Hungary´s PM Viktor Orbán: 2017 "will be the year of revolt for European democracy"

The much vilified Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán´s prediction for 2017 is spot on:

“Hungary is a stable island in the turbulent western world because the people were consulted on their opinions here, and we defended the country against illegal immigration.
“This will continue in 2017, which will be the year of revolt for European democracy.
“In many cities in Western Europe people now have no peace of mind, crimes against women rapidly multiply and the terror threat skyrockets.
“This shakes the confidence and self-esteem of the Western world. The economic slowdown, crime, terrorism, migration, indecision and insincere speech all adds up, and Western leaders won’t provide the answers.”

Read the entire article here.

Excellent news: The campaign for Britain to leave the EU is has taken the lead

Excellent news for the UK - and Europe!:

The campaign for Britain to leave the European Union has taken a 4-5 percentage point lead ahead of a June 23 referendum, according to online polls by ICM and YouGov, sending sterling towards three-week lows against the U.S. dollar.
The swing towards "Out" with less than three weeks to go comes as both sides step up their campaigning to try to win over the large number of still undecided voters with warnings over the economy and immigration.
The ICM poll of 1,741 people taken June 3-5 showed 48 percent would vote to leave, up from 47 percent a week earlier, while 43 percent would opt to stay, down 1 percentage point from a week earlier.
The YouGov poll of 3,495 people on June 1-3 showed 45 percent would opt to leave the EU, up from 40 percent in a comparable poll a month earlier, while 41 percent would opt to stay, down from 42 percent.

This could trigger a new beginning for Britain - and Europe!

John McCain´s message at the Munich security conference

US Senator John McCain´s message at the Munich security conference is clear: You cannot trust Vladimir Putin in Syria, nor anywhere else. Watch the speech here.

Former UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox wants the UK to become "an independent sovereign nation" again

Former UK Secretary of State for Defence, Dr Liam Fox has made a powerful appearance at the launch of a grass-root campaign to persuade voters to leave the European Union:

In a barnstorming speech to a rally of more than 2,000 people, the former Defence Secretary said he wanted to live in a country that was “an independent sovereign nation” again.

Britain used to be “proud” and “free” and in this role saved Europe from its own “folly” in two world wars, the Tory MP said.

Now it is time for voters to seize the only chance they will get to take control back over British laws from Brussels and vote to leave the EU in the forthcoming referendum. ---

Dr Fox said he wanted for Britain the same power that Americans, Canadians and Australians have to make their own laws, “control their own borders” and “to set their own destiny”.
“If you cannot make your own laws, if you cannot control your own borders, you are not an independent, sovereign nation and I want to live in an independent sovereign nation.”
He condemned the “pro-EU establishment peddling fear to the people of our country” and saying Britain’s security would at risk outside the EU.
“Let me tell you, as a former defence secretary, our security does not lie in the European Union,” he said. “The cornerstone of our security is Nato. It is Nato that has kept the peace in Europe since World War 2.”

Read the entire Telegraph article here

The price of EU:s global warming fixation: Hundreds of thousands Europeans "will suffer a premature death"

Here is another major - and deadly - European failure:

for more than a decade EU member states have tended to encourage the rise of diesel vehicles, with favourable tax regimes and pricing structures.
This has been one factor in bringing down greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels used for road transport, as diesel engines are more fuel-efficient than their petrol counterparts. But it has had an unintended consequence in the form of greater air pollution, because diesel engines spew out more particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide than petrol-driven cars, giving rise to breathing difficulties in vulnerable people, such as children and older citizens.

Failed European environmental policies has led to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths:

Hundreds of thousands of Europeans will suffer a premature death in the next two decades as the result of governments’ failure to act on air pollution, Europe’s environmental watchdog has warned.
In 2011, the latest year for which figures have been reliably collated, more than 400,000 are estimated to have died prematurely as a result of breathing toxic fumes, despite recent improvements in some countries.

A new report just out gives the death figures for one European city, London:

Nearly 10,000 people died in a year as a result of air pollution in London, a study has found.

Experts from King's College London combined the effects of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and a particulate matter known as PM2.5 to look at the total impact on the city's health in 2010.
The scientists said combining the pollutants "reveal a higher health impact than previously estimated".

