The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) agreed in 2001 to create a shared currency to help them integrate economies and pursue a monetary policy more independently of the US.

All of the council’s members except Kuwait peg their currencies to the dollar.

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar on December 15 announced the creation of a Monetary Council, a step toward establishing a shared currency. The board of the council, which will set a timetable for establishing a joint central bank and choose a currency regime, will meet for the first time on March 30.

Oman opted out in 2007. The UAE, the second-biggest Arab economy, withdrew from the currency project in May 2009 after the Saudi capital, Riyadh was selected as the location for the Monetary Council, the future central bank.

The UAE has no plans to rejoin the union project, said January 6, 2010 central bank Governor Sultan bin Nasser al-Suwaidi.Today, in Abu Dhabi, he said that the UAE remains committed to the concept of a single currency, though free trade in the region must come first. That is the reason for a Bloomberg new report on the topic.

With a Skiing Centre near the Grand Mosque of Makkah, like the skiing facility in Dubai, take a guess what Osama Bin Laden’s reaction could be to such displays of opulence.

New Makkah mall set to include skiing centre.
by Andy Sambidge on Sunday, 07 March 2010, arabian Business.

A new shopping mall will be built in Makkah by the end of 2011 and will include its own skiing facility similar to Ski Dubai at Mall of the Emirates, it was reported on Sunday.

The yet-to-be-named mall will be located in the Al-Rusaifah district, about two kilometres from the Grand Mosque, Arab News reported.

The mall will have four floors., the first two of which will be for shops while the fourth floor, which will cater for children with rides and games, will include a ski centre.

Khalid Al-Harbi, CEO of Aqari Investment Holding which will market the new mall, told the paper that efforts would be made to bring in as many international stores as possible.

He added that the third floor would be a food court featuring well-known brands as Al-Baik, Al-Tazaj and McDonald’s.

The United Arab Emirates, led by Abu Dhabi, is the first member of OPEC to associate itself with the so called Copenhagen Note by a Valentine’s day Association message to the World Community – we are with you – we take responsibility for action. This from Mari Luomi’s blog for the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

From:  Jones Andrew <Andrew.Jones@upi-fiia.fi>
date:    Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 4:17 AM
subject:  New UPI-FIIA publication – The EU and the global climate regime: Getting back in the game.

We are pleased to announce the release of a new publication by the International Politics of Natural Resources and the Environment Research Programme at The Finnish Institute of International Affairs (UPI-FIIA):

** – The EU and the global climate regime: Getting back in the game
 http://www.upi-fiia.fi/en/publication/10… Published 25.2.2010
by Thomas Spencer, Kristian Tangen, Anna Korppoo of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

The Finnish Institute of International Affairs.
 http://www.upi-fiia.fi/en/blog/269/ by  andrew.jones at upi-fiia.fi
web: http://www.upi-fiia.fi/
Tel: +358 206 111 734            GSM: +358 40 480 1655
Address: Kruunuvuorenkatu 4, 00160 Helsinki, Finland

** – and the Latest blog: The Opec state that clears its own, greener pat.

The Opec state that clears its own, greener path.
by Mari Luomi

ResearcherInternational Politics of Natural Resources and the Environment research programme. Published 26.2.2010

The United Arab Emirates, led by its wealthiest emirate Abu Dhabi, is finally taking the steps necessary to align its domestic and international policies in the field of climate change. Who would have thought just three years ago that the UAE would stand out as the only Opec state to associate itself to a controversial climate change accord, have a Climate Change Envoy, dub nuclear as clean energy, and, most importantly, set international climate change mitigation ahead of oil industry interests.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently became the first Opec member state to associate itself with the disputed Copenhagen Accord. It is also establishing a Directorate of Energy and Climate Change and has flirted with the possibility of announcing emission cuts in comparison to business-as-usual levels. What are the implications of these simultaneous moves for the country and, most interestingly, for the Opec bloc?

————–
The Association Letter:

The UAE’s association letter, sent to the UN Climate Convention (UNFCCC) on Valentine’s day, was designed to be a clear message to the international community that the UAE is concerned about the negative impacts of climate change and is willing to do its fair share in mitigating climate change. This comes despite the fact that the UNFCCC places no commitments on the country to cut its emissions. The UAE is exempt from emission cuts because, despite its GDP per capita rank placing it in the global top-15, it is classified under the Convention as a developing country.

The association letter notes that the UAE has initiated ‘numerous domestic programmes’ that would reduce the UAE’s emissions to below business-as-usual levels. It also promises a more detailed follow-up on the issue. One would hope that this means that the UAE is planning to set a similar goal as, for example, Singapore, a high-income developing country, which has pledged to cut emissions by 16% in relation to BAU emissions by 2020.

Three issues are highlighted in the letter:
- The common but differentiated responsibilities principle;
- The economic impacts of climate change and its mitigation on oil exporting states and
- The importance of promoting carbon capture and storage, as well as nuclear energy technologies, under the international climate negotiating regime.

The importance of countries associating with the Copenhagen Accord is still contingent on the form and direction that the currently disarrayed international negotiations take over the coming months. Also, the content of the UAE letter has only a few surprises, including the potential emission target and the mention of nuclear energy.

What is significant, however, is that no other Opec state has so far associated itself with the Accord. Kuwait has explicitly rejected it. Saudi Arabia, which took part in the group of 25-30 countries that drafted the Copenhagen Accord, informally representing the voice and interests of the OPEC group, has not associated itself so far. Rather, in a submission to the UNFCCC in mid-February, the country states that the Accord ‘has no legal status within the UNFCCC, and thus can’t be used as basis or reference for further negotiations’.

If any Opec country should back the document, it is Saudi Arabia, given that it participated in negotiating the text, especially since the issue of the impacts of the so-called response measures (policies and measures taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions) and the need to assist countries vulnerable to them, which is one of the key demands of Saudi Arabia and the OPEC group, is included in the Accord.

—————

Climate Change Directorate:

Abu Dhabi’s major English newspaper The National reported today on the setting up of a new Directorate of Energy and Climate Change under the UAE’s Foreign Ministry. To understand the significance of this move, one must take a quick dive into the national context.

Abu Dhabi, owner of over 7% of the world’s proven oil reserves and nine tenths of the total oil reserves of the seven-emirate federation it presides over, has for roughly three years now been building itself an image of a ‘future energy giant’. It has declared itself to be the ‘green energy leader of the region’ and, to earn the title, it has built up an impressive list of alternative energy initiatives, most of which converge under the umbrella of the Masdar Initiative, an alternative energy and technology venture by the Mubadala Development Company. What is best, international media and governments have bought the brand: from the President of Maldives to Ban Ki Moon, the world is praising Masdar and Abu Dhabi for their efforts.

The reality is of course not so green and rosy. The United Arab Emirates still ranks near bottom in several international rankings of environmental sustainability: world’s largest ecological footprint and high per capita CO2 emissions, to mention just two examples. When it comes to development, economic sustainability still trumps environmental sustainability. However, there are a number of important individuals in Abu Dhabi and elsewhere, who would like to see this change, at least to some extent. As a sign of this, Abu Dhabi announced in January last year a 7% renewables target for 2020.

Interestingly, it is Masdar’s CEO, Sultan Al Jaber, who has become the main voice in Abu Dhabi in promoting climate change mitigation during the past couple of years, that will be leading the Directorate with the titles of Assistant Foreign Minister and Special Envoy on Energy and Climate Change, according to The National.

With potentially wide implications for the UAE’s international climate policy positioning, the establishment of the Climate Change Directorate is a tour de force from those elite members in Abu Dhabi who have been pushing for the emirate (and with it the federation) to promote development that takes account of environmental sustainability in addition to the usual economic sustainability.

These two moves – the association with the Accord and the new Envoy – might mainly have been taken for branding purposes, but what is important is that they will potentially have far-reaching implications for Opec’s negotiating dynamics that have so far been dominated by a very different tone. They are also finally bringing the ambitious national projects of Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s international climate policy closer to each other.

 http://www.arabianbusiness.com/582471-sa…

Saudi Alwaleed reiterates support to Citi’s Pandit
by Souhail Karam on Saturday, 27 February 2010

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, a prominent Saudi investor in Citigroup, reiterated on Saturday his support 0f the bank’s management led by Chief Executive Vikram Pandit.

