174 thoughts to “Open Thread Non-Petroleum, March 26, 2022”

  1. The second part of the 15th COP for biodiversity is to be held in China in late April through early May (https://www.unep.org/events/conference/un-biodiversity-conference-cop-15).

    It is arguable that biodiversity loss is a bigger, and certainly more advanced, threat than climate change, though they are both closely linked. In terms of planetary boundaries (see below and https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries.html) climate change is only fourth worse, being midway through the amber zone, with three other indicators, all effecting biodiversity being worse: biosphere integrity and biochemical flows are far out in the red alert area and land use change is well through the amber zone.

    Biodiversity loss is not covered in the media anything like as much as climate change, and when it is discussed the impression given is that it is caused solely by climate change so that solving one will solve the other. This is not the case. Biodiversity loss is a principal consequence of all the ways in which we are in overshoot. There is no trite, packaged solution that we can use to pretend BAU can continue like renewables for climate change (though there, of course, we are wilfully fooling ourselves). Biodiversity loss will only be slowed if we drastically cut back our consumption both through having fewer numbers of us and individually living on much, much less. As has been said many times if we don’t do it voluntarily then it will be done for us; unfortunately by then the biosphere will be severely impoverished. A quote from E.O. Wilson: “The one process now going on that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us.”

    I can relate to trends of rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns, and their consequences in increasing frequency of extreme weather as droughts, floods and heatwaves, but rates of habitat and species loss and the gradual grinding down of nature just don’t register in the same way. I cannot even imagine how the subject is really studied quantitively and systematically. I find relatively few detailed papers though maybe it’s because I don’t know how or where to look. Things I’d like to know are such as: how much biosphere destruction comes from climate change compared with general human encroachment; what population could be supported in a quasi-sustainable way and at different lifestyles while allowing the biosphere to recover; at what rate is the destruction accelerating (I’m sure it is); how much worse are things likely to get as we attempt the transition to renewables and remove atmospheric carbon dioxide with the accompanying increased demand on mining and land use.

    There was a recent comprehensive paper produced by central banks concerning the impact biodiversity loss on financial systems (https://www.ngfs.net/sites/default/files/medias/documents/central_banking_and_supervision_in_the_biosphere.pdf). It is worth a read but if we are relying on economists and MBAs to lead on ecological matters like this (and they already seem to have taken over the climate response) then we are well and truly screwed. We probably are anyway; John Gray’s most famous quote is: “The destruction of the natural world is not the result of global capitalism, industrialisation, Western civilisation or any flaw in human institutions. It is a consequence of the evolutionary success of an exceptionally rapacious primate. Throughout all of history and prehistory, human advance has coincided with ecological devastation.”

    1. Interesting—
      John Gray offers advice and analysis that is often true, but not necessarily relevant .
      I regret introducing his writing to a friend.
      Thanks-great post

      1. I’m not sure what you mean by relevant. I’d say Gray is more relevant to our present predicament than anyone. He’s not palatable, comforting, conventional or easy.

    2. Regarding the John Gray quote I would argue that this is true for every organism. What we humans are very exceptional at is the scope of our overshoot. But there was an energy gradient to consume and we where the first to consume it. Simply applied thermo dynamics. Who would blame a fire?

      1. Regarding the John Gray quote I would argue that this is true for every organism.

        Bullshit. Every other organism is part of the natural world that this rapacious primate is destroying. We are killing them all. In less than half a century there will be no megafauna larger than a rabbit left alive. We are driving them all into extinction. And you think they are responsible for their own extinction simply because they occupy a habitat that this rapacious primate wants for himself? This rapacious primate has the power to just take the habitat of any other terrestrial animal on earth, so he simply takes it if he wishes.

        The quote again: “The destruction of the natural world is not the result of global capitalism, industrialization, Western civilization, or any flaw in human institutions. It is a consequence of the evolutionary success of an exceptionally rapacious primate. Throughout all of history and prehistory, human advance has coincided with ecological devastation.”

  2. George,

    Interesting source. I noticed one useful article, which suggests that we should worry less about not having enough energy, and more about reducing production of wastes: e.g., carbon emissions from fossil fuel consumption:

    “Current sustainability concepts such as Planetary Boundaries also focus too readily on limits to resources instead of waste accumulation, which is a root cause of unsustainability.

    The simple and intuitive conclusion then is that increasing waste treatment and reducing consumption rates might be more actionable and inducive than warning of resource limits.”

    https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/research-news/2020-03-02-current-sustainability-concepts-too-focused-on-resource-limits-rather-than-waste-accumulation.html

    1. Yeah, energy is mostly wasted anyway, so less energy use in rich countries probably doesn’t matter much. In poor countries there are shortages, but that does not mean they have to imitate Western waste to grow their economies.

      The average commute in America is 16 miles one way, mostly thanks to dumb zoning laws. Average mpg is about 24 for new cars, less for older cars. So Americans use about 1.5 gallons a day just commuting, thanks to a lack of a modern transportation system. At current prices that’s about $7.50/day.

      Multiply gas costs by 260 working days a year, and you get maybe $2000 just for gas. Americans spend more money driving to work than the average South Asian earns. And shipping a T-shirt from Bangladesh costs less than five cents, as I calculated a few weeks ago. A lot of Bangladeshis walk or ride their bikes to work.

      Economies that fail to adopt energy efficiency are doomed to be outcompeted, unless energy prices fall dramatically.

      2. Good discussion on just that re. India and its future, linked below. Energy is in the news again.

        Todays’ leaders did not ask for the level of population they find themselves leading. You are right that how the billions of people in China and India develop their economies is paramount.

        China and India seem to have more concrete plans, that they are actually following, than here in the USA. In January 2023 (with a new batch of politicians) we look set to make a lot of wasteful and bad decisions.

        edit to add: Hey Spriv, that’s great site you have, that you linked to. Your thinking, and writing, are top notch!

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAyzc6SRnJs&ab_channel=JaipurLiteratureFestival

        1. Go 2 surf , I don’t know about China but as to India there is no plan . The government’s strategy is ” survive another day ” . Too many cultural and social issues . A caste system unique to the country that determines who will get the bread and who will get the crumbs . 800 m ( total pop 1,3 billion) living on 5 Kg of free wheat / rice + 1Kg of chickpeas per month . 60 % of the women are anaemic . 48% youth unemployment , + 50% of the WORLD’S illiterate are in India . This is where “Overshoot ” and ” LTG ” meet . By the way 28th/29th a general strike . Banks , railways , airlines , trucks all closed against the government’s plan to sell everything not nailed to it’s cronies .

      3. Alim ” A lot of Bangladeshis walk or ride their bikes to work. ”
        Yes . Now ” Walk the talk ” . Go and file for a permanent stay to the Bangladesh Embassy since you advocate this lifestyle for the West . It is not ” energy efficiency ” , it is simple poverty that forces them . It is not a choice it is desperation . We are at an inflection point, it is called ” nett surplus energy ” . Richard Duncan summed this in his ” The Olduvai ” . When “energy per capita” falls below a certain level it is party over . Welcome to ” The Olduvai ” the cradle where homo sapiens began their journey , because that is where we are headed .

    1. Some day in future Alexander you will find out more information about what is going on.
      And this will help you understand why so much of world is now furious with Putin and the destruction being laid down upon the citizens of Ukraine by the Russian military. Something like 10 million people have fled their homes, cold and hungry.
      And it will help you understand why there is a strong measure of economic isolation being enforced on Russia, despite the painful consequences of economic conflict.
      The hatred of Ukrainians against Russian government, invasion, and occupation is not just going to disappear one day.
      Neither is the economic pain that Russia is creating for itself and the rest of the world.
      There is no excuse for the war against citizens of Ukraine or other countries that no longer want to be part of a Russian greater empire. Putins massive blunder will taint the Russian experience for decades.

      “Fourth, Putin should have no illusions about how long sanctions will remain in place. The sanctions should not be lifted until Russia withdraws from all territory within the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine, recommits to the provisions of the Budapest Memorandum and pays war reparations.”

      2. Hicks , “And it will help you understand why there is a strong measure of economic isolation being enforced on Russia, ” .
        Economic isolation ??? Give me a break . China , India , MENA , SE Asia , Africa , South America are still doing business with Russia . NATO + 5 eyes + Korea and Japan are not the masters of the world(20%) . 80 % of the world is still doing business with Russia . Wake up .
        Hey even Israel is doing business with Russia . Sanctions were / are a flop . Failed in Iran (40 years ) , failed in Venezuela , failed in Syria failed everywhere .

      3. Hicks , your point number 4 . The West (NATO) will have to unwind or else the EU is FUBAR . The EU politicians will be voted out of power . There are ” No volunteers for starvation ” .

        1. Hicks , our point of agreement . Ukraine will be fragmented . The current borders will not exist . I am going out on a limb and can be wrong . Putin will accelerate if needed the war in Ukraine so that it ends by end of April maximum . He will / can stand on the podium of the Red Square on 9th May and give a speech on the Victory parade ( 9th May is when the Soviet Army entered Berlin in WW2 ) and claim another victory over nazisim . Best guess , reserve the right to be wrong .

