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The Nation-State vs. The Climate
For the past year, many commentators have assumed that once the COVID-19 pandemic fades away, the world’s governments will understand that another global task awaits them: addressing the consequences of climate change. COVID-19 has already upset those calculations, at least in terms of timing. Even when things appeared to be improving during the summer of 2020, none of the governments, even the ones that seemed most successful in controlling the pandemic, showed an interest in thinking about future challenges. Instead, they focused on how the consumer economy might get back to its “normal” pattern of continuous growth and how the accumulated debt provoked by the crisis could be accounted for.
Initially, the realization that our societies can continue to function in non-optimal conditions, even after the shutdown of a significant proportion of economic activity, led to speculation about how we may no longer really need to spend hours in traffic jams, submit to choking air pollution and jump from one plane to another to get our pressing business done. A change of lifestyle seemed in the works. The idea emerged that we could to some degree adapt to something less frenetic than what had become the high-tension consumer society obsessively committed to exponential growth.
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The confusion wrought by an accelerating — and a more devious than anticipated — pandemic, now accompanied by the increasingly ambiguous hope that the arrival of vaccines will bring closure, has left all those hopes of lifestyle change in a state of suspended animation.
While no one can now predict what the economy will look like at the end of 2021 and whether the businesses forced to press the pause button for the better part of a year will function, most people are aware that the clock is still ticking on the climate crisis. The Guardian now informs us that humanity is crying out for an answer: “The biggest ever opinion poll on climate change has found two-thirds of people think it is a “global emergency.”
Today’s Daily Devil’s Dictionary definition:
Global emergency:
1. For human beings, an existential threat.
2. For politicians, a minor annoyance that urgently needs to be sidelined.
Contextual Note
Most people will not be surprised by the results of this survey, for the simple reason that the numbers tell us what most people actually think. In contrast, if we polled the governments of the world to find out how many had begun acting to counter this global emergency, the answer would be zero or close to zero. Until January 20 of this year, the most powerful economy in the world had decided to not even think about the question.
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To demonstrate that at least thinking was now possible, on January 27, newly elected US President Joe Biden reaffirmed his commitment to return to the Paris Climate Agreement and “signed a sweeping series of executive actions — ranging from pausing new federal oil leases to electrifying the government’s vast fleet of vehicles — while casting the moves as much about job creation as the climate crisis.”
For the moment, Biden’s plan is modest, to say the least. He has put more emphasis on purchasing emission-free vehicles (presumably made in the USA) with a view to creating jobs than on the work of transforming an economy built to deplete resources and deregulate the climate. One of his initiatives seeks to “identify new opportunities to spur innovation,” which is also more about economic growth and the creation of jobs than it is about economic paradigm shift.
The Times offers this realistic reminder: “Mr. Biden called on the campaign trail for overhauling tax breaks to oil companies — worth billions of dollars to the oil, coal and gas industries — to help pay for his $2 trillion climate change plan, although that plan is expected to face strong opposition in Congress.” Recent history tells us that Congress is extremely accomplished at engineering bailouts and tax cuts for oil companies, but singularly lacks experience in actually taxing them. In contrast to the predicted inaction of the new administration, The Guardian notes the eagerness and sense of self-sacrifice of the ordinary people polled: “Even when climate action required significant changes in their own country, majorities still backed the measures.”
Historical note
For five hundred years, the world has been organized around two concepts: the nation-state and a globalized economy. The development of a global economy required the existence of nation-states with effective central governments. The emerging nation-states rapidly evolved to become mature managers of their own increasingly industrialized economy. They did so precisely because of their ability to mobilize the resources of a global economy. That implied setting the rules permitting them to exploit, effectively and efficiently, other people and their resources. The model of the nation-state could not have taken its modern form without pursuing a policy of deliberate colonialism tending toward economic empire.
