Recent posts

#1

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by viper37 - Today at 07:27:16 PM

 


The Canadians Are Furious Trump accomplished what was once considered impossible: Our northern neighbors have united against us.


Fun read, but nothing really informative that you haven't read before.  But the image fits the text, and it will fuel your Canadian nationalism, the one you thought you never had, since it's such a vile word.

#2

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 07:22:29 PM

Reviews seem poor alas.
Though a light and fluffy approach is very much what Superman needed rather than the Snyder angst.

Yeah. I'd also only seen pretty poor reviews but looking at it, it seems like there's a bit of an Atlantic divide on that. The Indy and Telegraph both quite liked it with 4/5 - but everyone else in these isles is "meh" at best. BBC, Guardian, Times, Empire, Irish Indy all giving 2/5. Mark Kermode a bit more positively meh - saying "overall it's a relief" and "I kind of enjoyed it more than I thought I would"

#3

Off the Record / Re: Quo Vadis, Democrats?

Last post by Valmy - Today at 07:08:56 PM

Yeah. Kind of a dick move by Cuomo to oppose his own party's nominee but not unprecedented. Joe Leiberman did it back in the day.

Be interesting to see if the party supports its own nomination in this case.

#4

Off the Record / Re: Quo Vadis, Democrats?

Last post by Sophie Scholl - Today at 06:23:02 PM

Andrew Cuomo is running third party now after losing in the primary by a wide margin. Ugh. It's the repeat of India Walton in Buffalo and I am pissed. So much for that whole, "Blue no matter who" bs, eh? I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a repeat sexual harasser doesn't understand the concept of "no means no" though. 

#5

Off the Record / Re: Climate Change/Mass Extinc...

Last post by HisMajestyBOB - Today at 06:08:50 PM

We've been getting Florida-esque afternoon thunderstorms pretty much every afternoon here in Virginia.

#6

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 05:24:22 PM

Where did they get their electricity during the Cold War? It seems weird they became so dependent on Russia in such a short period of time. Well a short period of time for the notorious slow moving energy sector anyway.

I guess they were all coal dependent back and and got hooked on the sweet elixir of natural gas.

Yeah coal was a bigger thing and worth saying a lot of this is not necessarily electricity but for industry. But also energy policy has always been very important - it is the core driver of British and French imperialism in the Middle East (especially over Suez and Persia) and, by contrast, the lack of oil and gas or imperial supply is a huge part of German policy.

It is a long-standing source of tension within the Western alliance. The West Germans wanted to supply the pipes for the Soviet "Friendship pipeline" into Eastern Europe (and, I think, still supplying Hungary and Slovakia). This was such a concern for Kennedy - and American power in Europe was so high in the early sixties - that the US could orchestrate a NATO ban on exports of pipe exports to the Soviet Union.

But by the seventies when the context was a far weaker, less prestigious America and a severe energy crisis (including for the US) and that West German deal was back on as part of Brandt's Ostpolitik. And this time the deal was pipes in exchange for gas which was now being piped into West Germany via East Germany. Supply kept on increasing all the way through the 70s and 80s despite the best efforts of numerous American Presidents, including Reagan, to persuade European states to stop importing Russian energy. I think by the end of the Cold War a third of West German energy was coming from the USSR. The East Europeans were made dependent by Russia, the West Germans chose to increase their dependency as a conscious policy (and reflecting Ostpolitik to some extent - but with realism), the French turned to nuclear, the Italians cut deals all over North Africa and the Gulf and the Brits were lucky enough to find domestic resources.

But I think it's a tension all through the post-war era that America can provide enough security for themselves and Europe - but the Americas (ie including, say, Venezuela during the Cold War) broadly couldn't provide enough energy for their own consumption and Europe's. As European imperialism in the Middle East declined and with it the ability to secure energy (through their own coercive power), I think that left basically two options (which are arguably still with us): either the Americans try to impose order in the Middle East which defends Israel and supplies Europe (and now China) with energy, or Europe cuts a deal with Russia.

So I don't think the issue has ever not been there (at least since the early 70s) but I think what has shifted is we've had a generation of leaders who seemed to think that the material basis of the economy and politics were separate spheres. All of the stuff around supply of energy would absolutely be understood - including the trade offs and the risks - by, say, Thatcher, Schmidt, Kohl, Mitterrand, Andreotti. I think the post-Cold War generation arguably perhaps forgot (or never realised) there were risks or trade-offs.

Edit: But FWIW I think that's why, until recently, any framing of Europe as strategically autonomous, or as another pillar has always included Russia: "from the Atlantic to the Urals". Without Russia it's difficult to see European strategic autonomy as there will still be a very significant energy dependency.

#7

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by HVC - Today at 05:06:00 PM

The dozens of nuclear plants they shut down hasn't helped. I blame the simpsons and the greens.

#8

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by Valmy - Today at 05:03:45 PM

Where did they get their electricity during the Cold War? It seems weird they became so dependent on Russia in such a short period of time. Well a short period of time for the notorious slow moving energy sector anyway.

I guess they were all coal dependent back then and got hooked on the sweet elixir of natural gas.

#9

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by Crazy_Ivan80 - Today at 05:02:27 PM

So a duplicitous,  but morally defensible means of hitting Europe.

Europe should have divested already. It's like buying produce from Nazi germany in 1940 while they're marching through your country

#10

Off the Record / Re: Climate Change/Mass Extinc...

Last post by Valmy - Today at 05:01:10 PM

That's God's warning to listen to scientists.  But will the Texans hear it...

Last I saw 42% of Texans still do not believe human caused Climate Change is happening. A subset of that seems to believe this is all being caused by chem trails and storm seeding and Democrat controlled weather machines though. So at least they notice something bad is happening.