A step in the right direction: UK citizens will be given power to kill off new onshore wind turbines

No more landscape destroying, bird-killing monster turbines in the UK.
(image wikipedia)

Finally, David Cameron has seen the light: 

Residents given the power to kill off new wind turbines in move Tories claim will end controversial onshore developments

• Schemes will need local residents' consent before planning application can be made - handing them the power to prevent turbines being erected
• The drive for renewable energy will no longer be used as a reason for overriding environmental and other concerns

Communities are to be given a powerful ‘veto’ over wind farms in a move that Tories claim will mean the death of controversial new onshore developments.

Schemes will have to gain local residents’ consent before a planning application can even be made, effectively handing them the power to prevent turbines being erected.

Planning rules are also to be changed so that the drive for renewable energy can no longer be used as a reason for overriding environmental and other concerns.

Former energy minister John Hayes, a leading critic of onshore wind turbines who has been pushing for reform since moving to Downing Street as a senior adviser to David Cameron, told the Daily Mail: ‘No means no.

‘No longer will councils and communities be bullied into accepting developments because national energy policy trumps local opinion. Meeting our energy goals is no excuse for building wind turbines in the wrong places.’

Read the entire article here.

The next move should be to eliminate subsidies for useless and expensive offshore wind turbines. 

Robert D Kaplan praises criminal dictator Vladimir Putin

Kaplan: "Putin must seek a buffer zone in Eastern Europe; Russian history demands no less of him."

Robert D. Kaplan, Chief Geopolitical Analyst at Stratfor, was in 2011 and 2012 chosen by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the world's "Top 100 Global Thinkers". Having read Kaplan's article "The World Through Putin's Eyes" - which marks a new low in any foreign policy writing - one wonders who the other top 99 "Global Thinkers" on the FP  list are.

My initial reaction was that Kaplan must be joking, but unfortunately this "Global Thinker" seems to be dead serious: 

Few people comprehend Russia’s vulnerabilities like its leader, Vladimir Putin. He must try to govern a country that extends through nearly half the longitudes of the earth but that has fewer people than Bangladesh. What’s more, Russia’s population is declining, not increasing. All the Arctic seas to Russia’s north are ice-blocked many months of the year, so with the exception of its Far East, Russia is essentially a landlocked nation. Moreover, Russia’s flat topography affords little natural protection and is therefore bereft of natural borders. Land powers, as they have no seas to protect them, are more insecure than island nations and continents like the United States and Great Britain.

Putin knows that it hasn’t been just the French and the Germans who have invaded Russia from the west in centuries past, but Swedes, Poles, and Lithuanians, too. So Putin must seek a buffer zone in Eastern Europe; Russian history demands no less of him. This is not the recreation of the Warsaw Pact we are talking about. For the need to economically support disparate states in Eastern Europe for half a century was a burden that helped topple the Soviet Union. Putin knows, therefore, that Russia cannot rule Eastern Europe. But he does require a degree of diplomatic and economic acquiescence in order to keep countries like Poland and Romania hobbled.--

American journalists, politicians and government officials must drive Putin to distraction. They assault him on moral grounds. After all, “He is a dictator!” they say. “He tolerates and even encourages corruption and rampant thuggery!” But do they know I am dealing with Russia — not with the United States? Putin must think. Are they aware that when I took power there was political chaos and criminal anarchy, with ordinary Russians robbed of their dignity.

Back in the Kremlin, the corrupt dictator of "the virtual mafia state"  (State Department cable) must be smiling - this kind of praise  is a rare treat for the former second rate KGB agent, who now is trying to destroy all opposition to his criminal regime. 

Barroso holding hands with a dictator

EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso is full of praise for his host Vladimir Putin, who invited him - and a number of other EU grandees - to Yekaterinburg,  the city where members of the bolshevik secret police - precursors of Putin's KGB -  murdered Tsar Nicholas II and his family in 1918: 

I have said in the past that a strategic partnership like ours needs to be based on strategic trust. These Summits serve precisely to build that trust.

That is why I want to conclude by thanking once again President Putin for having brought us to this great city. Yekaterinburg is not anymore just a frontier. It is today a place where we stretch to hold hands and join efforts for the sake of a better future for our citizens.

Holding hands with corrupt dictators has, of course, never been a problem for the former maoist Barroso, or for that matter for his presidential rival, haiku poet Herman Van Rompuy:

(It is not difficult to understand, why this photo has been deleted from the EU Commission photo service for media.)

Putin's puppet Medvedev tries to please his master

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's tiny puppet, Medvedev, apparently tries to please his master: 

 Any expansion of NATO to include Sweden and Finland would upset the balance of power and force Russia to respond, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday, underlining Moscow's nerves over moves to bring the Western alliance closer to its border.