“Prince Alwaleed emphasised his support of Pandit and Citigroup’s management,” Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holding Co said in a statement.

Prince Alwaleed met Pandit in Saudi Arabia. Pandit also met the kingdom’s Finance Minister Ibrahim Al Assaf and the head of its central bank Muhammad al-Jasser, added Kingdom in the statement without giving more details. (Reuters)

—————–

What is there to lose for the US had the Saudis bought even a larger stake of Citi? Citi has a long history of working anyway for Saudi interests – directly or via US big oil companies. Our experience taught us that the $4.8 billion financing of the “Gas-to-Gas” New Zealand boondoggle that took good Natural Gas of Motunui and funded its transformation into unneeded synthetic gasoline via methanol – a loss of energy independence for New Zealand that eventually led further to the full give-away of the New Zealand gas resources to Mobil Oil in lieu of paying technology fees before Mobil joined EXXON. Without the backing from Citi – this mess might not have occurred. We did document this at the time and it was brought into the open via a presentation at a Petroleum Science conference in Houston. Why did Washington have to bail out Citi rather then let its shareholder lose some money? Did this serve US interests? If I do not make myself clear, why do you not read Professor Joseph Stiglitz’s article we posted yesterday?

—————-

Further:

Saudi to build $13bn ‘tourist city’ on east coast
Bikini Beaches: Saudi Arabia has its own rich tradation; I mean why they need to allow bikini’s on their beaches and why people need to travel to Saudi to wear Bikini… Javed Iqbal from Jeddah, 27 February 2010, 14:49:40 ( UAE Time )

Those are very logical remarks we found in the UAE posting – why indeed do people want to go to Saudi Arabia and infuriate people there by imposing mores that are strange to them? This is really not so different then selling parts of Citi to the Prince while reassuring him that if the bank flops Washington will bail it out? The real stink is here – not there!

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: NYU Abu Dhabi Institute <nyuad.institute@nyu.edu>
Date: Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 3:25 AM
Subject: “Leadership for a New Era” and other Upcoming Events

The NYU Conference on the Africa – Arab Gulf Relationships will be
held on March 3-4, 2009 in Abu Dhabi. The event is organized as part
of NYU Africa House’s initiative to explore the relationship between
contemporary Africa and the rest of the world. The conference seeks to
examine the modern relationships between Africa and the Arab Gulf.
The lectures and discussions will focus on modern interactions as well
as future possibilities of the relationship.

NYU Africa House is an inter-disciplinary institute devoted to the
study of contemporary Africa with a concentration on politics,
economics, culture, language and social science. In the past, Africa
House has hosted a variety of events, seminars, and presentations
featuring panels of African Heads of Government, scholars, diplomats,
professors and ambassadors.

Africa’s own relationship with the Arab world is centuries-old. Oman
was once part of an influential political presence headquartered in
Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania, and a significant part of East
Africa’s population is of Arab descent. Swahili, the language of East
Africa, even has linguistic connections with Arabic. The ancient West
African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, Songhay and Kanem are all marked by
historic partnerships with the Arab and Islamic world.

Today, the Arab influence is poised to become an even stronger
presence in Africa and vice versa, as the Gulf is becoming a hub for
intra-African and international travel and business. Politically,
there is also increasing desires for an examination of the potential
for the development of stronger South-South relations, with Africa and
the Arab Gulf becoming closer allies in the international political
arena.

These possibilities, both economic and political, are topical issues
that demand thoughtful consideration and debate, which is where the
Africa – Arab Gulf Relationships conference hopes to step in and
facilitate provocative conversation and discussion.

The Organizers:

Africa House
Africa House at NYU is an inter-disciplinary institute devoted to the
study of contemporary Africa, focusing on Economic, Political and
Social issues on the continent, as well as on programs in the Arts,
and particularly contemporary African Art. Part of our vision for
Africa House has been for it to be a meeting place for people in the
New York City metropolitan area who have a personal or professional
interest in Africa. It provides a venue for African dignitaries,
leaders, cultural figures, and academics who are visiting the city.
One area that Africa House is devoting attention to is the area of
Economic Development in Africa today by hosting a number of very high
level conferences and seminars, as well as policy luncheons and
research presentations on contemporary African topics. Part of Africa
House’s core mission is to understand the links between Africa and the
rest of the world, through the social, historical, economic and other
lenses.

Yaw Nyarko (New York University)
Yaw Nyarko is Professor of Economics at NYU. Professor Nyarko, a
Ghanaian national, is the founding director of Africa House at NYU and
founding co-director of the Development Research Institute at NYU. His
research interests include human capital theory, economic development
especially as it pertains to Africa, as well as migration and brain
drain studies and game theory. In addition to his academic work, he
has often served as a consultant for international organizations with
recent assignments at the World Bank and the UN Economic Commission
for Africa. He holds a PhD in Economics from Cornell University.

Please Find The Conference Proceedings By Day

Day 1: March 3 | Day 2: March 4

Tuesday, March 3

8:30 – 9:00

CHECK-IN AND COFFEE

9:00 – 10:30
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

Mariet Westermann
Vice Chancellor, NYU

HE Abdullah A. Al Saleh
Director General of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade

Tarik Yousef
Dean, Dubai School of Government

Yaw Nyarko, “The Africa Gulf Relationship: History, Politics, Economics”
Professor of Economics, NYU; Director of NYU Africa House; Co-founding Director of Development Research Institute, NYU

Dean, African Ambassadors, UAE 

10:30 – 10:45
BREAK

10:45-12:15
PANEL
Africa and the Gulf: Historic Ties, Contemporary Transformations

Panel Chair: Philip Kennedy

New York University    

Presenters:
Emmanuel Akyeampong, “For Prayer and Profit: West Africa’s Religious and Commercial Ties to the Gulf”
Professor of History, Department of African and African American studies, Harvard University

Edward Alpers, “Image and Reality of East Africa’s Ties to the Gulf  and Arabia”

Professor and Chair of Department of History, University of  California, Los Angeles

Matthew S. Hopper, “The African Presence in Eastern Arabia:  Globalization and Diaspora in the Age of Empire”       
Assistant Professor of History, California Polytechnic State University

Panel Discussion: Q & A

12:15 – 1:15
LUNCH BREAK

1:15-2:45
PANEL
Africa and Arab Gulf Tourism Relations
Panel Chair: Judith Aidoo

NYU Africa House Board Member; private investor and Chief  Executive of the Aidoo Group, Ltd.

Presenters:
Shamsa Mwangunga
Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism of the United Republic of Tanzania and President of the Africa Travel Association

Edward Bergman
Executive Director of Africa Travel Association; Faculty member in Department of Hospitality Management at CUNY’s New York City College of Technology 

Ogo Sow
African television and radio pioneer, producer and publisher; Special advisor and consultant to Africa Travel Association
Representatives of Tourism Boards in the Arab Gulf and in Africa

Panel Discussion: Q & A

2:45–3:00
BREAK

3:00-5:00
PANEL
Africa and the Gulf: The Economics of the Relationships I

Panel Chair: Kasirim Nwuke
Senior Economic Affairs Officer and Chief, MDGs/Poverty Analysis & Monitoring at the UN Economic Commission for Africa

Presenters:
Ibrahim Elbadawi, “Economic Links between Sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab Gulf: Recent History and Future Prospects”
Lead Economist at Development Economic Research group of the World Bank

Leonce Ndikumana, “Options for Transforming Transitory Income from Natural Resources into Permanent Income”

Head of Research, African Development Bank

Hippolyte Fofack, “Africa and Arab Gulf States: Divergent Development Paths and Prospects for Convergence”
Professional and Research Economist, World Bank

Panel Discussion: Q & A
——————–

Click here to download the complete conference brochure.

Dates

May 3-5, 2009

Title

Climate Change: Financing Green Development

Organizing Institutions

New York University School of Law

www.law.nyu.edu

Institute for International Law and Justice

www.iilj.org

Frank J. Guarini Center on Environmental and Land Use Law

www.law.nyu.edu/centers/elc/index.htm

Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research

www.ecssr.ac.ae

———

Organizing Institutions

Institute for International Law and Justice

The Institute for International Law and Justice (IILJ) brings together the research, scholarship, teaching and outreach activities of New York University School of Law’s acclaimed international law program. The Institute is closely connected with leading scholars and research institutions worldwide. It integrates the Law School’s scholarly excellence in international law into the policy activities of the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, law firms, and industry.