Along the way, modern nation-states, most of which began as monarchies, evolved into either democracies or people’s republics. This essentially meant offering a stake in the gains to the nation’s population to ensure its acceptance of a system that was built on exploiting other populations and resources. If many of the citizens of these democracies did not directly profit from the colonial system that defined the global economy, they at least had indirect access to some of the gains thanks to manufacturing and the gradual development of a consumer society. They could also feel privileged and culturally superior to those who were exploited overseas. This became a major psychological contributor to the stability of modern nation-states.
It has also led to a state of severe, endemic instability for the entire planet. All political power lies in the individual nation-states who compete for their maximum share of global resources. No state is willing to give ground to another or even to a well-organized group of nations. No effective global conscience, let alone global government, is possible. At the same time, the people of the earth, and especially the young whose lives will extend decades into the future, are beginning to understand that something must be done while realizing that their own nation-state is not likely to make it happen.
The United States has consistently preferred to defend the status quo of an economy. After all, it sets the economy’s rules — thanks to the dollar, its omnipresent military and its successful engineering of a global consumer economy. Republicans have built climate denial into their civic credo. Democrats have done what is necessary to appear more open than Republicans. But the party stalwarts, with Biden as the archetype, have shown no commitment to going further than seeming marginally more committed than the Republicans.
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.custom-post-from .error{ display: block; color: #ff6461; order: 3 !important;}This poll demonstrates how the current global system based on the idea of competing democratic nation-states has betrayed the fundamental principle of democracy. When the ideology of democracy began to prevail in the late 18th century, its stated intention was to ensure that the interests of the people would prevail. Because all political logic was confined within the boundaries of individual states, the shared interests of the people of the earth could be forgotten or dismissed as irrelevant.
That is what we are seeing today. Distancing himself from Donald Trump, Joe Biden promises to marginally reduce the massively disproportionate contribution of the US to global warming. To do so, he must emphasize job creation rather than seek a response to a global emergency. This solution implies more manufacturing, not less damage to the environment. With its global hegemonic position, the US is the only nation that can lead and set the tone for the rest of the world. The sad reality is that Biden and the Democrats cannot even lead at home. In all likelihood, the timid measures Biden is proposing will be blocked or watered down by the Republican opposition.
Two-thirds of humanity are crying out for a solution to two obvious crises. The nation-states have demonstrated their ineptness at addressing the pandemic. Populations, even in peaceful countries like the Netherlands, are already revolting. What the nation-states have failed to do for their own populations reveals how unlikely it is that they can respond to the needs of all of humanity. It may be time to rethink all of our institutions. Or rather, it may be too late.
*[In the age of Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain, another American wit, the journalist Ambrose Bierce, produced a series of satirical definitions of commonly used terms, throwing light on their hidden meanings in real discourse. Bierce eventually collected and published them as a book, The Devil’s Dictionary, in 1911. We have shamelessly appropriated his title in the interest of continuing his wholesome pedagogical effort to enlighten generations of readers of the news. Read more of The Daily Devil’s Dictionary on Fair Observer.]