          1. Hole in Head Hello! The war will probably not end in a month. There are peaceful people there. The Nazis do not let them out. There is a lot of evidence.
            Therefore, it is impossible to massively use artillery, unlike the Ukrainians. Here is a video of today’s Mariupol, where fires and tanks are used to fire at snipers and machine guns. The city burned down, but there is no work of aviation and MLRS.
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhUtRgVpedM

            1. Alexander why do I guess the war will be over by end of April ?
              1. 3 C’s are Command , Control and Communication essential to fight a war . Command and control are demolished for the Ukie army . Communication exists only because Putin know he will have to rebuild the network after the war is over . However communicating via cellphones (also work as GPS) is no way to fight a war .
              2. Minus command and control the Ukie army is like a group of headless chickens running around in groups without guidance . No coordination of the groups .No strategy and no tactics — SunTzu .
              3. Logistics . The army marches on its stomach .— Napoleon . The supply line of the Ukie army are shattered since RF controls 100% of the airspace , sea coast and most of the supply roads . All major cities in which the RF is interested in are blocked or circled . Currently they are not interested in Lviv so no encirclement there but a few air raids . Maybe the Azov battalion will fight with bricks and stones ?
              4. I know of the problem of the Azov using civilians as human shields . This is a headache for the RF . They could send food supplies for the civilians into Kiev or other cities but it will be confiscated by the Azov . They must now wait for the civilians to revolt against their captors and come out . Humanitarian corriders are already set up by RF .
              5 . Putin has achieved 4 of the 6 objectives he outlined .
              (a) No NATO . Achieved .
              (b) Demilitarisation . Achieved . All Ukie hardware is destroyed .
              (c) Denazification . Work in process. It will take time . The Nazi’s will be identified and taken out . The general public will rat on them . Ground is ready and WIP .
              (d) Return of the Russian language (along with Ukrainian) as the official language of Ukraine . Achieved .
              Physically achieved but not recognized
              (e) Crimea under control
              (f) LDNR under control but not recognized .
              (e) and (f) are political issues now since on the ground RF is incharge .
              This is like the China -Taiwan issue . The One China policy recognized by the world agrees that PROC is China and Taiwan is its province .
              So I come back to issue 3 which is logistics . The war cannot continue without ammo , fuel and food resupply for the Ukie army encircled in all locations by RF . They will surrender or die . Yes Russians will die also . This is war . I only hope it’s over . Actually it would already be over if Washington ( not NATO) was not so blatantly interfering and adding fuel to fire .

            2. Hole in Head
              Greetings!
              1. A truly not great grouping of Russian troops, about 200,000, entered Ukraine.
              2. The territories that need to be controlled are colossal, in addition, it is necessary to protect communications.
              3. Russia did not announce the goals of the company for the citizens of Ukraine, thus citizens are afraid to cooperate with the military. They are afraid of the return of Ukrainian fascists, remembering that they disappeared (buried in the ground in the forests) sympathizers of Russia.
              4. In the east of Ukraine, a group of Ukrainian troops numbering from 60 to 80 thousand people is still concentrated, large warehouses of weapons and supplies have been accumulated. Apparently, they will be surrounded in about 10 days.
              5. It will take many days to restore order in the occupied territory and to ensure control on the left bank of the Dnieper.
              6. A humanitarian catastrophe is brewing in the east of Ukraine:
              – the supply of all kinds, including food, has ceased.
              -Ukraine blew up all the bridges
              Based on the above, a quick end should not be expected. Rather, we can talk about the possibility of a political agreement between the presidents of Ukraine and Russia.

        2. I was talking to Alexander, not you HinH.
          I’m pretty sure you are different people.

          You said “I will refrain from going further”
          That is all I ask.
          When you are silent for long periods, your standing improves slightly.

          note- the troll is a longtime authoritarian fanboy.

          1. Hicks , I can show you the truth but I can’t make you believe it . You can ignore reality but you can’t ignore the consequences of reality .— Ayn Rand . As to my standing , I am not in the race for a popularity contest . My target is ” truthism ” ,though I don’t know if this word is listed in Oxford or Webster ,

        3. Hole in HeadHere is a video on YouTube. The fact is that the rulers of the west hope that there will be dissatisfaction with Putin after the sanctions lead to a drop in living standards. This is a big mistake and not understanding the situation. First they write lies in the news, then they begin to believe in it. The second video The suppression of the uprising in Mariupol by Ukrainian fascists in 2014 May. The uprisings were everywhere in the east, after it tens of thousands of people “disappeared” the Russian Federation did not support, the Government of the Russian Federation wanted to exchange the suppression of the uprising and betray the Donetsk separatists
          in exchange for the recognition of Crimea.
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwyqs_0j1yE&t=27s
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm6VRyXheGw&t=84s

      4. Hickory Hello. I agree with you that the sanctions should not be lifted. Moreover, I really want this and I think that the Russian Federation should build a life without relying on economic ties with the West. You don’t know what the Ukrainian fascists have been doing for 8 years, I think you are not interested. Your news is one-sidedly biased coverage of events, they are both a judge and a prosecutor. Russian troops selectively use weapons, do not bomb cities and suffer losses because they are afraid to offend civilians. Western media is the mouthpiece of the Ukrainian side.
        This morning, the Ukrofascists captured and crippled more than ten Russian prisoners, several people could not stand the torture and died. The Ukrainians made this promise back in 2013, when the Maidan had not yet begun. Well, the world will not be the same.
        And yes you are wrong
        about the fact that we are being zombified by “Russian propaganda” for more than ten years, for example, I have not had a TV and I get news from the Internet from various sources, including Ukrainian and Western.

      5. Hickory,

        If by “So much of the world” is furious, you mean “the west” then i agree.

        And you need to stop talking down to people, because that is how you are coming across, As if you know something they don’t. Which is unlike you. You are just as brainwashed as me or the next person. None of us are special, none of us hold the absolute perspective on anything.

        I hope you are as critical of your own governments genocides in the 20th and 21st century as you are of the Russia invasion. If it was a competition for tyranny, genocide and support for authoritarianism globally the U.S has more blood on its hands than any other nation on this god forsaken rock. That’s my bias talking.

        1. Ah, adding some (rare) perspective, thanks Mike. I witnessed victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam. These are all young adults under the age of 40, but remain about the size of 8 or 9-year-old children, so they are often referred to as ”children” by their parents and caretakers. Most of them have atrophied, skeletal limbs that are severely twisted, leaving them bedridden and in need of round the clock care. Agent Orange has also caused enormous environmental damage in Vietnam.

        2. Iron M- “I hope you are as critical of your own governments genocides in the 20th and 21st century ”
          Agree entirely.
          Been arrested and politically active protesting against war.

          And yes, I was referring to the ‘west’ when I said ‘so much of the world’.

          I’m not going to be apologetic for pushing back hard against Trump or Putin, or whatever other asshole is trying to force pure bullshit into the minds of gullible humanity.

          1. I’ve been gassed on three continents—
            However, in South America it was during a coup attempt, so it really didn’t count.

        3. Goddammit, Mike, I protested the Vietnam war. I know it was wrong, We now recognize our mistakes. That’s how life works. One makes a mistake and one learns from that mistake and moves on.

          But because our country made a mistake in Vietnam or Iraq, does that mean we should give Putin Carte Blanche in Ukraine. We should just tell him, “yes, go ahead, bomb schools, hospitals, and civilians everywhere. No, fuck no! Regardless of the mistakes my country made in the past, I still have the right… No,I have the absolute obligation to protest the actions of this bloodthirsty tyrant regardless of my government’s past sins.

          Because my government made mistakes in the past does not obligate me to remain silent when I see a bloodthirsty tyrant murdering innocent men, women, and children like they were worthless vermin. So please quit protesting the protesters of this obvious grave injustice.

        4. IRON , this is so much of the world as per Hicks . Grab some popcorn . 🙂

          1. You forgot to put all the people on the map who are now seeing a painful escalation of food and energy inflation in dozens of countries, all courtesy of Putin.
            They all know it.
            Most the map turns yellow in you ditch the autocrat pom pom mode.

    2. Good luck with all your purges in russia.

      Communistic or facistic dictatorship – the only difference is concentration camp or siberian hunger camp for elimination of unwanted people.

      Putin himself announced the purges – you can’t tell that’s propaganda. My grandparents still know this rhetoric.

      I hope Russia can topple this government fast and there can be new agreements and a new Europe. With less military. At the moment the half dead NATO in Europe was kissed alive – not exactly what Putin planned I think.

      1. “Communistic or facistic dictatorship – the only difference is concentration camp or siberian hunger camp for elimination of unwanted people.”
        —-
        Eulenspiegel. I lived under the communists for 33 years and was their opponent. At the same time, I want to note that the comparisons are not correct. Yes, the communists turned the doctrine into something similar to religion,
        but with regard to the means of production owned by the state, there is common sense,
        as in other things and in the differentiated tax rate under capitalism, which I also consider a wonderful idea. Comparing fascists with communists is not correct. Under Stalin, there was some kind of coercion associated with a lack of goods, a lack of production capacity and the task of building modern industry, medicine, education, in a short time in the absence of investmentPeople were forced to work for food. To study the history of the USSR from the works of dissidents like Solzhenitsyn, you can compare if you study the history of France by reading Dumas’ novels. Solzhenitsyn exaggerated a lot and lied.

        It’s not worth hoping for the overthrow of Putin, his rating is the highest in the last 30 years. The military and economic potential of Russia is dozens of times smaller than his opponents. And therefore I am most afraid of the development of a nuclear war in which it is clear who will win, but it is someone third .
        I was shocked by the video of fascists and sadists: https://southfront.org/shocking-evidence-of-ukrainian-regimes-essence-video-21/

        1. There are always different shades – from the late DDR to a butcher like Stalin who killed double digit millions of own people, even without the help of Hitler. And millions of Ukrainians – which isn’t forgotten and needed to understand the current conflict completely.
          For someone who knows here the wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor

          Facists, too – there was the difference between Hitler on the one side and late stage Franco regime which was more a normal dictatorship, killing some opponens but no slayer anymore.
          And nobody invaded Spain because of Franco – and in Ukraine it is even possible to change government with elections. Not a sign of a facists regime. Some facists you find everywhere, no excuse for a full scale invasion.

          1. “butcher like Stalin who killed double digit millions of own people, even without the help of Hitler. And millions of Ukrainians – which isn’t forgotten and needed to understand the current conflict completely.”
            —-
            Eulenspiegel.You have incorrect information. As for the death sentences, less than 700,000 were carried out during the entire reign of Stalin, and those executed in the Second World War are included in this number, this of course does not justify.
            The second was not an exclusive “Holodomor” for Ukrainians. The Holodomor was for all citizens of the USSR, especially rural areas. The excess of mortality in the USSR in 1937 over previous years and subsequent years was 2 million and a half higher than usual.
            Of course, I cannot justify this. This was due to the fact that the peasants were given a lot of land and were obliged to hand over at low prices the estimated amount of grain relative to the land plots.
            Sabotage followed – the peasants did not sow the seeds.
            And in the fall, they raked out all the grain in accordance with the calculations.
            After this famine, there was no more. This is a simplified explanation.
            This is a complex issue and should not be talked about in a primitive way.
            Ukrainians and Russians are strongly mixed and it doesn’t matter what nationality you are.
            For example, every fifth of my acquaintances has a Ukrainian surname.
            Which national question is determined by the place of residence.
            And yes, in the east of Ukraine, few people know the Ukrainian language, everyone speaks Russian.