The Institute’s research and scholarship is organized through three affiliated thematic centers and programs: the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, the Jean Monnet Center for International and Regional Economic Law and Justice, and the Program in the History and Theory of International Law. The Institute also runs cross-cutting research projects among these affiliates, including work on global governance and accountability (global administrative law), legal issues in United Nations security and development operations, financing of development projects, international arbitration, private military firms, intelligence, and rule of law issues especially relating to states at risk.

www.iilj.org

Frank J. Guarini Center for Environmental and Land Use Law

The Center was the first of three related initiatives that NYU took to make the Law School the leading national law school for the study of environmental and land use law. Together with The Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy and the newly established Institute for Policy Integrity, the Center works to advance scholarly inquiry and writing, enhance legal training, and develop and implement innovative solutions to environmental protection and land use problems at the national, regional, and global levels.

www.law.nyu.edu/centers/elc/index.htm

Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research

The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) is an independent research institution dedicated to the promotion of professional studies and educational excellence in the UAE, the Arabian Gulf region and the wider Arab world.

The Center provides a forum for the scholarly exchange of ideas by hosting various academic events including conferences, symposiums, workshops and lectures throughout the year. The Center also publishes original and translated books; papers presented as part of its lecture series; and original research studies in the form of monographs. The ECSSR has an active fellowship and grant program for the writing of scholarly books and for the translation into Arabic of publications relevant to the Center’s mission. Through these and other activities, the ECSSR aspires to engage in mutually beneficial professional endeavors with comparable institutions worldwide, and to contribute to the general educational and academic development of the UAE.

www.ecssr.ac.ae
———

Conference Publication

Climate Change
Strategies for Climate Change and Global Development (PDF)

The Climate Finance publication includes 36 papers on issues related to regulatory strategies and development finance.

Location

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Download map of NYU Abu Dhabi (PDF)

Venue

The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research

Download map of ECSSR location in Abu Dhabi (PDF)

Media Contact

For press related inquiries, please contact nyuad@nyu.edu

———–

Please Find The Conference Proceedings By Day

Day 1: May 3 |
Day 2: May 4 |
Day 3: May 5 | Panelists | Participants

Download the daily schedule (PDF)

Participants: see conference papers (password required)

Sunday, May 3

OPENING SESSION (9:30am)

Introductions

Mariët Westermann, Provost, NYU Abu Dhabi

Addresses

Razan Al Mubarak, Managing Director, Emirates Wildlife Society – World Wide Fund for Nature

Sam Nader, Director, Carbon Management Unit, Masdar

PANEL 1 (10:00am)

NEW MECHANISMS FOR CLIMATE FINANCE

In this panel, the representatives of the Catalyst Project, Environmental Defense Fund, developing countries, and multilateral financial institutions will present innovative proposals to finance climate mitigation in developing countries. These include a reverse auction strategy for climate mitigation investment, emissions allowances for developing countries that make early commitments, and REDD credits. The proposals will provide the basis for the day’s discussion, which will include considerations of the merits of these novel architectures, potential convergence issues with other proposed mechanisms, and the relation among these proposals and a potential Kyoto successor global climate agreement.

Chair: Richard Stewart, NYU School of Law

Panelists:

Federica Bietta, Coalition for Rainforest Nations

Raekwon Chung, Ambassador for Climate Change, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Korea

Luis Gomez-Echeverri, Global Energy Assessment Program

Tom Heller, Climate Adviser to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and George Soros / Stanford Law School

Nathaniel Keohane, Environmental Defense Fund

Bert Metz, European Climate Foundation

Murray Ward, Global Climate Change Consultancy

PANEL 2 (2:00pm)

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND CLIMATE FINANCE MECHANISMS

This panel will discuss the climate finance proposals discussed in Panel 1 and other approaches under active discussion in the run-up to COP 15 at Copenhagen from the perspective of developing countries. It will discuss whether the continued economic growth of developing countries has been productively addressed, what alternatives will engage developing countries more effectively than others, and whether the current proposals exhaustively capture the economic opportunities that climate finance can generate for developing countries.

Chair: Ngaire Woods, Oxford University

Panelists:

Navroz Dubash, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Israel Klabin, Fundação Brasileira para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável

Arvind Mahajan, KPMG

Anthony Okon Nyong, Africa Development Bank

Rajeev Palakshappa, The Climate Group (India)

Youba Sokona, Sahara and Sahel Observatory

Jie Yu, The Climate Group

PUBLIC LECTURE (6:00pm)

THE SCIENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Professor Michael Oppenheimer, Princeton University

There is growing consensus around the pressing need for global collaboration in designing a new climate change agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. With all eyes looking to the next round of negotiations in Copenhagen in December, Professor Oppenheimer, a leading expert in both the science and policy of climate change will address the question, Why the urgency? Scientific understanding indicates that the risk of dangerous climate change would increase sharply absent prompt action to curb global greenhouse gas emissions. Professor Oppenheimer’s presentation will highlight the scientific underpinnings of sensible policy responses and the need for truly global action to reduce emissions.

————

Climate Change

Strategies for Climate Change and Global Development (PDF)

The Climate Finance publication includes 36 papers on issues related to regulatory strategies and development finance.

Download the complete conference brochure.

Download the daily schedule.

At the first event of this years UN Commemoration of the Holocaust aftermath, I was approached by Sandra “Akiwa Gizzel” Nelson-Zongo who is with an NGO at the UN. She gave me a flyer about an event the following day, at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s New York Tolerance Center that was established years ago in the proximity to the UN, with the intent of having an influence on the UN.

Simon Wiesenthal was obviously the Nazi fighter of Vienna, and the US institution that bears his name is based in Los Angeles – its reach out to the UN was just because it was realized that the UN has the potential to become a Jew hating and general racist international institution, where pure haters lead a sea of ignorant member states with funds provided by our use of their oil.

The New York Tolerance Center asks – “HOW MANY RACISTS DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A LIGHT BULB? It says that tolerance is about – Experience, Explore, Encounter, Engage and Responsibility, Respect, Social Justice. By providing space for New York NGOs active at the UN the Institute hopes to affect the spirit of the UN.

————

The flyer said that January 26, 2010 1-3pm, there will be an event of an Ad Hoc Unit – “Human Rights Learning Through Art and Athletics.” Sandra was going to host the event and it turned out that she was the choreographer of various scenes that dealt with domestic violence against women.

The Simon Wiesenthal Institute was represented by Curran Geist – its New York Program Manager and a Special Guest was Osoroko Nana-Yabani, a Ghanaian poet and UN Peace Messenger whose latest activity seems to have been recently in Abu Dhabi. He spoke of Empowering of women in every culture with education, safety, business opportunities such as micro-lending, family and social support, health services, promotion of respect will alleviate Violence Against Women he said. He told how he saved a battered woman in Abu Dhabi, and as there is no institution there where you can lead her too – he actually engaged one of the police to harbor her with his family in his own home. He said that his UN card helped getting the attention of the locals for whom beating one’s own wife is no offense.

No one should be subjected to torture or cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as per article 5 of the Human Rights Charter.

Then Michelle Chang picked up on Policy in Action – touch offense. It was about love and the ideal of reaching out to one another.

Sandra’s “Family Feathers” eventually turned into “Johnny Traffic” with a pimp taking over the place of family head. The intent was to show how to learn, extract information (data) and to help find a solution to problems of ordinary real life.

It felt germane to the efforts of reinventing one’s future when faced with calamity – as those survivors showed capable of doing in the “Generations” event – the opening of HOPE of this year’s Holocaust UN series. When helping individuals in the global community, the Simon Wiesenthal Institute also hopes to decrease intolerance in the larger global sense. Whatever the reality – their opening to the UN is clearly a positive window for those in need.

Letha Francis, Leroy Mobley, Sharla Kornegay, Von Wright were the performers.

Interesting – “Human Affect” distributed  articles 1 and 27 of The Universal Declarationof Human Rights as part of their program.

ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE BORN FREE AND EQUAL IN DIGNITY AND RIGHTS. THEY ARE ENDOWED WITH REASON AND CONSCIENCE AND SHOULD ACT TOWARDS ONE ANOTHER IN A SPIRIT OF BROTHERHOOD.

IPS Newsbriefs
Clean Energy Faces Tough Financial Climate in Mideast.

CAIRO, Jan 28 (IPS) – Renewable energy projects in the Middle East could be scaled back or scuttled unless fresh sources of financing are found. The global financial crisis has made debt finance less accessible, and forced energy developers to pay more costs upfront or seek alternative funding sources. Financiers say syndicated loans, once a major source of clean energy finance, have been largely abandoned by banks attempting to wipe off bad debts and concentrate on low-risk projects.

“The banking sector in general will take several years to recover and rebuild the regulatory capital that it’s lost over the past several years combined with higher regulatory capital requirements expected in the near future,” says John Dunlop, who heads the London Energy Project Finance desk at HSH Nordbank, a leading financer of renewable energy projects. “The effect will be to reduce the overall amount of debt finance coming from banks and going to all sectors, including renewables.”

Some analysts, however, point out that concerns over climate change and declining fossil fuel reserves have resulted in government stimulus packages that could help project developers overcome the short-term financing drought. “There are certainly concerns about the economy, but I think that renewable energies are going to be a priority because they represent the future,” says Helene Pelosse, director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). “Countries have to make choices and, since energy resources are limited, then this is the first field where they should invest.”

Industrial nations meeting in Copenhagen last month offered 30 billion dollars over the next three years to assist developing countries in establishing and implementing procedures to reduce their emissions and mitigate the impact of climate change. They also pledged to mobilise international support to raise 100 billion dollars annually, starting in 2020.

Yet critics have charged that the Copenhagen Accord conspicuously failed to establish the source and mechanisms of this funding – an oversight that could ultimately derail efforts to mobilise financial resources. “Many who were not enthusiastic about the outcome of the conference have considered the talk about funding just a transient one,” Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, the United Arab Emirates minister for environment and water, said during the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi last week. “The Accord did not clarify the sources of such funding, how the money is to be distributed and the systems by which these funds operate.”

Kilian Baelz, acting director of the Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE), a Cairo-based energy policy think tank, says clean technology is “still high on the agenda” of many Middle East nations, though not all have the same political will or financial means.

Oil-rich United Arab Emirates has shown no sign of abandoning its clean energy ambitions, which include the 22 billion dollar carbon-neutral Masdar City project. Other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia) appear to be proceeding with caution. “The small Gulf states have taken a more conservative approach towards lending to renewable energy projects,” says Baelz. “They have seen that their wealth is not guaranteed and that they are vulnerable to developments in the international market.”

Poorer Arab states such as Syria, Jordan and Egypt have less capital, but Baelz does not foresee any significant scaling back of current projects. “Most of the projects in the pipeline right now are either financed from public budgets or donor funded,” he says. “In addition, many renewable energy projects are comparatively small, that is they are below the 100-200 million euro threshold that has been the lending limit for many banks.” According to Dunlop, the de-leveraging of the banking sector has put priority on consolidation and quality lending. Small-scale project developers and independent power purchasers (IPPs) will still need to field clean deals if they hope to obtain financing.

News Alert: Bin Laden blasts U.S. for climate change
06:49 AM EST Friday, January 29, 2010
——————–

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has called in a new audiotape for the world to boycott American goods and the U.S. dollar, blaming the United States and other industrialized countries for global warming. In the tape, aired in part on Al-Jazeera television Friday, bin Laden warns of the dangers of climate change and says that the way to stop it is to bring “the wheels of the American economy” to a halt

This information we picked up on a page of The Washington Post that includes a large advertisement from CHEVRON Oil Company:

“HUMAN ENERGY” “Every day Chevron invests $59 million in People. In ideas. In progress – Learn more”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012901463.html?hpid=topnews

Bin Laden blasts US for climate change.

Includes also a photo from the FILE – “This is an undated photo of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. Bin
Laden issued a new audio message claiming responsibility for the Christmas day bombing attempt in Detroit and vowed further attacks. (Anonymous – AP)

The Associated Press
Friday, January 29, 2010; 6:52 AM
CAIRO — Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has called in a new audiotape for the world to boycott American goods and the U.S. dollar, blaming the United States and other industrialized countries for global warming.

In the tape, aired in part on Al-Jazeera television Friday, bin Laden
warns of the dangers of climate change and says that the way to stop
it is to bring “the wheels of the American economy” to a halt.

He says the world should “stop consuming American products” and
“refrain from using the dollar,” according to a transcript on
Al-Jazeera’s Web site.

The new message, whose authenticity could not immediately be
confirmed, comes after a bin Laden tape released last week in which he
endorsed a failed attempt to blow up an American airliner on Christmas
Day.

—————-

UNFCCC should take notice of this when next time Saudi Arabia will claim to be paid US Dollars for the losses that it will incur when the world will finally decide to use less oil – their hidden treasure under the desert sand. Whatever we think of Bin Laden – we know that it is the US dollars paid for oil that fuelled both – the monarchy of The House of Saud and the Bin Laden family complaints that these dollars corrupted the purity of the faith as they see it. Now – that is why we post the piece also on our “cartoons” column – not really because of our disbelief in the Chevron statement or the actual content of what is attributed to Osama.

We are afraid that some narrow minded people might actually say that because Osama says that the US is to be blamed for Global Warming – it is obvious that Global Warming is a non-issue – and US CATO will thus bless on Bin Laden – so The Heartland Institute can put him up im its Gallery of Fame. Crazy – I told you so.

IDF Haiti Mission: After two weeks, Israel team winds down Haiti mission.

By Amos Harel, HAARETZ, January 26, 2010

The Israel Defense Forces team in Haiti is finishing up its mission and will return home on Thursday.

The decision was based on the recommendation of the Home Front Command, whose senior officers feel hey have fulfilled their role in helping the earthquake victims. In view of the large number of personnel and resources the command is deploying in Haiti and the U.S., it is believed the time has come to wrap up the mission.

Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, the head of the Home Front Command, returned to Israel last Friday after spending a few days with the Israelis in Haiti, commanded by Brig. Gen. (res.) Shalom Ben-Aryeh.

The command and the IDF Medical Corps are now preparing for the next stages of their mission: closing up shop and leaving behind a large part of the equipment brought there as a final goodwill gesture to the people of Haiti.

The winding up of the mission involves assisting the members of the team in returning to normal life back home after the complex experiences they they had, as well as drawing the necessary professional conclusions from the Haiti operation.

On the professional level, the IDF learned much about running a field hospital under such difficult conditions and operating rescue teams; and about dealing with a mass disaster that thankfully Israel has never experienced. The up close experience of dealing with an earthquake and its aftermath – a number of aftershocks occurred while the Israel mission was there – increased awareness of the enormous danger of such a natural event, but the upper echelons of the Home Front Command believe the situation in Israel is very different. While the earthquake in Haiti reached a magnitude of 7 on the Richter scale, it seems the incredible destruction resulted more from the poor-quality construction there. Two similar strength earthquakes in California in recent decades resulted in only a few dozen killed in each quake.

Members of the rescue team who toured the area were surprised to discover there are almost no buildings built with reinforced concrete in Haiti. “You wander through the ruins and see no iron bars. Everything is made out of simple concrete, which turns into a brittle material in an earthquake of this magnitude. Everything collapses,” said one member of the Israeli mission.

In Israel, by way of comparison, a far stricter building code was adopted in the mid-1970s, making buildings far less vulnerable to earthquakes.

The main conclusion of the Haiti mission from an Israeli perspective, said one senior officer, concerns the “awareness of the citizens and local authorities of the possibility of an earthquake. It is possible that more exercises are needed, but if you prepare properly for a missile attack on the home front, then you have 95% of the tools [needed] at your disposal for dealing with an earthquake,” said the officer.

An analysis of the decision making process on sending the team once again shows that time is the critical factor. Israel moved quickly, in terms of making its decision and making the necessary preparations.

