Secret US plan to derail European fight against illegal rainforest logging

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4351863.stm

US blocks forest protection plan

By Roger Harrabin
BBC Newsnight correspondent
March 15, 2005

A secret US plan to wreck Tony Blair's G8 initiative combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests has been revealed in a State Department memo leaked to the BBC's Newsnight programme.

(snip)

The UK was prompted to start the initiative after Indonesian government ministers said corruption in their country was so rampant that they did not have the power to tackle the supply of timber from the criminal gangs pillaging the forests.

They urged rich nations to reduce the demand for cheap illegal wood.

But powerful industry lobbyists in the US have resisted moves to certify that timber is legitimately produced. And the leaked State Department memo shows that the US government will refuse to sign up to the Blair initiative.

Europe is strongly backing Mr Blair's initiative and the US tactics drew a furious response from rainforest campaigners.

(snip)

Faith Doherty, from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) in the UK, said: "I think it's completely outrageous. What we have is a country that does consume tropical timber, that does acknowledge that there is forest crime, environmental crime in Indonesia and other tropical countries; and to try to undermine what people have worked so hard for the last five years on this issue is just unacceptable."

(snip)

The site also has a video link for this report.

Have not read it yet - but I agree - Shavo is far to often posted and they should all be collapsed into one Discussion and given its own board.

I think they should do that with many, many repetitive threads.

would make a lot of sense. Then when something like the Schiavo business comes up that is important but should not be allowed to suck all the oxygen out of DU discourse, it can be assigned to one of these temp Forums.

and I thought the natural place -- so to speak -- would be the Environmental Forum. Hence I posted here first, but only one person has responded so far.

Here's the General Discussion thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3316529#3319114

I also posted there additional information I have found by searching the web, including a March 21 update.

We think that the big threads du jour like Terry S should go into another forum for ongoing big deals. And then all the responces have to be linked together. That way one out of every 4 is not a "Terry" thread and a DU can cover all the topics important in the DU that day in an hour or so.

The only ones who benefit from repetative posts could be trolls. I don't think Terry was an example of that. But at times you get repetative "I am angry at Joe Lieberman" threads and there are 10 responces or less in most.

We have to think about this. As numbers of DUers increase there should be a way of separating out the Hot topics of the day - from the long list of disperate ideas and posts. That way we will be more efficient and more interesting.

Easier to navigate too.

I don't know.

If one or at most two -- but one would probably be enough --new main Forum was set aside for the "hot topic of the week." Usually in the natural cycle of things a story won't be major for much longer than that. Of course, like movies some topics could be "held over for a 2nd big week!"

Part of the problem is that so many of the posts are repetitive, as individuals work out their own frustration or anger over issues and events. I don't think that could be reined in very easily without changing the open character of DU. Catharsis and the comfort to be found in discussion with people who can share your emotions to some extent is one of the special functions of DU, and I think it's a valuable one as long as it doesn't totally take over. Emotional discussions not only can calm people, but they can also result in practical plans of action and group commitments to shared goals.

Maybe there could be a Forum designated something like

THE WEEK'S TOP STORY

with a subtitle that would change, reflecting the turnover of news topics.

Hmmm...I think this is something to consider if this sort of intrusive traffic from highly emotional stories becomes a habit. For now, I'll keep the idea in a fermentative stage, speaking for myself. We might want to revisit these thoughts if there's another Schiavo-like onslaught.

Did you try any of those when the TS thing was going last night?

thread in GD, it did eventually get picked up for the Greatest Page, but it was more of a struggle than it should have been, in my opinion. At least one other person I talked to last (Monday) night also ran into a wall when trying to get an important story onto the Greatest page or even read at all. I do believe the overfocus on the Schiavo case is part of the reason for the lack of response.

There are some very important aspects of the Schiavo case, but I'm not sure how clearly these points are being made to a reader who has limited time. In addition to the amazing hypocrisy (which may backfire), distraction factor, and PR, the most significant thing is the unprecedented tear-down of judicial authority. This has HUGE, HUGE implications. The targetted overturning of reproductive rights, as pointed out in this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3314694 (Title: Schiavo Law Is Test For Divesting Federal Courts Of Abortion Jurisdiction) is just the BEGINNING. The neocons want to knock down ANY law, ANY judicial decision they don't llike.

But you don't get that by having dozens of repetitive threads on how awful it all is, or what Terry's brain is really like.

on it - they should have a place to go. I don't know..I could use my search... perhaps if they had a block title function where you could block somebodies name in the title? and then not pull up any of those?

