Follow the web links with me, won’t you?
So, I’m reading the NY times on the web the other day. Some article about the unfolding Bush wiretappings. And I ask myself, “I wonder how Fox is playing this one?”
So, I head on over to Foxnews.com. Not much new there.
But at the bottom of the page I see a link to something called Fox news Country Watch. “Learn everything you need to know about any country in the world.” Interesting. I click on the link. Wow– There’s a world map, you choose a country and get profiles on it. You can read about that county’s history, economy, government, security. Cool.
There’s a link on that page called Global News Update. “Key stories from the Country Watch Country wire on Global Hot spots”. I click it, and am taken to “The Political Intelligence Briefing. A report on significant political developments across the international spectrum.” This week’s briefing is written by Denise Youngeblood-Coleman, executive vice president and editor in chief of CountryWatch. She has written what appears to be a complete report on the wiretapping issue in the US, citing both sides of the issue impartially as an outside observer might. (I had my husband, who is rabidly anti-Bush, read the article, and he agrees it is a well-written and objective view of the current issues as they stand.)
Wow – I wonder who these CountryWatch guys are? I click on the “About Us”, and come to find that the Chair, CEO and Founder of CountryWatch is Robert C Kelly, “B.S., United States Military Academy; MPA, Ph.D. in Economics, Harvard; former CEO of multinational company subsidiaries; Tenured Professor at USMA; international business experience in 60 countries.” Did you catch that as it went by? “Former CEO of multinational company subsidiaries.” Now that’s odd – he’s pretty vague about his business past. I wonder why? So I Google him.
HELLO- Robert C Kelly is formerly the chairman and chief executive of Enron Renewable Energy (which, according to Forbes, he left in 1997), and is now one of the four principles in DKRW Energy, an energy company “focused on moving the market for energy forward into clean, market competitive resource options designed to meet North America’s energy needs while creating substantial wealth for its investor”. DKRW is building natural gas pipeline in Sonora, Mexico. They also are involved in coal liquefaction and wind energy. DKRW made internet news in June, when it was noted by Public Citizen, a Ralph Nader watch group, that specific provisions in the house energy bill were so specific that they would benefit only one company known to have projects in that area – DKRW. Public Citizen has since published that the Senate asserted that there may in fact be additional beneficiaries, but that these were secret projects that as yet have not been announced.
CountryWatch’s second in command, Robert Baldwin, is also, coincidentally, a “former CEO of multinational company subsidiary”.According to a 2000 Forbes.com, Baldwin “rose to the top executive ranks at Enron, where he still does some consulting work for Chairman Kenneth Lay.” (This was in 2000)
“So basically”, you say, “what you’re telling me is that a company run by two former Enron execs, one of whom is now running an energy company that may be a beneficiary of guaranteed government loans, is writing news content for Fox News.”
Well, technically, I don’t know. They are writing it for FoxNewsCountry Watch. It’s a “partnership project”, according to CountryWatch web site. Whatever that means.
Country watch also provides country information to Yahoo!, and is subscribed to by libaries and universities. They also have a subsidiary called CountryWatch at School, providing “curriculum-based resources, which include country-quizzes, as well as activities and lesson plans”.
Look, I have no idea who Robert Kelly really is. Read the Forbes.com article about CountryWatch. He sounds like a really smart guy. I like the idea of renewable energy, and he’s into wind energy. That’s cool. He also gave $1000 to Bush’s 1993-4 campaign, according to the Texans for Public Justice Website. So, probably, did my brother. He wrote a book called Reconstructing Eden: A Comprehensive Plan for the Post-War Political and Economic Development of Iraq.
But Kelly has also written a book called The Carbon Conundrum that outlines his economic plan for the future of the world energy crisis. According to Climate-L News, a publication of The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Kelly notes that “the Bush administration has good reasons for its exceptions to the Kyoto protocol”. Kelly proposes the formation of an International Carbon Fund (ICF), whose member countries would agree to levee a “carbon tax surcharge”, 50% of which would be returned to the country of origin for income tax relief, with the rest being divvied out by the consortium to develop clean development projects in the developing countries. According to Climate-L, “To further mitigate the burden faced by developed countries, Kelly suggests that some of the funds they had contributed could be recycled to their private sector entities for construction of projects in developing countries.” Hmm. “Private sector entities.” You mean, like Enron? Of wait, they’re bankrupt. Oh, well, then how about DKRW?
Don’t ask me. I’m no political expert or energy maven. I’m just a blogger who likes to read the news and surf the web. But when you follow the links, you sure find some interesting things.
Category: Considerations