This provided effective help at a very early stage. In the case of Haiti, the rescue operations among the ruins – even though they drew huge media coverage – were downplayed. “It is very exciting to pull out survivors, but it’s a drop in the bucket. We rescued or aided in the rescue of four people, while all the rescue teams from all the countries saved 132 people altogether. It seems almost 200,000 people died in the earthquake,” said the senior officer.

Israel’s main accomplishment was in the quick deployment of the field hospital in Haiti. “For five critical days, it was the best hospital in Port-au-Prince,” said the officer. “We provided timely medical care to about 1,000 people, we conducted 300 operations and delivered 16 babies. In the past few days the Americans arrived and then you can put things in proportion and become more modest in the face of their airlift and the scope of their aid. You need to understand that those who will continue to treat the main suffering there are the Americans,” he added.

For Israel, this is further proof of the importance of field hospitals; the IDF closed the last one five years ago and only reopened them as part of the lessons learned from the Second Lebanon War.

Next week the Home Front Command and the Medical Corps will hold a two-day seminar, with the help of psychologists, for those returning from Haiti to prepare them for returning to their routine.

The IDF has praised the cooperation with the Foreign Ministry and El Al during the mission to Haiti.

The good public relations is seen as being of only secondary importance: “Our people went to Haiti to save lives, to provide the best medical care they can and to represent Israel. That is the proper order of priorities. They did not think constantly about the blue and white flag flying overhead,” said the senior officer.

—————–
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-dersh…

Alan Dershowitz – Lawyer and author
Posted: January 24, 2010

As most objective observers throughout the world marvel at Israel’s efficiency and generosity in leading the medical aid efforts in Haiti, some bigots insist on using these efforts as an occasion to continue their attack on the Jewish state. Both the neo-Nazi hard right and the neo-Stalinist hard left cannot help but to demonize Israel, regardless of what Israel does.

The neo-Nazi website ReportersNotebook.com features a blog entitled “The Zionization of Disaster Relief.” It accuses Israel of “exploiting the suffering of poor, defenseless Haitians on behalf of Israeli Triumphalism.” It complains that Israel is rendering medical aid to Haiti only to deflect attention from its crimes against the Palestinians.

The hard left, even in Israel, complains that Israel should not be sending medical assistance to such a faraway place. Instead it should be sending it to nearby Gaza.

Even the New York Times, in an otherwise thoughtful analysis of the controversiality of the aid among some Israelis, failed to note the difference between Israel sending its limited resources to faraway Haiti and to nearby Gaza. Haiti is not at war with Israel. Haiti has not pledged itself to Israel’s destruction. Haiti has not fired 8,000 rockets at Israeli civilians. Gaza, on the other hand, has a popularly elected government that has done and continues to do all of the above. Moreover, there is no comparison between the tens of thousands of Haitians who have died from a natural disaster, and the people of Gaza who suffer far less from what is, essentially, a self-inflicted wound.

Nor do the perennial enemies of Israel emphasize the comparison between tiny and resource-poor Israel, on the one hand, and the enormous and resource-rich Arab and Muslim nations, on the other hand. While Israel digs deeply into its treasury and manpower to send medical assistance a quarter of the way around the world, Arab and Muslim nations are generally missing in action when it comes to relief efforts. This is true not only in Haiti, which is a Catholic nation, but it was equally true when tsunamis and other natural disasters have devastated Muslim nations.

For those who argue that Israel is sending this aid to Haiti for its own selfish reasons, there are two answers. First the realpolitik answer: All nations have interests; and all act, at least in part, out of self interest. When the United States government is asked by Americans to justify its multibillion dollar foreign aid grants, it generally responds by arguing that these grants are serving the interests of the United States. When it comes to Israel, however, a double standard is always applied. Israel must act only out of altruistic motives, while all other countries are entitled to leaven altruism with self interest. The second answer is that Israel is doing far more in Haiti than would be required to satisfy its self interests. It is sending more aid per capita than any country in the world. It is doing it with extraordinary efficiency and real impact. Isn’t it at least possible that the millennia-long Jewish tradition of tzadakah — that is, charity based on justice — is at least part of the explanation for Israel’s generosity?

The fact that so many Israelis are advocating medical and other assistance to Gaza certainly supports this latter theory. Has any other country in the history of the world ever provided medical and other assistance to a people with whom it is at war — to people who continue to support rocket attacks and other forms of terrorism against its own civilians? Again, a double standard. The reality is that Israel will be extremely generous to the people of Gaza if and when they stop supporting attacks on Israeli civilians, stop making martyrs of their suicide murderers, and stop encouraging their children to don suicide vests. Contrast Gaza with the West Bank, which today has an improving economy, better travel conditions and among the best health care available in any Arab or Muslim country in the area. The peace dividend the Palestinian people will reap from making peace with Israel is incalculable.

So continue to criticize Israel when it fails to live up to generally applicable international standards, but praise it when it exceeds those standards in rendering aid that has saved and will continue to save many lives. Israel will continue to send disaster relief regardless of how the world reacts to it because Israelis understand how it feels to be subject to disasters. But fairness requires that Israel not be condemned for its humanitarian efforts, and that its rendering of aid to Haiti not be used as yet another occasion for applying a double standard to its actions.

 http://www.arabianbusiness.com/579867-bl…

 http://www.arabianbusiness.com/579787-al…

Bloomingdale’s Dubai set to open on Feb 1, 2010.
by Joanne Bladd on Monday, 25 January 2010

NEW ARRIVAL: Bloomingdale’s, the famous New York department store, will open in The Dubai Mall on February 1. (Getty Images). We are curious if the store will sport at the entrance also the Israeli flag as in new York City?
Macy’s Inc will open its first Bloomingdale’s store outside the US in The Dubai Mall on February 1, it was confirmed on Monday.

The two stores – a 146,000 sq ft fashion and accessories store spread over three floors, and a 54,000 sq ft home store – will open in partnership with the UAE-based Al Tayer Group.

The launch marks the start of Bloomingdale’s first overseas venture, and presents a “unique opportunity” for the brand, Terry Lundgren, chairman of Macy’s Inc, said in earlier remarks.

Related: 24% of major retailers eye MENA (Middle East – North Africa) for expansion

Related: DSF retailers facing ’soft demand’ challenge

“This will be our company’s first overseas location, and we expect to learn a great deal about how our brands translate internationally,” he said.

“Dubai offers a unique opportunity for Bloomingdale’s. It is a fast-growing, affluent marketplace that has emerged as an international destination for tourism, sporting events and business.”

Earlier on Monday, property consultants CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) said in a report that around a quarter of global retailers planning to expand this year are including the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in their plans.

CBRE’s report examined the attitudes and 2010 expansion plans of 220 leading retailers, based on interviews conducted over the summer of 2009.

The latest UAE retail report published by Business Monitor International forecasts sales will grow from $104.1bn in 2008 to $142.6bn by 2013.

Key factors behind the forecast, it said, were strong underlying economic growth, increasing household consumption and expatriate wealth.

It added that with the population increasing from 4.7m in 2008 to an estimated 5.4m by 2013, GDP per capita was forecast to rise by almost 17 percent by the end of the forecast period, reaching $60,753.

Pictures from a walking tour of Masdar City
January 17, 2010 – by Dallas Kachan, Cleantech Group

The best-marketed eco city in the world is rising from the Abu Dhabi desert. Cleantech Group got a tour today. See the city’s progress to date in this photo essay.  Gil Friend has called it “a playground for the rich.”

Yet he and others also anticipate it becoming an essential center of innovation and commercial proving ground to help accelerate clean technologies in other cities around the planet.

Whatever it ultimately ends up as, Masdar City—an ambitious vision of the future that the Abu Dhabi government is almost solely bankrolling with tens of billions in petroleum money—is becoming more than just a vision.

Its modest first phase is a portion of its Masdar Institute that’s due to start accepting students later this year as the academic year begins. Its initial handful of buildings is now looking surprisingly simliar to artist renderings.

Yet it’s clear, as you’ll see, much needs to be done in the next critical months.

The city could be a work in progress for many years. It’s far from the grand scale laid out in its glossy brochure. The vast majority of the site is still open desert, waiting for decisions, materials and additional partners.

Cleantech Group Executive Editor Dallas Kachan was among a handful of international journalists shown through the facility today. Come along on this series of photos as he walks you through Masdar City as it currently stands.