The Econonomist: "The euro may yet be doomed"

The Economist is spot on about the euro:

"If Germany, France and Italy cannot find a way to refloat Europe’s economy, the euro may yet be doomed." --

 "In recent weeks the countries of the euro zone have begun to take in water once again. Their collective GDP stagnated in the second quarter: Italy fell back into outright recession, French GDP was flat and even mighty Germany saw an unexpectedly large fall in output (see article). The third quarter looks pretty unhealthy, partly because the euro zone will suffer an extra drag from Western sanctions on Russia. Meanwhile, inflation has fallen perilously low, to around 0.4%, far below the near-2% target of the European Central Bank, raising fears that the zone as a whole could fall prey to entrenched deflation. German bond yields are hovering below 1%, another harbinger of falling prices. The euro zone stands (or wobbles) in stark contrast with America and Britain, whose economies are enjoying sustained growth."--

"(But) without a new push from the continent’s leaders, growth will not revive and deflation could take hold. Japan suffered a decade of lost growth in the 1990s, and is still struggling. But, unlike Japan, Europe is not a single cohesive country. If the currency union brings nothing but stagnation, joblessness and deflation, then some people will eventually vote to leave the euro. Thanks to Mr Draghi’s promise to put a floor under government debt, the market risk that financial pressures could trigger a break-up has receded. But the political risk that one or more countries decide to storm out of the single currency is rising all the time. The euro crisis has not gone away; it is just waiting over the horizon."

The euro in its present form is bound to fail. The sooner it happens, the better. Unfortunately the present European politicians will do their utmost in order to deny the failure, thus seriously delaying the much needed economic revival in Europe.

David J. Kramer is right: "The last thing we need is a renewed search for accommodation with Putin"

David J. Kramer, president of Freedom House, has written an excellent article about the dangerous dictator Vladimir Putin. Here are the last paragraphs of Kramer´s article:

Russia’s military doctrine from 2010 cites as Russia’s top “external military danger” the enlargement of NATO and its military infrastructure “closer to the borders of the Russian Federation.” The reality, of course, is that Russia’s most secure and stable borders are with those countries—Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland, Norway, and Finland—that are members of NATO and/or the European Union.
Citing this history is not to suggest that Putin is all rhetoric and no danger. On the contrary, a paranoid Putin is very dangerous for Russia’s neighbors and for internal critics. Just ask Georgia, which Russia invaded in 2008, or Estonia, the victim of a Russian cyberattack in 2007, or Moldova, which has endured trade cutoffs, or Ukraine today.
At the end of the day, Putin wants to destabilize Ukraine and other neighbors to make them unappealing to the West. Putin fabricates a threat to ethnic Russians in Ukraine to justify his invasion; the reality is there were no such threats, but more importantly he doesn’t give a damn about their welfare. After all, he doesn’t care about the rights of Russians living in his own country as evidenced by his nasty crackdown on human rights there and the import food ban. Whether Ukraine creates a federal model or some other form of governance is of no interest to Putin; fomenting chaos and separatism in Ukraine are his main objectives.
This is why calls by some commentators for Western leaders to “explore a quiet compromise” with Putin over the crisis in Ukraine and to “understand the Russian leader’s concerns, his demands, his ideas for possibly de-escalating the situation”are pointless, even counterproductive. Putin is not interested in de-escalating unless that would help him with his number one priority: staying in power.
Indeed, Putin is willing to do whatever it takes to stay in power, including, it appears, invading Ukraine under the phony pretext of a “humanitarian intervention.” Making matters worse, through his control over television programming, Putin’s propaganda has tapped into an increasingly ugly mood among Russians (see this “Bike Show” over the past weekend in Sevastopol) that will be hard to tamp down—and may even spin beyond Putin’s control. This makes Putin, and now even Russia, a serious threat. To deal with this challenge requires even tougher sanctions, including adding Putin himself to the sanctions list, and the provision of military assistance by which Ukraine and other neighbors—and not just NATO members—can defend themselves. The last thing we need is a renewed search for accommodation with Putin.

Putin is evil

Western leders, particularly those in Europe, should read what Alexander J. Motyl, professor of political science at Rutgers University and an expert on Russia, has to say about Vladimir Putin:

Many people -- in Ukraine, Europe, America and even Russia -- probably share Biden and Putin's estimation of the Russian president's spiritual condition. In saying Putin has no soul, it means he seems to lack both the capacity to feel emotions and to show empathy.

Russia's leader certainly has a long record of inhumanity. He was an agent of the Soviet secret police, a criminal institution with a record that goes back to the purges of Stalin, a record more bloody than that of the Nazi SS.

 

John Dunlop of Stanford's Hoover Institution wrote in "The Moscow Bombings" that there is strong evidence to suggest that Putin was in on the plot to bomb two apartment buildings in Moscow in September 1999, in which 300 Russian citizens were killed and several hundred others were wounded. He says the bombings were blamed on Chechen rebels as a pretext to invade Chechnya.

Putin has funded, promoted, supplied and aided and abetted the Russian and pro-Russian terrorists in eastern Ukraine. And by invading Crimea, he created the conditions of war, hatred and fanaticism that led to the destruction of 298 innocent lives aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on that day of infamy, July 17.

