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Sat, 23 Oct 2021
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Oil Well

What governments got wrong about the global energy transition

Tsvetana Paraskova
OilPrice.com
Thu, 07 Oct 2021 05:00 UTC
wind turbines
© Unknown
  • There are many hard lessons to be learned from the current energy crisis in Europe, including the importance of both flexibility and backup options for an energy grid
  • While the concept of an energy transition has been fully embraced by governments and institutions around the world, it seems the logistics of such a transition has been ignored
  • In order to take back control of an energy transition that has evidently spun out of control, policymakers must manage the decline of the current system as well as the creation of a new one
The energy crisis in Europe exposed the complexity of a transition to green energy: it is not happening overnight, and it cannot be done successfully with the old tricks. Energy systems, markets, and grids globally need fundamental changes to legislation, regulation, and oversight in order to accommodate 100-percent zero-emission sources. And even in that case, power systems need flexibility and backups in order to avert similar crises down the road as many parts of the world commit to net-zero emissions by 2050 or 2060.

The current crisis in the UK is a cautionary tale about how not to rush to green energy, Rochelle Toplensky of The Wall Street Journal notes.

Comment: It is not only a disorderly mess, it is a train wreck without recourse once all traditional sources lay fallow and the demand for any available energy remains off the chart and unfulfilled. Given the effects of solar minimum cycle and foreseeable earth changes, purposing a diminished, unaffordable energy supply is just insane.

See also:
Energy crisis may unleash winter blackouts across US, insider warns

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X

Taliban 'will not work with US to contain Islamic State'

Kathy Gannon, Ellen Knickmeyer
Independent.ie
Sat, 09 Oct 2021 10:15 UTC
Taliban
© AP
Taliban fighters stand guard inside Hamid Karzai International Airport
The Taliban have ruled out cooperation with the US to contain extremist groups in Afghanistan. The group has staked out its uncompromising position on a key issue ahead of the first direct talks between the former foes since America withdrew from the country in August. Senior Taliban officials and US representatives are to meet over Saturday and Sunday in Doha, the capital of the Persian Gulf state of Qatar.

Officials from both sides have said issues to be tackled include reining in extremist groups and the evacuation of foreign citizens and Afghans from the country. The Taliban have signaled their flexibility on evacuations.

Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told The Associated Press there would be no cooperation with Washington on going after the increasingly active Islamic State (IS) group affiliate in Afghanistan.
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Whistle

Capitol Police whistleblower delivers scathing rebuke to two of its senior leaders on Jan. 6

Daniel Lippman and Betsy Woodruff Swan
Yahoo! News
Fri, 08 Oct 2021 19:15 UTC
jan 6 capitol hill protest riot
© AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File
Jan. 6, 2021, protesters confront U.S. Capitol Police officers outside the Capitol in Washington.
A former high-ranking Capitol Police official with knowledge of the department's response to the Jan. 6 attack has sent congressional leaders a scathing letter accusing two of its senior leaders of mishandling intelligence and failing to respond properly during the riot.

The whistleblower, who requested anonymity for privacy reasons and left the force months after the attack, sent the 16-page letter late last month to the top members of both parties in the House and Senate. His missive makes scorching allegations against Sean Gallagher, the Capitol Police's acting chief of uniformed operations, and Yogananda Pittman, its assistant chief of police for protective and intelligence operations — who also served as its former acting chief.

The whistleblower accuses Gallagher and Pittman of deliberately choosing not to help officers under attack on Jan. 6 and alleges that Pittman lied to Congress about an intelligence report Capitol Police received before that day's riot. After a lengthy career in the department, the whistleblower was a senior official on duty on Jan. 6.

Comment: "Stop the Steal" began as a grass-roots movement of Trump supporters who could see that was something very wrong about the 2020 election. It was ripe for social media suppression and FBI infiltration

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Attention

Daily Mail uses FOI rules to obtain emails on secretive covid origins teleconference, receives almost completely blacked-out documents

Ian Birrell
Daily Mail
Sat, 02 Oct 2021 22:00 UTC
uk government johnson
The Government has been condemned after refusing to release details of key email conversations involving leading scientists over the origins of Covid-19.

This newspaper used Freedom of Information rules to obtain a cache of 32 emails about a secretive teleconference between British and American health officials held early in the pandemic.

