OPINION:
As U.S. negotiators continue high-level talks to resolve the protracted conflict between Russia and Ukraine, serious thought should be given to reparations, considering what happened last week.
Flames spewed from two 900-foot-long oil tankers on the Black Sea, just north of the Bosporus. A portion of the 1.4 million barrels of crude that the vessels carried was converted into so-called greenhouse gases, but the self-appointed guardians of planetary harmony haven’t uttered a peep in protest.
It’s not like they’re busy. By now, the private jets have landed after the closing session of the COP30 climate summit. Attendees have yet to come forward to express concern about the emerging ecological crisis on the Black Sea, which is curious.
Outrage abounded when the Exxon Valdez ran aground and BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded in the Gulf of America. The media provided live coverage of every oil-soaked seagull that washed ashore.
It’s obvious why they are quiet now. They are fans of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who issued the order sending Sea Baby anti-ship drones to cripple the Gambian-flagged long-range oil carriers Kairos and Virat as they approached the Turkish coastline.
Likewise, newly minted experts on the law of the sea haven’t commented on whether the use of multiple drones was a war crime, nor have they mentioned the sabotage of an oil pipeline in Kazakhstan that nearly triggered another massive spill. Kazakhstan’s foreign affairs spokesman, Aibek Smadiyarov, is furious at Kyiv.
“This incident marks the third act of aggression against an exclusively civilian facility whose operation is safeguarded by norms of international law,” he said in a statement Sunday. Mr. Zelenskyy is targeting pipelines and ships that ferry Russian crude to customers that don’t ask any questions or that decline to participate in sanctions against Moscow.
None of the recent bombings compares to the 2022 attack on the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines that once supplied Europe with Russian energy. The secretive assault released potent methane gas with a punch equivalent to 15 million tons of carbon dioxide, according to one study.
Although no saboteurs were ever apprehended, an objective observer might conclude this had to be done either by Ukraine with the tacit approval of President Biden or on Ukraine’s behalf by NATO allies. European bureaucrats blamed Russia.
Vladimir Putin might be a devious fellow, but he is not about to demolish his own critical infrastructure when he could have just flipped a switch to cut off the flow. Recent events ought to put to rest the implausible speculation that the Kremlin bad guy was responsible.
Even Greta Thunberg isn’t talking. The Swedish climate scold was briefly banned from Venice last week after she polluted the Grand Canal with fluorescent green dye in a stunt she performed with the “environmental” activist group Extinction Rebellion, which is famous for defacing priceless works of art for publicity.
Italian officials were angry, saying the act of vandalism might inflict lasting damage on the fragile ecosystem. The Sierra Club, which has been urging the Windy City to terminate its St. Patrick’s Day tradition of dyeing the Chicago River, remains mum on the antics of Ms. Thunberg and Mr. Zelenskyy.
Fair-weather environmentalists don’t really care what happens to the natural landscape. They just make doomsday proclamations to bully gullible politicians into implementing the left’s political agenda.
Imposing climate reparations now to deter future misbehavior would do more good for Mother Earth than anything they recommend.
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