Who are Ukraine's pro-Russia rebels?

Is Putin evil? His actions certainly are, if by evil we understand behavior that willfully, consciously and purposely destroys human life. Perhaps we can call his actions undeniably evil and Putin himself "evil enough." Evil enough for what? Evil enough for condemnation by people of good will.

How rebels in Ukraine built up an arsenal capable of reaching the skies

If Putin is "evil enough," what are the implications for policy-makers?

 

First, they should openly state that they condemn Putin's behavior. Because silence implies approval, policy-makers must understand that their moral standing, like that of the countries they represent, is on the line. Evil is indivisible. If they refuse to condemn this instance, they effectively surrender the right to condemn any instance of evil.

Second, they should refuse to shake his hand, engage in chitchat, attend photo ops with him and in any way create the impression that they accept his behavior as a socially acceptable. German Chancellor Angela Merkel would not hobnob with a German neo-Nazi; President Barack Obama would not have drinks with the head of the Ku Klux Klan. By extension, neither of them should hobnob with Putin at World Cup soccer games.

Third, policy-makers should avoid doing anything that aids and abets Putin's proclivities. Since those proclivities largely rest on his ability to employ armaments to cause death, any form of assistance to Putin's war machine or repressive apparatus is the moral equivalent of supplying barbed wire and bullets to Auschwitz.

 

Davis Cameron is finally getting it: Russian billionaires have started to panic about asset freezes and travel bans

Finally, at least the British government begins to react in the proper way against Russia´s criminal dictator:

Vladimir Putin is a threat to Britain’s economy and the country must be prepared to take an “economic hit” by imposing sanctions to stop him, George Osborne has said.

Russia’s disregard for international borders and role in downing flight MH17 poses a risk to the economy that makes sanctions a necessary price to stop him.

Last night David Cameron told Putin in a “frank” phone call that his “cronies” will face further sanctions within days unless Russia withdraws its support for separatist fighters blamed for shooting down the Malaysia Airlines jet over Ukraine, killing 298 people including 10 Britons.

Russian billionaires close to Putin have started to panic, according to some business figures in Moscow. --

The asset freezes and travel bans could target large Russian companies listed on the London Stock Exchange such as Rosneft and Gazprom, the energy giants, as well as oligarchs who have supported Mr Putin. Britain will also push for arms deals to be halted, which could trigger conflict with France because it is selling warships to Russia.
Action against Russia’s elite is likely to harm investors, financiers and lawyers in the City of London where they do business, along with the real estate and luxury goods industries who count wealthy Russians among their clients.
The prospect of asset freezes and wider economic sanctions has left Russia’s business elite “in horror”, Igor Bunin the head of the Centre for Political Technology in Moscow, told Bloomberg news. However, they are terrified to speak out because of the threat of punishment. “Any sign of rebellion and they’ll be brought to their knees.”
Mikhail Kasyanov, who served as Prime Minister under Putin from 2000 to 2004, added: “The threat of sanctions against entire sectors of the economy is now very real and there are serious grounds for business to be afraid. If there will be sanctions against the entire financial sector, the economy will collapse in six months.”

Now we have to see, whether Putin´s de facto allies Germany and France will join in ...

The Telegraph´s former Moscow correspondent John Kampfner: "Putin is a pariah" and "must now be treated as such"

The Telegraph´s former Moscow correspondent John Kampfner´s column is worth reading:

For the past two decades, many around the world have been in denial. Russia was changing, they insisted. And so it has. It has embraced money, private jets and super yachts. For a fleeting few years in the early 1990s it toyed with democracy, only to conclude that this course was synonymous with chaos. Out of this new experiment of bling with brutishness came Vladimir Putin.

Six months into the crisis in Ukraine, the shooting down of the Malaysian airliner marks a defining moment in the West’s approach to Russia. Or at least it should.

Putin is a pariah. He must now be treated as such.

The terrible loss of MH17, with passengers from a dozen nations on board, was tragedy enough. The stories of Dutch families obliterated, scientific experts on their way to a conference in Australia, and Newcastle football fans making the extraordinary journey to New Zealand were heart-rending. Initially, as the facts remained a little unclear, the Russian President could, just could, have salvaged what remained of his international credibility in his response to the crash. He could have expressed his horror at the military escalation in eastern Ukraine, vowing that the perpetrators of the crime would be brought to justice. Then, in time, he might have called for a conference on the future of Russians in Ukraine and ensured that they secured greater autonomy. He would have been able to trade on some goodwill, alongside the power that comes with Russia’s dominance of energy supplies to Europe. Machiavelli would have approved.

