The left is doing its level best to blame Brazil’s bush fires on Brazil’s conservative, Trump-like president, Jair Bolsonaro, and get him thrown out of office.
Things are bad for him – the fires are affecting air quality in states that are his political base, and they’re concentrated not in the actual rainforest, but in areas of developed farmland, something Bolsonaro’s encouraged to bring some kind of prosperity to Brazil’s flyover.
It’s drawn tremendous negative press on him, and set European Union’s eurochickens clucking, vowing at the G-7 to cut off trade with Brazil to pin those fires on Bolsonaro instead of the weather. Brazil doesn’t deserve that, but these people are shameless.
Democrats, back in the states, are doing it, too. Here’s one who wants to suspend all funding to Brazil until the fires (which Brazil is fighting) are under control.
Kamala Harris is onboard, as well, tweeting this anti-Bolsonaro screed:
As the Amazon burns, Brazil’s Trump-like President who let loggers and miners destroy the land isn’t acting. Trump must not seek a trade deal with Brazil until Bolsonaro reverses his catastrophic policies and addresses the fires. We need American leadership to save our planet.
Never mind that the fires are within the range of fires that normally occur in dry areas during droughts. Brazil’s fires, while they need attention, are in fact little different from the wildfires seen in Harris’s own California, or for that matter, Spain or Australia. They’re a function of the place’s natural climate. Yet the euro-left has dancing visions about Brazil being the rainforest lungs of the world under great global catastrophe unless they can turn Brazil into a nature reserve to their liking, and of course to bring Bolsonaro to heel.
Look at this nonsense reported to a largely European readership from The Guardian:
In Rio de Janeiro, a couple of thousand people crowded the steps of the town hall. Many said the fires were a result of Bolsonaro’s plans to develop the Amazon forest and permit mining and commercial agriculture on protected indigenous reserves. The fires happen each dry Amazon winter but soared this year as farmers and loggers, emboldened by Bolsonaro’s anti-environment rhetoric, torched felled trees and cleared land for pasture.
“We need to show how much we disagree with his policy,” said Mariane Rocha, a trainee teacher. Others were angry Bolsonaro blamed NGOs for the fires without providing evidence. “His whole political game is based on false accusations and mistakes,” said Beatriz Ferreira.
Well, guess what? The bid to blame Bolsonaro or his conservative policies on the fires in the Amazon falls apart now that news comes out that socialist Bolivia has exactly the same fire problem, and no, they aren’t promoting development of land the way Bolsonaro is. According to ScienceAlert in a piece beginning with the following headline and lede:
It’s Not Just Brazil’s Amazon – Bolivia’s Vital Forests Are Burning Out of Control, Too
Up to 800,000 hectares of the unique Chiquitano forest were burned to the ground in Bolivia between August 18 and August 23. That’s more forest than is usually destroyed across the country in two years.
Here’s a Bolivian news account tweet:
If anything, the dynamic there is far more man-made than anything going on in Brazil. Socialist President Evo Morales has openly encouraged what’s known, at least in Venezuela, as “conuco” agriculture, telling subsistance farmers it’s fine to set of fires to gather charcoal to sell for fuel or clear the land of brush for planting, and now he’s refusing international firefighting help. When I visited Venezuela in 2005, I saw a lot of this going on over the jungle-edged savannahs and llanos and it was destructive. Apparently it goes on in Bolivia, too. The timing for that was not good now that the region is experiencing a drought.
Here’s another claim that looks worthy of investigation as a result of that:
NYTimes conveniently doesn’t mention that #fires were started by #EvoMorales #indigenous #Altiplano loyalists who invaded #Chiquitania #forests border w #Brazil , he gave them greenlight to burn #Amazon to plant #coca &colonize #indigenous #Amazonia in eastern #Bolivia lowlands
The left says that Bolsonaro’s develop-the-rainforest policies are what’s causing the fires, but this is highly questionable, given that in California, exactly the opposite is what triggers its huge and consuming wildfires – overforestation and greenie regulations. What’s going on is bigger than any of this — the issue is the weather and the correct management of conditions. Overforesting, as goes on in California, is as bad as conuco farming in Bolivia. In Brazil, there may be need for some policy adjustments, too, but it’s no cause for panic or sanctions.
That’s exactly what Europe and the U.S. Democrats are doing though, solely targeting Brazil which is in a difficult situation that requires support, not condemnation. Why is this happening> Well, because they hate Bolsonaro who to them is an extension of Trump. It’s also because they still romantice the rainforest.
Now Bolivia is robbing them of their rimshot argument. No more Sting and the rainforest man for their “narrative” now. What appears to be a far more desperate and mismanaged situation is going on Bolivia, and we don’t see any eurochicken clucking about the “lungs of the world” or sanctioning the socialist hellhole. The European Union and much of the G-7 are focused exclusively on Brazil and putting the screws to Bolsonaro blaming him for a broader temporary weather phenomenon. It’s starting to look political and it would be a welcome thing if President Trump sticks up for the man among the clucker. Bolivia makes their hypocrisy show.