Saturday, December 05, 2009

One born every minute

It just had to be Patrick Hennessy, political editor of The Sunday Telegraph who put it into print:

Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, vice chairman of the IPCC, said it was possible Russian hackers had been paid as part of a global conspiracy to cast doubt on the science of global warming. "I do not think this is a coincidence," he added.
Mind you, he wasn't the only one who fell for it. Sean Gabb writes:

... This is only a conspiracy theory. But it is interesting that the stolen data surfaced on a Russian server. Of course, Russia is beyond the reach of the British courts. But it is an interesting fact even so. I think this operation has gone so smoothly that only an efficient security service can be behind it ... That leaves us with the Russians. They got the information. They packaged it. They have delivered it to maximum effect.
And, of course, The Independent on Sunday buys into the "conspiracy":

Russian computer hackers are suspected of being behind the stolen emails used by climate sceptics to discredit the science of global warming in advance of tomorrow's Copenhagen climate negotiations, the United Nations' deputy climate chief said yesterday.

"This was not a job for amateurs," said Professor Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, vice-chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), referring to the theft of the emails from the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia (UEA).
It is fascinating how the warmists – so quick to brand the "deniers" as conspiracy theorists – are so keen to adopt their own conspiracies when it suits them.

The fact that the idea emanates from the IPCC tells you everything you need to know. More sanguine commentators believe that this cannot have been a random hack, as the material is too focused and relevant. The view is that this had to be an insider – a whistleblower.

That it was uploaded onto a Russian server is precisely what someone would do if they wanted to ensure anonymity.

CLIMATEGATE THREAD