Instead he reverted to thuggish type. As state television produced its now familiar diet of propaganda, the president insisted that the Ukrainians only had themselves to blame. Meanwhile, rebel leaders in the crash site area threatened journalists and investigators who tried to piece together the facts. The idea, from the very start of the Ukrainian insurgency, that the balaclava-clad forces in Crimea and the east of the country were a spontaneous reflection of local sentiment was laughable. They have been armed and coordinated from on high, from the Kremlin. Now the order has gone out to eliminate the incriminating evidence. This will be difficult, but Putin’s hope is to muddy the trail just enough that it will allow some European politicians to argue that further sanctions and other repercussions be toned down. --

Europe is divided. Some leaders want tougher action; others, mindful of their dependency on Russian gas, continue to hold back. President Obama is contemplating a further set of sanctions against named individuals and companies deemed to be close to Putin. For all the denials, the earlier rounds have hurt – a little.
The British government’s denunciation of Russian foreign policy and supine embrace of its money is hypocritical and self-defeating. Apart from one or two individuals who have stood up to the Kremlin – and usually ended up in jail – Russia’s billionaires have been his de facto ambassadors, providing glamour to Russia’s international image. They know which side of the fence they are on.

In September 1983 when the Soviets shot down a Korean passenger jet that had strayed into their air space, the Cold War was at its height and Russia was a closed country. Politically and militarily, the Kremlin may not have moved on, but economically the world is very different. Russia’s wealth is tied up in Western banks. Its companies are listed on global stock exchanges. Its oligarchs own prestigious properties in London, Courchevel and the Cote d’Azur. The country that helped them become rich is led by one of the most sinister politicians of the modern age.
This is both Putin’s strength and his weak spot. And this is where the West needs to act.

(bolding by NNoN)

Kampfner is of course spot on, but the likelihood that Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande or David Cameron will seriously act against criminal dictator Putin is unfortunately extremely small. The European "leaders" most probably will continue to use some tough words, but that will be all. "Business interests" dictate the policy of this bunch of weaklings. And I have my  doubts about Obama as well, even if he is at least a little bit tougher right now ...
 

National Geographic's latest global warming scare: "The entire Atlantic seabord would vanish" - "London? A memory"

"London? A memory"
(image by Wikipedia)

True to its present warmist policy, the once highly regarded National Geographic is again trying to scare people with global warming. This is how the NG introduces its new "interactive maps":

Explore the world’s new coastlines if sea level rises 216 feet.

The maps here show the world as it is now, with only one difference: All the ice on land has melted and drained into the sea, raising it 216 feet and creating new shorelines for our continents and inland seas.

There are more than five million cubic miles of ice on Earth, and some scientists say it would take more than 5,000 years to melt it all. If we continue adding carbon to the atmosphere, we’ll very likely create an ice-free planet, with an average temperature of perhaps 80 degrees Fahrenheit instead of the current 58.

 

Here are a few excerpts from the texts accompanying the maps:

"The entire Atlantic seabord would vanish, along with Florida, San Francisco's hills would become a cluster of islands and the Central Valley a giant bay."

"London? A memory. Venice? Reclaimed by the Adriatic Sea. "... the Netherlands will have long since surrendered to the sea and most of Denmark will be gone too."

 

Here are the people responsible for the these "facts":

 

SOURCES: PHILIPPE HUYBRECHTS, VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL; RICHARD S. WILLIAMS, JR., WOODS HOLE RESEARCH CENTER; JAMES C. ZACHOS, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ; USGS; NOAA, ETOPO1 BEDROCK, 1 ARC-MINUTE GLOBAL RELIEF MODEL

 

The rise and fall of the solar power industry: Even the Chinese solar panel industry is beginning to crumble

We have seen major manufacturers of solar panels file for bankruptcy in the U.S. , as well as in Europe. Politicians and solar industry lobbyists have blamed Chinese cheap solar panel manufacturers for the failures. But soon there is no-one left to blame: Even China's government supported solar panel industry is beginning to crumble. The collapse of Suntech Power, one of the world's largest manufacturers, is just the beginning: 

One of the world’s largest manufacturers of solar panels, Suntech Power, has nearly run out of cash and is poised to be taken over partly or entirely by the municipal government’s holding company in its hometown, Wuxi, China, solar industry executives and a Wuxi official said Wednesday.

The collapse of Suntech is a milestone in the precipitous decline of China’s green energy industry in the last four years. More than any other country, China had bet heavily on renewable energy as the answer to its related problems of severe air pollution and heavy dependence on energy imports from politically unstable countries in the Middle East and Africa.

