The Biden climate plan has important reforms, but can't reach the stated targets with market mechanisms and carbon capture high tech. Patrick Bond gives a sweeping look at the climate crisis on theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay.

Transcript

Paul Jay

Hi, I'm Paul Jay. Welcome to theAnalysis.news, and please don't forget there's a donate button at the top of the website.

The Guardian headline said, "Dizzying pace of Biden's climate action sounds death knell for era of denialism." the Sunrise movement statement said they, quote "celebrated major climate victories as President Joe Biden announced monumental climate executive actions to begin a society-wide mobilization to stop climate change, create millions of good jobs, and roll back centuries of systemic racism." The statement continued, "Sunrise was not only instrumental in electing President Biden but ensured he ran on the most progressive climate platform in history, now in a victory for the movement President Biden is beginning to follow through on his promises, symbolizing a turning point in this country's climate, politics and our nation's history."

With a more skeptical take, the Indigenous Environmental Network says, quote, "We stand by our principles that such justice on these stolen lands cannot be achieved through market-based solutions, unproven technologies, and approaches that do not cut emissions at source. Climate justice is going beyond the status quo and truly confronting systemic inequalities and colonialism within our society."

Food and Water Watch says, "Biden's orders fall well short of what's needed and must be paired with serious plans to stop our deadly addiction to fossil fuels. We need a White House that is committed to stopping all drilling and fracking, and shutting down any schemes to export fossil fuels" end quote.

The plan Biden announced is certainly a radical departure from four years of climate denial. But does it go far enough and fast enough to be effective in preventing warming from reaching 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures?

It's encouraging that John Kerry, the new climate czar, said that 1.5 degrees was the goal and not the two degrees that is usually  talked about. But will this plan actually get us there?

Now joining us to assess the Biden plan is Patrick Bond. Patrick is a political economist, a professor at the University of Western Cape School of Government in Cape Town, South Africa. He was born in Northern Ireland and pursued his doctorial studies in geography at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. His best-known work is Elite Transition: From Apartheid to Neoliberalism in South Africa. He also co-authored Politics of Climate Justice based on South Africa's hosting of the 2011 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Summit. Thanks very much for joining me, Patrick.

Patrick Bond

It's great to be back with you Paul.

Paul Jay

So start with the positives. Certainly the biggest positive is at least now there's a conversation that there is such a thing as a climate crisis, and that ain't nothing compared to the last four years. But still, the real question is, is this a plan that's going to get to where we need to be? Is it going to be effective or not? So, first of all, start with what you think is positive, if you think there are some positives in the Biden-Kerry announcements, and then let's get into what might be the weaknesses.

Patrick Bond

Yeah, three very important positives Paul. I don't think anyone would deny that this is massive progress from the Trump era,

The Biden climate plan has important reforms, but can't reach the stated targets with market mechanisms and carbon capture high tech. Patrick Bond gives a sweeping look at the climate crisis on theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay.

(This video is based on the article released earlier.) Did Donald Trump attempt a military coup against the incoming Biden administration? Did Mitch McConnell, as majority leader of the Senate and the person who is ultimately responsible for the Capitol Hill Police, deliberately allow the protestors into the Capitol Buildings? Why is mainstream media so quiet about what's so obvious?

(This video is based on the article released earlier.) Did Donald Trump attempt a military coup against the incoming Biden administration? Did Mitch McConnell, as majority leader of the Senate and the person who is ultimately responsible for the Capitol Hill Police, deliberately allow the protestors into the Capitol Buildings? Why is mainstream media so quiet about what's so obvious?

(This video is based on the article released earlier.) Did Donald Trump attempt a military coup against the incoming Biden administration? Did Mitch McConnell, as majority leader of the Senate and the person who is ultimately responsible for the Capitol Hill Police, deliberately allow the protestors into the Capitol Buildings? Why is mainstream media so quiet about what's so obvious?

As Israel gears up for its fourth general election in two years, it has become increasingly clear that Israeli politics is in the process of disintegration. It's largely due to an ever more fragmented party system based on identity politics, says Shir Hever, author of the book, The Privatization of Israeli Security.

Transcript

Greg Wilpert

Welcome to theAnalysis.news podcast. I'm your guest host, Greg Wilpert.

Israel is currently gearing up for its fourth general election in two years. Last December, the fragile governing coalition between Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party and Benny Gantz's Blue and White party collapsed after only seven months in office, and new elections were called for March 23rd of this year. The perhaps overriding issue this time around is, of course, the coronavirus pandemic. To discuss the current political situation in Israel, I'm joined by Shir Hever from Heidelberg, Germany.

Shir is the author of the book The Privatization of Israeli Security, which was published by Pluto Press in 2017. Also, he is on the board of the German organization Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East.

Thanks for being here again, Shir.

Shir Hever

Thanks for having me. Greg.

Greg Wilpert

So Israel's not only making headlines at the moment for the upcoming and unprecedented fourth general election in just two years, but also for holding two contradictory records related to the pandemic.