            1. As I recall “everyone speaks Russian” is at least in part due to another policy of Stalin to send ethnic Russians into all of the conquered territories to force integration with mother Russia. This is similar to the tactic in China where ethnic Han are moved into areas such as Tibet and Xinjian to dilute the native population with those with stronger ties to the government.

              As an amateur historian I think I can say confidently that Russia has never had a decent government all the way back to the 14th century. Putin reinforces that fact every day. Just another brutal dictator following a long line of Tsars, commissars and not-exactly-elected presidents.

            2. jjhman.I know the history well. The southern and southeastern part of Ukraine until 1783. It was not inhabited at all. It was part of the Crimean Tatar horde, this state whose economy was based on the trade of Slavic slaves with Turkey, the east and Europe (in Venice there was a square named for this reason ) After 1783, this territory was settled mainly by Russians from the Volga region (there are documents on resettlement) and Jews from Belarus. Cossacks from Ukraine and the Don settled the Kuban (North Caucasus).
              Stalin divided the territory of the former empire into union republics,
              before him, there was no such division and states.
              I personally know many from the east of Ukraine who do not know the Ukrainian language, although at school from the 4th grade they were forcibly taught everyone.

          3. JJHMAN —
            More to the point, just because people speak Russian doesn’t mean they want to be occupied by Russia.

            The whole claim that Russian speakers in Ukraine are happy about Putin leveling Ukrainian cities is extremely doubtful, though Putin seems to believe it.

            1. Yep, same with Spanish speakers in Mexico- prefer independence.
              Same with Americans and English.
              Same with Singapore and China (48% speak Mandarin or other Chinese dialects).

  4. Attention hydrogen sceptics.

    WEST MIDLANDS TO RUN ‘LARGEST HYDROGEN BUS FLEET’ DUE TO NEW FUNDING

    “The West Midlands is set to run the UK’s largest hydrogen bus fleet after securing new funding. The region will get 124 new buses after it won £30m from the Department for Transport to fund a switchover. Twenty four of the new vehicles will be articulated tram-style buses set to run on a new bus priority route between Walsall, Birmingham and Solihull. It comes on top of a previous £50m investment to make Coventry the UK’s first all-electric bus city. The funding tops up private bus company investment over the next three years to accelerate the switch from diesel buses to clean and green vehicles, said the West Midlands Combined Authority. The region was “already leading the way”, it said, with 20 hydrogen double decker buses, bought by Birmingham City Council and operated by National Express West Midlands.”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-60892679

  5. Washington’s Massive Miscalculation:

    “I am shocked at the miscalculation in thinking economic sanctions on Russia would bring them to their knees. The opposite is true. Russia is self-sufficient and is not dependent on imports. Its exports are critical to the economic well-being of the West. If they withhold wheat, potash, gas, oil, palladium, finished nickel and other key minerals from the West, the European and US economies will be savaged. And this attempt to coerce Russia with sanctions has now made it very likely that the US dollar’s role as the international reserve currency will show up in the dustbin of history.”

    —David A. Stockman
    (Reagan’s OMB director always has some interesting analysis)

    1. Yep, thats one way things could go down.
      Who needs who worse?
      I said at the outset of this invasion that Putins bet is that his country could absorb more pain than ‘the west’.
      That may be the one thing he did get right.

      btw- i think Stockman has it wrong- no one expects sanctions to bring Russia to their knees. They do expect the sanctions [along with Ukrainian determination to be a sovereign country] to change the equation to a big enough degree to get things moved from the battlefield to the negotiating table on decent terms. That is indeed NATO’s goal.

      keep in mind that both Canada and S. Korea have national GDP higher than Russia

    2. It’s nice to see how Republican propaganda always puppets the thoughts of people that actually think about things. As soon as someone points out that Putin miscalculated, you can depend on a Republican starts using the word to attack Biden.

      Wasn’t Stockmann the guy who championed the idea of cutting taxes to balance the budget?

      1. True Alim- stockman certainly not a commentator or an expert to much credence to

        1. Yes, Stockman is NOT an economist or expert on foreign relations:

          “… received a BA in History from Michigan State University in 1968. He was a graduate theology student at Harvard University from 1968 to 1970.

          Career politician:

          Stockman’s served as special assistant to United States Representative and 1980 U.S. presidential candidate John Anderson of Illinois, 1970–1972, and was executive director, United States House of Representatives Republican Conference, 1972–1975. In 1976, Stockman was elected from Michigan’s 4th congressional district to the House of Representatives for the 95th Congress. He was reelected in the two subsequent elections. In total, he served in the House from January 3, 1977, until his resignation on January 21, 1981, to accept appointment as Director of the Office of Management and Budget for President Ronald Reagan.[6]”

          “Stockman was quoted as referring to Reagan’s tax act in these terms: “I mean, Kemp-Roth [Reagan’s 1981 tax cut] was always a Trojan horse to bring down the top rate…. It’s kind of hard to sell ‘trickle down.’ So the supply-side formula was the only way to get a tax policy that was really ‘trickle down.’ Supply-side is ‘trickle-down’ theory.”[7] Of the budget process during his first year on the job, Stockman was quoted as saying, “None of us really understands what’s going on with all these numbers,” which was used as the subtitle of the article.[7]”

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Stockman

        2. Anyone in the Reagan Administration is of questionable ability.

            1. One of the biggest and most frustrating failings of the liberal establishment, and the faithful membership thereof, is to do exactly the same goddamned thing the trumpsters do……… vilify and ridicule or simply ignore any information coming from the opposition camp.

              Stockman may be an idiot, that’s irrelevant.

              If I had posted the same quote, and attributed it to a Democrat, nobody would have questioned the content at all.

              The content is one hundred percent rock solid.

              The rest of the world needs Russian minerals, oil, and gas a damned sight worse than Russia needs imports…….. period.

              Life has always been hard in Russia, for the vast majority of the people there, and will be quite a bit harder now, for some years to come…… but the Russian economy in and of itself will not crash anything like other economies dependent on imported Russian energy and minerals.

              The Russian people won’t starve, and they won’t freeze to death.

              I’m with Hickory and Ron, with Biden, but I don’t see any likelihood of any happy ending for this war.

              We’re fucking ASLEEP……. and even this hot war is not making much of an impression on the man on the street here in the USA…… nor the man on the street in Western Europe……. YET.

              And when the effects of it become obvious, in a few months more, or a year or two, as more and more of the INDUSTRIAL web grinds to a halt, for lack of raw materials, with effects cascading all thru the world economy, assuming the Russians quit exporting, well……

              Half or more of the people here in the USA will throw a three year old hissy fit, and blame it on the Democrats… simply because the President is a Democrat.

              It takes a generation at least to fix ignorance, and stupid can’t be fixed at all.

            2. OFM —
              I for one strongly question Stockman’s assessment. It’s more than just interesting because Putin has just signed a decree stating that Germans have to pay for gas in rubles starting tomorrow, and the German government (Greens and Socialists, oh my!) has firmly said no.

              Most German gas comes from Russia, and I heat my house with gas. I doubt any of my neighbors is worried. I’m not. Worst comes to worst, we’ll have to get a few more blankets out of the basement.

              Nobody needs anything from Russia. There are real short term issues with wheat and sunflower oil from Russia and Ukraine, but in a few years that would recede as well.

            3. Stockman is fighting with a straw man: ““I am shocked at the miscalculation in thinking economic sanctions on Russia would bring them to their knees.”

              No one thinks that. They’re thinking that it might just help the Ukrainians, but mostly prevent an attack on Lithuania…

  6. In this time of invasion and propaganda information war. I’ll offer up a little help with phraseology.

    On peak oil barrel now twice this week, and on various other media sources i have seen those who promote the Russian war on the citizens of Ukraine in part justified by the idea that the ‘west’ or Washington is
    ‘escalating the conflict’.

    This is codespeak for taking actions that hinder the success of the invasion.
    Actions that may assist Ukraine in its attempt to avoid a crushing military defeat (crushed brains on the concrete road) and avoid surrender.
    The only escalation of conflict is by invading forces.
    No one has rolled onto the Russia territory. NATO has not opened up a front on the outskirts of St Petersburg. NATO has not rolled troops into Kiev to push back the invaders.

    No, providing aid to a country under invasion is not an escalation.
    That phraseology is just a poor attempt to prey on the minds of the weak.

    If economic sanctions are an escalation, then yes- It is an escalation of economic war that has been ongoing for a hundred thousand years before history was even a notion.

    1. “Hertling was just on CNN and it looks like they’re starting to sober up a bit. Zerlinsky’s reported concessions maybe forced the issue–”
      Might be time to finally face reality, and proceed from there—
      Hickory makes the case, this was an invasion.
      However, history has a more robust analysis.

      1. The sad truth is that might does make right when the chips are down. In the present case Russia is better equipped than any other nation to tighten its belt, suffer the consequences, and win any war of endurance. Eight hundred years of internal oppression makes for a stoic population. Five hundred years of empire has left the Russian leadership with a sense of ownership of the surrounding regions. Two hundred and fifty years of conflict with the west has embedded paranoia in the minds of the Russians.

          1. Is it a myth that Russians are incredible survivors? Could any western nation deal with the collapse of their entire social structure as well as Russians did in the 1990s?
            Is it a myth that the Russian tsars held the peasants as feudal serfs until the 1860s and that Cossacks rode down peaceful protestors in 1905?
            You think maybe Putin doesn’t think Russia deserves to control Ukraine, the “Stans” and the Baltic states?
            Did you know that Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812? Germany in 1914 and 1941? Have you heard of the cold war?
            My apologies for having confused you.

            1. Americans kept slaves longer than Russians had serfs, and serfs were a good deal freer.

              In response to recent demonstrations, Republican state governments have rushed through laws making it legal to run over pedestrian protesters. The same politicians have been supportive of the truck convoy demonstrations, showing that Republicans have translated the medieval belief that a man on horse back is inherently superior to a man on foot to drivers vs pedestrians. SUV drivers are America’s Cossacks.

              And so on. Of course all this is nonsense, but it’s fun to cook up.

              The truth is that nobody in the world is what their grandfathers were. National myths are just that. Myths. Some of them are sort of true, but each generation picks and chooses which ones he cares to believe.