So far the solar and wind power producers (as well as panel and turbine manufacturers) have been able to reap windfall profits thanks to government and state support and subsidies. But all over the world the trend is against artificially supporting these ineffective and expensive forms of energy production. Indeed, why on earth should taxpayers enrich the people behind failed technologies, when there is more than enough cheap and clean shale gas and oil around!:

With the advent of US shale production, the domestic supply of natural gas is in such abundance that when adjusted for inflation it’s practically as cheap as it was back in 1999. As a result, gas-fired power is far cheaper than anything else on the wholesale market, with the exception of especially efficient hydro facilities. Even nuclear plants–with their extremely stable fuel costs–can’t always compete, as plans to shut down a small plant in Wisconsin and a larger but problem-plagued facility in Florida demonstrate.

Freezing winter conditions in Europe: Army ordered to help clear roads in France

Cold winter weather hits large parts of Europe 

Freezing winter weather, with heavy snowfall, hits large parts of Europe, closing airports, stopping trains and creating huge traffic jams. In France the army was ordered to help clear roads and rescue people stuck in cars:

Instead of enjoying the onset of spring, travelers shivered in stranded cars, packed onto icy train platforms, or languished in airport waiting halls. Thousands of schoolchildren stayed home. Tens of thousands of homes were without electricity.

Frankfurt airport, Europe's third busiest, closed at midday after recording about 12 centimeters (5 inches) of snow. More than 355 flights had been canceled by mid-afternoon.- 

North of Frankfurt, the A45 autobahn was shut down after more than 100 cars and trucks crashed in a pileup near Muenzenberg. Police said dozens of people were injured but that no deaths were reported. -

The French army was called in to help as civilian authorities struggled to clear roads and rescue people stuck in cars and buses on snowed-in roads, notably in Normandy, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on RTL radio.

With up to 50 centimeters (19 inches) of snow in some areas of northern France, the government urged people to stay home unless absolutely necessary.

The French housing ministry, meanwhile, said it will prolong until the end of March the winter-long ban on tenant evictions - owing to the biting weather conditions.

 Read the entire article here

At least in Germany the cold weather is set to stick around at least through the end of the week. 

PS

It cannot take long now, before we have an announcement from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research informing us that the severe winter weather is a direct consequence of global warming. 

Where does the U.S. shale gas revolution leave Europe?

Shale gas drilling in Appalachia.
(image by Meredithw at en.Wikipedia)

A research note by Morgan Stanley summarizes the benefits of the shale gas revolution for the U.S.:
The new technology is unlocking oil and shale gas resources, spurring economic activity and giving industry a competitive edge with less expensive gas and electricity prices.

These developments could lead to the industrialization of the U.S. economy and could deliver sustainable growth, Morgan Stanley said in a research note on Wednesday.

With the help of cheap energy, manufacturing will pick up and move down the ladder to capturing the production of less "sophisticated" goods (computers, fabricated metals and automobiles) currently manufactured in emerging nations. As a result, the United States will likely compete with emerging markets for market share rather than being a consumer, Morgan Stanley said.

"As the manufacturing renaissance takes hold in the U.S., the move down the value-added ladder in the U.S. is likely to clash with China's need to further increase the sophistication of its manufacturing base," it said. 

And as the bank details, China needs to move up that ladder to not only produce medium-term growth but to protect against economic stagnation, the "middle-income trap" and move from an emerging to a developed market.-- 

A continued fall in U.S. oil imports means North America could become a net oil exporter by around 2030, according to the IEA, and the United States could become almost self-sufficient in energy by 2035. 

And the U.S. shale gas revolution will not only impact on China: 

"U.S. reindustrialization will likely challenge Russia's presence in steel, chemicals and industries to support that very renaissance," it said.

The Morgan Stanley research note does not seem to mention where the U.S. shale gas revolution leaves Europe. But you do not have to be a financial expert in order to understand what is in store for the EU: 

The deadly combination of a failed energy policy (read: taxpayer subsidized, ineffective and costly wind and solar energy) and a recession generating failed common currency cannot result in anything else than an accelerated marginalization of Europe.

The views of Peter Altmaier, Germany's "conservative" environment minister, exemplify what is wrong with the European approach:

One one hand, Altmaier seems to understand the devastating costs (for consumers) of the German energy transition policy:

"Energy transition could end up costing up to a trillion euro"

On the other hand, the same Altmaier, echoing Greenpeace and other envirofundamentalist NGOs (and Russia's Gazprom) has this to say about the shale gas revolution: 

"For now I cannot see that fracking is acceptable anywhere in Europe. This also applies to Germany". 

Germany's export successes have been considerable during the last few years, but there are already clear signs that the German economy is joining the rest of Europe in the downward spiral:

In Europe, the decline in industrial production previously observed in a few countries of the European Union spread across the continent. Industrial production systematically decreased there in all four quarters of 2012, UNIDO reported.