Although Sweden and Finland are not actively seeking membership, both nations cooperate extensively with NATO and have openly debated the possibility of joining.

Speculation over Sweden mounted after it warned earlier this year that its defense capabilities were alarmingly limited. It was embarrassed in April when it could not respond to Russian military jets nearing its border, according to media reports.

Finland shares a long boundary with Russia.

"New participants emerging close to our border will change the parity and we'll have to take this into account and respond to that," Medvedev told a news conference at a summit of Nordic and Russian leaders in Norway.

"NATO ... has a military potential which can be used against our country in certain cases," Medvedev said, as Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt looked on.

Bildt's response was good - the cautious Katainen probably remained silent: 

"The fact that Norway is a member of NATO has not had any negative effect whatsoever on the development of cooperation in this part of the world," Sweden's Bildt said in response.

Of course, nobody takes Medvedev seriously anymore, and Putin will not have the resources to beef up his armed forces in any significant way. Russia earns billions from raw gas and energy exports, but most of it disappears through corruption into the ever expanding pockets of those favored by the KGB mafia now in charge. 

Angela Merkel is right:"We are all in the same boat" - But she forgot to mention the name of the boat.

The German weekly Der Spiegel has published an interview with chancellor Angela Merkel. 

These are the only memorable words by Merkel in the interview:

We are all connected to one another, because for us in Germany, much depends on what happens in Portugal, Greece, Spain and other countries. We are all in the same boat.

How right Frau Merkel is - although she forgot to mention the name of the boat: the Euro-Titanic! 

The Economist on dictator Putin's Russia: "A problem with Russian politics is that so much of it happens in one man's head"

The Economist is spot on with this characterization of the political situation in Vladimir Putin's Russia right now:

A problem with Russian politics is that so much of it happens in one man’s head. A turn towards repression may not be a sign of Mr Putin’s strength, but rather of his fear and desperation. Some advisers say he is worried about instability and is doing as much as he can to eliminate anything or anyone that contributes to it. This also affects his economic decisions. “He resists spending money or conducting economic reforms because they will yield short-term instability,” says one analyst. The result is falling investment and slower growth.

The Economist's conclusion is not surprising:

“Contradictions and injustices within the society are growing and instead of trying to resolve them peacefully, the Kremlin uses force, which makes a peaceful transition of power unlikely,” says one businessman. The trouble may be a long way off or it may come soon—Russia’s history shows that it is not possible to predict. But those who greeted Mr Putin’s return to the Kremlin with the mournful conclusion that they would be stuck with him until 2024 may have got it wrong.

The longer dictator Putin manages to stay on, the less peaceful will his departure be. 

New study in Geophysical Research Letters: "increased carbon dioxide levels have had a fertilization effect, causing a gradual but steady greening of arid regions"

The prayer has been answered; fertilizing carbon dioxide will make the desert green.

Now, when global warming has stopped, governments and organizations like the UN should focus on the benefits of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. A new study, to be published in Geophysical Research Letters, confirms that increased CO2 levels have a beneficial effect, making the planet's arid areas flourish: 

New research has confirmed what scientists have suspected for some time: that elevated carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere cause green foliage to flourish, particularly in arid regions. According to the study accepted for publication in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, increased carbon dioxide levels have had a fertilization effect, causing a gradual but steady greening of arid regions around the planet from 1982 to 2010.
Satellite imagery from the 1980s to the present has shown that foliage is thriving around the globe, leading some scientists to suspect that elevated carbon dioxide concentrations might play a role in the phenomenon. The burning of fossil fuels is a significant source of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas thought to be a major contributor to global warming.
The research team, led by Randall Donahue of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Canberra, Australia, focused its inquiry on arid regions of the world, such as Australia’s outback, the Middle East, the southwestern United States, and some areas in Africa. They developed a mathematical model that predicted a five to 10 percent increase in foliage in these regions, based on measurements showing a 14 percent increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide between 1982 and 2010. Data obtained from satellite imagery agreed with the team’s predictions, showing an 11 percent increase in green foliage during this period after adjusting for such factors as precipitation, temperature, and amount of light. --

According to Donahue, carbon dioxide’s fertilization effect may have benefits beyond encouraging plants to grow more leaves, such as causing a shift in the types of vegetation prevalent in arid regions.
“Trees are reinvading grasslands, and this could quite possible be related to the carbon dioxide effect,” Donahue said. “Long lived woody plants are deep rooted and are likely to benefit more than grasses from an increase in carbon dioxide.”
The impact of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide on plant function deserves greater attention, according to Donahue, because as global levels rise, we will see significant environmental changes due to the carbon dioxide fertilization effect.

(Image by Steve Bartrick Antique Prints)