              This is akin to what linguists call “language prestige”. why do immigrant children prefer the local language to their mother tongue? It has higher prestige. Why did German lose its status as the language of chemistry and physics after WWII? Thank the Nazis. Why do rich Russians prefer London and Paris to beautiful Moscow or Petersburg? Putin.

              What Putins has been doing for that last 20 years is thoroughly discrediting Russian as an identity. The world thinks of Russian in terms of organized crime, spooks, heavy handed military and a long suffering populace. None of this is any more inherently “Russian”.

              Why the quotes around “Russian”? Because what any person today thinks Russia (or any other country) is is a short term illusion based on the personal experiences of the stuff that person read in the local newspaper in his short lifetime. If a more sensible government had come into power instead of the current spooks and thugs, we’d all be singing the praise of Russian genius, not whispering darkly about medieval peasants and Stalinist terror.

              You can see if you ever travel to the region and observe the difference between booming Poland and backwater Belarus. It’s tragic. Putin is emptying out Eastern Europe, and your stories are reflections of Putin’s misadventures, not fundamental truths about Russia.

              If you have doubts, consider Northern Ireland. Remember The Troubles? How did it all end? It ended when the Republic joined the EU and enjoyed an enormous economic boom, overshadowing the economy of NI, which had been richer for most of the 20th century. The Orange identity suddenly seemed less worth fighting for.

          2. Hi Alimbiquated,
            I’m sad to say that my opinion of your grasp of the real world has hit rock bottom.

            Anybody who has even an abc level of understanding of the troubles headed our way IF Russia cuts off the export of oil, gas and various minerals knows that in the short and medium term the economies of the Western countries are down the toilet…….

            In theory, yes, we can do without Russian exports.Given a decade or two, we could manage it rather well, by adopting some war time level economic policies. I very seriously doubt that more than a handful of people in most countries are well enough informed to support such policies over the long term, because IF they are implemented, they are going to be VERY painful.

            For instance here in the USA, we don’t have a snowball’s chance on a red hot stove of passing a significant tax increase on gasoline at the federal level.

            In practice, our political realities for the next few years are such that we will be up shit creek without a paddle.

            Here in my part of the USA, three quarters of my neighbors are utterly convinced this war, the price of gasoline, and bad weather are entirely Joe Biden’s fault.

            This is not going to end well, no siree, if this war continues long term and Putin and his cronies move it up to pro baseball level hard ball.

            The Russians won’t starve, they won’t freeze, and they’re pretty much used to having very little in the way of the life style made possible by a modern industrial economy.

      2. “However, history has a more robust analysis”

        True enough- Weapons, supply lines and determination win a war.

        But as we have seen, those factors are unlikely to help win the peace.
        In the long run this invasion will be a loss for both the Ukrainians, the Russians,
        and most of the rest.
        Those who relish in destruction, or seek a quicker pace of retreat from overshoot may be enjoying themselves. I assure you that does not include 10 million displaced from home and family.

        1. I assure you that does not include 10 million displaced from home and family.

          Note: Unless you are in Donbas
          (which has about 1/3 the population of the Ukraine)

          (it isn’t that simple)

          1. Hightrekker- from what i see the total population of Donbas region is less than 1/10th of Ukraine total (less than 4 million) and majority do identify as Ukrainian.
            Regardless of the actual numbers,
            you are moving back down to SoCal, USA and is is not part of either Spain or Mexico.
            Maybe there should be a vote? You speak Spanish right?
            Maybe the Donbas should go back to the Ottomans like it used to be?

            Perhaps it all doesn’t really matter, except Putins tank made it so.

            1. “Russians in Ukraine (Ukrainian: Росіяни в Україні, Rosiyany v Ukrayini; Russian: Русские на Украине, Russkiye na Ukrainye) are the largest ethnic minority in the country. This community forms the largest single Russian community outside of Russia in the world. In the 2001 Ukrainian census, 8,334,100 identified as ethnic Russians (17.3% of the population of Ukraine); this is the combined figure for persons originating from outside of Ukraine and the Ukrainian-born population declaring Russian ethnicity.”

              You speak Spanish right?
              Así así
              I moved to the USA from PV.

          2. Like I said Donbas region population is less than 15% of total Ukraine.
            Many speak Russian.

            Many people in Canada speak French, many people in Brazil speak Portug…, about 100 million people in India speak Bengali…
            Doesn’t mean some other countries owns it or has some right to just take it.

      3. What the Russians are doing is a brute force power play. There is no way to conduct a war (or a “special military operation”) without it escalating to inflict serious human and economic casualties. The best solution is that it can be avoided altogether.

        If the west is to blame in some way, I am in no position to judge.

        It is the cold war all over again. Not exactly the same, that is for sure. Now – it is more of a hybrid war, but a direct military confrontation will be avoided like before (hopefully). When all is said and done, I am pretty sure the major powers will go to the negotiation table and find some working arrangement when it comes to trade. The possible overlooked risk for Russia, is that the nation can be so isolated from trade that they can be targeted in a number of ways. The global trade network is the number 1 reason that we have seen less major wars the last 30 years. For example high oil prices caused by Russia hurts China – and they are supposed to be partners… So, Russia will come to the negotiating table. The best solution is a continued cooperation with Europe. Europe will most likely respect the Russian sphere of independence and give some concessions. But Russia is for sure not better off cutting ties to Europe. It’s like a couple that is closely knit, and exploring other options in a power struggle.

        Russia was preparing to gear up for war like setting it seems. Look at the military parade in 2020.

        The Soviet-Union Is Returning | Soviet march 2020
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzRBIxAkuYo

        1. Kolbeinh , ” What the Russians are doing is a brute force power play.” . Yeah , so when Mohd Ali beat George Foreman and Joe Frazier he was using brute force ? What was he supposed to do by your standards of brute force ? Go sit in his corner and get his a*** kicked because he wanted to play nice
          and look beautiful ? What the heck do you think this is ? A popularity contest like AGT , Miss Universe , can u dance ? This is war . This is brutal and people will die . If you can’t stand the heat then get out of the kitchen and for heaven’s sake switch off that idiot box (TV) .

          1. To admit, I made this post a bit provocative. More than natural – though I think it has a a few strings of truth in it. In the grey zone maybe.

            The security threat to Russia is almost non existent. Nobody wants to go there. Want to be a part of the solution? Where are all the natural resources going to be utilised? Purely within Russia? I am not really supporting the whole world kind of government style of governing everything. So fair trade is what it boils down to. And there will definitely be an agreement (or chaos, or war).

            A reasoned kind of thought pattern would be that oil exporters would be forced to (or it would be in their own interest) to make sure that export keeps going. The same reasoning could expand to natural gas quite easily.

        2. The Soviet Union isn’t returning with the colonial possessions in Central Asia and the Caucasus, or Stalin’s conquests in the Baltics. Nobody except Putin wants to live behind the Iron Curtain again.

  7. Putin has thrown the gauntlet . Get those roubles or I MAY turn off the taps on 1st April . Don’t lecture about contracts . The West broke them all ABM , INF , START etc right to overflights and to add salt on wounds absolute confiscation of Russian USD reserves which is a default of the nth order . G7 who are they ? Members of the you scratch my back and I will scratch yours . Another irrelevant grouping like EU etc . Dinosaours .
    https://tass.com/politics/1428229?utm_source=zerohedge.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zerohedge.com&utm_referrer=zerohedge.com

    1. Hole in Head.Stock up on popcorn. 04/01/2022, according to Putin, payment for gas in Europe should be received. However, this may drag on for a longer time. I am only afraid of raising rates, aggravating the conflict and starting a nuclear war. I will accept the rest calmly.

        1. Now this . ” “The Russian Union of Grain Exporters (Rusgrain) has turned to the Bank of Russia to get the necessary tools to start selling domestic produce for rubles. The measure was discussed at the regulator’s meeting with the alliance, according to the list of initiatives obtained by business daily Kommersant.

          Rusgrain, which accounts for more than 70% of Russian grain exports, has asked the regulator to provide ruble liquidity for foreign banks that serve the buyers of the country’s grains.”
          Wait when the uranium suppliers suppliers want to sell in roubles . Will be fun .

          1. The likelihood that Russia will require payment in rubles or restrict supplies is high. I believe that Putin did not count on today’s developments. This is definitely a mistake. There will most likely be some kind of behind-the-scenes bargaining to get out of this impasse.

            1. Alexander , in Indian history we have Chanakya (his European counterpart is Machiavelli). He advised his emperor ” Never take the sword out of the sheath and if you do then make sure it is covered in blood before you put it back ” . The same goes for Putin’s rouble move .

        2. Here’s the Media Bias report on Summit News:
          Launched in March 2019, Summit News is a far-right conspiracy website. Like most questionable sources this website does not have an about page nor disclosure of ownership. The primary writer appears to be Paul Joseph Watson, who is a former editor for the conspiracy website Infowars. Although not disclosed, Paul Joseph Watson appears to be the owner and editor of this website. Further, Summit News has been banned on Facebook.
          https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/summit-news/

  9. Beware experts……

    The more they know, sometimes, the more dangerous they become.

    The richest man in the world said he fears religious extremism, a declining birthrate , and ” artificial intelligence going wrong.” Death, however, did not make his list. “I spent a lot of time talking about the birthrate thing,” Musk said. “That might be the single biggest threat to the future of human civilization.”1 day ago

    Elon Musk reveals 3 existential threats he’s scared of, including a declining birthrate …
    https://www.businessinsider.in › tech › news ›

    I can’t really get my head around the idea of artificial intelligence actually taking over the world…… Maybe that’s possible. I just don’t see it happening, if it is possible.

    Religious extremism……..

    Well, maybe he’s right about that. Our current political situation here in the USA is pretty much based on civilization in the grand sense on one side, and religious extremism in the form of the Republican Party on the opposite side.

    But religious extremism and high technology seldom go hand in hand. I’m not much worried about people from impoverished extremist societies invading North America, lol.

    But I’m simply appalled that somebody such as Musk, who obviously has an excellent grasp of the physical sciences, has a near zero appreciation of overshoot.

    The one likeliest most effective thing that we can do that won’t cost an arm and a leg to help solve the overshoot problem is to encourage people to have fewer kids.

