Yes; especially drawing out the point of it being a cement manufacturer that is striking the drama pose. I can't think of a better industry to be exposed for the trauma they create in their wake; as much air pollution as the aviation industry (5% of world totals and growing), but worse for the other rapacious effects to water supplies and environmental destruction.

As pointed out at It's the Planet, Stupid: Double good: building without cement, doing with less cement and building with wood has knock-on effects. Besides, proximity is the name of the game with cement. One does not simply move and make the Ukraine one's toilet unless one has clients already lined up in the Ukraine.

So that's my point: countries which traditionally use cement in the form of concrete and mortar to build houses should change their construction practice and build from timber instead. This change of direction has several advantages:

• timber construction locks away carbon
  
• it's quicker and easier
  
• self-build is much easier and in some countries, you can buy housing kits to do this
  
• it is essentially non-polluting unlike cement-based constructions which cause massive CO2 releases into the air, principally from cement quarrying and manufacture
  
• if real environmental costs are taken into account, wood is far cheaper
  
• greater demand for timber would stimulate more forestry development with yet more sequestration of carbon as a bonus. At the same time, cement manufacture would decline as demand slackened off, so reducing carbon pollution
  
• timber can be re-used
  
• timber-framed buildings are intrinsically warmer than stone, brick, block and concrete. In addition, it is simple to incorporate insulation in the timber frame
  
• wood is a pleasant material to work with and beautiful to look at.
  
• Concrete is messy and heavy to move around

I'm going to propose a new form of laughter, the one that should have been used any time that Bush or Rice or any of the other Cheney puppets opened their lie-holes, one that should be used with posers like this cement guy get all "I'll take all my state construction projects and leave", one that should be used on press hacks who don't see through the pose and who give us propaganda instead of the facts we deserve; instead of Ha Ha Ha, or Ho Ho Ho, we'll laff with the sound of Hor Hor Hor.  

Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.

Frank Delaney ~ Ireland