To see the photos – please go to: http://cleantech.com/news/5505/masdar-city-pictures
——————-

Our comment – please do not build the future on Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) – this just does not hold great promise in the real world.

Among the dreamers at the Abu Dhabi meeting:

Is carbon capture and storage (CCS) about to break out?

Cited repeatedly at the World Future Energy Summit this week in Abu Dhabi (see Heads of state slam COP15, celebrate cleantech) and featured today in a day of CCS-related content at the conference, the set of technologies could find its time is soon to arrive.

While marginalized to date because of high costs and technology fine tuning, speakers pointed to the maturation of CCS and many successful pilot facilities around the world. And they set the expectation that the industry is now ready to see production facilities built in large numbers.

There are two general types of CCS: the capture of carbon associated with power generation—in particular with the burning of coal and natural gas—and the capture of carbon associated with industry.

Leading approaches include pre-combustion gasification, and post-combustion using liquid amine (ammonia-like) solvents, as well as emerging oxyfuel-based processes.

Generally, in each case, CO2 is captured and either routed into pipelines or storage vessels, where it’s sold to offtakers, pumped underground to aid in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), otherwise pumped underground for permanent sequestration or turned into other materials.

Milton Catelin, CEO of the World Coal Institute, showed data illustrating 24 coal sequestration projects either in construction or operational around the world, with another 23 planned. Many other natural gas carbon capture projects are also in the works.

BP, Statoil, HTC Purenergy, Masdar, Shell and others told delegates repeatedly that the technology was now ready for large scale deployment. They acknowledged the expense of CCS ($1B per plant was a working figure cited by several), but maintained the price would drop over time, while the price of carbon would only increase over time.

“The sooner we get going with widespread implementations and policy support, the sooner costs will fall,” said Gardiner Hill, Director of CCS technology for BP.

He and many other speakers also underscored the need for stable, long term government commitment.

“It must be enduring so that financial players have the confidence to get involved,” he said.

“We need to determine what the incentives will look like and what the regulations are [now, in 2010] if we’re to get new plants built by 2015 so as to have a meaningful effect in fighting temperate increase.”

In its Energy Technology Perspectives report in 2008, the International Energy Agency (IEA) suggested up to 19 percent of the carbon reduction required to fight global climate change would need to come from CCS. The same report only saw 21 percent of the carbon savings needed from renewable power generation.

That’s had the CCS community feeling like poor second cousins to wind and solar, which have gotten all the project capital of late. But their day may have finally arrived, speakers suggested, now that CCS technology is ready.

“It’s a political negotiation, it’s not a rational one,” according to Jim Carter, Chair of the Alberta Carbon Capture & Storage Development Council. “If we wait [for policy], it’ll be too late for CCS to have a significant role in fighting climate change.”

Other challenges pointed to by speakers included forming initial collaborations, achieving commercial scale, building capacity, project financing and public support—especially with respect to safety concerns.

For instance, critics of CCS have worried about leakage from underground sequestration reservoirs.

“We’ve been sequestering 2 million tonnes a year for 10 years now, with no problems,” said Paitoon Tontiwachwuthikul, Dean and Professor of Engineering at the University of Regina in Canada, a leading research institute in CCS.

Tontiwachwuthikul said carbon dioxide turns solids once pumped deep underground. He also dismissed criticisms of high water use in CCS, pointing out that CCS towers can be air cooled, run at high temperatures with no adverse affect or even be cooled with seawater if necessary.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), based in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, had to invite Israel for its January 2010 meeting as per a commitment to be open to all, but Israeli Minister Uzi Landau had no meetings with UAE officials as per www.albawaba.com

 http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/259483

Israeli minister attends international conference in Abu Dhabi.

Posted: 17-01-2010 , 13:33 GMT

Israel for the first time sent a Cabinet minister to the United Arab Emirates, with which it does not have relations, to attend a conference on alternative energy. National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau told The Associated Press on Sunday he did not meet with any Emirati officials while attending a conference of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), based in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi.

Landau conveyed the Israeli delegation entered the Arab country after “special arrangements” were made. “They had to do it since they committed themselves to making it possible for all member states, with or without relations, to participate in the agency’s activities,” Landau said while in Abu Dhabi.

An official with the UAE’s Foreign Ministry told The Associated Press that allowing Israel Cabinet minister to participate in the agency’s activities was “part of obligations in hosting (the agency) in the UAE.” He added, that Israel’s participation in the international event in Abu Dhabi will have “no implications or indications for bilateral links between the UAE and any other party.”

————–

From Israel the HAARETZ paper provides further enlightenment to the story.
 https://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1143160…

IRENA is the first ever international organization based in the UAE.

IRENA was established a year ago with a mission to promote sustainable use of al forms of renewable energy. In June, Abu Dhabi was selected as the agency’s headquarters.

Last year the UAE denied entry to Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer to an international tournament in Dubai. The UAE officials said Peer was denied a visa because of anti-Israel sentiments in the Gulf state following last year’s three-week war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The tournament was fined a record $300,000 for refusing Peer the entry. Last week the UAE authorities sent a written assurance to the World Tennis Association that all players who will qualify for the 2010 championships will be allowed into the country and welcome to play in Dubai.

On Sunday, an official with the UAE’s Foreign Ministry told The Associated Press that “allowing an Israeli cabinet minister to participate in the agency’s activities was part of obligations in hosting (the agency) in the UAE.”

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press. He added, that Israel’s participation in the international event in the oil-rich Abu Dhabi will have no implications or indications for bilateral links between the UAE and any other party.

Israel only has diplomatic relations with two Arab countries, Egypt and Jordan.

Last year, Mauritania and Qatar suspended contacts with Israel to protest the Gaza bloodshed. Mauritania, an Arab League member, had full diplomatic relations with Israel. Qatar, an energy-rich Gulf state had maintained low-level relations with the Jewish state by hosting an Israeli trade office in the capital Doha since 1996.

INTERNATIONAL, THE ONION
Dubai Debt Crisis Halts Building Of World’s Largest Indoor Mountain Range.
JANUARY 14, 2010 | ISSUE 46•02
 http://www.theonion.com/content/news/dub…

DUBAI—Representatives from the emirate of Dubai announced with disappointment this week that its recent debt crisis has forced developers to halt construction on the city’s long-planned 22-mile-long indoor mountain range. (Planners continue to take future reservations for the mountains’ 9 and 10-star hotels.)

The culmination of a decade’s worth of ambitious and expensive building projects, Dubai’s estimated $100 billion debt officially brought work on the artificial mountain range to a stop on Tuesday.

“This is a very sad day for the emirate of Dubai,” Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed al-Maktoum told reporters at a press conference held inside the gold-plated anti-gravity chamber in his palace. “Although I believe it is the basic right of all who visit us to be able to scale to the top of a 15,000-foot-tall manmade snowcap, these tough economic times have made it an impossibility. Never before has our proud municipality faced such a grave crisis.”

Added Sheikh Hamdan, “The time, I’m afraid, has finally come for us to tighten our jewel-studded belts.”

With only seven of the planned 19 peaks completed and the artificial glaciers only partially frozen, the real estate firm Nakheel now says the landmark Alps Dubai development will miss its planned April 2011 opening date, and with it, the controlled volcanic eruption that would have commemorated the event.

“Everything had been progressing right on schedule,” said project manager Zayed Kemaar. “The plate tectonics were almost in place, we were getting good vulcanism, and we had helicopter-loads of marble and schist arriving every day from Switzerland. We even had herds of pure-white albino bighorn rams standing on five of the peaks. Then, of course, the bottom fell out, and now we barely have the money to keep the air conditioning on.”

Added Kemaar, “It just goes to show you that, when the economy is down, vital infrastructure projects like this are always the first to suffer.”

A number of Dubai officials have even speculated that the cornerstone Jabal Khalifa mountain, which, at 27,100 feet—not counting the 300-foot-tall Lebanese-cedar log flume atop the casino at the summit—would have been the sixth-highest peak in the world, may have to be canceled entirely.

“At this rate, we may be forced to dip into the vast diamond mines we installed in the center of the city last February,” Kemaar said.