Manufacturing output in the fourth quarter fell by 3.9 per cent in France, 2.9 per cent in Germany, 6.9 per cent in Italy and 1.8 per cent in the United Kingdom.

Germany: Five winters in a row colder than average

The warmists' predictions about snowless winters in Europe have been proven wrong.

Dominik Jung, one of Germany's leading meteorologists brings us the following interesting information:

This is the fifth winter in a row in Germany which is colder than average

"Only a few years ago climatologists predicted that there would be no more winters in Germany with ice and snow. These days you only need to look out the window in order to know better". 

"Some clever climatologists first tried to explain this by saying that global warming was taking a breather. However, this breathing pause has now lasted for five consecutive winters. Accordingly, the debate about global warming has gone rather quiet lately. Whatever the reason may be."

"The earlier predictions and projections have been proven wrong, at least with regard to Germany and Europe and, taking into consideration the facts we have now, should be revised. Otherwise we will have a credibility problem. People are not stupid. They will understand what this is all about. So, let's see how long the 'global warming breathing pause' will last."  

How refreshing it is to hear a voice of sanity from Germany, the home of far too many envirofundamentalist greenies!

On taboos and political correctness in Germany (and Europe in general)

Focus magazine columnist Thomas Wolf has written a brief, but so true article on political correctness in Germany:

There are taboos in Germany. The person who is against the euro and makes it know publicly, will almost always have a hard time. Do-gooders of all colors denounce people with eurocritical opinions in talks shows as anti-European and revanchist.

Also the person who questions human caused climate change is not likely to find apologists. "Such people do not have any sense of responsibility for the future of our children" is the killer argument. And the person who thinks that the victims themselves are to blame for poverty and social problems, is callous and totally lacking solidarity. You are only allowed to reject Christianity. Because the Pope forbids the pill and priests live a celibate life. However, any criticism of Islam is forbidden. It would be xenophobic. 

When differing opinions are not expressed anymore, because their holders are castigated as immoral, every debate runs dry. 

Political correctness and taboos have created a climate without any alternatives in the German Federal Republic, which the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk describes in this way: "Whether you confess to social democracy or not, has for long ceased to mean anything, because there cannot really be any non-social democrats among us, the society is per se social democrat, and the person who is not, is either in a madhouse or abroad ..."

Wolf's and Sloterdijk's descriptions are, of course, not only applicable in Germany. Exactly the same taboos and political correctness prevent any meaningful discussion and debate in many other European countries. 

European media have lost interest in international climate change conferences

The European Union still pretends to be the global warming "superpower" at various UN sponsored climate change/global warming conferences, telling and, in the case of airlines, forcing other countries to conform with their "progressive" climate legislation. However, European media have lost interest in these mega meetings, and in global warming in general. Even alarmist environment journalists now doubt "that a difference in climate change will emerge from a global forum like a UN summit":

For the 16 years preceding Cancun, more than 80 percent of the journalists reporting these  conferences came mainly from Europe, the US, Japan and Canada. But Cancun—otherwise known as COP16—saw a reversal of that dynamic, with 55 percent of the reporters from the Global South. This increased to 66 percent in Durban, while those from developed countries dwindled to 34 percent.

The decline of European media attendance is astonishing. European journalists have passed from representing the largest group at all the summits held until Copenhagen, to almost an endangered species. They have dropped from representing 60 percent of the attendance at Copenhagen, to 22 percent in Cancun and 19 percent in Durban. While a number of large developing countries, such as China, India, or Bangladesh, maintained their media presence after Copenhagen—even when expectations for an international agreement were much lower—European countries that traditionally sent a cohort of climate correspondents, such as France, Germany, Spain or the UK, drastically reduced their numbers.

--

I interviewed seven experienced reporters working for mainstream outlets in Western European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom), all of whom used to attend climate summits until Copenhagen and now cover them from afar.

In addition to media organizations downsizing and making budget cuts, all their editors argued that as expectations were lower and there were fewer Heads of State attending Cancun or Durban, it was not worth spending money to send a correspondent abroad for at least a week.

In most of the outlets represented by these reporters, climate change coverage has seen a dramatic reduction in terms of copy and broadcast minutes, at least during the autumn period when these events take place. Additionally, the lack of interest by editors in climate negotiations has been accompanied by less interest in the subject of climate change in general during the rest of the year.
--
None of the climate journalists I have talked to believe that a difference in climate change will emerge from a global forum like a UN summit, but more likely from action at the local level. 

