The Europeans who went big into fantasy solar/wind & 'big batteries' now suffering & now more dependent than ever on Russian gas. Well, except for France & others that kept reliable & scalable Nuclear, and others prepared to rely on Coal. Madness.
"France gets more than two-thirds of its electricity from nuclear — giving it the lowest emissions of any major economy.....Germany, where nuclear generates 11 percent of power, while fossil fuels account for 44 percent — 24 percent of that from coal."
Coal, Gas, Nuclear ... make your pick for your national baseload power source(s). There is no fantasy fourth option, no matter how much disinformation is spun at you by the various "green energy" spivs looking for government subsidies.
"Power prices are also high because of policies to limit carbon emissions. Power plants that burn fossil fuels have to pay a price for every metric ton of carbon they emit into the atmosphere. That price has surged close to 90% this year."
"Even though wind supply patterns and Russian gas deliveries are seen as market wild cards, the current backdrop means a significant power supply crunch is likely, traders and analysts say"
"The return to coal was most dramatic in Germany. Electricity from wind was 20% lower in Germany in the first half of 2021 than the first half of 2020, resulting in a 24% higher use of fossil fuels and 28% greater emissions..."
If only there was a reliable, zero emissions, scalable, 24/7/365 alternative energy source, that actually works:
"The calm weather highlights the shortcomings of Britain’s growing reliance on green energy at a time fossil fuels are also expensive."
Newcastle port coal futures as of today (per metric ton) ... Australian black (thermal) coal is much cleaner than (iirc) any mined elsewhere. Something is happening in commodities/energy markets this northern autumn and it is not belief in 'the renewables'.
The Russians flexing their gas muscles ....
"Gazprom has been accused by the International Energy Agency and some lawmakers in the European Parliament of not doing enough to increase its natural gas supplies to Europe"
The European gas shortage is about to be felt everywhere else - not just as an economic issue but a life/death issue in cold climates. Good for gas producers/exporters like Australia & the US … but even better news for the Kremlin
If only there was a reliable, baseload, zero-emissions, 24/7 alternative?
"The global shortfalls are tied to natural gas’s growing popularity as a fuel for generating electrical power, because it creates less greenhouse gas emissions than coal."
The French are the only major European power with any smarts about energy policy - approx 75% of French energy comes from zero emissions, reliable & nationally-owned nuclear power. The Germans by contrast have made themselves energy hostages to the Kremlin latimes.com/world-nation/s…
Europeans are the crash test model for "Green Energy" policies
"The energy crisis has touched on some of the EU’s most sensitive internal debates, from the bloc’s approach to carbon taxes, dependence on Russian gas, upcoming rules for sustainable finance" ft.com/content/5805c3…
Europe's rising energy costs leading to "energy poverty" and fears of civil unrest as the northern Winter approaches - "There could be a rise in 'Gilet Jaunes'-type movements across Europe"
UK went big on "Renewables" & is now France's energy hostage [France generates its own power from domestic nuclear]: "The U.K. is reliant on two massive power cables that transport electricity from France’s nuclear power stations across the Channel"
Putting Tucker to one side here .... weirdest part of Putin's villain role in the contemporary Western mind (admittedly an historically illiterate mind] is that if Putin dropped dead tomorrow, his successor would follow the same policies, probably more aggressively.
In July 2018, I wrote this piece, "The Sources Of Russian Conduct", on my blog, in an effort to put "The Russians" in some context for that part of the lay Western readership that was not totally brain damaged by America's internal convulsions
Reality is that the West will never be close to Russia - we will have bouts of accomodation & OK times - but we also have many friction points. But we will need a modus vivendi with Russia in space, Arctic, and esp as Russia spans 11 time zones & Eurasian landmass
I am shocked - shocked I tell you - that the same people who were (catastrophically) wrong about Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, etal, have now been proven wrong about the war in Ukraine ....
Twitter trying to work out whether Prigozhin is "for real" this time or whether he is a character from the Cyrillic production of Turkey's 2016 'not quite a coup' ... or an Ernst Rohm or Lin Biao...regardless a lesson taught in these regimes is to never overrate your usefulness.
A key change in how RUS state fought the UKR war over past 6-10 months was to move slowly from 'war on the cheap' (Luhansk/Donetk militias & Wagner) to mobilising Russian reserves + bringing in more of the regular Russian armed forces hence extensive prep for UKR offensive
On any view, Wagner in 2022 filled gaps the RUS state wanted filled-it provided combat power ivo Soledar & Bakhmut in late 2022/early 2023. At same time, regular RUS units were being filled out & commencing the sappering & digging in for the very slow UKR offensive we see now.
ANZAC Day Thread
Tuesday is ANZAC Day (April 25th) which commemorates the landing in 1915 by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli. It is Australia's national day for remembering our war dead, wounded, and war veterans, and their families awm.gov.au/commemoration/…twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
If you or a family member are "On Parade" on Tuesday and not in uniform, a useful dress and bearing guide from @MHHVic here
For #AnzacDay, an Australian tradition is the making of "Anzac Biscuits". The Anzac Biscuit is hardy, it is practical, it goes well with any hot brew, esp Tea, and, has become, since the Great War, the sustenance of a free people. Recipe here awm.gov.au/articles/encyc…
Retirement will be a luxury that occurred in a brief historic period of high birth rates where workers could support retirees .... hard to have retirements with QE, money printing, and, especially, low birth rates.
Sorry but anyone who thinks what is happening in France with riots over a minor upwards revision of pension ages is not coming to every western society is kidding themselves… Right politics that made it harder not easier for larger families are their own worst enemies
Likewise western military establishments will be very hard to maintain in societies where birth rates are so low … the devising of foreign legions and Wagner groups in all but name - however well disguised by law - are as much the likely Western future absent action as the past
Twenty years after the Iraq War started & ten years after the arming of salafist jihadis in Syria, it is good that justice has finally caught up with an outlaw US president.
Oh.
Genuinely intrigued by the new movement in Left political if not yet legal circles - which we have seen here - that a trial is where an accused proves their innocence & not where the state must discharge its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt
A very good reason for monarchy & prosecutions in the name of the monarch - and especially having career not elected prosecutors forming a view of the evidence - is to avoid the current circuses in the US re Trump and the Biden family.