Russia the latest country to throw spanner in the works of AGW

The dream of a global agreement in Copenhagen in 2009 is disappearing faster than a cloud of CO2 in a (global-warming-induced) hurricane. China and India unlikely to play ball, the EU is in disarray about its emissions policies, and now Russia is displaying encouraging scepticism of the whole AGW alarmist agenda by putting emissions reductions on the back burner.

"The Russians are now showing a dangerous indifference to the whole issue of climate change because they have this perception they might actually benefit from climate change," says former British government adviser on environment policy Nick Mabey, who heads E3G, a London-based environmental lobby group and think tank.
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"Unfortunately, it is a common view within the Russian Government that the whole issue of climate change is important but not urgent," says Alexey Kokorin, the Moscow-based climate change analyst for international conservation group WWF.

"Instead of seeing threats and dangers, the most important government people here think an open Arctic Ocean will actually be a good thing."

The Australian then adds its own bit of scaremongering for good measure:

The North Pole may soon be covered in blue waves in summer for the first time in human history. The entire Arctic Ocean has not been free of ice in summer for more than a million years, but analysts believe this could happen again sometime between 2013 and 2040.

Actually, it is likely that the North Pole was ice-free six or seven thousand years ago, without any help from evil capitalist emissions, and sea ice is recovering 30% faster than this time last year. But, as usual, why let the facts get in the way of a good story?

Read it here.