Don't know.

topic attracting intense interest, they could go THERE and compare notes. I do think it would cut down on the number of independent threads because people would see threads that already had started on what they wanted to say. I don't usually use searches for current events myself, so a modified search wouldn't help much. I've been driven more than usual to dig through the postings in each Forum as opposed to just reading the main pages. The TS-related threads crowded a lot off those main pages.

I guess it remains to be seen how long and how often this phenomenon of focussed attention hits. If it becomes a regular theme for news to be dominated by a mono-subject like this, then we'll need to brainstorm a workable solution.

For now, I don't know what time it is where you are, but I'm feeling very silly for being here at 3 AM! Have a good night. We may want to take up this conversation again if similarly disrupted board dynamics begin regularly intruding on smooth discourse in the future.

it's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

Like I said on an identical thread below, beyond the pall.

I searched "G8 initiative combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests has been revealed in a State Department memo leaked to the BBC's" in news and got only the BBC story:

US blocks forest protection plan
BBC News, UK - Mar 16, 2005
A secret US plan to wreck Tony Blair's G8 initiative combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests has been revealed in a State Department ...

I then searched the same string in "web" and got 13 hits (the BBC, 11 bolgs and the world bank). NOT ONE CORPORATE MEDIA OUTLET HAS PICKED THIS UP! At least Wes Clark and Michael Moore are paying attention.

nerdshit.com: US blocks forest protection plan
... initiative combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests
has been revealed in a State Department memo leaked to the BBC's Newsnight... ...
www.nerdshit.com/archive/2005/03/16/_us_blocks_fore/ - 14k - Cached - Similar pages

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight | US blocks forest protection plan
... combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests has been
revealed in a State Department memo leaked to the BBC's Newsnight programme. ...
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/4351863.stm - 36k - Mar 20, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages

Welcome to MichaelMoore.com!
... rainforests has been revealed in a State Department memo leaked to the ...
Top 10 Reasons Why Paul Wolfowitz Would Make a Good World Bank President ...
www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1845 - 23k - Cached - Similar pages

LP: US blocks forest protection plan
... rainforests has been revealed in a State Department memo leaked to the BBC's
Newsnight. ... And do they fit the G8 rules for "cheap illegal wood"? ...
www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=88277 - 19k - Cached - Similar pages

American Samizdat: Rebel Scum Since 2001
... rainforests has been revealed in a State Department memo leaked to the BBC's
... Proudly featuring over a hundred bloggers from all over the world: the ...
amsam.org/2005/03/us-blocks-forest-protection-plan.html - 54k - Cached - Similar pages

World Family Organization
... Called Economic Threat At Talks ==============================================
... to combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests. ...
www.worldfamilyorganization.org/ News/WB_News/press_wb_news.htm - 56k - Cached - Similar pages

TIDEPOOL | News for Salmon Nation
... The state Department of Revenue delivered the sobering news at the ...
combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests has been revealed ...
tidepool.org/TEXTONLY.CFM - 101k - Mar 20, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages

News - Press Review
... states to combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests.
... The US state department memo leaked to the BBC's Newsnight shows that the ...
web.worldbank.org/.../NEWS/ 0,,date:03-16-2005~menuPK:278083~pagePK:34392~piPK:34427~theSitePK:4607,00.html - 101k - Mar 20, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages

Clark Community Network || Comments General Discussion
... illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests, a leaked ... A US state
department memo leaked to the BBC's Newsnight shows that the US will ...
chat.forclark.com/comments/2005/3/15/215359/869/238 - 116k - Cached - Similar pages

XQUARTERLY
... commit the G8 states to combating illegal logging in the world's ... The US
state department memo leaked to the BBC's Newsnight shows that the US will ...
www.exchangemagazine.com/XQuarterly/worldnews1.html - 366k - Cached - Similar pages

NewsFeeds
... G8 initiative combating illegal logging in the world's threatened ... a company
that has been making noise lately in the Linux desktop market with ...
www.loopynews.com/LoopyNews/news.asp?page=alternative - 173k - Cached - Similar pages

News Flash: Archive
... Israel has been described as the top threat to world peace, ahead of North
... had been transferred from the State Department, which distrusted the INC, ...
www.blabla4u.com/Flashes/Client-CivilSocietyArchEng.asp - 513k - Cached - Similar pages

HighBeam Research
... HighBeam Library Research Looking for the old eLibrary? Search our extensive
archive of more than 34 million documents from over 3000 sources -- a vast ...
www.highbeam.com/ - 16k - Mar 20, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages

The repost of this thread in the General Discussion Forum is getting more attention and is currently on the Greatest Page. Would you please repost this amazing list there?

