Finally someone who knows how to sum up the advantages and dangers of nuclear energy in a logical way. Robert Peter Gale writes in Der Spiegel: ” An increasing number of Germans are convinced that nuclear energy is more dangerous than the alternatives. Their fears are understandable — but wrong. What’s worse, their emotional and over-politicized reaction at home is sowing more fear and distrust in Japan. “
It took a long time, but the ludicrous accusation of Richard Goldstone that Israel intentionally killed Palestinian civilians is off the table now. Hamas had not conducted any internal investigations of its own but Israel had devoted considerable resources in looking into more than 400 accusations of misconduct, and in several cases lashed out severe punishments for misbehavior. “If I had known then what I know now,” he wrote, “the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.” Further reading here.
Update: Melanie Phillips goes a step further. Apparently Goldstone thought Hamas would investigate it’s own war crimes, the same as Israel has done. He writes: “It was my hope, even if unrealistic, that Hamas would do so, especially if Israel conducted its own investigations. At minimum I hoped that in the face of a clear finding that its members were committing serious war crimes, Hamas would curtail its attacks. Sadly, that has not been the case. Hundreds more rockets and mortar rounds have been directed at civilian targets in southern Israel….”
IRWIN STELZER of the Wall Street Journal does a thought experiment: assume that all goes as planned by euro-zone policy makers. Even under such a benign scenario it is likely that some euro-zone member will default on its sovereign debt. Worse still, the fundamental economic problems that produced the current difficulties remain untouched.
What follows is a pretty scary outlook for Europe’s future.
The enthusiasm with which the Arab unrest is welcomed by the Western media is not completely shared by me, to put it mildly. Melanie Phillips blogs here in her villainous style and condemns the “leaders” making this world a safer place.
From: The Spectator
George Monbiot in The Guardian: Yes, I still loathe the liars who run the nuclear industry. Yes, I would prefer to see the entire sector shut down, if there were harmless alternatives. But there are no ideal solutions. Every energy technology carries a cost; so does the absence of energy technologies. Atomic energy has just been subjected to one of the harshest of possible tests, and the impact on people and the planet has been small. The crisis at Fukushima has converted me to the cause of nuclear power.
As I quoted before: The West celebrates democracy. It should be careful what it hopes for: It might get it.
