British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he is comfortable working with Joe Biden on climate change. Johnson recently praised Biden’s promise to double U.S. funding for green energy in developing nations, adding, “It’s fantastic to see the United States really stepping up and showing a lead.”
But is Johnson Biden’s equal or a subordinate? Jen Psaki deemed Johnson guilty of insubordination for taking questions from the British press at a joint White House meeting. But Johnson’s capitulation to Biden’s radical Net Zero ideology harms his standing with fellow Tories whose pleas for leniency on climate controls fall on deaf ears.
Has Johnson forgotten that his own Parliament censured Biden for his “shameful” cowardice that left many Britons in Afghanistan at risk and left Johnson “humiliated”?
In the wake of the Kabul collapse, one UK cabinet member lamented that America is "looking inward and is unwilling to do even a modest amount to maintain global order." While affirming that the U.S. remains by far the UK’s “most important ally,” the cabinet minister sadly recognized that “we are not Washington’s most important ally by some stretch.”
Is he okay with Biden giving China a pass on horrific human rights violations? Biden ally Nancy Pelosi admitted she considers Chinese cooperation on climate change dwarfs any concerns about Chinese human rights atrocities.
Biden climate czar John Kerry similarly shrugged his shoulders, proclaiming, “Life is full of hard choices.” Calling out China for genocide against the Uighurs is a trigger that would stop Chinese climate cooperation cold.
Chinese diplomats in March made it clear to Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the U.S. must not criticize China’s human rights abuses. To Biden, fighting “climate change” is so urgent that governments must abase their own citizens while ignoring the burdens of Uighur slaves and Africans living in darkness.
China is home to 23 of 25 cities that belch over half of the world’s urban CO2 emissions. But that’s okay with Biden, especially now that President Xi Jinping claims China is willing to forego building foreign coal plants.
Are Johnson and the UK also about to abandon their support for human rights in hopes that China will follow up on its pledge to withdraw support for overseas coal plants? Last January Johnson’s government imposed sanctions on China for human rights violations. In March, Johnson stated he was “standing firmly” in support of Britons sanctioned by China for speaking up for abused Uighurs. Less than two weeks ago, both houses of Parliament banned the Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom from their chambers.
America’s founders, building on human rights theory dating to the Magna Carta, affirmed that securing fundamental individual rights is the primary purpose of government. Governments, they believed, must operate with the consent of the governed in ways that protect the ability of citizens to determine their own futures.
In acquiescing to the Marxist view that humanity exists to serve the state, Biden is turning the raison d’etre that had driven Western thought for centuries on its head. Increasingly, Western political actors are willing, even eager, to quash freedom of speech, assembly, religion, and even thought as they forge a tyrannical climate-driven juggernaut.
Johnson’s intransigence has raised the ire of fellow Tory MPs and energy firms, who recognize that high gas prices, up 70 percent in one month, and other Net Zero policies are pushing the UK toward a clear danger of economic collapse.
A new tax on natural gas hurts working class Britons. New environmental fees add up to 25 percent to electricity bills. And his heat pump mandate borders on insanity. Not only must 600,000 British households replace gas heaters with electric heat pumps, only 10 percent will receive US$9,600 grants that cover only a fraction of the cost – little help for working families.
Britons also just learned that their government had grossly understated the true cost of switching to a carbon-neutral (Net Zero) economy, pegging the annual cost at US$68.5 billion. But internal Department of Business documents revealed the true cost was 40 percent higher, at US$95.9 billion, or US$1.75 trillion through 2050.
Up till now, like his buddy Joe Biden, Johnson has done little to appease an increasingly angry public. His strict adherence to Net Zero timetables has damaged the UK economy, brought higher living costs, fewer jobs, and may soon force people to choose between food and fuel.
Joe Biden, too, is doubling down on riding the climate horse. One example: His $150 billion Clean Electricity Performance Program would impose steep, punitive fines on utilities and companies using natural gas.
Former EPA general counsel Samantha Dravis warns that the growing European energy crisis, a byproduct of Net Zero policies, foreshadows what may happen as Biden continues his carbon purge. To true believers and “green” profit-seekers, any deviation from the master plan would wreak havoc on their quest for wealth and power.
Some wonder whether Biden is riding the “climate catastrophe” to cover up for unscrupulous business dealings. Politico just verified older new reports that the Biden and Kerry-Heinz families have profited from extensive financial investments with Chinese entities. Is China using money and blackmail to push the West into energy insanity?
Human rights violations, narcissistic virtue signaling, impoverishing citizens and developing nations alike are of no concern to the Chinese, or to the world carbon police, who put building an all-powerful state far above human need. But it should matter to Americans, Britons, other Europeans, Uighurs, Afghanis, Africans, and others worldwide who will be hurt the most by the Net Zero schemes – all of which empower China and weaken everyone else.