Al Jazeera Discovers UN Delegates Disagree on Climate, Not on Military Budgets
The Al Jazeera piece, much like countless others before it, highlights the perennial COP problem: everyone agrees there's a problem, but no one agrees on who should pay. This annual ritual conveniently sidesteps the consistent spending on things like, say, military aid. For instance, in 2023 alone, the US approved over $17 billion in aid to just one country, Israel, while UN climate funds remain
perpetually underfunded. The 'cost' of climate change is always too high, yet the cost of instruments of war is apparently a rounding error. One might wonder if these 'disagreements' are less about genuine economic hardship and more about carefully constructed priorities. Perhaps a delegate taking half a million from a fossil fuel lobby group might struggle to find common ground on ending oil
subsidies. But don't worry, the conversation will be civil, and absolutely nothing will change, just like every COP before it. How many more 'summits' do we need to watch before we realize the planet isn't waiting for a unanimous vote?