The Death of Akmal Shaikh
Akmal Shaikh was a man, who was caught smuggling drugs into China and has now been executed by the Chinese authorities.
But what makes Shaikh’s case even worse, is that he appears to have been a man with all sorts of mental problems, who was exploited by criminals. As the BBC report says.
Mr Shaikh’s family said he suffered from bipolar disorder.
They said he had been delusional and duped into a carrying a suitcase that did not belong to him when he was found with 4kg of heroin in Urumqi, north-west China, in September 2007.
His daughter Leilla Horsnell has said he was approached by drug smugglers in Poland and they convinced him they would make him a popstar in China.
Whether this is true or not actually makes no difference in my mind, as I am totally against the death penalty, as I feel that it is something that should be consigned to our more violent past. We just have to be a lot more civilised.
At least in Shaikh’s case the Chinese authorities haven’t harvested his organs for transplant, as is their normal practice.
Global Warming Denial
The junket at Copenhagen is about to start and we’ll get all of those global warming denial stories. Usually, they are from selfish, overweight people, who are addicted to 4x4s, private jets and all other wasteful indulgences.
But before you embrace what they say, read Johann Hari in the Independent. He analyses all of the evidence and comes to the conclusion that global warming is man-made.
These are the last two paragraphs, which if you can’t bother to read the rest, you should read.
So let’s – for the sake of argument – make an extraordinary and unjustified concession to the deniers. Let’s imagine there was only a 50 per cent chance that virtually all the world’s climate scientists are wrong. Would that be a risk worth taking? Are you prepared to take a 50-50 gamble on the habitability of the planet? Is the prospect of getting our energy from the wind and the waves and the sun so terrible that’s not worth it on even these wildly optimistic odds?
Imagine you are about to get on a plane with your family. A huge group of qualified airline mechanics approach you on the tarmac and explain they’ve studied the engine for many years and they’re sure it will crash if you get on board. They show you their previous predictions of plane crashes, which have overwhelmingly been proven right. Then a group of vets, journalists, and plumbers tell they have looked at the diagrams and it’s perfectly obvious to them the plane is safe and that airplane mechanics – all of them, everywhere – are scamming you. Would you get on the plane? That is our choice at Copenhagen.
Now, I’ll add another thought.
Look at the major countries that are lukewarm on climate change; the United States, China and Saudi Arabia. All have a lot to lose if climate change is accepted. America would have to change its lifestyle much more than any other country, China would have to generate its energy in different ways and poor old Saudi would lose all those oil sales. None of these countries have large areas of low-lying land.
On the other hand, a lot of those countries who believe that action should be done on global warning have a lot of land that will soon disappear. They should know!
So just as the fat bloke in his 4×4 is a denier, so are the United States, China and Saudi Arabia. It is just plain selfishness.
The Anonymous Widower 