    1. The one likeliest most effective thing that we can do that won’t cost an arm and a leg to help solve the overshoot problem is to encourage people to have fewer kids.

      If someone actually wants to have kids, asking them not to is an big sacrifice. Buying an EV or putting in insulation is nothing in comparison.

      1. It’s my experience, having watched the reproductive process play out over about three quarters of a century and four generations, that not very many people WANT more than one or two kids……. once they see the advantages of a small family.

        Paraphrased argument made by a ( mostly) happily married woman my age to her husband, way back when: Sure, rubbers are expensive. But they’re dirt cheap compared to kids.

        Four kids. Her husband was a hard worker, but bareback is more fun, and he didn’t have to have the babies, personally.
        Her three girls have four kids between them, despite being very poorly educated.

        If some super rich individual would start manufacturing and distributing free birth control meds and devices this one thing alone would stabilize the population ten or twenty years sooner in a lot of places.

        Even priests of various sorts, any religion, come to understand that their own power and status are at risk if they don’t get with the program, in terms of small families, once enough women start having only one or two kids and thereby start living a better life.

        I’m not in close contact with more than one or two Catholics these days, because they’re scarce where I live now, but I used to know a dozen or so well.

        They were mostly quite serious about their beliefs and dogmas except for one thing…… the birth control thing. The local priests seldom mentioned THAT dogma, except briefly in passing. It’s a dead letter now, because emphasizing it means a shrinking attendance and revenues.

        Ditto in the local Baptist and other Evangelical or fundamentalist Protestant sects. When I was young, a woman who dared show up in my family church showing her knees was as good as called out as a streetwalker. Rock music was one of the devil’s primary tools.

        Now there are Christian rock bands playing in the same buildings, during services.

        I can assure you that there are DAMNED FEW Baptist preachers who have much, if anything, to say against birth control or small families, because they came to understand years and years ago that doing so would mean fewer people and a much diminished collection plate.

        The message coming from the women, across the board, across political lines, across cultures, according to what I see and read, is that once they have one or two kids, and they’re not afraid of starving in their old age, they’re done, if they can manage it.

        Of course there’s plenty of pressure coming from the men in some societies to keep women big and barefoot. But even the men in such societies tend to figure it out, eventually.

        Sex is more fun with Momma if she’s still relatively attractive, and life is better for them, if she has more time and energy to work in or out of the home, thereby improving the male living standard as well, but this process of enlightenment does take a generation or two to come about.

        1. Mac,

          I absolutely agree with all that. Reducing fertility doesn’t require coercion. There’s an enormous amount that can be done to help people to not have the kids they don’t want. At some point I heard the stat that half of all kids are unplanned.

          Conversely…If someone actually wants to have a kid or two, asking them not to is a big sacrifice. Buying an EV or putting in insulation is nothing in comparison.

  10. Y’all must have heard of this guy? He hits all the POB high points – energy, shale, EROEI, fertilizer, agriculture, nuclear power, and he’s especially tough on renewables. Can’t say I don’t concur with just about all of it.

    Leigh Georhing – investor dude.

    https://youtu.be/_1nnBSv0Iy4

    1. This interview is utterly disturbing. But familiar turf for those on POB.

  11. I have vocalized my disdain for the actions of Putin.
    I will make my motivation for the position clear, or attempt to.
    I have no great love for either Russia or Ukraine. Like tens and tens of millions of others in the past couple centuries I have some lineage who met with painful death on dramatic bloody scale at the hands of both of these cultures.

    I must admit that I love some of food, and music, and art, of both of these two cultures just like most others. And I hold no grudge against any particular individual except those who wave the banner for cruelty.

    Rather what i hate about Putins invasion is an authoritarian bully pushing his way around and taking what he think he can grab at a ‘reasonable’ cost (to hell with the price of a few million displaced, dead, or hungry) or the desires of a neighboring sovereign nation. Its morally bankrupt and it sets the stage for a whole new period of warfare.
    And warfare doesn’t stay in some far away place, just to other people, if that is what the smug among us are thinking.
    Perhaps some cheer Putin because they would like a new world order of some sort, but I give you warning-
    the most likely outcome will be world disorder.
    A destructive time. Not a new order. Fragmentation.
    Hunger in many countries. Putins disorder, Putins whim.
    I don’t see this as some sort of painful medicine that will cure anything.
    Those who aren’t hurt by his aspiration for a greater Slavic empire will be few.

    1. I’m all for a New World Order, one where we come together to fight against environmental degradation, atmospheric pollution and wealth discrepancy. The odds of that happening are close to zero, probably zero with a war in the Ukraine going on. Can anyone imaging world leaders, including Putin, sitting down at a round table and agreeing on anything consequential respecting our poor planet? Are we even going to meet modest greenhouse gas targets on any meaningful timeframe now? Far more likely is an emboldened China invading Taiwan next or a fuckup on the Korean Peninsula. Sigh!

      2. Doug,

        Unfortunately, I also agree. I think China is watching the Ukraine situation closely. If it proceeds to invade Taiwan, it has a possible potential to led to a large scale war. Taiwan produces high-tech semiconductor chips, something the U.S depends on. So i don’t think the U.S wants China to control that technology.

        If they do invade, the Chinese would be more calculative in their approach, and prepare for any on coming sanctions from the west from now. And they might also be more open to dialogue as they can use Taiwan as a bargaining chip to get something they need from the U.S or west.

        Or it can lead to WW3.

    2. I agree with your sentiment, that Russia nor Ukraine need the attention of the US. Instead, what we have is a senile President who’s aiming to put the US squarely into a war that’s been being fought for virtually millenia.

      What the war in Ukraine should remind us, is that we – in the US (and Canada) representing 6% of the world’s population – are really, really lucky to have vast oceans separating us from them. Logically, we should come to isolate ourselves, prepare our nukes, and be ready for whatever asshole tries to invade. There’s not much to be done “out there”, with useless spies and such – that stuff is past. We simply need to be on guard for the other increasingly hungry 94%.

      On another note, it is also strategically logical to burn everyone else’s oil first – import and import until there’s no more. Then finally, it will be NA, far across the oceans, that has its lights still on as the reset of the world devolves into Export Land Model predicted chaos.

      Biodiversity, environment, carbon neutrality, be damned – when the oil’s gone it won’t matter anymore.

      1. Instead, what we have is a senile President who’s aiming to put the US squarely into a war that’s been being fought for virtually millenia.

        Bullshit! Our president is not senile. He is likely the smartest president we have had since Lincoln. He is ten times as smart as the lying idiot he replaced. No one is better qualified to represent the USA on the world stage than he.

        And it is a different world now. We have had peace in that area ever since the Soviet Union collapsed. But Putin is determined to regain the territory the Soviet Union lost no matter what the cost. He is engaging in genocide, indiscriminately killing non combating men, women, and children. He is a madman and anyone who cannot see is stone ass blind. He must be stopped or else the killing of innocent civilians will continue until he has his empire back.

        1. Ron. I have great respect for your opinions so on that note I will digress and retract my senile president statement made because clearly I am unhappy with some of the things that are going on – bringing the US directly into conflict – that you, on the other hand, are pleased with.

          This topic is too engaged to argue civilly so I’ll drop it to avoid invoking Godwin’s law and the sort. Putin, I agree, is a POS that needs to be stopped – no debate there.

          1. Matt,

            Not many are happy with the situation, it is unclear that isolationism is the best policy, but I agree diplomacy should always be the first option and olas think NATO expansion after the fall of the Soviet Union was a bad idea, maybe a new Warsaw pact minus Russia would have been a better solution where the nations that were members would come to each others aid. Unclear what the best policy would be.

          2. – bringing the US directly into conflict – that you, on the other hand, are pleased with.

            No, I am definitely not pleased with bringing the US directly into the Ukraine conflict. And I have never indicated I was. However, it is very unfortunate that some things that displease us are often necessary. But that is a NATO decision, not a Biden decision or a US Congress decision.

            That being said, I must disagree with Dennis that the NATO expansion was a bad decision. I think it was the best of all possible decisions. Putin, I believe, would not dare to try to invade Poland now. But if they were not a member of NATO, they would be fair game for him.

            At any rate, I think Russia is getting bogged down in Ukraine right now and Putin will soon realize that the invasion was a very bad idea on his part.

            And no, there will not be any need for US troops to get involved in the Ukraine conflict. Indirect help with armaments, of course. But that started long before Biden and was the right thing to do.

            But what really pisses me off is so many people fail to realize what an aberration Putin is. He is a madman. We have had madmen in the past and you know how that story went. The only thing holding Putin back is he does not have the army Hitler had. But if he did???

            1. I agree with Ron. This invasion of another country by Russia is all the proof anyone needs to see that NATO expansion/protection of the post Soviet independent countries was entirely justified to protect those that wanted to be independent of the Soviet state.

              If anyone had doubts previously, Putin provided all the proof anyone needed.

            2. Didn’t ever think Putin was a nice guy. He’s been a regular killer of opponents for decades – a former high-up KGB thug who’s job during the Soviet days was to find dissidents and vanish them.

              Remember Bush’s “sense of soul”, and Trump’s admiration of Putin? Sheesh.

        2. In order to want to restore the USSR, it was necessary to have economic success. I don’t see any success in the Russian Federation. So you have to be an idiot to hope for it. Putin is not an idiot. His goals are limited. The Russian army has limited capabilities with the exception of nuclear forces. Mobilization will cause protests in society. I hope there will be no mobilization. Military idiots + imperials demand mobilization. Army Russia’s invasion is three times less than the Ukrainian one. I don’t understand what the government was counting on?

          1. Alexander,

            Superior arms and airpower were thought to get the job done. Seems not much was learned by the adventure in Afghanistan in the eighties.

          2. Army Russia’s invasion is three times less than the Ukrainian one.

            Ukraine invaded Russia? When the hell did that happen? Damn. I must have slept right through that one. So fill me in on what I missed. How many Russian schools, children’s hospitals. or civilian apartment buildings did the Ukrainians destroy in their invasion of Russia? Were Russian citizens buried in trenches like Ukrainian citizens because there was no one or no time to give them a proper burial? Do you have videos of that invasion showing the dead bodies of women and children littering the streets as we see here every day?

            Please fill me in on this dastardly invasion by the Ukrainians.