But officials blacked out almost every word before releasing the crucial documents.

Comment: See also:

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Cult

Ex-NSC official, Fiona Hill, admits it's 'unlikely' Russia had blackmail info on Trump

Samuel Chamberlain
New York Post
Tue, 05 Oct 2021 17:51 UTC
Fiona Hill
© REUTERS/Erin Scott
Former National Security Council Fiona Hill said Russia likely didn't have blackmail info on former President Donald Trump.
A former National Security Council (NSC) official who testified that then-President Donald Trump attempted to use the Ukrainian government for a "domestic political errand" has dismissed the theory the Kremlin had damaging information about the 45th president it used to extract concessions from him.

"What Putin had on Trump is what everybody else had — recognition of his extreme vulnerability to manipulation," Fiona Hill told The Daily Beast in an interview published Monday.

The idea that Trump was uniquely vulnerable to blackmail by Moscow took root even before his inauguration, when BuzzFeed News published the now-infamous dossier compiled by ex-MI6 spook Christopher Steele. Among the dossier's many salacious claims: that Russian intelligence had a video of Trump paying prostitutes to urinate on the bed in the presidential suite at the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow.

Comment: More on Ms. Hill, and none of it pretty. She did her bit though, in obstructing Trump's policies and was rewarded with a book deal, as is custom.

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Attention

Google demonetizes climate skeptics and bans 'denier' ads

Joanne Nova
JoNova
Sat, 09 Oct 2021 18:12 UTC
The only people worth silencing are those who are right.

Goolag
© Hacktivist Parody Google
Hacktivist Parody Google
Google is waging a war against skeptics because skeptics have the truth on their side and they win debates too easily. How do we know? There are plenty of wrong people on the internet, and acres of misinformation, but Google is happy to feed those creators. The Flat Earthers are not spreading fast on Youtube, they're not attracting millions of views. But no one needs to cut off their money supply because their arguments aren't persuasive. To stop those ideas from running amok, the world only needs free speech.
Google announces: ...a new monetization policy for Google advertisers, publishers and YouTube creators that will prohibit ads for, and monetization of, content that contradicts well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change. This includes content referring to climate change as a hoax or a scam, claims denying that long-term trends show the global climate is warming, and claims denying that greenhouse gas emissions or human activity contribute to climate change.

Google demonetizes content creators who deny climate change

by Ian Miles Cheong, Rebel News
Arrogance knows no bounds:
The tech giant claims it will be able to differentiate between content "that states a false claim as fact, versus content that reports on or discusses that claim."
Who needs scientists anyhow - just Google the truth instead of doing all those experiments?

It's time for skeptics to hone their skills in satire and parody. Let's screw those algorithms!

For content creators who were relying on Youtube adverts, losing the monetization could kill the business, it's a cruel blow. Google's behaviour is grossly unfair and deceptive. It sold itself as a "platform" deceived people into watching and sharing their creative talents, and on November 1 could wipe them out. But good talent can still find a way — not only are there other, better video homes, but it's so much better to get a business model that doesn't feed or rely on Google. My advice would be to connect with your audience, set up a blog or a website, and ask for help and donations. Use Youtube while you still can, to set up a list.
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Eye 1

Macron calls for worldwide end to death penalty on 40th anniversary of French abolition


France 24
Sat, 09 Oct 2021 11:51 UTC
macron
© AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron commemorated the 40th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty in France at the Pantheon on Saturday, vowing to "relaunch the fight for the universal abolition" of capital punishment.

Describing the death penalty as an "abomination", the French president said he would convene a summit next year to press for capital punishment to be abolished worldwide.

"As part of the French presidency of the European Union (in the first half of 2022), we will organise, with the NGO Ensemble contre la peine de mort (Together against the death penalty), a meeting in Paris at the highest level, bringing together civil societies from countries that still apply the death penalty [...], in order to convince their leaders of the importance and urgency of abolishing it," he said.

Comment: The irony of Macron lecturing the rest of the world about human rights is astounding given his blatant disregard for them when he OK'd vaccine mandates for healthcare workers. Not to mention the bill introduced by the French Senate to mandate Covid vaccines for EVERYONE beginning January 1, 2022.