Across the city there are signs of how deeply the overall economic climate of Dubai has been affected. Thousands of VIP tables sit empty, Lamborghinis clog dealership lots, and, with many unable to afford the usual imported pet foods, the streets are filled with starving stray snow leopards and feral peacocks. Empty glass tubes, once intended to contain seawater in which the city’s fleet of nuclear commuter submarines would travel, hang forlornly 30 stories overhead.

As the emirate reels from the news of the mountain range’s suspension, developers and government officials alike remain stymied on the best course of action for resolving the debt crisis and resuming work.

“Maybe this cold hard dose of reality is what Dubai needed,” said Sheikh Hamdan, adding that he remained “hopeful” his mountain range would one day be completed. “Maybe it’s time for us to pull ourselves up by the straps of our handmade custom-fitted patent-leather Italian boots and put our slaves back to work. Only through ingenuity, perseverance, and forced labor can Dubai get back to being Dubai again.”

“And mark my words,” he added, “We will still put a man on the artificial moon we’re building by 2025.”

If you want to develop new energy, we guess, you have to go where the money is.

But then, since our first posting of February 26, 2007, when we learned that MIT will create a Masdar Institute of Technology (also MIT?) in Abu Dhabi, we kept an eye on the information coming out from the Emirate and we published five postings on the Zayed’s Future Energy interest, and the “Green City” concepts we learned further during the COP14 of the Climate Change meetings – the one that was held in Posnan, at the end of 2008. (those postings can be found easily by going “MASDAR” on our search function of www.SustainabiliTank.info

This posting is about the January 19-21, 2010 meeting to be held in Abu Dhabi. Considering the recent bail-out of Burj Babel in Dubai, the newly minted Burj Khalifa, we indeed look at the funding of the energy of the future, by the Abu Dhabi Emirate, as a much better outlet for their financial strength.
 http://campaign.constantcontact.com/rend…

the announcement says: The World Alliance for Decentralized Energy cordially invites you to attend the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) 2010 in Abu Dhabi, the world’s foremost gathering for Top Government Officials, Heads of Global Organizations, Leading Investors, Industry leaders, Researchers and Academic Communities.

The Advertisement further says - ATTEND WFES, BE PART OF THE SOLUTION – and associate with global thought leaders at a world class summit.

Over 100 speakers and 3000 delegates including Royalties, Heads of States, Ministers and top international CEOs, Investors, Researchers and Specialists will join forces at this year’s summit to take positive action and create blueprints for future energy
commercialization.

To view the summit program and speakers list, please visit www.WorldfutureEnergySummit.com

Engage with 600 exhibitors from over 50 countries

The world’s leading technology and solution providers will showcase their latest technologies at the World Future Energy and Environment Exhibition. Get updated, compare technologies and conclude deals in a vibrant innovative environment.

The exhibition covers the following sectors:

Solar and Wind Energy   —-   Carbon Management and Storage   —-  Bioenergy   —-   Waste Management
Geothermal Energy   —-   Water Treatment  —-   Energy Efficiency.
To view the complete exhibitors list, please visit
 www.WorldfutureEnergySummit.com

We have no doubt that this will be a worthwhile conference and we hope to pick up further information to post.

All our best wishes to Abu Dhabi and partners. We are sure it will not be a fossil fuels event! I will post this also under our “Green is Possible” cathegory with the idea that oil-money, if invested right, could become a real asset to those that have it.

We spent half a day in Copenhagen with the Philips of Denmark company and saw their terrific inroads in European bulb exchange industry that is now practically eliminating incandescent lamp bulbs and even the conventional fluorescent. They gave me as a present one of their bulbs – a 7 Watt  50-60Hz bulb that provides in Europe at 230-240V light  like our 100W bulb – an 80% saving on energy input. The bulb works also in the US at 110V but obviously provides much less light. Anyway, the super in our building was all in owe when he saw the bulb that provides warm shade light and does not look like the contraptions sold now in the US that are being rejected by people because of the light color and contorted shape.

I also took a tour of an environmentally active neighborhood of Copenhagen and their climate conscious community businesses are actively promoting the exchange of bulbs to the Philips LEDs. No wonder that Philips was a main backer of the City of Copenhagen “Hopenhagen” festivities and the meeting of the world Mayors.

I intended to write all that up in length, but did not get yet to do it, when this morning I found in my e-mail the following that was picked up by my friend from the days we fought the global forces of oil – at the UN – to bring to attention that the world needs a future not based on oil – Dr. Harris Schoenberg. We see even the Phillips MASTER GLOW LEDbulb MV is not the latest and best. There is already in the works some new organic paint that will be LED activated and no bulb whatsoever! Just let lose the scientific sense of good people that want also to make a buck, and we will get the convenient answers we need – just put in cages those that tend to keep us chained to the old and scream murder when we want progress.

————

THE UPDATE: Our posting about LOMOX has become one of our most-read postings of 2010 and we have even been asked by entrepreneurs to establish for them the contact with the LOMOX Corporation. As we are not in this sort of business, we will nevertheless attach to this post one such show of interest in the hope that it does reach LOMOX anyway.

Also, we were made aware that there may be two methods of applying this ingenious wall cover – there is a method using the material as wall paper that contains the active ingredients, and that several floors in the new “Burj Babel” – that is the Burj Dubai / Burj Khalifa of Dubai tower – are rumored to be covered with this new material, and there is this newer futuristic paint.

———

From The Times of London
December 30, 2009

Glowing walls could kill off the light bulb: Organic LEDs could kill off the light bulb, first created by Thomas Edison.

Ben Webster, Environment Editor

Light-emitting wallpaper may begin to replace light bulbs from 2012, according to a government body that supports low-carbon technology.

A chemical coating on the walls will illuminate all parts of the room with an even glow, which mimics sunlight and avoids the shadows and glare of conventional bulbs.

Although an electrical current will be used to stimulate the chemicals to produce light, the voltage will be very low and the walls will be safe to touch. Dimmer switches will control brightness, as with traditional lighting.

The Carbon Trust has awarded a £454,000 grant to Lomox, a Welsh company that is developing the organic light-emitting diode technology. The trust said it would be two and a half times more efficient than energy saving bulbs and could make a big contribution to meeting Britain’s target of cutting carbon emissions by 34 per cent by 2020. Indoor lighting accounts for a sixth of total electricity use.

The chemical coating, which can be applied in the form of specially treated wallpaper or simply painted straight on to walls, can also be used for flat-screen televisions, computers and mobile phone displays.
As the system uses only between three and five volts, it can be powered by solar panels or batteries. Lomox, which will use the grant to prove the durability of the technology, believes it could be used in the first instance to illuminate road signs or barriers where there is no mains electricity.

Ken Lacey, the chief executive of Lomox, said that the first products would go on sale in 2012. “The light is a very natural, sunlight-type of lighting with the full colour range. It gives you all kinds of potential for how you do lighting,” he said.

Although organic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been available for several years, Mr Lacey said that concerns over cost and durability had prevented further development. He said that Lomox had developed a much cheaper process and discovered a combination of chemicals that were not vulnerable to the oxidation that shortened the operating life span of other types of organic LEDs.

Mr Lacey said the technology could be used to make flexible screens that could be rolled up after use, or carried into a presentation, for example.

Mark Williamson, director of innovations at the Carbon Trust, said: “Lighting is a major producer of carbon emissions. This technology has the potential to produce ultra-efficient lighting for a wide range of applications, tapping into a huge global market.

“It’s a great example of the innovation that makes the UK a hotbed of clean technology development.”

———————

The Attachment to Lomox and others:

Dated: 6th January 2010

Sub : LED PAINT
Dear Mr. Jawetz,
I found the article on LED PAINT development by LOMOX, Wales very interesting. I am ex Philips and have some knowledge of the lighting market. Since leaving Philips I founded Mishanti Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd. We have implemented over the years a number of cutting edge technology projects that have been successful.

We have been recently approached by a well known Middle East investor willing to fund viable projects. Substantial funding is possible.
We were thinking of a Solar Energy Project along with LED. The article on LOMOX shows the advantages of LED paint over the conventional LED.
We would be interested to discuss with LOMOX possibility of tie-up in respect of further funding and promotion. As we all know, it requires great deal of investment to take a product from Lab to market.
I shall be grateful for your help in starting a dialogue with LOMOX, Wales.
Best Regards & Happy New Year

N. Roy

Director
Mishanti Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd.

