No more cheap energy, warns cabinet minister John Hutton

He says: "Of course we've got to tackle climate change, it's a real and present danger for used, but we've also got to be absolutely clear that our energy policy has got to be figured first and foremost with a view to supplying Britain with affordable and secure energy it needs for the future.

"That is why we cannot turn our back on any proven form of technology. We cannot afford to say no to new coal, new gas or new nuclear."

The whole article is depressing: not a word about demand or energy efficiency. Just more investment and calls to diversify away from evil Russia.

Sigh... And we can expect all of Europe to think, and behave, along the same lines, of course.

news round-ups politics europe

This is the first attempt in Europe since Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union, Saakashvili said, by a big country to destroy a neighbor and openly annex its territory and change Europe's internal boundaries. (Georgian President on National Public Radio [US])

...ignoring Russia’s warnings, western countries rushed to recognise Kosovo’s illegal declaration of independence from Serbia. We argued consistently that it would be impossible, after that, to tell the Abkhazians and Ossetians (and dozens of other groups around the world) that what was good for the Kosovo Albanians was not good for them. In international relations, you cannot have one rule for some and another rule for others. (Russian President Medvedev in the FT)

How long will "we" be able to hold on to such breathtaking double standards?

news round-ups politics europe

Your answer is? (Vittori's is below the fold...)

Russia today stepped up its defiance of the west by wasting little time in recognising the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia's two breakaway provinces.

Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, said he had signed decrees to that effect, just weeks after Russia and Georgia fought a short war over South Ossetia.

"I have signed decrees on the recognition by the Russian Federation of the independence of South Ossetia and the independence of Abkhazia," Medvedev said in a televised announcement, in a move bound to escalate tensions between Moscow and the west. (Guardian)

news round-ups politics europe

Twelfth, the eurozone’s strengths are too often hidden. Here is the clincher: eurozone countries together won more medals at the Beijing Olympics than either China or the US.

The closer to the author's argument that the doom and gloom being peddled about the Eurozone is unjustified.

news round-ups politics europe

Today, the focus seems to be more on the geopolitical threat the Russia represents, but the conclusion is still, of course, about the incompetence and failure of continental Europe - this time not to liberalize, but rather to 'stand up' to Russia's bullying. Below, the original post, with some additional comments written today (in italics and between brackets).

news round-ups politics europe

news round-ups politics europe

news round-ups politics europe

... most of the world is bemused by western moralising on Georgia. America would not tolerate Russia intruding into its geopolitical sphere in Latin America. Hence Latin Americans see American double standards clearly. So do all the Muslim commentaries that note that the US invaded Iraq illegally, too. Neither India nor China is moved to protest against Russia. It shows how isolated is the western view on Georgia: that the world should support the underdog, Georgia, against Russia. In reality, most support Russia against the bullying west. The gap between the western narrative and the rest of the world could not be greater.

He extends that diagnosis to our overall approach to the world (as quoted below the fold) and makes a convincing case that the West has an incoherent strategy towards the rest of the world. I would like to suggest, however, that the current 'strategy' has a narrow rationality intimately linked to our current dysfunctional politics.