Comments on: We are all good comrades now

By: Laird

Laird — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:57:18 +0000

Never mind, Ed, I think I found it (unless you have a better list somewhere).

By: Laird

Laird — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:32:39 +0000

Ed, where can I find a complete list of the “rules for highly effective pirates”? I liked your two examples. (Sort of like the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition.)

By: Rich Rostrom

Rich Rostrom — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:23:57 +0000

“Certainly the Russian state has plenty of motivation…” What interest does the Russian state have in undermining the AGW story?

AIUI, Russia either has received, or stands to receive large “carbon credits”. The benchmark is to be IIRC 1991. Since then, lots of coal-burning legacy Soviet industry has closed down, so Russian CO2 emissions are already well below the 1991 level. Russia will get credits for this reduction, which they can then sell for $billions. Thus the Russians will get a lot of money for doing nothing.

Furthermore, one of the easy ways to reduce CO2 is to switch to natural gas, and Russia is a huge gas exporter. CO2 restrictions and taxes will increase gas demand and Russian revenues.

By: Ed Snack

Ed Snack — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:13:16 +0000

Chances it was a Russian state hack, zero to a large number of decimal places. That can be confirmed because the UN is floating the idea. The P-G gives the cogent reasons. Inside job on files either gathered for a possible FOI release, or equally likely, items gathered and removed to avoid an FOI release.

This tactic of trying to blame “hackers” is part of a quite deliberate PR campaign that is attempting to turn the attention from the contents of the release to the nature of the release, and to build “outrage” at the tactics of the evil deniers. Most of those pushing this line know it’s BS, but they’ve been given the campaign plan and are sticking to it.

Also, rule 29 for highly effective pirates is “The enemy of my enemy is my enemy’s enemy, nothing more, nothing less” (Rule 30 is better, “A little trust goes a long way, the less you use the further you’ll go”)

By: mandrill

mandrill — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:38:42 +0000

The Russians are hackers for hire.

If you want to hire really organised techno-criminals you go to Russia. Credit card fraud, hacking of massively multiplayer games, Phishing scams, the lot. If its computer based and there’s money in it, the Russians are all over it like a really naff tracksuit.

They may have performed the act (allegedly). Who was paying the bills is the question everyone should really be asking. I don’t see the Russian Gov’t footing the bill personally, The economics of AGW are murky at best and it may be that application of the various policies being bandied about pushes the price of Russian gas up. Who knows?

By: Frederick Davies

Frederick Davies — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:05:01 +0000

It seems the hacker idea (Russian or otherwise) just became more unlikely:

http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/FOIA_Leaked/

By: Gary Monro

Gary Monro — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:42:05 +0000

I hope it was the Russians. They were fun in the 80s then it all fizzled out…

By: Rob Fisher

Rob Fisher — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:56:39 +0000

Regarding a "leak" to the BBC: My understanding is that Paul Hudson was forwarded an email thread because his article was under discussion. He was then able to say that the leaked emails looked genuine. I don't think it was a leak, he was just added to the thread.

By: Johnathan Pearce

Johnathan Pearce — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:53:25 +0000

The hacker theory as given by Sean Gabb does not make a lot of sense, frankly.

And what Patrick Crozier said.

By: Perry de Havilland

Perry de Havilland — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:51:34 +0000

Pure conjecture. IP addresses mean nothing and I still think the most likely scenario is a disillusioned insider who finally gagged on the self serving hypocrisy.

By: Mandy

Mandy — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:38:01 +0000

Comrades? The word is Citizen or Stakeholder.
You must learn the lingo or we’ll send you to Siberia

By: astateofdenmark

astateofdenmark — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:07:10 +0000

If you have a look on RealClimate and ClimateAudit, the IP addresses from which the information came was posted on both. These IP addresses were basically proxies and the proxy location of one is the Russian city mentioned in the Mail article.

The Mail haven’t done an investigation, they’ve pulled info of a blog and sensationalised. That’s what passes for journalism these days.

Other proxy locations, of the top of my head, were Turkey and Saudi.