8, Camac Street, 5th Floor, Room no. 11
Kolkata – 700 017
India
Phone : 91 33 2282 2299 / 2282 6905
Mobile : 9831289873
Mail :  mishanti at cal.vsnl.net.in

from Arabian Business, December 16, 2009

Dubai set to debut new 200mph supercar.

by Andy Sambidge on Tuesday, 15 December 2009

FAST CAR: The Motion supercar which is to be unveiled at the Dubai International Motor Show.

A new supercar, capable of a top speed of more than 200mph, will be launched by its US maker at the Dubai International Motor Show, which starts on Wednesday.

Kepler Motors, founded by world speed record holder Russ Wicks, will unveil its Motion supercar at the show, the company said in a statement.

Only 50 Motions will be produced with ownership going to a small, exclusive group of individuals, some of which may come from the Middle East region.
Each vehicle will be hand assembled and deliveries are set to start in 2011.

The Motion will be able to reach 60mph in under 2.5 seconds with a top speed over 200 mph, the statement added.

“We’re delighted to host the worldwide debut of the Kepler Motors Motion at the Dubai International Motor Show,” said Wicks.

“The region has a passion for ultra high performance, limited edition supercars, and presents the ideal platform to showcase the advanced technology and innovative features of the Motion.”

The Motion features extensive use of carbon fibre composite materials for its chassis and body in a bid to keep weight to a minimum.

Obama will find Copenhagen consensus ‘difficult’

by Andrew White on Sunday, 06 December 2009on ArabianBusiness.com

US LEADER: Barack Obama will be joined by 100 other world leaders in Copenhagen. (Getty Images)

The President of Iceland has warned that US President Barack Obama will find it “very difficult” to achieve a consensus at the forthcoming international climate conference in Copenhagen.

At the summit, which opens on December 7, Obama will be joined by more than 100 other world leaders as well as delegations from countries including Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

On Saturday it was announced that the US leader would arrive in Copenhagen on December 18, considered a crucial period when more leaders will be in attendance, and so hopefully improving the chances of a political agreement at the event.

However, according to Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, the conference comes too early in the Obama presidency for any meaningful accord to be struck.

“President Obama is unfortunate in the fact that the conference takes place within his first year in office,” Grimsson told Arabian Business in an interview in Abu Dhabi.

“I know from over 30 years of my own cooperation with American leaders that it takes a long time to change active policy within the US administration,” he continued. “Unfortunately for all of us, [Obama] has had his hands full with the economic crisis, Iraq, Afghanistan and the battle over healthcare.

“I think he will need more time to really gather the different forces in America together with respect to a new clean energy policy, and to reverse the prevailing policies of the Bush administration,” Grimsson added.

Grimsson was in the UAE capital as a member of the judging panel for the Zayed Future Energy Prize 2010, awarded each year to individuals, companies or organisations that have demonstrated innovation and leadership in their contributions to the future of energy.

The left wing leader has been president of Iceland since 1996, having been reelected for a fourth term in 2008. He has long been a fierce proponent of green energy technology, and Iceland today generates 100 percent of its power from renewable energy sources.

“During my youth, Iceland was over 80 percent dependent on fossil fuels, imported oil and coal,” said Grimsson. “But over the last 40 years we have transformed our energy economy so that all of our electricity is from clean energy resources. We have demonstrated the benefits of establishing a clean energy economy for ordinary citizens, individuals and businesses.”

The title may look strange, and indeed nobody put the three meetings I attended Friday, November 20, 2009, in direct contact with each other – but then my imagination was busy telling me – what if those people would indeed sit in the same room and plan together for a better functioning world?

First – the Solar Tower Technology:

An experimental smaller tower I saw years ago in Israel, but in the 1980s a German firm built a 50 kw prototype tower in Spain and operated it for 8 years collecting data. That tower was 650 feet tall and 33 feet wide, and the collector was about 1000 feet wide. The technology combines wind and solar technologies to produce electricity without emissions, without using up water, and at a price competitive with fossil fuels. The Solar Tower uses solar insolation and radiation to heat air beneath a large translucent collector (greenhouse) that creates a constant flow of air to drive electricity-generating turbines. The turbines are located at the base of the tower in a shape like an orange cut in a half. There is an updraft of air in the tower. There is also a capability to store heat so the system works also at night and electricity is delivered 24/7.
For more information look please at - www.enviromission.com.au

A 200MV Tower is planned for the Mohave desert in Arizona. The tower will reach 2400 feet height and the inside temperature will be 180 degrees. The location was picked so that it will supply electricity to a market in California.

The information was presented by Mr. Christopher Davey, President, EnviroMission (USA), Inc. and hosted by Mark Townsend Cox, Managing Partner of New Energy Fund www.newenergyfundlp.com with further backing from Raymond James & Associates, Inc., members of the New York Stock Exchange.

Second – the financial meeting was billed as The Middle East Leaders Forum 2009 and was hosted by DLA Piper a law firm with pan-Gulf presence www.dlapiper.com  I www.MiddleEastLeadersForum.com was organized with the help of Edgar Perez, CEO of Golden Networking who chaired the event. www.goldennetworking.com DLA has 3,500 lawyers in 29 countries throughout Europe, the Middle East, Egypt, the US, South Asia, and Asia in general.

The panels dealt with -
Evolution of Capital Markets in the Middle East;
Alternative Approaches for Private Equity Investing in the Gulf;
Tapping into the World’s Richest Sovereign Wealth Funds;
Retaining Talent and Focusing Teams in the Middle East.

The speakers ranged from the Thompson Reuters Head of Islamic Finance to various International Investment Groups – management and strategy heads. What I came away with is the clear understanding that there is a lot of private money out there – even if much of it is held by individuals in the name of Sovereign entities. This money will not want to buy US treasuries. Places like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar – the smaller members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – have turned into Financial Centers and one of the speakers called the GCC the biggest bank in the world. Sure, there was a lot of talk of outside investments potential in the GCC States, also about income from oil, but now the ruling families are rather interested in being seen as investors and manager of finances then oil producers. So, here is my angle – why not invest in the technologies of the future – like the Solar Tower I mentioned above? There is also the angle of Islamic Finances that do not have as a target gains from interest – so why not turn this into investments instead?

There is a lot of sun in the desert, but no water – so these towers could do a lot of good for the development of the GCC region itself. They could also invest in the production of electricity in Sahara and sell it in Europe. Cables will be the new energy pipelines. They could start by participating already in the first development of the technology in Arizona. This could also improve the image of states that seem to be pushing only for sales of oil – something they can start being less dependent on because of their new standing as financial centers. The technology could also be related to desalination projects …

Third – the Friendship Ambassadors Foundation that since 1973 facilitates cultural exchange programs that promote mutual understanding and peace. The foundation brings volunteers and NGOs for meaningful exchanges that also focus on sustainable development. These are the people that could through example facilitate thinking that there is a common good in helping bring about change when change is needed – and today doing something about decreasing a potential runaway of climate change is the order of the day. Patrick Sciarratta, is the Executive Director of the Ambassadors – they could try to promote a common ground between those that have the money they could use to work out needed answers to the stalled Copenhagen process, and the technology people that have the know-how. www.FAF.org

One not so trivia I learned about the Friendship Ambassadors last evening was the fact that among the many young people they brought from the Developing world to the United States were Kofi Annan and Shashi Tharoor, when they were still young students – they later became among the most successful, low key, public servants in UN history. Kofi Annan as perhaps the only other Secretary General, besides Dag Hammarskjold, that left a positive imprint on the organization, and Shashi Tharoor, author of many books of thought, the highest intellectual Under-Secretary General in charge of Communications, who tried to be Annan’s successor, but was seemingly too much for the G.W. Bush Administration for that job. I mention this here as it seems that this youth-Ambassador NGO, that was funded originally from the Readers Digest fortune, has indeed had the penchant of picking right people – specially among the young – to promote global understanding for right causes.

My conclusions for the day – there is hope if the right people will provide the links between the different elements that are in place already, rather then allow these elements to fester in their solitude and pursue a detrimental future unconnected.