Western European News Digest

Europe on Its Way Out of History?

PARIS, Jan. 8 (EIRNS)—Jacques Attali, former French President François Mitterrand's éminence grise, panics, in his weekly column in L'Express this week, about the fact that Europe is on its way out of history, while the large emerging powers of Asia are coming in. "Will we finally comprehend, in Europe, what is implied by the risk of exiting history means? Everyone should realize that the threat is there, quite tangible. And numerous events in the last weeks (the exclusion of the Europeans from the final negotiations at the Copenhagen Climate Summit, the buying up of Volvo by a Chinese firm, the first public infrastructure market in Europe—a portion of a highway in Poland—taken over by a Chinese company, and the takeover by the Koreans of the Abu Dhabi nuclear power contracts—confirm the realization of what some have been predicting for more than 30 years: that the center of the world is tipping from the Atlantic toward the Pacific."

But do the Europeans "really" realize what this means, he asks: "losing its principal markets; seeing its most competitive companies become the target for buy-ups, ... seeing the centers of decision-making and elites leaving; it's no longer being an actor in major world events, even those which determine its own future; it's no longer being able to maintain the living standard of its middle class, except on borrowed time and credit." If Europe "does not take the lead, does not become aware of the danger ... this will be the end. Forever."

EU About To Follow Britain into Green Tech Trap

Jan. 5 (EIRNS)—The EU, led by Britain, France, and Germany, plus five other EU members and one non-member, seems firmly committed to invest heavily in windmill parks in the sea and similar nonsense, as part of its plan to put the Copenhagen Summit agenda into practice, even if the rest of the world thinks differently. The other six countries are Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland, Denmark, and non-EU member Norway. The windparks are to be created off the British, German, and Danish coasts, and tidal-power facilities off the British and Norwegian coasts are to be added. France may offer some solar power. These facilities will all be connected by one common "green power" grid. The whole project will cost EU30 billion and generate just a few megawatts of power. The energy ministers of the respective EU governments want to have the details ready by the autumn of 2010.

The EU "green power" plan seems to be complementary to the other, even bigger idiocy of building solar-thermic power parks in North African deserts for EU400 billion over 10 years of construction, a project promoted by the Desertec International Industries (DII) consortium.

Northern Germans Welcome Fehmarn Belt Project

Jan. 8 (ERNS)—Femer A/S, a Danish company that is in charge of laying out the Fehmarn Belt project, which will connect the Danish island of Lolland with the German island of Fehmarn, thereby opening up a direct route between Copenhagen and Hamburg, will present its plans to the public Jan. 12, announcing whether the Belt crossing will be tunnel and/or bridge. The news has generated numerous statements by politicians and industrial leaders in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, the northern German state bordering on Denmark, to the effect that they hope a larger share of the components for the tunnel or bridge can be manufactured in the Baltic coast shipyards there, and create 7,000 new jobs.

Blair-Iraq Oil Connection

Jan. 6 (EIRNS)—Her Majesty's top Fabian agent, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, appears to be cashing in on the war he helped start in Iraq. The Times of Jan. 4 reports that Tony Blair gets a cool £1 million a year as an international advisor for Mubadala, a United Arab Emirates investment firm owned by the government of Abu Dhabi. It is currently in negotiations to join a consortium of western oil companies in a £6 billion project to develop the giant Zubair oil field in southern Iraq.

While Blair always claimed the war in Iraq was not about oil, he is now getting a large fee from a firm that receives 80% of its revenues from oil and gas, and intends to build the biggest oil company in the eastern hemisphere. Mubadala is in talks with Occidental Petroleum concerning the Zubair deal. The entire consortium is headed by ENI, the Italian energy firm.

Blair's consultancy roles with Mubadala, JP Morgan, Zurich Financial Services, and the Kuwait government pay him at least £6 million a year. He also earns millions on the lecture circuit, with fees as high as £6,000 a minute.

The Jan. 4 Times reports that Blair is considered by senior Labour Party figures as a liability for the party in the next elections, if he testifies before the Chilcot Iraq War inquiry. While Labour was to announce its election platform today, no role has been offered to Blair for the campaign as of now.

Prince William, Following Charles' Green Pawprints

Jan. 8 (EIRNS)—Her Britannic Majesty the Queen is preparing the younger generation to carry on the monarchy's genocidal policies. It is now reported that Prince William, who stands second in line for the throne, after his father Prince Charles, is following in Charles' pawprints, notably taking up his father's genocidal environmentalism.

The Daily Telegraph reports that William spoke at a reception of the Tusk Trust, of which he has been a royal patron since 2005, saying, "The imperative of balancing conservation of wildlife and natural resources with the real growing needs of the human race is the heart of the great challenge facing mankind today." The charity is in the tradition of all those inspired by Prince Philip's World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). It has projects all over Africa to "protect" endangered species (excluding the human species in Africa). Going on to praise the Trust, William added, "Tusk realized this 20 years ago and, in many areas of radical thinking about sustainable development, the charity in its sensitive and self-effacing way continues to illuminate the path for us."