I'll PM you about this too - and thanks for looking into this and posting what you found. I also was struck by the utter lack of network hits on Google when I did my searches. All the network hits were in other countries! Conclusion: I agree with you- this is a deliberate Poodle Media blackout at the behest of the blivet** cartel.

Here's the parallel thread of this same information I posted in the GD Forum:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3316529

Maybe, to keep this story alive, we can shift to this thread when that one goes off the Greatest Page. We have to break the silence on this! Have you written to Olbermann yet? He might include it; it would be an exclusive for the US corporate media!

I searched "G8 initiative combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests has been revealed in a State Department memo leaked to the BBC's" in news and got only the BBC story:

US blocks forest protection plan
BBC News, UK - Mar 16, 2005
A secret US plan to wreck Tony Blair's G8 initiative combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests has been revealed in a State Department ...

I then searched the same string in "web" and got 13 hits (the BBC, 11 bolgs and the world bank). NOT ONE CORPORATE MEDIA OUTLET HAS PICKED THIS UP! At least Wes Clark and Michael Moore are paying attention.

nerdshit.com: US blocks forest protection plan
... initiative combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests
has been revealed in a State Department memo leaked to the BBC's Newsnight... ...
www.nerdshit.com/archive/2005/03/16/_us_blocks_fore/ - 14k - Cached - Similar pages

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight | US blocks forest protection plan
... combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests has been
revealed in a State Department memo leaked to the BBC's Newsnight programme. ...
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/4351863.stm - 36k - Mar 20, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages

Welcome to MichaelMoore.com!
... rainforests has been revealed in a State Department memo leaked to the ...
Top 10 Reasons Why Paul Wolfowitz Would Make a Good World Bank President ...
www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1845 - 23k - Cached - Similar pages

LP: US blocks forest protection plan
... rainforests has been revealed in a State Department memo leaked to the BBC's
Newsnight. ... And do they fit the G8 rules for "cheap illegal wood"? ...
www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=88277 - 19k - Cached - Similar pages

American Samizdat: Rebel Scum Since 2001
... rainforests has been revealed in a State Department memo leaked to the BBC's
... Proudly featuring over a hundred bloggers from all over the world: the ...
amsam.org/2005/03/us-blocks-forest-protection-plan.html - 54k - Cached - Similar pages

World Family Organization
... Called Economic Threat At Talks ==============================================
... to combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests. ...
www.worldfamilyorganization.org / News/WB_News/press_wb_news.htm - 56k - Cached - Similar pages

TIDEPOOL | News for Salmon Nation
... The state Department of Revenue delivered the sobering news at the ...
combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests has been revealed ...
tidepool.org/TEXTONLY.CFM - 101k - Mar 20, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages

News - Press Review
... states to combating illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests.
... The US state department memo leaked to the BBC's Newsnight shows that the ...
web.worldbank.org/.../NEWS/ 0,,date:03-16-2005~menuPK:278083~pagePK:34392~piPK:34427~theSitePK:4607,00.html - 101k - Mar 20, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages

Clark Community Network || Comments General Discussion
... illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests, a leaked ... A US state
department memo leaked to the BBC's Newsnight shows that the US will ...
chat.forclark.com/comments/2005/3/15/215359/869/238 - 116k - Cached - Similar pages

XQUARTERLY
... commit the G8 states to combating illegal logging in the world's ... The US
state department memo leaked to the BBC's Newsnight shows that the US will ...
www.exchangemagazine.com/XQuarterly/worldnews1.html - 366k - Cached - Similar pages

NewsFeeds
... G8 initiative combating illegal logging in the world's threatened ... a company
that has been making noise lately in the Linux desktop market with ...
www.loopynews.com/LoopyNews/news.asp?page=alternative - 173k - Cached - Similar pages

News Flash: Archive
... Israel has been described as the top threat to world peace, ahead of North
... had been transferred from the State Department, which distrusted the INC, ...
www.blabla4u.com/Flashes/Client-CivilSocietyArchEng.asp - 513k - Cached - Similar pages

HighBeam Research
... HighBeam Library Research Looking for the old eLibrary? Search our extensive
archive of more than 34 million documents from over 3000 sources -- a vast ...
www.highbeam.com / - 16k - Mar 20, 2005 - Cached - Similar pages

I thought so yesterday when you posted it in the general forum and I still think so today.

Too bad we couldn't get better response then. I know I tried everything I could think of from satire to history to logic to keep it going and get some reaction, but it wasn't to be.

I have several related issues I'm working on offline, but will definitely keep an eye on this too.

If anyone has any further information I'd appreciate a posting and I'll do the same.