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Eye 1

French Senate introduces bill to mandate Covid vaccines for EVERYONE beginning January 1 2022

blueapples
ZeroHedge
Tue, 05 Oct 2021 14:26 UTC
france vaccine mandate

Translated document. Original can be found on: https://www.senat.fr/amendements/commissions/2020-2021/811/Amdt_COM-1.html
Following in the footsteps of much of Europe, France has introduced several stringent vaccine mandates that have irrevocably changed the landscape of life in the nation. The city of lights has been illuminated with the allegorical ambiance of pitchforks and torches as massive protests have taken to the streets of Paris since President Emmanuel Macron announced measures on July 12th that require proof of vaccination to enter cafés, restaurants, and even hospitals. The forewarning of the outcries of those protesters has now reached its apotheosis as the Social Affairs Committee of the French Senate has introduced a bill that will require mandatory vaccinations against COVID-19 for all citizens beginning on January 1st, 2022.

The proposed vaccine mandate was introduced by Senator Bernard Jomier on October 4th. Jomier, the Senator of Paris who introduced the law proposition, sits as the Vice-Chairman of the Social Affairs Committee. He is also a member of the Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices, Social Security Assessment and Control Mission, and Socialist, Ecologist and Republican Group within the French government. Jomier, a member of the Socialist Party, continues to work as a physician as he had preceding his initial term as a Senator which began in 2017. He and his fellow senators Marie-Pierre La Gontrie, Monique Lubin -- among others -- had initially introduced the premise of a nation-wide vaccine mandate to the French Senate on August 31st but have since crafted the premise of the bill in a much more actionable manner at its first reading before the Social Affairs Committee.

Comment: Meanwhile Sweden, Denmark and Finland have moved to ban the Moderna mRNA injection for the under 30's considering the threat to health too great; how long before the truth about the harms posed by the other injections are admitted by governments? And how much harm will France's mandate have caused by that point? Moderna vaccine suspended by Sweden, Denmark for under 30's amidst surge in reports of serious side effects - UPDATE: Finland follows suit

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Dollars

The postpandemic world is one of induced widespread dependence on government

Per Bylund
Austrian Economic Center
Sat, 02 Oct 2021 00:00 UTC
Widespread Dependence on Government
The state strives for power, and what grants power is fear and dependence. The state is making people dependent on it, both as means for control and as an outcome of many policies intended to provide relief.

We have seen a lot of fear and dependence in this pandemic. Fear has been the message that has propelled types of repressive policies that were not possible before. Had anyone suggested only over a year ago that whole countries, democratic European countries, would close down and quarantine people in their homes most of us would have thought him crazy. But it happened. Because fear was drummed up, many populations went along with it. Even though they later protested and resisted, it was too late. Much of the damage was already done. And of course, many feared not only the virus but also the police, which sometimes with enormous brutality cracked down on those seeking a breath of fresh air after weeks stuck in their homes.

It is possible to roll back these policies. However, many of them will need to be rolled back for society to function again. To be clear, it is not possible for the state to keep everybody locked in their homes for long. This is an overreach and points to the limit of the state's power. When the people rise in opposition, as we've seen in this pandemic, the state has no power.

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Dominoes

Turkey's existential choice: BRI or bust

Matthew Ehret
The Cradle
Mon, 04 Oct 2021 00:00 UTC
Zipper China Turkey
© The Cradle
Two destinies are pulling on West Asia from two opposing visions of the future.

As devotees of the rules-based order laid out by Zbigniew Brzezinski 40 years ago strive to uphold their dystopic model of dividing populations to feed endless wars, a more optimistic program of cooperation is being ushered in by China's ever-evolving Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

While many nations have jumped on board this new paradigm with enthusiastic support, others have found themselves precariously straddling both worlds.

Turkey plays footsie with great powers

Chief among those indecisive nations is the Republic of Turkey, whose leader was given a harsh wake up call on 15 July, 2016. It was on this date that Russian intelligence provided Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the edge needed to narrowly avoid a coup launched by followers of exiled Islamist leader Fetullah Gulen.

The timing of the coup has been subject to much speculation, but the fact that it occurred just two weeks after Erdogan's letter of apology to Putin went public was likely not a coincidence. The apology in question referred to Turkey's decision to shoot down a Russian fighter jet flying in Syrian airspace in November 2015, killing a soldier and very nearly activating NATO's collective security pact.
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