            1. Ron. I didn’t write anywhere that Ukraine started.
              The fact is that after the 2014 coup, a coalition of parties came to power, including nationalists and fascists. This was no secret for the citizens of Ukraine.
              Against the new government (in 2014) in the east and south of Ukraine, an uprising was raised, mainly by Russians (in Ukraine, the Russian language was not the second, but the first in use).
              They knew what would follow. Then the Ukrainian Nazis + army + security services were able to suppress the uprising. Except for the Donbass and Crimea, of course. Tens of thousands of people disappeared. Where they are, I don’t know. Tens of thousands immigrated to Russia.
              Here are the laws adopted in Ukraine:
              – a ban on teaching Russian from grade 5
              – a ban on teaching in Russian in higher educational institutions
              – a ban on the use of the Russian language in state institutions in services, in trade in cultural and sports events
              – at least 90% of content on TV and radio only in Ukrainian, the remaining 10% must be duplicated in Ukrainian
              -all book and publishing products must be duplicated in the same edition in Ukrainian, which kills the Russian-language press.
              – in case of refusal to answer the cashier / seller / consultant / employee at their request in Ukrainian, an administrative penalty in the form of a fine is applied.
              What are these laws for? I think, not in order to fall in love with this government by Russian speakers and those who do not know the language, although they were born in Ukraine. Maybe someone wanted war?
              In Odessa, more than 140 people were burned and shot, and not only were they punished, they did not open an investigation …
              And yes, the Russian invasion army is about 200,000 people, the Ukrainian army was 240,000, now it’s about 600,000. A man of military age crossing the border with Poland costs $ 10,000. They are caught on the street and drafted into the army …
              But I’m still against the war. I’m sorry what happened. I think everything could be decided peacefully in 20 years, when even incorrigible optimists, such as Denis K., will see the “peak oil”

          3. @Alexander

            Here are many reports in newspaper that Putin floats in a uninformed bubble, surrounded by bootlickers.

            Many dictators and kings in history had the problem – you boot everyone giving you bad news, and you will hear only good news after that.
            One secret service boss was already kicked for wrong reports.
            Especially the fact the russian army is completely demotivated doesn’t reach Putin.

            Don’t make an error – when somebody would attack Russia on it’s own territory, the russian army would by hightly motivated in my opinion, doing some serious ass kicking to any invader. But conscripts who have been told they go to a maneuver don’t have motivation to fight a hard hot war.

            That’s normal – normally you have years of war propaganda before a war, making the people think they have to fight this out and are motivated. Hitler had made 6 years of non stop propaganda before his hordes broke loose.

            If you want to make war without motivation either use completely technological superity (US approach invading some distant countries on reasons the soldiers don’t undersand), or use a lot of artillery (the russians try to take this approach now, hampered by their bad logistic).

            I hope the russians topple this government soon, get a normal government and join EU in the long run. I like russian people, I have always had contact to some.

            1. Eulen , who made this statement ?. Factcheck ; Sec of state Antony Blinken and the US state department which in turn was amplified by the MSM . Regarding the experts in USA , these are the same guys who could not win in Afghanistan after 20 years and are still bogged down in Iraq after 25 years . They should be all sent back to kindergarten . T have commented ” In war ,truth is the first casualty . ” BBC ( Bullshit Broadcasting Corp),
              CNN ( Constant Nonsense Network ) , ABC ( All Bullshit Corpn) . Heck when the public votes for Fox News ( Tucker Carlson ) as the go to source for news you realize how bad the situation is . The problem becomes when you start believing your own lies .

            2. Eulen . The Kremlin just sent their reply “Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a press briefing rejected the US assessment as not based on “real information”. He said, “It turns out that neither the State Department nor the Pentagon have real information about what is happening in the Kremlin,” Maybe this is what Putin wants . He reads Sun Tzu .

            3. I cannot judge what is happening there in the government, there is no information. I think there are war parties and liberal systems there.
              Perhaps the way you write. The mood in society is very different, I think the majority support Putin, but there is a lot of opposition in Moscow and St. Petersburg, in St. Petersburg my youngest son works as a programmer in an Israeli company, everything is against Putin and he wants to run away to Israel so as not participate in the war, but they haven’t touched it yet. And yes, my great-grandmother is German.

      2. This is just Republican propaganda. Trying to work up hate for Biden, and let the world burn.

        America’s allies have to react, and America is reacting. If the best think of to say about that is an insulting lie about the American president, you don’t have anything very good to say.

  12. Hickory,

    I tend to agree, but would note that others see it differently. It is in part a problem of false equivalency.

    Alexander believes the propaganda that claims that the shelling of apartment buildings, theaters, museums, and hospitals in Ukraine are “Nazis” in Ukraine that are shelling their own citizens or that the Russians are justified in their attacks because there are “Nazis” hiding in those buildings.

    Then to support the argument they find a video of of supposedly Ukrainian soldiers abusing captives and say “see all those Ukrainians are bad.”

    I am not at all convinced by these arguments.

    And of course there is the argument that the US has been involved in unjustified wars and has used its military in terrible ways in the past, and there was mistreatment of Native Americans and African slaves, so clearly the US is bad and cannot point a finger at Putin.

    This also is not a convincing argument in my view.

    I agree with the premise that a promise was made to the Soviet Union that NATO would not expand east from Germany and that it was a mistake for NATO to have done so, sowing the seeds for the present invasion.

    I do not agree that NATO expansion justifies the actions of Russia in their invasion of Ukraine.

    1. Denis, I also think that Putin’s declaration of security from NATO was not the main goal of the invasion. I believe that he was more worried about the conflict in eastern Ukraine (yes, I know for sure that thousands of civilians died there from the shelling of Ukrainian troops, namely MLRS, artillery and Air force family of my eldest son in 2015 sheltered refugees from the Donbass)
      + There is information that after the victory of the “Maidan” in Ukraine in 2014, the United States wanted to organize a military base in Crimea. I think this was the reason for the capture and referendum on the annexation of Crimea in 2014).
      As for the shelling of the maternity hospital, doctors and patients were expelled from there, the Nazis were stationed there. Ukrainian troops did not let civilians out of Mariupol, although Russia held corridors every day. In any situation, an investigation is necessary: ​​who benefits from this?
      As for the shooting of prisoners in the legs, today there was a message that the Russian special operations forces captured two sadists who committed this. This happened in the village of Malaya Rogan, which at that time was under the control of Ukraine. Let’s wait for the investigation.

      2. Alexander,

        I think you are not getting correct information. When you get two different stories, how do you know which is true? Only one of our counties is shutting down independent news media. What does that suggest to you? You seriously believe that all those civilian targets were military targets? You are quite gullible.

        1. Denis.I am well aware that the governments of both sides are lying and not telling the whole truth. It is necessary to critically evaluate the statements and carefully study what is happening. Critically evaluate everything.
          Understand what is being reported about what is happening on the basis of: who benefits from it?
          In addition, the Western media have determined for themselves which side they are on.
          And if possible to shut up, they are silent about the negative facts for Ukraine.
          And yes, the shelling of Donetsk, civilian houses where there are no military units, grew dozens of times. Every day, in reports about dozens of shelling of Donbass and sometimes dozens of killed women and children. I guess the media do not tell you about this.

          1. Alexander,

            There were likely civilian casulties on both sides during the separatist movement in Donbas,

            Have you heard about the separatist movement in Chechnya and the obliteration of Grozny?

            There are often civilian casualties caused by a separatist movement. Note that the Donbas was divided into separatist and government controlled areas, civilian casualty numbers are the totals on both sides of the line.

            See report below for objective information

            https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Countries/UA/9thOHCHRreportUkraine.pdf

            I agree that reports from either the Ukrainian government or the Russian government are not likley to be accurate.

            Note this includes state controlled media outlets, not sure there is much of an independent media left in Russia, in the West this exists.

            1. Denis: Indeed, over the past month, several anti-Punian/anti-government media outlets have been closed in Russia, which were very critical of the start of the special operation in Ukraine and interviewed Ukrainian President Zelensky.
              I think they would have done the same in other countries, for example, in the United States they did not approve of sharp criticism and interviews with Saddam Hussein during the operation in Iraq. Although it may be so. The fact is that I wrote now Ukraine is firing from MLRS and artillery 152mm caliber on residential buildings, and not on the positions of the separatists.
              As for Chechnya, they gained independence through the Khasavyurt negotiations. But in this region there is no way to conduct an independent economy. Therefore, they engaged in crimes, mainly banditry and kidnappings for ransom.
              My old friend was kidnapped in 1996 (he was 17 years old) and he was able to ransom him a year later for $50,000.
              thank God whole, but they could send fingers, this happened ….

            2. Alexander,

              The media is free to publish what they believe in the US, they are not shut down for criticizing the government or a war (or “special military operation” as it is called by the very gullible). This is a fundamental difference between our nations, one of them respects freedom, the other prefers brute force.

            3. No Dennis, the fundamental difference is:
              In dictatorship/autocratic and feudal regimes the government or monarchy controls the media. And attempts to brainwash people according to their own interests. Which is usually strategies to hold onto everlasting power by any means necessary.

              In the west corporate, private interest or corporations in general control the media.

              It is hilarious if you think your country actually cares about “freedom”. Whoever believes that garbage is a gullible fool. Your country and the west in general only gives a shit about its own interests. Since its a capitalistic regime, those interest are almost solely corporate profiteering.

            4. Iron Mike, Just curious to know if you think that the brainwashing being done on behalf of the corporations in the west might include corporations that profit from pharmaceuticals?

            5. IslandB,

              My worthless opinion:

              Big tech, big energy, big pharma etc = wild capitalism, government regulation infringement and illegal activity is all part of their cost analysis. The U.S military industrial complex is the enforcement arm of these corporations. Similar to how the mafia operates but on a global scale.

              These corporations and consumers like us are directly responsible for the environmental degredation and biosphere destruction we see before our eyes over the past several decades.

              These corporations are also responsible for the higher standard of living we enjoy.

              So you see we are in a bit of a bind, in my opinion, and we are all part of the problem.

            6. Iron Mike, Just curious if corporate sponsored brainwashing might have had anything to do with the scenario depicted in the image below? High income means high vaccination rates but, strangely enough lots of transmission. Low income means low vaccination rates and strangely enough a lot less in the way of reported cases. Data on hospitalization and excess deaths suggests that the low reported disease numbers in low income countries are not a fluke. There is something very curious going on here.

