More evidence that if humans continue to burn fossil fuels at the current rate, we are headed for global disaster. Germany is the only rich country that seems to be serious about minimizing its carbon output:
"Germany is one of the only big countries that has actually tried hard to change its energy mix; on one sunny Saturday in late May, that northern-latitude nation generated nearly half its power from solar panels within its borders. That's a small miracle – and it demonstrates that we have the technology to solve our problems. But we lack the will. So far, Germany's the exception; the rule is ever more carbon."
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Monday, July 11, 2011
Iraq wants US fighter jets
"Iraq has quietly started negotiations to buy U.S. fighter jets and air-defense systems worth billions of dollars, a purchase Washington hopes will help counter Iranian influences and cement long-term ties with Baghdad after American troops pull out."
I read yesterday about a possible German deal to sell Saudi Arabia a bunch of tanks. I didn't even know Germany still makes tanks. I saw on fb today something in German that I didn't understand, but I gathered the deal is off. I wonder why.
I read yesterday about a possible German deal to sell Saudi Arabia a bunch of tanks. I didn't even know Germany still makes tanks. I saw on fb today something in German that I didn't understand, but I gathered the deal is off. I wonder why.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Germany has world's oldest universal healthcare system
"Germany has the world's oldest universal health care system, with origins dating back to Otto von Bismarck's social legislation, which included the Health Insurance Bill of 1883, Accident Insurance Bill of 1884, and Old Age and Disability Insurance Bill of 1889."
Next time a Republican says that universal healthcare will ruin the economy, tell him or her:
"Germany is the largest national economy in Europe, the fourth-largest by nominal GDP in the world, and fifth by GDP (PPP) in 2008. Since the age of industrialisation, the country has been a driver, innovator, and beneficiary of an ever more globalised economy. Germany is the world's second largest exporter with $1.120 trillion exported in 2009 (Eurozone countries are included). Exports account for more than one-third of national output."
Next time a Republican says that universal healthcare will ruin the economy, tell him or her:
"Germany is the largest national economy in Europe, the fourth-largest by nominal GDP in the world, and fifth by GDP (PPP) in 2008. Since the age of industrialisation, the country has been a driver, innovator, and beneficiary of an ever more globalised economy. Germany is the world's second largest exporter with $1.120 trillion exported in 2009 (Eurozone countries are included). Exports account for more than one-third of national output."
Monday, December 14, 2009
Saddam was a monster the West helped create
From a 1990 WP article:
'During its eight-year war against Iran, Iraq became the world's largest retail purchaser of arms. But in recent years, it also has sought the technology to develop its own arms industry, both to free itself from dependence on foreign suppliers and to develop the kind of doomsday armaments -- nuclear bombs, chemical and biological weapons, ballistic missiles -- that would make Iraq the Arab world's dominant power.
Experts say the development of Iraq's arms industry has its roots in the desire to lead the Arab world, as well as in Israel's humiliation of the Arab states in the 1967 Six-Day War. Saddam, whose Baath Socialist Party took power in Iraq the following year, saw the Israeli experience as a lesson in how a small but resourceful nation could become a regional superpower.
He began to put his program into practice in the mid-1970s, secretly launching projects to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, intelligence sources say.
Some of those weapons are already available and likely to be used by Iraq in any military showdown with U.S. forces. The bleak irony is that much of the technology and expertise that created those weapons was bought by Iraq in the West, sometimes by deception but often with the silent acquiescence of Western governments. Those sales continued even after Saddam's regime was accused of using chemical weapons against Iran and Iraq's own Kurdish citizens.
W. Seth Carus, defense analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the combination of petrodollars and technological help from the West made Iraq a new phenomenon in the Third World. "Iraq is a unique case. No one's really done this before," he said.
Everyone, it seems, took a slice of the Iraqi arms pie. The Soviet Union, France, China and Chile sold Baghdad much of its off-the-shelf weaponry. West Germany, France, Britain, the United States, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and Brazil all sold the components, machines and tools -- much of it material with civilian as well as military application -- that are the building blocks of the modern Iraqi war machine.
As a result, military and intelligence analysts say, Iraq can make some of its own chemical weapons, has a fledgling nuclear-weapons program that could produce a bomb in five years or less and is working on a long-range missile that would enable it to deliver such a bomb to Tel Aviv, Tehran or Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
"This is a Frankenstein monster that the West created," said Hans-Heino Kopietz, Middle East analyst with Control Risks Group, a private security firm here. "We closed our eyes because some businesses wanted to make money and because Saddam was a useful tool against Iran." '
'During its eight-year war against Iran, Iraq became the world's largest retail purchaser of arms. But in recent years, it also has sought the technology to develop its own arms industry, both to free itself from dependence on foreign suppliers and to develop the kind of doomsday armaments -- nuclear bombs, chemical and biological weapons, ballistic missiles -- that would make Iraq the Arab world's dominant power.
Experts say the development of Iraq's arms industry has its roots in the desire to lead the Arab world, as well as in Israel's humiliation of the Arab states in the 1967 Six-Day War. Saddam, whose Baath Socialist Party took power in Iraq the following year, saw the Israeli experience as a lesson in how a small but resourceful nation could become a regional superpower.
He began to put his program into practice in the mid-1970s, secretly launching projects to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, intelligence sources say.
Some of those weapons are already available and likely to be used by Iraq in any military showdown with U.S. forces. The bleak irony is that much of the technology and expertise that created those weapons was bought by Iraq in the West, sometimes by deception but often with the silent acquiescence of Western governments. Those sales continued even after Saddam's regime was accused of using chemical weapons against Iran and Iraq's own Kurdish citizens.
W. Seth Carus, defense analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the combination of petrodollars and technological help from the West made Iraq a new phenomenon in the Third World. "Iraq is a unique case. No one's really done this before," he said.
Everyone, it seems, took a slice of the Iraqi arms pie. The Soviet Union, France, China and Chile sold Baghdad much of its off-the-shelf weaponry. West Germany, France, Britain, the United States, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and Brazil all sold the components, machines and tools -- much of it material with civilian as well as military application -- that are the building blocks of the modern Iraqi war machine.
As a result, military and intelligence analysts say, Iraq can make some of its own chemical weapons, has a fledgling nuclear-weapons program that could produce a bomb in five years or less and is working on a long-range missile that would enable it to deliver such a bomb to Tel Aviv, Tehran or Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
"This is a Frankenstein monster that the West created," said Hans-Heino Kopietz, Middle East analyst with Control Risks Group, a private security firm here. "We closed our eyes because some businesses wanted to make money and because Saddam was a useful tool against Iran." '
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