Europe

IEA: Peak Fossil Fuels will come in 2025, as Renewables are Turbo-Charged by Russia-Ukraine War and Energy Crisis

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Fatih Birol, among the world’s foremost energy economists, has a new report at the International Energy Agency, which he directs. In it, he argues that recent developments such as the Ukraine War energy crisis are good news for low-carbon energy such as wind and solar and bad news for fossil […]

Algeria

French-Algerian War: 60 Years on, what is behind France’s reconciliation Agenda?

The Conversation

By Jonathan Lewis, Bangor University | – (The Conversation) – If you cross the Seine in the centre of Paris at the iconic Pont Saint-Michel and walk along the promenade, you may glimpse a small plaque on your way towards the steps that lead down to the riverbank. Placed not on the actual bridge itself, […]

Climate Crisis

Ukraine is Perfect for Wind Power, which would Help it and Europe Escape Russian Fossil Gas Blackmail

Dave Bradley

Buffalo, NY (Special to Informed Comment) – Until recently, the reasons for Europeans to switch the sourcing of electricity from coal, methane (“natural”) gas and nuclear reactors were the usual – climate sanity, sea level rise, ocean acidification (via CO2), and fossil fuel resource depletion. In addition, nuclear energy provokes eternal worries about the safety […]

Featured

Zelensky Lambastes Israel for not Helping Ukraine, Warns of Russian Aid to Iran’s Nuclear Program

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky lambasted Israel on Monday, saying that the latter’s refusal to provide Ukraine with anti-missile defenses and its neutrality on the war had permitted Iran and Russia to deepen their ties, with benefits for Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. The “Zelensky Official” channel at YouTube made available a […]

Inequality

Can a Right-Wing Indian-British Billionaire Save the Conservative Party from Instability and Growing Unpopularity?

Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

London (Special to Informed Comment) – In a further display of chaos within the UK Conservative Party and British government, Britain has appointed its third prime minister within less than two months. It followed Liz Truss’ forced resignation after 44 days of being Britain’s Prime Minister, which may have bemused many observers. While the Conservative […]

Electricity Cost

Germany to Give Electricity Rebates, financed with Windfall Profit Tax on Energy Corporations

Benjamin Wehrmann

( Clean Energy Wire ) – The German government plans to introduce a power price brake that will grant electricity consumers a lower price for a fixed share of their estimated use in 2021, a presentation prepared by the chancellery and seen by Clean Energy Wire showed. The measure will be financed with taxes retroactively […]

Climate Crisis

Tax Cuts for the Rich, Fracking and Harsh Discipline undid UK’s Liz Truss, in Warning to Conservative Parties Everywhere

Farhang Jahanpour

Oxford (Special to Informed Comment) – The British Prime Minister Liz Truss was forced to step down on Thursday 20th October only after 44 days in office, making her tenure the shortest in British history. It is important to point out that she was elected by only 81,326 Tory members and not by nearly 50 […]

Arms Sales

Ukraine war: Iranian ‘kamikaze’ drones can inflict serious damage but will not be a gamechanger

The Conversation

By Dominika Kunertova, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich | – Many Ukrainians are facing the prospect of a winter of power outages after about 30% of the country’s power stations were knocked out in just over a week. The deputy head of the president’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, has warned that the country needs to […]

Afghanistan

The Ukraine Moment: Lessons from the War on Terror

Karen J. Greenberg

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Ukraine is obviously a powder keg. With each passing day, in fact, the war there poses new threats to the world order. Only recently, Vladimir Putin’s Russia intensified its attacks on civilian targets in that beleaguered land, while threatening to use tactical nuclear weapons and adding Ukraine’s neighbor Belarus to its […]