          2. Denis.I am well aware that the governments of both sides are lying and not telling the whole truth. It is necessary to critically evaluate the statements and carefully study what is happening.

            Dennis, this guy is so unbelievably uninformed it is pitiful. He thinks we do the same thing as Putin, like shutting down the press and TV stations and spreading only government-approved propaganda. I am ashamed that I ever replied to even one of his posts.

            You will read no more replies from me to his any of his posts.

            I forgot to add this yesterday, and it has bothered me all night that I did not. Unlike Russia, we in the United States do not get our information on the war from the government. We get our information from the free press.

            1. Ron, just a question that´s really interesting in my view, based on how things look in Sweden, who owns your free press? (and thus controls what they write)
              And how important is ad revenue, i.e. click count?
              My point is, the illusion of a free press is nowadays in most cases just that, an illusion.

            2. Laplander,

              Interesting perspective, so in Sweden do you think everything written in the press is propaganda? There is a difference between independent media outlets and a government controlled press, at least in my view. Based on the rantings of some, it seems the news reported in Russia is simply state propaganda and some seem to believe it.

            3. Ron,

              I agree. For me your Free Press is one of the best things about America. I read New York Times every day and have had a subscription to The Atlantic for many years. For me, it’s one of the things that make America great.

        2. “Alexander” or whoever is behind these posts isn’t gullible. They are using this blog to spread Putin’s lies.

          1. Alim.I am a simple person, I have worked all my life. I have never been associated with officials or politics. I live for what is happening, my middle son (works as an engineer in Lukoil) wants to go to war. I hope this does not happen.

        3. Denis. I am very worried that young guys are dying, it’s not clear why? As in Swift’s famous book Gulliver’s Travels
          countries fought
          because of which side it is necessary to break eggs with a blunt or sharp one.
          I can not sleep
          I watch telegram channels from the war.
          I see captured Ukrainians, as well as captured Russians, and I understand the difference in how they are treated
          of course, I don’t know everything, but I saw a photo from the Western press with a destroyed multi-storey building in Donetsk (controlled by Russian separatists) with the caption: the Russians did it.
          Yes, of course everyone lies, but the Russian media are uncouth rednecks against the Western ones.
          You need to understand who benefits from this, this is the basic rule of propaganda. President Zelensky says that the Russians have laid mines off the coast of Ukraine, the question arises: why? He probably considers the Russians idiots.
          I try to critically assess everything.

      3. Nice try. The Red Cross says the Russians mined the exits to Mariapol.

        There is a report of several Russian POWs being shot. All propaganda contains a few truths.

        There is also a report that tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been killed, and whole cities have been leveled. And millions of Ukrainians have been driven from their homes. There are also numerous reports of false flag operations by the Russian regime.

        But hey let’s focus on your part of the story.

        Actually let’S just block you instead.

        1. Alim.It is enough to write to Ron or Denis with a request and I will never write anything here.

  13. hey Hole in Head
    I have a question for you.
    I have been trying to understand your thinking, since we see geopolitics and international relation issues so very differently…about as differently as people can.
    Correct me if I have it wrong but here is what I’ve come up with based on your comments-

    You have a severe disdain for Democracy, seeing it as ineffectual/dysfunctional.
    Conversely you have great affinity for Authoritarianism, seeing it as more effective for maintaining order and getting things done.
    All of your proclamations stem from this basic stance, regardless of country under discussion.

    True?

    1. Hicks , your questions have been already answered in my response to a similar misunderstanding with Ron . I have been repeating myself but you have not been paying attention . Here was what I wrote and standby .
      HOLE IN HEAD
      03/03/2022 at 9:45 am
      Ron , here are the facts for yourself to check out . Both are results from British media . Like I said before , I don’t make the news only report it . Just some further clarifications to clear the fog .
      1. I get paid by know one for posting . I am quite capable of paying my own bills .
      2. I don’t support fascism , authoritysim , communism , Trumpism or any other ism .
      3. I support truthism . If the word exists . I also don’t support lies , hypocrisy and double standards and will expose these and I feel all should do the same .Correct information is a must to come to correct conclusions .
      4. I do not support war , see my exchange with Alexander and Hicks . Only the war profiteers ( bankers , MIC etc ) profit , the rest suffer and no exclusion . In my exchange with Hicks I have commented how a war 10000 kms is going to bankrupt the sugarcane farmer in India for no fault of his and how MENA countries and Africa are going to suffer and be destabilised because all Ukraine and Russian wheat is off the export market .
      5 . My question ? What would you do if someone said there is abiotic oil . Definitely you will try to rectify and correct his ignorance and misinformation . I do no more than you would do .
      6 . MSM is too pervasive and as I have said ” In war , truth is the first casualty ” . I sift thru the fog of war to provide the best info .
      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10568223/Russian-trust-Putin-SURGED-invasion-Ukraine.html
      P.S ; I know I am sarcastic at times but at my age ( past expiry date and waiting to meet our maker) it can be excused

      1. A passerby asked for the truth.

        The man standing on the box paused his tirade and said
        “I can give you truthism [tabloid version]”

        The passerby was wise, and just kept walking on.

      2. Both are results from British media .

        Some of the British media, especially those owned by Rupert Murdoch, are incredibly dishonest.

      4. If you have a strong and unwavering affinity for authoritarian leaders, whether or nor you are getting paid for the media work you do on their behalf, you might as well be straightforward about it.

        And its good for people to understand where you are coming from on these issues- ‘consider the source’ as the saying goes.

  15. 1. On March 25, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation set the price for buying gold from banks at 5,000 rubles per gram. This is 155,500 rubles per ounce. Now the price of an ounce is 1914.1 dollars. By dividing the first by the second, the cross rate is 81.24 rubles per dollar.

    2. The exchange rate of the ruble on the Moscow Exchange suddenly began to fall on March 29, or four days after the first event, reached the level of 86.26, or only 6.2% above the cross rate through gold. This is of course just an accident or a coincidence.

    3. The price of gold set by the central bank in rubles is stable in the short term, while the price of gold in dollars is unstable. If the price of gold in dollars goes to 2700 (one of the technical levels), the cross rate will be 57.59. Then all attention will be on the exchange rate of the ruble against the dollar, which can suddenly go to this level. In any case, if the difference between the exchange rate and the cross rate may remain small. Or can’t?

    1. Thanks S, a good link. I posted a link to their article on Ukraine and Middle East grain consumption below.

  17. I could not have made this up . Yes , the alphabet “Z ” is now cancelled . Reverse countdown –Y , X , W —– . Cancel the language and cancel free thought . Lunatics have taken over the asylum .
    https://www.thelocal.de/20220326/german-states-outlaw-display-of-russias-z-war-symbol/
    Add Zurich insurance removed ” Z ” from their logo .
    https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/zurich-insurance-removes-z-symbol-after-letter-used-show-support-ukraine-war-2022-03-26/

  18. Egypt and grain prices post Putin invasion of Ukraine…

    >> Egypt spends $3 billion annually to subsidize bread prices for 70 million people, roughly two out of every three, Egyptians. Even before the Ukraine war erupted, budgetary pressures, rising prices, and austerity “reforms” imposed by the International Monetary Fund and other international lenders had led to increased prices for staples. The government reduced subsidies for sunflower, soybean, and other vegetable oils in July 2021.

    In 2016 President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi declared that “[b]read has not been touched and never will be,” but last August he announced that the bread subsidy would also be reduced. However, the usually well-informed independent Egyptian news site Mada Masr in August, citing “government sources close to decision-making circles,” said that “security agencies have advised Sisi to put off the decision to raise bread prices.”

    The security agencies no doubt have in mind the angry demonstrations that erupted in several cities in March 2017 when the minister of supplies cut the daily amount of subsidized bread bakeries could provide, and the days of “bread riots” in January 1977 that left scores dead and hundreds injured.

    All this was before soaring wheat prices hit a 10-year high in March, threatening to nearly double Egypt’s wheat import bill from $3 billion to $5.7 billion. The war in Ukraine, among other things, accelerated an exit of capital from Egypt’s bond markets. The central bank’s March 21 decision to float the currency exchange rate then led to a “greater than expected” 15 percent depreciation of the Egyptian pound, which is virtually certain to boost inflation. <<

    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/03/30/the-ukraine-war-and-the-looming-food-crisis-in-the-middle-east/

    1. Thanks John. Great article. The Politics of Food & Famine are sure to play center stage in the near future.

      1. Take it from a farmer, lol.

        Overshoot is as real as tomorrow’s sunrise and sunset, and it’s going to come about piecemeal, unless the cards fall in the worst possible way, such as a WWIII.

        I really don’t have the foggiest idea how the Egyptians are going to eat, a few more years down the road. What in hell do they have to export, or earn any foreign exchange, other than tourism and maybe selling a few antiquities?

        The rest of the world, as it exists for now, will somehow help them keep the food coming, but at some point, possibly within the near short term, the next few years, it’s going to be politically impossible to pretend loans and or other help provided to such countries can continue……. because the people in the countries paying these bills are going to be hurting themselves, and insist on keeping the money, and the food itself in some cases, home for domestic purposes.

        The people in such countries are mostly going to starve in place when the inevitable really bad year arrives, and such domestic food production as exists within them crashes, and available supplies on the world market double or triple in price.

        The one bright spot, as painful as it is to contemplate it, is that after some portion of such peoples starve, possibly as many as half of them, the ones left may be in a position to produce most or all of their own food domestically afterwards.

        Or not.

        There are so many wild cards in play that the only thing that can be seriously predicted is trouble on the grand scale.

        1. If Ukraine does manage to produce more food than needed for internal consumption this year, they are now down to only one port- Odessa for export.

          The port is shut down by the Russian ‘special military operation’

  20. Ocean Cleanup, for IslandBoy:

    >> Interceptors 008, 009, and 010 have collected ≈1357 kg of trash in Kingston, Jamaica. We are still trialing and optimizing this setup – special attention goes to the offloading process that will be put to the test during the rainy season when we expect a larger trash influx. <<

    https://twitter.com/TheOceanCleanup/status/1508472630394998789

    1. Your link led me to the following video;

      Installing Interceptor Barriers in Jamaica | Cleaning Rivers | The Ocean Cleanup

      I wasn’t aware of this project. The video is fairly recent so it should have been in the news. Either I missed the news or it hasn’t been in the news. I noticed that a lady was featured in the video talking about how important the project was and if any of you watch the video she is easy to pick out. Her complexion is lighter than most of the other Jamaicans in the video and she does not speak in the local dialect, using perfect English instead. She had on a shirt with the logo of a foundation set up by one of the larger food packaging and distribution companies on the island. Her name indicates that she is married into a very wealthy local family that owns one of the larger beverage distribution operations in the island.

