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* Judith Bergman: Biden's Energy Crisis
* Lawrence Kadish: Failed Leadership in America as Defined


** Biden's Energy Crisis ([link removed])
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by Judith Bergman • June 29, 2022 at 5:00 am
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titute.org/18615/biden-energy-crisis#print
* The ongoing world energy crisis... seems to have proven for once and all that energy independence is a matter of national security.
* To transition to renewable energy, America would have to transform its energy infrastructure and invest heavily in wind turbines, solar panels and electric cars, all of which require rare earth materials as central components. A single industrial-size wind turbine, for instance, requires about one ton of four different kinds of rare earth materials.
* Guess who mines more than 70 % of the world's rare earth materials, and holds at least 85% of the world's capacity to process them into materials that manufacturers can use? China. Who produces more than 60% of the world's solar panels, and 45% of the global supply of solar-grade polysilicon, the base material used in solar cells? China. Moreover, rare earths is not a market that outsiders can simply enter. According to the Danish Institute for International Studies: "China today has the expertise, IP rights and production facilities, as well as its own REE- [rare earth elements] consuming industries. China also manufactures a significant and growing share of goods containing REEs, making it practically impossible for competing companies outside China to get a foothold."

The ongoing world energy crisis, which began in 2021 and has caused record price spikes for oil, natural gas and coal, seems to have proven for once and all that energy independence is a matter of national security. (Image source: iStock)

The ongoing world energy crisis, which began in 2021 and has caused record price spikes for oil, natural gas and coal -- in combination with Russia's war on Ukraine -- seems to have proven for once and all that energy independence is a matter of national security. Both Europe and the US have recently had to relearn this lesson -- yet again -- when Russian President Vladimir Putin cut gas supplies to a number of European countries after they refused to pay in Russian rubles -- and before that, when the West was confronted with the need to sanction Russian oil and gas exports, while at the same time being dependent on them.

US President Joe Biden let nearly two weeks go by after Putin invaded Ukraine, before announcing that he would finally ban US imports of Russian oil, natural gas and coal, which, until then, had been helping to pay for Putin's war on Ukraine. In 2021, 36% of Russian government revenues came from the sale of oil and gas.

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** Failed Leadership in America as Defined ([link removed])
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by Lawrence Kadish • June 29, 2022 at 4:00 am
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-america&pubid=ra-52f7af5809191749&ct=1&title=Failed+Leadership+in+America+as+Defined [link removed]
(Photo by Getty Images)

A contemporary of Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, penned a series of acerbic commentaries and observations in a book, The Devil's Dictionary, still in print.

Some of his biting but spot-on definitions include:

Apologize, (verb) – to lay the foundation for a future offense.

Acquaintance, (noun) – A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. A degree of friendship called slight when its object is poor or obscure, and intimate when he is rich or famous.

Politics, (noun) – A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

Year, (noun) – a period of three hundred and sixty-five disappointments.

Bierce was clear eyed about the human condition and politics in particular. One can only imagine what he would make of our current political landscape.

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