UPDATE, 2/29/2004: In Viridian Note 401: British Blowback, Bruce Sterling says "these Guardian guys, who should have known better, have cobbled-up a tale that is rather detached from reality but is really making the old net-clipping rounds. That's because their spin is about the malignant perfidy of the Bush Administration rather than the actual futurism." From the Viridian Note:

Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us

(((No, that's not what anybody, in fact, said. What the report really says is that severe climate change has severe military implications, a truism we Viridians have been spouting since 1998. Because it's dead obvious with a moment's intelligent thought.)))

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The Bush administration, formerly in denial about global climate change, just had a sobering slap in the face via a report commissioned by the Pentagon (an author of which, Peter Schwartz, commented on climate change in remarks last November at a conference in Austin, Texas). [Link]

The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents.

'Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,' concludes the Pentagon analysis. 'Once again, warfare would define human life.'

The findings will prove humiliating to the Bush administration, which has repeatedly denied that climate change even exists. Experts said that they will also make unsettling reading for a President who has insisted national defence is a priority.