      Rather than prattle on about how good this project is, she could influence the company that set up the foundation she is representing and the company owned by members of her husbands family (Grace Kennedy Ltd. and WISYNCO Ltd.) to set up a deposit scheme for plastic bottles that makes it worthwhile for people to collect bottles and return them to a recycling center.

      I have bought garbage bags and filled them with bottles, loaded them into my van (roughly 6m3 or 212 cu.ft.) and taken them 10 miles (17 km) to the operation that collects them for recycling. They were weighed and the amount calculated, which came to less than $500 Jamaican (US$3.26). The amount was less than it cost me to buy the bags I collected them in, never mind the fuel to take them there and my time!

      What I have been advocating for is deposit/refund scheme that adds something in the region of $2 to $5 Jamaican (1 to 3 cents) to the cost of products sold in plastic bottles, which would be refunded when the bottle is returned to a recycling depot I am convinced that most of the bottles would disappear from the places they now litter. At JMD 5 per bottle, a hundred and fifty bottles would cover the cost of a cooked meal even if it was a 2 piece fried chicken meal from a fast food joint. There are lots of people that would happily collect plastic bottles to feed themselves.

      This has been discussed for years but, the amount being offered for plastic bottles still cannot cover the cost of the bags used to collect them. The lowest price for a 500 ml bottle of water is about 30 US cents and a 600 ml (20 fl. oz.) fizzy drink is about 50 US cents so adding a worthwhile deposit would increase the retail price by 10% and 6% respectively . Those who would be inclined to complain about a 6% increase in the price of a bottled drink could always return the bottles and get their refund if it is that big of an issue. I see it as a small price to pay to reduce the massive inundation of plastic trash flowing into the ocean in the first place. You don’t need to clean it up if you don’t create the mess in the first place!

  23. Attention astronomy buffs. This is a pretty big deal, if you’re into this sort of stuff!

    HUBBLE SPOTS MOST DISTANT SINGLE STAR EVER SEEN, AT A RECORD DISTANCE OF 28 BILLION LIGHTYEARS

    With a fortuitous lineup of a massive cluster of galaxies, astronomers discovered a single star across most of the entire observable Universe. This is the farthest detection of a single star ever. The star may be up to 500 times more massive than the Sun.

    “With James Webb, we will be able to confirm that Earendel is indeed just one star, and at the same time quantify which type of star it is,” says Sune Toft, leader of the Cosmic Dawn Center and professor at the Niels Bohr Institute, who also participated in the study. “Webb will even allow us to measure its chemical composition. Potentially, Earendel could be the first known example of the Universe’s earliest generation of stars.”

    The discovery has been published today in the journal Nature.

    https://phys.org/news/2022-03-hubble-distant-star-distance-billion.html

    1. Well, that is a little deceiving. The star was slightly less than 13 billion light-years away when the light left it on its way to us. In those ensuing 13 billion years that it took the light to reach us, the star has moved to an estimated 28 billion light-years away from us. Nevertheless, that is an astonishing achievement. I am proud of Hubble and I hope the Webb telescope has even greater achievements.

  24. Just a reminder about what happens when energy supply/affordability comes up short-
    Coal.
    And then Wood.
    And weapons purchase.

    1. Coal and weapons already happening, wood furniture next. 🙂

      COAL MAKES A COMEBACK AFTER ENERGY CRUNCH PUTS THE SQUEEZE ON CLIMATE CHANGE AGENDA

      “Moscow’s war against Ukraine coupled with record increases in energy prices was a recipe for a global comeback in coal, upending climate change plans around the world. From the U.S. and Europe to India and China, the appetite for more coal has been inflamed by a scramble for alternative energy sources to end reliance on oil and natural gas from Russia. Many countries now see coal as the most practical and speedy solution.”

      https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/mar/28/coal-makes-comeback-after-energy-crunch-puts-squee/

      1. Doug-
        “wood furniture next…”
        First the worlds forests, then the wood furniture.

  25. Wind and solar reach 10 per cent of global electricity production for first time

    The share of wind and solar in the world’s electricity production has exceeded 10 per cent for the first time, as China and Japan joined some 50 different countries to exceed that level in 2021.

    The new assessment, from the UK-based Ember, notes that wind and solar are the fastest growing sources of electricity, and if maintained at current rates could deliver enough capacity to help cap average global warming at around 1.5°C….[snip]

    Jones says solar generation rose 23 per cent last year, and wind by 14 per cent, taking the combined output to 10.3 per cent of global electricity generation, up from 9.3 per cent a year earlier, and double the 4.6 per cent in 2015, when the Paris climate treaty was agreed….[snip]

    Australia also gets an honourable mention for being one of three countries – along with the Netherlands and Viet Nam – that have shifted more than 8 per cent of their total electricity demand from fossil fuels to wind and solar in just the last two years.

    Which is not bad for a country’s whose federal government has done all it can to actually stop that transition, and whose energy minister has often and loudly protested there is too much wind and solar in the grid.

    In fact, Australia’s world-leading efforts on solar are highlighted in the table below below, showing how much it has added to the local grid, in percentage terms, since 2015. The data includes rooftop solar.

    1. Islandboy,

      From the same article, which you conveniently ignored: “The problem is that in the past year, fossil fuel production and emissions have also jumped after a Covid-caused hiatus, and more coal is being burned because gas has become too expensive.”

      1. Doug, you are so predictable! I deliberately left that out so that you could comment on that bit 😉 The signs are ominous for all fossil fuels if gas gets too expensive. The mantra of the solar industry has been that it cost less to build new solar capacity than it does to continue to operate existing coal fired facilities. In addition, it takes less time to install an equivalent amount of solar capacity than it does to build a coal fired plant.

        If the capacity for burning coal is not already in place, it makes no economic sense to build it in areas that get even modest amounts of sunshine most of the year. The fact that people are automatically thinking about coal is more an indication of a reluctance on the part of existing decision makers to explore new ways of doing things than smart business sense.

        I’ve started looking at the EIA’s Electric Power Monthly again and for the month of January 2022 all of the new capacity was either wind , solar or batteries. Looking at the map for planned capacity additions for the rest of the year, it looks like that is going to be the pattern for much of 2022. I suspect that the planning cycle for renewables with the exception of hydro is considerably shorter than for fuel burning plants that have to deal with emissions or waste restrictions so it doesn’t look like any new coal plants are in the picture for the US. It appears that US utilities have seen the future and there is no coal in it. How long before the rest of the world catches up?

        1. Hi IslandBoy
          “it doesn’t look like any new coal plants are in the picture for the US. It appears that US utilities have seen the future and there is no coal in it. How long before the rest of the world catches up?”

          A little over 40 years,
          to be more accurate it will be just less than 80% of current combustion of coal by 40 years [CO2 509 ppm]

          Peak Global Combustion [fossil fuels] 2036
          Where were you on PGC Day?

          1. Do you really think the rest of the world is going to sit idly by and watch counties like the US benefit from lower energy prices from renewables? Nobody is going to want to continue to buy fuel if there is a cheaper way that even comes close to the convenience of fossil fuel power. Coming soon to a country near you!

            1. Island Boy, I think there will lots of coal burning for along time to come for a few reasons.
              One- not all regions or people have good access to less environmentally damaging energy sources like wind, solar, hydro. example- Poland has lots of coal and a dark cold winter.
              Two- Coal with be used for baseload generation for times when the grid does not have sufficient SWNHS (solar/wind/nuclear/hydro/storage) online, in many places.
              Three- It is a very big project to get rid of coal, while at the same time trying to wean off of oil and nat gas, and allthewhile insulating homes and replacing ICE vehicles and switching older HVAC to heat pumps, etc.
              This not only takes time, but it takes a lot of money. I fear that slow growth/recession with restriction of credit availability will be a big theme in the next ten years. The big energy project may receive much less funding than would allow for rapid change in current mechanisms such as coal and oil. Regardless of intention.
              Four- Momentum. Its hard to slow and then reverse a bulldozer as big as the coal industry.

              In this chart below global coal consumption is the yellow color (should be black) from 1965-2018. I just don’t think its going to disappear very fast. Cutting out 80% by 40 years- I really don’t know if that is an over or underestimate of the rate of change.
              It is going to get hotter and hotter.

        2. ISLANDBOY —

          LOL And I thought you were the predictable one, reliably cherry picking trivial greenish projects in places like Australia to babble about, a country currently set to expand its pipeline of mega fossil fuel ventures while remaining the second largest exporter of thermal coal in the world. I think what you do is called the rose-colored-glasses approach. 😉

            2. Yep, you saw it—
              Elephants are not that hard to see.
              I wonder why so few can?

          2. My sister thinks I’m a doomer. She obviously doesn’t know Doug Leighton. I’m trying to stop worrying about things I can do little about and focus on trying to influence the things I can. Case in point, I have no offspring so don’t blame me for the elephant in the room!

        3. For the US there has been a quiet sea change in the stance on wind/solar energy.
          The same Republican Gov Abbott of Texas who fell flat on his face during their grid blackout blaming wind turbine failure when in fact it was the gas and grid infrastructure that was to blame,
          is now saying
          “You can have fossil fuels while at the very same time be leaders in renewable energy,” Abbott told a group with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, touting the state’s growing wind and solar energy production. “We’ve got to be very clear that all forms of energy are essential.”

          This is like making it to first base and rounding the corner. A decade late, and a hundred thousand pounds of credibility short.
          Hell, someday cowboys will drive up to the crossroads bar in an F150 Lightening.

    2. You might think that countries such as Saudi Arabia would build solar farms out the ying yang because they would have that much MORE oil to sell, at a substantial profit…….. oil they burning to generate electricity to run air conditioners, lol.

      But in order to think that, well, you would have to believe the ones in charge are interested in anything other than maintaining their own positions at the top of the heap.

      Waste of time.

Comments are closed.