Petro-addiction on the wane?
Great article in The Economist this week entitled The end of the oil age (password required).
Great article in The Economist this week entitled The end of the oil age (password required).
It was with some dismay this morning that I learned Faith Fippinger faces a gaol term because of her decision to be part of the human shield in Iraq. BBC News, Fear as human shield face jail, reports that, simply by travelling to the country and spending money there, Ms Fippinger is liable for prosecution for breaking the embargo on Iraq.
The Guardian reports today in an article entitled, Bush’s pollution charter, that the US Government ‘plans to open a huge loophole in America’s air pollution laws, allowing an estimated 17,000 outdated power stations and factories to increase their carbon emissions with impunity’.
A piece in the Financial Times today sheds a little more light (pun intended) on the reasons for the big power failure in North America last week. These include low investment in an ageing grid, too much deregulation, coordination problems between states, and last, but by no means least, rising demand.
In a rare solo press conference, George W. has finally taken full responsibility for the content of his State of the Union speech. (Click on the taking the blame over uranium link to watch it in RealPlayer on BBC). Interestingly, as Tim Dunlop muses, he can do this now the heat has gone out of the debate. Nice one Dubya!
Recent research suggests that global warming is likely to occur faster than first thought. Given the trend in US foreign policy (“You’re either with us or you’re with the terrorists“) and the very explicit way in which members of the ‘coalition of the unwilling’ are being treated (e.g. Chile, Canada, France), the new ‘friendship’ between the US and Australia will be increasingly difficult to break, especially with AUSFTA to bind the relationship. What chance then of John Howard signing the Kyoto Protocol so long as the US doesn’t?
Following hot on the heels of Paul Krugman’s June 3 piece in the New York Times, I was heartened to hear, on ABC radio this morning, US Congressmen seriously questioning the integrity of US intelligence reports on Iraq’s WMD.
Tim Dunlop drew my attention today to the new ‘get tough’ policy on looters in Iraq.
President Bush described the Australian PM as ‘a man of courage’ to the assembled media last week, as he publicly thanked John Howard for his support during the Iraq War.
It was only a matter of time, I suppose. As the number of days accumulate since the liberation, and WMD remain conspicuous by their absence, people are starting to shift uncomfortably in their seats.