I mean, first, it is going through one of the worst spikes in new COVID cases, and second, it is also the country that has vaccinated a larger proportion of its population than any other country so far, with 21 percent of over 16 year-olds having already received two COVID vaccination shots.

So Shir, talk to us about what's going on here in this regard, and why such a high vaccination rate and why the spike in new cases?

Shir Hever

Well, first of all, just to be a little bit more accurate, Israel is not really number one in the world in terms of vaccination per capita, because it's only number one if you count only Israeli citizens. But if you count the entire population under Israeli control, which is subject to the Israeli laws and under the responsibility of the Israeli Ministry of Health, then in fact, Israel is number two in the world and number one would be the United Arab Emirates.

And this is very important because the reason that Israel's vaccination has been so fast, has a lot to do with the occupation of Palestinians, and with the colonial mentality and society of the Israeli society.

And what Netanyahu understood is that he has to convince the Israelis to get vaccinated faster than any other country, in order to be able to show that there is a reduction in the amount of cases and the amount of deaths prior to the election, so that he can claim victory over the corona pandemic.

In order to do so, he played a trick on the Israeli public, because if you look at other countries, especially the European Union, also in the United States, there are two limiting factors when it comes to vaccinations. One limiting factor is how many vaccines are available, and their quality. And the other limiting factor is whether people trust the vaccine and are willing to get vaccinated.

So my personal opinion, I'm not a doctor, but my personal opinion is that people should get vaccinated of course. I just wanted to say this, so it's clear that I'm not condoning anti-vaxxers. But what we see in Israel is a kind of manipulation of the public,

As Israel gears up for its fourth general election in two years, it has become increasingly clear that Israeli politics is in the process of disintegration. It's largely due to an ever more fragmented party system based on identity politics, says Shir Hever, author of the book, The Privatization of Israeli Security.

As Israel gears up for its fourth general election in two years, it has become increasingly clear that Israeli politics is in the process of disintegration. It's largely due to an ever more fragmented party system based on identity politics, says Shir Hever, author of the book, The Privatization of Israeli Security.

Reagan was the master of racist "dog whistles", plausible deniability that allowed Reagan to protect himself. It has allowed the Republican Party for the last four decades to deny who Ronald Reagan was and turn him into a hero. Matt Tyrnauer, director of "The Reagans" on Showtime, joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news

Transcript

Paul Jay

Hi, welcome to theAnalysis News podcast. I'm Paul Jay. Please don't forget there's a donate button at the top of the webpage.

 

There's a segment in the Showtime series, The Reagans, about dog-whistling – Reagan's pandering to racism without using overtly racist words. Again, it's impossible not to see the model for Trump in all this.

Excerpt from The Reagans

"Let us pledge to each other with this great lady looking on that we can and so help us God, we will make America great again."

 

Reagan's reputation as a dog whistler has not had a sufficiently negative impact on his legacy. Dog-whistling is all about plausible deniability that allowed Reagan to protect himself, and that has allowed the Republican Party for the last four decades to deny that that's who Ronald Reagan was and turn him into a hero. To insist that he really did care about the average American working family. But when people stand back, they see that, in fact, Reagan was a divisive figure, someone willing to do what he knew was wrong to divide Americans as a way to win power. Reagan's genius as a politician was that he wrapped his racism in a facade of fatherly love.

Paul Jay

Now joining us is the director and writer of The Reagans Matt Tyrnauer, who's also the filmmaker of Valentino: The Last Emperor, which was shortlisted for an Academy Award for best documentary feature, and Where's my Roy Cohn another must-see if you want to understand the political forces that gave us Trump. Thanks for joining us, Matt.

Matt Tyrnauer

Thank you.

Paul Jay

So talk about the evolution of Reagan. We talked about from FDR-ish, liberal-ish head of a union, to a pro-Goldwater politician who then becomes Goldwater-ish politician himself, but also this arc to adopting as a tactic, this dog-whistle racism. So how does that develop and tell us the story?

Matt Tyrnauer

Well, Reagan was on-trend because after the Second World War leading into the Johnson and civil rights era, the use of overt racist language really was not going to be permissible in the public arena. So clever politicians figured out that you could use coded language and have the same effect. And this eventually became labeled as dog-whistle racism. So Goldwater, I think, practiced it. But I think Reagan really elevated it to an art form and was the master of the form.

Excerpt from The Reagans

The question of whether my father was racist is a troubling one for me. There was a concerted effort to undermine the civil rights movement. A new language developed to trigger unacceptable social hatreds.

 

"Our city streets are jungle paths."

 

Reagan can turn around and say, me, I didn't say anything about race.

Matt Tyrnauer

A lot of this he wrote himself, he was very good at coming up with little bumper sticker phrases that stuck in your mind. So some of his classics were "welfare queen" which he based on a real character named Linda Taylor, there was recently a book,

Reagan was the master of racist "dog whistles", plausible deniability that allowed Reagan to protect himself. It has allowed the Republican Party for the last four decades to deny who Ronald Reagan was and turn him into a hero. Matt Tyrnauer, director of "The Reagans" on Showtime, joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news