leicsmac

You may be right. Here's hoping the damage caused is at least somewhat limited.

I fear it might, I think a few of us have seen this play out before.

It may well do. However, dark comfort though it may be, the laws of physics (in various forms) will end up having the last word if it does. Can't bluff or bully those.

...as they are also doing with Trump's second visit to the table, it would seem. I wonder how that will all turn out for the US and for the world at large, particularly on global issues.

I think Macron is at least toying with that idea and the new German leader seems ready to do it too. I just hope Starmer might do similarly. Pretty much, yes. Say no to him, let him have his tantrum about it, and then see how far he's willing to bluff. The more nations that follow suit, the more pressured he will end up being. That's about right - like you, I do hope Starmer is saying one thing and being prepared to act in another.

Tbh I would have thought that after his first term, especially after January 6th 2021. However, given that since then somehow the ethos behind the movement has survived pretty much every type of criminality apart from actual treason, now I'm not so sure it will fade that easily.

If there had to be a single man to advocate for our species.

As long as it's packaged in a slick, con artist style manner, it is apparently different. Apparently.

Starmer calls Trump "a friend of the UK". The man doesn't have friends, Kier. He has sycophants and enemies. I would have thought that analysis of the mindset of the man was obvious by now.

I'm sure that they are adopting or at least considering such a resource-based outlook, another example of this is the Arctic sea routes being ice-free allowing them greater uninhibited access to such resources. Of course, they, along with everyone else, have horribly miscalculated if they think a plan of their nation/tribe/whatever surviving the changes to come while all else around them crumbles is in any way viable. All they will be is the last to perish, perhaps after a few decades of dystopia.

Goodness me, that's tragic. Out of nowhere.

The golden rule. "He who has the gold makes the rules". Oz to spoil the party again? Perhaps the Saffers will overcome their love of a choke instead.

Well, if you let Afghanistan get 320 and change and then don't chase it down you deserve all that you get. Shades of Bangladesh 2015. End of an era, big rebuild needed.

Right. Until a vast technological leap forward, the UK, and other places, are going to be dependent on other places in the world for food and for other vital resources. This is only going to become more of an issue if such resources become more scarce - as they will if action isn't taken. Traditional nationalism is incompatible with this kind of problem. Barring a cataclysmic population crash, that is.

Cheers. "Over 100% increase in plant construction" sounds much more dramatic than "40 power plants in 2021 (at the height of the Covid crisis when not much was being built) to 100 in 2024 but less proposed thereafter", doesn't it? That being said, that is a really detailed article that covers both strengths and weaknesses of their current strategy well, so appreciate the link, mate. Don't get me wrong - I don't think that the Chinese current pathway on this one is perfect, or even close to it. However, they rather clearly are putting themselves in a position where they can hit their emission reduction targets and at least have the potential to do so from here by virtue of the sheer amount of renewable tech they have in the pipeline right now, unlike the other big names who really don't appear to have even a tech basis of a plan in place and the resources for it (India, perhaps Russia) or perhaps do and don't give a shit because they're willing to see the future burn for the sake of short term profit (US, perhaps Russia).

https://www.statista.com/statistics/265491/chinese-coal-consumption-in-oil-equivalent/ Are you sure about that? Coal consumption stats suggest otherwise. None of the other three nations mentioned are upping their % use if renewable energy sources at anywhere near the rate that China is. India, due to its sheer population and therefore increasing energy demand, could become a big problem there.

Those stats also show they're trending in the right rather than the wrong direction, but I guess only time is going to tell on that. Like I said, a lot of people are prepared to criticise them and use them as an excuse when India, Russia and the US are all moving much slower along the road of progress than they are.

Yeah, they took the quick and ugly route. But that route has now been travelled and they're no longer in a position to have to rely on it going forward, and more importantly they want to prove to the world that is the case. I'm not sure I can say the same for the other big players right now.

... to satisfy their existing power demand, yes. However, they are changing far more rapidly in this matter than any other big nation. I'd lay good money they'll be carbon neutral before the US is and quite a bit before 2060 given the current stances, tbh. They are not the problem on this one, in spite of (mostly American) commentators using them as such and as an excuse to not change themselves.

From the type of people who are happy to see the "special relationship" including tortu- sorry, "enhanced interrogation" at the CIA blacksite there - with British complicity - continue, no doubt.

Certainly. The Chinese are building renewable energy infrastructure at an absolutely ferocious rate, helped by considerable economies of scale. They're already by far the biggest user of it, the total proportion of renewable energy they use has gone from roughly 20% to over 35% in the last fifteen years and the rate of increase keeps going up, and they've reached the point where clean energy additions outstrip energy need growth, which means they no longer need to rely on fossil fuels for any new infrastructure at all and use of it will fall away, if they so choose. Yes, they're also the largest emitter by volume (though in no way by capita) in the world, they have built more coal plants alongside all the clean energy additions, and they're behind a lot of nations in terms of controlling those emissions, but the sheer speed and scale at which they're implementing their infrastructure means they're catching up fast. The general point being that they're taking the problem seriously, unlike quite a few places including the US (the second largest emitter with a quarter of their population). There seems to be a rather lasting stereotype at play regarding the Chinese on this matter, but the truth is that a lot of that is rather a lot of commentators engaging in cultural chauvinism and looking down their overlong noses at them, while all the time they're actually doing the work that might prevent a great deal of death and suffering in the end. And their citizens are on board about it all, too (attitudes in China towards climate change was part of my Masters thesis). In addition, Canada, New Zealand, quite a bit of Latin America and Scandinavia, and also quite a few Central African nations are also highly powered by renewable sources. Which leaves the big issue, and the responsibility for failure, in the hands of the bigger emmiting nations that aren't engaging in the necessary changes at the necessary speed - namely the US, Russia and India. Additionally, the North African and Middle Eastern nations, mainly because their economies rely so highly on fossil fuels. In short, there seem to be no shortage of nations and leaders looking to the future. But this is a global issue, and if as much of the globe doesn't join in (particularly the biggest players), there will be failure with dreadful consequences, and that will be squarely on the heads of those who chose not to make the change.

Yeah, poor bugger. That's pretty awful.

So it would seem, though there are some outliers (including, interestingly enough, the Chinese). Of course, such an attitude is clearly unacceptable and should be acted against wherever and however possible.

For the time being, certainly. But I'm pretty sure that when the worst has happened, the dust has settled and the bodies have been counted (if that's possible), those who remain will know what the score is and whose doors to knock on. Cold comfort, I know.

It either will, or it will report on a much larger demise that will rightly be laid at the door of that very mindset. Spoiler alert: it won't.