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"
Small thread on Iran & its national security structures/history in somewhat plainish English and to correct some errors spreading in this online environment. It is intended to be informative but not exhaustive of the subject matter.
As anyone who has dealt with the Iranian state in any capacity esp military knows, it has many layers & (yes) satrapies that often feud & work at cross purposes … the Iranian armed forces (Artesh) operate relatively normally if persistently when ivo Iranian terroritories/seas
However, the Artesh was very much the Shah's armed forces so in 1979 when Islamists took over & there was a real (or perhaps false flag) attempted Artesh coup against Khomeini's regime in early 1980 ... the distrust caused the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to form/solidify
"Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved His own in the world and He loved them to the end" (John 13:1)
Good morning to all on this Good Friday:
"But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5)
It is interesting the number of people who find Good Friday hard - the betrayal, the disloyalty, the widowed Virgin Mary watches her son’s brutal, public death, with the women of Jerusalem & only John the youngest apostle who goes to the trial & Calvary (too young to know better)
My #TartanDay thread for all who are celebrating & to all those with their familial ancestry in Scotland, or who, rightly, love the Scots as a people. 🏴
#TartanDay marks the anniversary of the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath made by the Scots Nobility & Clergy to the Pope: "It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom–for that alone which no honest man gives up but with life itself"🏴🇻🇦
"But from these countless evils we have been set free, by the help of Him Who though He afflicts yet heals and restores, by our most tireless Prince, King and Lord, the Lord Robert." #TartanDay 🏴🇻🇦
Disagree-the signs were there in the 1990s and not just in the US. It was always going to end when first world countries' populations saw open trade & borders as making them less secure not more secure. Making China part of the WTO (Blob conventional wisdom) guaranteed this
I have thought more on this - as I was a school and then university student in the 1990s - and yes there was a whole 'whither the globalised world order?' Thomas Friedman sort of midwit debate that went on then & you can find it in many books from the era
At the same time, the 1990s, for every Globalisation point, you had:
- former Yugoslavia with combatants periodically massacring each other
- Somalia & Rwanda, which had their own causes & body counts
- Soviet collapse & then the Russians fighting the Chechens and Dagestanis...
The problem of all Free Trade ideology for nation-states with real world responsibilities is its complete unrealism ... rather like open borders, free trade is utopian ... you cannot be a great or even regional power & rely overly on others supply to you in critical industries
Conservatism in the English speaking world, historically, was always Protectionist. The British Conservative Party & the GOP were historically for Protection and Tariffs (until Thatcher & the Bushs) - unchecked free trade & free markets were considered dangerous liberal heresies
The British Empire was almost destroyed for two World Wars by liberal Free Trade's slow gutting of British industrial capacity & but for Imperial Preference in the 1930s, there would have been few if any UK & Empire industries left for WW2 esp the Alone period of 1939-1941
This @Telegraph long read by @SAshworthHayes @CDP1882 on the UK's long-running rape (and in some cases murder) gang scandal is bracing reading and not for the squeamish. But it must be read - and acted upon.