealth”, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_wealth .

[24]. Global Risk and Opportunity Indicator: http://global-risk-indicator.net/ .

[25]. “2011 climate change course”: https://sites.google.com/site/300orgsite/2011-climate-change-course .

[26]. “300.org – return atmosphere CO2 to 300 ppm”: https://sites.google.com/site/300orgsite/300-org---return-atmosphere-co2-to-300-ppm .

Dr Gideon Polya has been teaching science students at a major Australian university for 4 decades. He published some 130 works in a 5 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text "Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds" (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, New York & London , 2003). He has published “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ); see also his contributions “Australian complicity in Iraq mass mortality” in “Lies, Deep Fries & Statistics” (edited by Robyn Williams, ABC Books, Sydney, 2007: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ockham/stories/s1445960.htm ) and “Ongoing Palestinian Genocide” in “The Plight of the Palestinians (edited by William Cook, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2010: http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/4047-the-plight-of-the-palestinians.html ). He has published a revised and updated 2008 version of his 1998 book “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History” (see: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ ) as biofuel-, globalization- and climate-driven global food price increases threaten a greater famine catastrophe than the man-made famine in British-ruled India that killed 6-7 million Indians in the “forgotten” World War 2 Bengal Famine (see recent BBC broadcast involving Dr Polya, Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen and others: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/social-economic-history/listen-the-bengal-famine ). When words fail one can say it in pictures - for images of Gideon Polya's huge paintings for the Planet, Peace, Mother and Child see: http://sites.google.com/site/artforpeaceplanetmotherchild/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/gideonpolya/ .

 

 




 

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