Russia threatens gas cutoff

Moscow - Russia's state-controlled gas supplier Gazprom on Monday gave neighbouring Ukraine a reprieve of a few hours in a debt dispute, but still said it would stop sending gas to the country of 47 million people if an agreement isn't reached. The conflict is being watched nervously in European Union countries that get Russian gas through pipelines crossing Ukraine, fearing a repeat of the supply disruptions that hit during January 2006 when Russia halted gas to Ukraine for several days amid a fierce argument over price hikes.

[this is why Reagan fought (successfully) against any pipeline from Russia to Europe throughout his presidency - Europe will be little more than a Russian satellite once addicted to its energy.]

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[FLASHBACK: NNBrief 080909: Palin Finalized 20-Year Quest for Pipeline Deal in First 20 Months =

In her first 20 months as governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin completed a deal for a natural gas pipeline -- at $40 billion, the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history -- that had been a top economic goal for the state for nearly two decades...

Last time I checked, Canada was another country...

and Biden {or Obama}?]

Palin Finalized 20-Year Quest for Pipeline Deal in First 20 Months

In her first 20 months as governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin completed a deal for a natural gas pipeline that had been a top economic goal for the state for nearly two decades. After battling oil companies and leading lawmakers over the project, Palin signed the bill on Aug. 27, 2008.

(Snip) In early August, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama endorsed Palin’s bill, about one month before she was chosen to be the GOP vice presidential nominee...

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Cold war! EU gives Russia 24 hours to switch pipeline back on after 12 countries left without power

Russia today shut off all gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine, leaving 12 countries without fuel in freezing winter conditions. As millions of people struggled to cope in sub-zero temperatures, the European Union said the continent had effectively been 'taken hostage' by a trade dispute.

The cutoff has also showed the first signs of hitting the European economy as the Hungarian unit of the Japanese automaker Suzuki said it was halting production because of restrictions on industrial users of gas.

Ukraine's pro-West* President Viktor Yushchenko blamed Moscow for the supply disruptions, saying Moscow would continue to close the gas taps to Europe or stop them altogether.

The Commission subsequently issued an ultimatum giving Russia and Ukraine a 24-hour deadline to resolve the situation or 'face an intervention'. [?] Significantly, the EU failed to spell out what action it planned to take if its warning was ignored.

Europe receives about 20 per cent of its gas from Russia, via the Ukraine pipelines.

[* I fear this is a prelude to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which Europe, having mortgaged its militaries for social programs, can't do anything about and which its signaled it will tolerate by not admitting Ukraine into NATO.]

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China Sends Global Warming Ransom Note

China has now destroyed Western hopes for a new global warming agreement, just weeks before global talks in Poland aimed at writing a successor for the Kyoto Protocol— which expires in 2012. China has attached a ransom note to its Polish meeting RSVP: They might go along with a new warming pact if the rich countries agree to hand over 1 percent of their GDP—about $300 billion per year—to finance the required non-fossil, higher-cost energy systems the West wants the developing countries to use.

China, India, Brazil, and Mexico had already demanded—in July— that the developed countries cut their emissions by 80–95 percent by 2050. Very unlikely... [snip]

The EU has loudly boasted of trying to set an 80-percent cut in its emissions, but that now looks impossible. Italy, Poland, Hungary, and Greece are part of a “blocking force” saying says they can’t afford to give up coal and oil. Especially when the only alternative is imported Russian gas; Russia recently “invaded” Georgia, many think to stop Georgian efforts to build a gas pipeline that would have competed with Russia’s.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who helped create the Kyoto Protocol, now says that drastic cuts in CO2 emissions are “ill-advised climate policy.” She’s building 26 brown-coal power plants instead, and re-thinking the German promise to scuttle its nuclear power plants.

Don’t spend much of your “worry time” on a new climate treaty however. Global temperatures are doing their best to tell us that CO2 isn’t very important after all...

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The Case Against the Case Against Palin

[HT:GT]
A very good friend, who is a lifelong Alaskan and one of the smartest people I know, offers this word of caution to those (yes, like me) inclined to take Sarah Palin lightly: [snip]

"Wait until the big money starts coming in for Murkowski," I said. "Wait until the party machinery goes to work on Palin. They will eat her for lunch."

Murkowski, for his part, expressed a similar view. "If I decide to," he said, "I will run and I will win. It's that simple."

The folly, of course, turned out to be my own (and Murkowski's), as Palin slaughtered the incumbent in the primary--posting a 30 point margin of victory--and went on to win the general (over a former Democratic governor) without seeming to break a sweat.

She then quickly fulfilled an implicit campaign promise by slapping down ExxonMobil, BP, and ConocoPhillips in negotiations over a proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline, even though they, too, by all accounts, were well prepared to dine on her tender little frame.

Not bad for a 'lightweight'...

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[image toon russia gas pipeline oil]

Sarah Palin serves the people, not entrenched powers

Palin is a shining [well, legitimate] example of ethical governance.

She fought for reforms with a political courage rarely seen in Trenton and Washington, taking on the Republican Party chairman in her state for his unethical behavior and winning. She ran against and defeated the sitting governor whose "good old boys' network" was more interested in helping friends and cro nies. When negotiating a deal for the construction of a natural gas pipeline in Alaska -- at $40 billion, the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history -- she took on the major oil companies that her predecessor had been so cozy with and won again.

Like McCain, her career is proof of her commitment to principled governance that puts the interest of the people before self-interest and political interest...

[and that's the long and the short of it in my view: an honest woman with courage and conviction can serve this country better - in all venues - than dishonest men with neither]

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How much have the Democrats cost you at the pump?

Senator Chuck Schumer claims that coercing Saudi Arabia to increase oil production by 1 million barrels a day would drop the per barrel price by $25, saving Americans 62 cent per gallon at the gas pump.

Yet, somehow, that same amount of oil coming from Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would only ease oil prices by a penny according to Schumer.

(Snip) Schumer's daily magic number of 1 million barrels is the exact increase experts believe we would today be pumping through the Alaska pipeline had Bill Clinton not vetoed ANWR drilling back in 1995...

[62 cents off from ANWR + the 75 cents in tax (total, CA) = $1.41 less. But not with this bunch in congress. Too bad we couldn't just vote for somebody else in November...]

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