America is way behind the 8-ball in terms of having a next-generation energy program.  But instead of taking action, Congressional Democrats spent the day badgering oil executives about high gas prices and their personal compensation packages.  Democrats like to talk about John McCain’s lack of economic know-how and not without some justification.  But their own approach to energy policy practically screams out that they don’t know what they’re doing.   

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Two new studies clearly identify the major problem with biofuels, which is that they do more harm than good.

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After the depressive years under Jacques Chirac, France finally has a leader who wants France to play a major role on the international stage. (more…)

Ed Morrissey reports, linking to this article at Yahoo news, that Britain ” has endorsed nuclear power as a solution to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. They will encourage new facility construction with an eye to having the next generation of stations on line by 2020.”

As Ed points out, this isn’t exactly the solution the environmental lobby was looking for, but the fact of the matter is that nuclear energy is quite safe and that we don’t have to worry too much about the effect it will have on the environment: in fact, it will probably be good for the environment. (more…)

John Tierney has an excellent article in the NY Times science section about global warming and the science and reporting behind the climate change scare. A must read, IMO.

A year ago, British meteorologists made headlines predicting that the buildup of greenhouse gases would help make 2007 the hottest year on record. At year’s end, even though the British scientists reported the global temperature average was not a new record — it was actually lower than any year since 2001 — the BBC confidently proclaimed, “2007 Data Confirms Warming Trend.” (more…)

The Houston Chronicle says:

Texas anti-nuclear activists are rallying their forces to challenge the so-called nuclear renaissance that could see the state become home to the country’s first new nuclear power plant project in nearly 30 years.

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Before and after the Israeli strike. A nice clean-up job by the Syrians.

A senior U.S. intelligence officer:

It’s a magic act — here today, gone tomorrow. It doesn’t lower suspicions, it raises them. This was not a long-term decommissioning of a building, which can take a year. It was speedy. It’s incredible that they could have gone to that effort to make something go away.

David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security:

It looks like Syria is trying to hide something and destroy the evidence of some activity. But it won’t work. Syria has got to answer questions about what it was doing.

Joseph Cirincione, an expert on nuclear proliferation at the Center for American Progress:

It’s clearly very suspicious. The Syrians were up to something that they clearly didn’t want the world to know about.

I wonder what that could be.

The five Caspian Sea border states met in Tehran today to discuss oil, gas water and nukes.  President Putin professed his support for a nuclear Iran, and condemned the proposal of placing NATO and/or American forces in Azerbaijan.  Some bloggers have taken this warning as tantamount to a military pact, but I differ.  I shared my thoughts at RCP:

As it stands, the five nations–Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan–all have a proportional claim to the oil reserves that reflect the size of their coast line. Iran has claimed more, and acted on it in 2001 when they sent a gunship into Azeri waters to halt BP exploration.

For the Russians, their biggest fear is a proposed gas pipeline deal between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. This would cut into the Russian energy monopoly over the West, which would hurt the already struggling Russian economy.

So my guess is the deal goes as follows–no more talks of a gas pipeline, no NATO forces in Azerbaijan, and Iran sucks it up and takes their 13% of the water. Yay team Caspian!

So what say you folks?  If the U.S., France and Israel went around UN conditions in order to strike Iran, would it provoke Russian intervention? 

Would they both run to the Chinese? 

Today’s Zaman reports:

Parliament on Tuesday adopted a law establishing a legal framework for the construction and operation of the country’s first nuclear power plants.

The legislation authorizes the Energy Ministry to offer and finalize the tender for the construction of the plants and also to decide on their capacity and location. It says public institutions will be allowed to construct the plants if there is no interest from the private sector. The law adds that firms licensed to sell electricity will be able to purchase the power generated by the plants through 15-year agreements.

The government plans to build three plants with a total capacity of about 5,000 megawatts, to become operational in 2012, in a bid to prevent a possible energy shortage and to reduce dependence on foreign energy supplies.

Locals, environmentalists and the biggest opposition party, the CHP, oppose the plan. They are afraid that Turkey’s environment will suffer (too much).

That is, of course, a good argument, but being dependent on other nations is, in today’s world, highly problematic (as well), to say the least.