Published by Australian Institute of International Affairs (24 Feb 2025): https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/are-we-creators-of-our-own-demise-why-you-should-not-ignore-the-devastating-wildfires-in-los-angeles-and-greece/

The Los Angeles Wildfires, like similar events in other countries, including Greece, reveal the urgency of immediate action to reduce environmental damage and stop political games for electoral purposes.

On Sunday, 26 January 2025, the new president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, issued an executive order permitting the federal government to override California’s water management practices if found inadequate. Trump said in a post on Truth Social (a social media platform owned by Trump himself, created after he was banned from Twitter and Facebook in 2021): “Governor Gavin Newscum [sic.] refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow, melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way. He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, and no firefighting planes. A true disaster!”—a misleading statement presenting the disaster as a problem of mismanagement. 

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