This is the time of year when various statesmen (and stateswomen) and A N Other pundits (such as your Editor) deliver a “New Year Message.” Given the date, the British Gazette feels it necessary to deliver a particular message to Ridiculous Rudd, our minister for “Climate Change.”
Indeed our message has been spelled out in the title. You see Amber Rudd has a strange obsession with CO2. She thinks it is a problem and a contributing factor to the floods being endured by those in the North of England and elsewhere. It is not of course!
Polar bears are doing perfectly well. As Ms Rudd and the Reader can see from the particular photograph chosen, polar bears are incredibly good swimmers – necessary for them to catch their preferred prey, seals who are of course very good swimmers themselves. When they can’t find any seals, polar bears go looking for other prey including humans, who we have to remind Amber Rudd she is one example of same and we do know that Ms Rudd does not have the swimming ability of a seal, nor can she run as fast as a polar bear!
However another bear is suffering greatly and the suffering of that particular bear can cause all of us problems. Big problems. This is of course the Russian Bear.
Low oil prices and falling demand for same is having a catastrophic effect on the Russian economy. Despite it’s great size and diplomatic weight, Russia you see is quite a small (comparatively speaking) economy and that economy has two principal productive sources. These are:
1. The oil and the other minerals beneath it’s vast territory.
2. Military equipment and weapons.
Russia has two other lesser sources of revenue. These are space technology and satellite launching facilities and tourism.
Much of the reason for the low oil price is the determined over production of oil by Saudi Arabia. This is a deliberate political act. It is true that a low oil price is helping stave off economic problems in China but it is important to achieve a balance. It is no good keeping the Chinese economy from entering a slump if the price is instability in Russia.
What needs to happen is an increase in demand for oil. This means doing away with the stupid policy of trying to generate electricity from wind turbines.
Herewith two reports: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/30/russia-to-scale-back-space-programme-as-economic-crisis-bites
AND:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-29/russian-economy-cracking-social-unrest-coming-few-months-official-warns
Declaration of interest: The Editor owns shares in Royal Dutch Shell, a company that would benefit from increased demand of oil and a rise in the oil price.
Speaking the Truth unto the Nation