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. More
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White House: 'great concern' over Covid origin 'misinformation' from China
The US wants a “robust and clear” international probe into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic in China, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, has said.Speaking to reporters, she said it was “imperative we get to the bottom” of how the virus appeared and spread. She highlighted “great concern” over “misinformation” from “some sources in China”.The coronavirus has killed more than two million people and infected at least 100m since first being detected about a year ago in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.This month a team of experts from the World Health Organization arrived in Wuhan after repeated delays to investigate the virus’s origins.Scientists agree that the disease has an animal origin and particular focus is on the Wuhan “wet market”, which sells live animals.Beijing has said that although Wuhan is where the first cluster of cases was detected, it is not necessarily where the virus originated. China denies as conspiracy theories the idea that it originated in a lab, something Donald Trump touted while in office.Beijing countered by suggesting a supposed link to a US biological weapons lab in Maryland.Psaki said the new Biden government was devoting significant resources of its own to understanding what happened and would not take the WHO report for granted. Washington will “draw on information collected and analysed by our intelligence community” and also work with allies to evaluate the “credibility” of the international report.In addition the Biden administration intended to boost its staffing in Beijing, something that “fell back in the last administration”. More
Beware! Populism Might be Bad for Your Health
Dresden is one of Germany’s great cities, known worldwide for its meticulously rebuilt historic center, destroyed in one night at the end of World War II. Pre-Christmas shoppers have probably come across a Dresdner Christmas stollen, a bread full of nuts and candied fruit, coated in powdered sugar. Music lovers might have visited the city’s …
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Coronavirus: most Americans must wait months for vaccine, taskforce warns
Americans will have to wait “months” before everyone who wants a Covid-19 vaccine can get one and funding from Congress is “essential”, the White House coronavirus taskforce has warned – in its first public briefing under Joe Biden.The sober assessment came as the taskforce aimed to set a new tone of transparency after last year’s televised briefings became notorious for then president Donald Trump’s political grandstanding, claiming the virus would “go away” and promises of “miracle cures”.Biden, by contrast, was not present on Wednesday. “The White House respects and will follow the science, and the scientists will speak independently,” Andy Slavitt, the White House senior adviser for Covid response, told reporters.“Right now, I want to level with the public that we’re facing two constraining factors. The first is getting supply quickly enough and the second is getting the ability to administer the vaccines quickly once they’re produced and sent out to the sites.”Slavitt added: “We are taking action to increase supply and increase capacity but, even so, it will be months before everyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one.”Biden is under pressure to accelerate vaccinations nationwide after a sluggish start under Trump. So far this week the government had been hitting its target of one million vaccinations a day, the taskforce said. Overall it has delivered 47m doses to states and long-term care facilities and administered about 24m so far.On Tuesday the president announced plans to buy an extra 200m vaccine doses from Moderna and Pfizer. And Slavitt said the taskforce had identified 12 areas where Biden has authorised use of the Defense Production Act – a law that directs private companies to prioritise orders from the federal government – to boost production. But the White House says it cannot resolve the crisis alone.Biden has proposed $1.9tn coronavirus relief bill to Congress that includes funding to administer vaccines, increase testing and help schools and businesses reopen. But numerous Republicans have already raised objections, raising fears of political gridlock stalling the rescue effort.Jeffrey Zients, coordinator of the taskforce, said it is “essential” that Congress pass the act. “In order to get all Americans vaccinated, we need Congress to provide funds for vaccinations. We still do too little testing in this country; we need to ramp up testing significantly. We need Congress to fund more testing in order to reopen schools and businesses.”He added: “Furthermore, believe it or not, we still have shortages of PPE and other critical materials. We need emergency funds in order to make sure that we have those materials. So those are just three of the key areas that need to be funded by Congress in order for us to execute on the president’s national plan.”The pandemic remains Biden’s most urgent priority. The US now has more than 25m cases and 425,406 deaths. Rochelle Walensky, the new head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said her agency’s latest forecast indicates the country will record between 479,000 to 514,000 deaths by 20 February.The taskforce urged people to continue to wear masks, wash hands and physically distance to mitigate spread of the virus as cases remain “extraordinarily high”.Wednesday’s briefing was conducted virtually, rather than in person at the White House, to allow for questions from health journalists, but suffered some technical glitches. When the infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci’s turn came, the screen showed the words “Science Update by Dr Anthony Fauci” with the White House logo but there was a long silence. Six