It is easy to assume that escalating tensions between Russia and the West could mean an end to the blurry fudges of the post-Cold War years and a recasting of East-West relations into black and white antagonism, with two opposing camps, each surrounded by its own sphere of influence. But look at how the Georgia crisis is being received around Russia’s edges. The response is often evasive, and sometimes downright surprising. Among the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which 20 years ago were constituent parts of the USSR whose loyalty to Moscow was automatic, Russia has won remarkably few endorsements. Some Central Asian states have sent in aid to South Ossetia. But on the whole the response has been decidedly muted. To be fair, Georgia too has drawn criticism. But gone are the days when Moscow could rely on satellite states to speak up for it. For Russia’s leaders to declare that Russia was and always will be the ‘guarantor of stability’ in the Caucasus is now a risky statement that could repel as well as draw regional backing. Its neighbours are now independent countries whose priority is not to please the Kremlin […]
Nick Clegg will today unveil plans to make Britain an exporter of green energy by 2050, as he called for a programme ‘on the scale of the Apollo moon landings’ to transform Britain’s dependence on foreign oil, gas and coal supplies. In an interview with The Independent, the Liberal Democrat leader demanded the scrapping of new nuclear and coal-fired power stations, instead proposing the establishment of a renewables delivery authority to oversee a massive expansion of wind, solar and wave energy, funded by guaranteed premium prices for green energy. He said: ‘Renewable energy is no longer a pipe dream. It is realistic and achievable. All it requires is the leadership and vision that has been lacking under years of tired Labour thinking. ‘That’s why I will set out Liberal Democrat proposals to become energy independent by 2050. This will require the kind of ambition and political will that succeeded in putting man on the Moon.’ During a visit to a wind farm in the North Sea Mr Clegg will lay out theoretical plans for all new homes to be built to world-leading standards of insulation, and for energy companies to be forced to spend £500m a […]
MOSCOW — The Russian oil boom, which has produced a gusher of cash, political power and an opulent elite – and has helped fuel the country’s renewed assertiveness in Georgia and elsewhere – is on shakier ground than officials in Moscow would like to admit. Most of the oil produced after the country’s 1998 financial collapse has come from drilling and re-drilling old Soviet oil fields with more advanced equipment – squeezing more black gold out of the same ground – and efforts to develop new fields have been slow or non-existent. That strategy is potentially disastrous, said Valery Kryukov, who researches oil companies in western Siberia for a government-funded think tank. ‘If the situation which exists now stays the same, oil production will start to decline seriously in two years,’ Kryukov said in a phone interview from his offices in the city of Novosibirsk. The implications extend far beyond Russia’s borders. Last year, Russia was the world’s second-largest oil producer. If its output begins to decline or is hampered by inept or corrupt business practices, the price of oil could begin climbing again. The concerns about Russia’s oil industry also raise questions about the […]
ARBIL, IRAQ — American negotiators have not yet succeeded in getting Iraqi officials to agree to keep US troops well into the next president’s first term, the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, confirmed yesterday. On a surprise visit to Baghdad, Rice denied earlier reports this week that the two sides had ironed out the last disputes in a heavily contested draft agreement that is due to replace the UN mandate covering the US-led occupation. President George Bush wants the pact to authorise a troop presence at least until 2011 so that he can trumpet it as proof of his policy’s success. But the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has adopted the rise in nationalist feeling in the Iraqi parliament and among the public and is insisting on a clear timetable for withdrawal, the lifting of judicial immunity for US troops who commit abuses, and a veto on US military operations, including the arrest of Iraqis. The pact has been downgraded into a ‘memorandum of understanding’ to avoid the need for the US Senate to approve it. In Iraq, it has to clear several hurdles. ‘Once a breakthrough has really been achieved, the draft will be presented to the […]
The number of designs for vertical wind-power turbines is growing because they’re efficient, small, and cheaper to build than regular windmills. Sound familiar? One of the companies that seem to be making real headway in this market is Mariah Power, with a propeller-free vertical axis windmill called the WindSpire. Rotorweb_2 At a height of 30 ft. tall and only 2 feet wide, the WindSpire converts wind energy into measurable electricity through a vertical design, a rotor/generator system (with a low speed giromill and rotating ‘air core’ motors), and a wireless modem that an owner can track on a computer. It produces about 1900 kilowatt hours per year in 12 mile per hour average winds, which is about a quarter of the total energy used by a regular U.S. house. But the key promise is that if the spire was twice as thick, it could likely produce 100% of the energy needs of a household. There is one thing about this windmill that I’m not entirely sold on, however. That the faster speed of the windmill’s revolutions will prevent collisions with birds. I’m not well versed in aviary predilections, but this just seems like rubbish to me. […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
