Daily Caller
President Of Country Hosting UN Climate Summit Defends Fossil Fuels, Slams Media And Green ‘Hypocrisy’
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Nick Pope
To accuse us that we have oil is the same like to accuse us that we have more than 250 sunny days a year in Baku.
The president of Azerbaijan, host country of this year’s U.N. climate change conference, defended fossil fuels while slamming the media and climate “hypocrisy” in a Tuesday speech at the event.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev described fossil fuels as a “gift of God,” slammed the “Western fake news” media for criticizing his country’s emissions and stated that countries like his “should not be blamed” for developing their reserves of natural resources and bringing them to the market. The U.N. conference — also known as COP29 — has attracted tens of thousands of attendees to the Azerbaijani capital Baku to discuss initiatives like so-called “climate finance” for developing countries, standards for carbon credit markets and emissions reduction commitments.
UN Climate Conference Carbon Footprint Doubles Previous Summit https://t.co/g0ub4P0lQD
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) November 12, 2021
Aliyev rattled off statistics about Azerbaijan’s relatively small contributions to global oil and gas production before criticizing the media, politicians and nonprofits for maligning his country for capitalizing on its natural resources.
“I have to bring these figures to the attention of our audience, because right after Azerbaijan was elected as the host country of COP29, we became a target of a coordinated, well-orchestrated campaign of slander and blackmail,” said Aliyev. “Western fake news media and so-called independent NGOs, as if (they) were competing in spreading disinformation and false information about our country. To accuse us that we have oil is the same like to accuse us that we have more than 250 sunny days a year in Baku.”
Aliyev emphasized his view that there are many criteria by which to judge a country, but a nation’s resources and their sale are not one of them.
“I said it several months ago, and now all those who want, I mean international media, to attack me, just quote me that I said that this is a gift of God. And I want to repeat it today here at this audience, it’s a gift of God,” Aliyev said. “Every natural resource, whether it’s oil, gas, wind, sun, gold, silver, copper, all that are natural resources and countries should not be blamed for having them and should not be blamed for bringing these resources to the market because the market needs them.”
Aliyev attacked those who have criticized his country as a petro-state, though Azerbaijan’s economy is “anchored” by oil and gas, which accounted for nearly half of the nation’s GDP and 92.5% of export revenue in 2022, according to the U.S. International Trade Administration.
“Unfortunately, double standards, a habit to lecture other countries and political hypocrisy became a kind of modus operandi for some politicians, state-controlled NGOs and fake news media in some Western countries,” said Aliyev.
COP29 kicked off on Monday, and the Taliban even managed to send a delegation to the conference. The Biden administration, meanwhile, is still looking to be productive at the summit despite the looming return of President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to roll back climate initiatives and spending as well as withdraw from the U.N.’s Paris Climate Accords, according to The New York Times.
Daily Caller
Pastor Lectures Trump and Vance On Trans People, Illegal Immigrants
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Nicole Silverio
President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance visibly rolled their eyes as the Episcopal bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde, lectured them on being kind to transgender people and immigrants at Tuesday’s National Prayer Service.
Budde requested that the newly sworn-in president and vice president “have mercy” on gay, lesbian and transgender people as well as illegal immigrants who are allegedly “scared” by the new administration. The new leaders did not appear amused by her lecture, with Vance repeatedly shooting looks to his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance.
“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy on the people in our country who are scared now,” Budde said. “There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives. And the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, who work the night shifts in hospitals. They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors, they are faithful members of churches and our mosques, synagogues and temples.”
WATCH:
Trump and Vance attended the National Prayer Service along with Usha, First Lady Melania Trump and their families at the Washington National Cathedral. The interfaith service was held to “offer prayers of thanksgiving for our democracy” at the beginning of the new administration, according to a statement from the National Cathedral.
Budde, a staunch critic of Trump since his first term, said during a phone call in 2020 that she was “outraged” by the president’s speech about the importance of law and order at St. John’s Episcopal Church after it was set ablaze by Black Lives Matter protesters. She further seethed at Trump for allegedly being given no notice that the area surrounding the church would be cleared with tear gas.
Trump signed a slew of executive orders Monday evening to terminate birthright citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants, declare a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and to direct the federal government to only recognize two sexes, male and female.
An Axios/Ipsos poll from Sunday found that 66% of Americans support deporting immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally, an action that Trump had promised to enact throughout his campaign. The poll surveyed 1,025 adults between January 10 to 12 with a 3.2% margin of error.
A national poll by PPRI in June 2023 found that 65% of Americans believe there are only two genders. The poll surveyed 5,000 adults between March 9-23 with a 1.5% margin of error.
Daily Caller
Trump Takes Firm Stand, Exits Paris Agreement Again
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Mariane Angela
President Donald Trump issued an executive order Monday to remove the United States from the Paris Agreement.
The United States joins Iran, Libya, and Yemen as countries not part of the Paris Agreement, which seeks to limit global warming, the New York Times reported. Trump had previously pulled out of the agreement during his first term, only to see his successor, former president Joe Biden, re-enter it in 2021 after taking office.
This decision aims to increase fossil fuel production and reduce investment in clean energy technologies like electric vehicles and wind turbines, the outlet stated. Additionally, Trump notified the United Nations, which manages the Paris Agreement, of the U.S.’s withdrawal with a signed letter, setting the official exit to occur one year after its submission.
Trump has said in the past that the U.S. involvement in the Paris agreement harms America’s economic competitiveness and would not make a significant impact on the climate. He also said previously that the agreement was poorly negotiated and did not put American workers first.
The Biden administration implemented new emissions goals as part of its efforts to solidify its climate strategy. The Trump administration plans to deregulate the energy sector and roll back funding from Biden’s key climate initiatives. Since Nov. 5, members of Biden administration have distributed $1.6 billion in “environmental justice” grants, secured significant loans for green energy firms, empowered California regulators to influence the national auto market, and published a detailed analysis on the effects of liquefied natural gas exports, potentially hindering Trump’s efforts to expand them.
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