colleagues could be seen in windows on the side of the screen. One held up a sign that said, “We can’t hear you.”Fauci, who has admitted feeling liberated from Trump’s carping and disinformation, said there was cause for concern about the so-called South African variant of the virus, because lab tests have shown that it can diminish the protective power of the vaccines approved to date. But Fauci stressed the level of protection provided was still well within what he called the “cushion” of vaccine effectiveness.One vaccine still in testing is being measured for effectiveness against the South African variant and another strain that has emerged in Brazil, Fauci added. “We will always want to be a step or two ahead of what might be a problem in the future.”The US ranks only 43rd in the world in terms of tracking genetic variants of Covid-19, however, a situation described by Zients as “completely unacceptable”.In another break from Trump, the taskforce briefings will happen regularly, with the next one on Friday. Biden told reporters this week: “We’re bringing back the pros to talk about Covid in an unvarnished way. Any questions you have, that’s how we’ll handle them because we’re letting science speak again.” More
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Biden announces 'wartime' boost in vaccine supply – video
The Biden administration is increasing vaccination efforts with a goal of protecting 300 million Americans by early fall, as the administration surges deliveries to states for the next three weeks following complaints of shortages and inconsistent supplies. ‘This is enough vaccine to vaccinate 300 million Americans by end of summer, early fall,’ Biden said. ‘This is a wartime effort,’ he added, saying more Americans had already died from the coronavirus than during all of the second world war
Biden vows to vaccinate 300m in the US by end of summer or early fall – live
Joe Biden appears to boost vaccination goal to 1.5m Americans per day More - in Elections
Biden vows to vaccinate 300m people in US by end of summer or early fall
Joe Biden vowed on Tuesday to ramp up vaccination programs so that most of the US population is inoculated by the end of summer or early fall.“This will be enough vaccine to fully vaccinate 300m Americans by the end of the summer,” the US president said on Tuesday afternoon, later adding “end of summer, beginning of the fall”, in a briefing at the White House.The new administration will increase vaccine supplies to states, exercise an option to buy a total of 200m more vaccine doses from Pfizer and Moderna and will give states more lead time on the amount of vaccine it will deliver.The administration’s immediate plan is to accelerate vaccine distribution to deliver roughly 1.4m shots a day and 10m doses a week for the next three weeks, as part of the White House’s earlier-stated ambition to vaccinate 100 million people in 100 days.“This will be one of the most difficult operational challenges we’ve ever undertaken,” said Joe Biden on Tuesday, announcing the plans. But, he added, “Help is on the way”.He indicated that the vaccination program he inherited from the Trump administration was not in adequate order.“When we arrived, the vaccine program was in worse shape than we expected or anticipated,” Biden said.He added: “Until now, we’ve had to guess how much vaccine to expect for the next week, and that’s what the [state] governors had to do. This is unacceptable.”The new purchase order is expected to allow the government to vaccinate 300 million people with a two-dose regimen of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, a senior administration official said earlier.The official said there were two “constraining factors”, for delivering vaccines quickly: supply and distribution. The official said the White House was working to increase capacity for both, by purchasing more vaccine, raw supplies and setting up federal vaccination sites.“This is a wartime undertaking, it’s not hyperbole,” said Biden.The official called the rollout a “daunting effort”, and called on Congress to pass a $1.9tn stimulus package which includes more money for state vaccination campaigns.The Biden administration has repeatedly said it aims to vaccinate 100 million people in 100 days, a goal that appeared to be in hand as the US exceeded 1m doses a day in the president’s first week. As of Tuesday, 19 million people had received one vaccine shot, and 3.4 million received a second.On Monday, Biden said he was hopeful the US was on track to deliver nearly 1.5m vaccinations a day, and that the US would be “well on our way” to herd immunity by the spring. Over the weekend, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, described 1m vaccinations a day as, “a floor, not a ceiling”.However, Biden also forecast a more harrowing death toll, and on Monday said the US “could see” 660,000 deaths total before the pandemic is brought under control. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicts up to 508,000 people in the US could have been killed by Covid-19 by 13 February. The death toll so far is 423,000, according to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus research center.The Biden administration is also planning to exercise an option to purchase 200m more vaccine doses, 100m from Pfizer/BioNTech and 100m from Moderna, the two producers with US emergency use authorization so far, through contracts first established by the Trump administration.This would increase the government-purchased vaccine supply to 600m doses, enough to inoculate 300m people. The senior official said the government expects to deliver 10m vaccine doses to states each week for the next three weeks, and will give states at least three weeks’ notice of upcoming shipments. Vaccine allotments are determined by state population.The vice-president, Kamala Harris, and the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, received the second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday afternoon. More