Read the entire article here

The Spanish journalist, who wrote the article in the Columbia Journalism Review, is still a believer in the UN climate change/global warming propaganda, but her text gives a rather realistic view of the situation in European media. It is also apparent that also US media have lost interest in the UN global warming jamborees. Soon the only reporters attending will be those from "developing" countries, sponsored by governments hoping to cash in on the global warming hoax.

Putin´s and Gazprom´s war on shale gas must be stopped

The US led shale gas revolution has already killed the Shtokman arctic gas project, but Russia´s Gazprom is - on orders from the Kremlin - continuing to work hard in order to prevent Europe from benefiting from cleand and cheap shale gas:

It’s the world’s largest gas producer, gas exporter, and gas distribution company with nearly 100,000 miles of gas trunk lines and branches. The Russian government owns 50.01% of it. At home, it has to sell gas under cost, one of the Soviet leftovers. It relies on high-profit sales from Europe to make up for it. But Europe is diversifying away from its single most important supplier.

Competitors include Russia’s number two, Novatek, and Norway—the second largest natural gas exporter in the world. So, in April, Gazprom had to lower its European sales guidance for 2012. Its market share in Europe was 27% last year, and it’s shooting for 30% by 2020, but if the US shale-gas boom ever infects Europe, those plans would become a pipe dream—and if the high-profit sales from Europe tapered off further, it would have to raise prices at home, a political nightmare. Hence its fight by hook or crook against shale gas in France.

Gazprom’s “underhanded tactics” and “scaremongering about a new technology” have Moscow’s nod of approval and are designed to dissuade governments from developing their own shale-gas reserves, according to a report by Platts, a global provider of information on energy, petrochemicals, and metals. Efforts include all manner of operations, online and through encouraging demonstrations, but also paying public relation firms to spread “myths and misconceptions,” said Aviezer Tucker, assistant director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas. A “European Union-wide ban” on shale-gas production, he said, would be the “holy grail.”

With France already knocked off, Sergei Komlev of Gazprom Export has been bouncing around the world in his fight against European shale gas. At a meeting in Qatar, according to Platts’ report, he gave a presentation. “Multiple Handicaps Will Retard Shale Gas Development Outside US” was the title of one of his slides. “Fortunately, it claimed, “European shale gas development faces numerous econombic, regulatory, and political barriers before there are significant amounts of shale gas production, not sooner than in ten or more years.”

Breathing room for Gazprom in the natural gas war. 

Read the entire article here

The shale gas alliance, mentioned in my previous post, is needed also in order to prevent Putin and his allies from destroying a unique chance to get rid of the dependence on Russian energy! 

French philosopher André Glucksmann: Pursuing a federal European state "is the wrong goal"

Germany´s Der Spiegel has published an interesting interview with the French philosopher André Glucksmann. Glucksmann, who has strongly criticized the West for its tendency to to close its eyes to evil forces in the world, is - rightly - critical of the present European leaders. Particularly Glucksmann singles out Germany´s unilateral energy co-operation with Putin´s Russia, which he considers a threat to Europe.  And he also - rightly - says that a European federal state is the wrong goal: 

SPIEGEL: European countries are also bound by shared cultural aspects. Is there such a thing as a European spirit?

Glucksmann: European nations are not alike, which is why they can't be merged together. What unites them is not a community but a societal model. There is a European civilization and a Western way of thinking.

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Glucksmann: Europe was never a national entity, not even in the Christian Middle Ages. Christianity always remained divided -- the Romans, the Greeks and later the Protestants. A European federal state or European confederation is a distant goal that is frozen in the abstraction of the term. I think pursuing it is the wrong goal.

SPIEGEL: Is the European Union chasing after a utopia in both political and historical terms?

Glucksmann: The EU's founding fathers liked to invoke the Carolingian myth, and an EU award was named after Charlemagne. But, after all, his grandchildren divided up his empire. Europe is a unity in its division or a division in its unity. Whichever way you put it, though, it's clearly not a community in terms of religion, language or morals.

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SPIEGEL: These days, many people cite the phrase "never another war" as Europe's raison d'être. Does this foundation still hold up now that the specter of war in Europe has dissipated?
Glucksmann: The Balkan wars in the former Yugoslavia and the murderous incendiary actions of the Russians in the Caucasus didn't happen that long ago. The European Union came together to oppose three evils: the memory of Hitler, the Holocaust, racism and extreme nationalism; Soviet communism in the Cold War; and, finally, colonialism, which some countries in the European community had to painfully abandon. These three evils gave rise to a common understanding of democracy, a civilizing central theme of Europe.
SPIEGEL: Is a new, unifying challenge what's missing today?

Glucksmann: It wouldn't be hard to find if Europe didn't act so heedlessly. In the early 1950s, the core of the union was the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the first supranational economic alliance in the area of heavy industry; (it was) Lorraine and the Ruhr area, the ECSC as a means of preventing war. As everyone knows, the counterpart today would be a European energy union. Instead, Germany decided to embark on its transition to renewable energy on its own, ignoring the European dimension. Everyone is negotiating individually with Russia for oil and gas, Germany signed an agreement to build the Baltic Sea pipeline despite the resistance of Poland and Ukraine, and Italy is involved in the South Stream pipeline through the Black Sea.
SPIEGEL: So each country is pursuing its own interests amid changing alliances and bilateral agreements that ignore the spirit of the European Union?
Glucksmann: (This is a) grim example of cacophony because it shows that the member states are no longer willing and able to form a united front against external threats and Europe's challenges in the globalized world. This touches on the nerve of the European civilization project, in which each person is supposed to be able to live for himself, and with which, however, everyone wants to survive together. And it makes things easy for Russia under (President Vladimir) Putin. Despite all the weakness of that giant of natural resources, its capacity to cause damage remains considerable and is something its president likes to use. Recklessness and forgetfulness create the conditions for new catastrophes in both the economy and politics.


SPIEGEL: Are you saying that the idea of a European community of fate hasn't really taken hold yet?
Glucksmann: Not in practice. Globalization brings global chaos, and a global police force -- which the United States played for a long time -- no longer exists. The players may not be keen on war, but they don't exactly mean well by one another. Everyone is playing his own game. In this anarchic confusion, Europe has to assert itself and face up to threats offensively. Putin's Russia, which wants to regain parts of what it lost, is a threat. China, a bureaucratic slave state, is a threat. Militant Islamism is a threat. Europe has to learn to think in terms of hostility once again. (German philosopher) Jürgen Habermas, for example, doesn't see this when he says that well-intentioned cosmopolitanism can unite everyone in global citizenship.

Read the entire interview here

The Chinese economy is shrinking

The party seems to be over  for China. Official statistics still indicate growth, but China expert Gordon Chang is convinced that Chinese officials are artificially inflating statistics: 

The conclusion that China’s economy is probably shrinking is confirmed by manufacturing surveys and prices indexes, but the most telling indicators are the mountains of unneeded commodities.  Copper in recent months has been stockpiled in parking lots, and iron ore has been stored in granaries.  Ships loaded with unwanted coal have been waiting off Chinese ports.  That’s why China analysts are talking about the “heart attack” economy, and Anne Stevenson-Yang of J Capital Research uses the phrase “rigor mortis.”
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After 35 years of virtually uninterrupted growth, China has hit an inflection point.  The three primary reasons that created more than three decades of growth either no longer exist or are disappearing fast.  The country is no longer reforming, the international environment is not benign, and the “demographic dividend”—an extraordinary bulge in the workforce—is turning into a demographic bust.
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Now, with declining markets abroad, China cannot earn big profits from sales to foreign customers.  Without the export cushion, the transition to a consumption-led economy in China will cause dislocations that are considered politically unacceptable.

The Chinese economy is now in a new supercycle.  This time, the direction of the cycle, which could last decades, is down.  Yes, China has passed its peak and is unable to implement necessary reforms.

The downward spiral in China is not necessarily a bad thing for the US: 

Smaller American manufacturers, for instance, will undoubtedly be helped as they will face less competition from their Chinese counterparts.  The return of manufacturing to America will accelerate.

So we don’t have to be overly concerned about China’s coming failure.  The truth is that America depends on China much less than China depends on the United States.  Take China’s trade surplus in goods.  Last year, China’s surplus against the U.S. amounted to $295.4 billion.  China’s overall goods surplus was $155.1 billion.  That means its surplus against us was an unimaginable 190.5% of its overall trade surplus.  China, in short, has an economy geared to selling things to the United States. 

And, incredibly, China’s dependence on the United States is increasing at this moment.   In the first seven months of this year, Chinese exports to Europe fell 3.6% over the same period last year.  How about China’s exports to America?  They jumped 11.4%.

The United States, on the other hand, does not have an economy geared to China.  Trade for the United States—and especially its trade with China—is a negative for its gross domestic product.  This is not to say that trade does not, in the larger picture, benefit America.  It certainly does.  But it is to say American economic success does not depend on China’s.

And, contrary to a general belief, the U.S. would be better off without Beijing funding its federal deficits.  Our problem has been too many international and domestic investors wanting to lend to Washington, not too few.

So when China’s economy collapses, Americans will realize they have less stake in the Chinese miracle than they have been led to believe. 

Read the entire article here

What the negative development in China means for Europe is difficult to tell. However, for many German manufacturers, which during the last few years have profited from exports to China, it must be very worrying.