Western Europe’s biggest petroleum producer is falling out of love with oil.
To the dismay of the nation’s powerful oil industry and its worker unions, the opposition Labor Party over the weekend decided to withdraw its support for oil exploration offshore the sensitive Lofoten islands in Norway’s Arctic, creating a solid majority in parliament to keep the area off limits for drilling.
The dramatic shift by Norway’s biggest party is a significant blow to the support the oil industry has enjoyed, and could signal that the Scandinavian nation is coming closer to the end of an era that made it one of the world’s most affluent.
How will Norway pay for its social safety network without oil revenues?
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Norway Is Walking Away from Billions of Barrels of Oil
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(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:03AM (22 children)
Exactly why this post is so interesting:
https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=32846¬e=&title=New+Report%3A+Global+Warming+And+%E2%80%98Extreme+Weather%E2%80%99+Are+Not+Accelerating [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by canopic jug on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:51AM (21 children)
Norway has known for a long time that fossil fuels are not viable in the long term. Thus they have been divesting for years and for decades have been diversifying the investments of the funds generated by fossil fuels. They've known that petrochemicals must come to an end and have been preparing for that time in an orderly fashion. These are recognized as stranded assets by those that look more than a few quarters ahead.
Notice that electric cars [cnn.com] outsell petro cars there. They've also made increased moves to divest from expanding oil and gas use [ecowatch.com]. They're also promoting electic bicycles [soylentnews.org] and upgrading their numerous ferries to electric power [soylentnews.org]. They've got potential for wind and tidal power to compensate, so look for investments in those areas to grow even more.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 09 2019, @06:25AM (20 children)
What they do to be green domestically isn't relevant to how all the lost revenue made from selling oil to other nations is going to be made up. Diversified investing is all well and good but investments typically do not pay back but a small percentage of what was invested per year. That's not going to fly unless they have enough invested to buy a new country somewhere that's not balls cold and move everyone there. Not with the level of social spending their population demands of their government.
I wonder who the progressives over here will point to when we're having to send them humanitarian aid food shipments?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Tuesday April 09 2019, @07:05AM (9 children)
Norway is only around %3 arable land and an increasing amount of that is covered by business parks, suburban sprawl, and other forms of asphalt. Their once famous fishing industry is history. Overfishing, warming ocean waters, and way too many imported crabs have killed that off. But, if they've continued to invest their oil money well then they'll be able to continue to buy their own food, assuming there is any surplus left elsewhere that other countries remain willing to sell. Depending on how much energy they can get from tidal and wind power, there might be somewhat of a future for indoor farming in the tunnels they are so good at boring.
Even in the US, fossil fuels are a stranded asset. Even lame old solar employs more people than coal [forbes.com]. Renewables are where the money is at these days. Further, there is no ash runoff to ruin the water (and thus the fish) in the country's remaning trout streams. Placement of wind turbines is an issue though. Placed incorrectly, where birds gather or travel regularly for migration, they can act like a cuisinart for birds.
However, there are a growing number of social problems that might take them down for good, since they look like those are being swept under the rug rather than solved.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Tuesday April 09 2019, @11:19AM (5 children)
"Renewables are where the money is at these days. Further, there is no ash runoff to ruin the water (and thus the fish) in the country's remaning trout streams"
Could you come to Canada and point this out to Trudeau and Alberta?
Please?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:26PM (4 children)
He'd need to make it true first. Renewables are still not going to make you any significant money at the moment. If you invest in everything now some of them will likely make you a lot of money a ways down the road but a lot of them are going to just lose you your investment entirely.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:58PM (3 children)
I dunno: SOMEONE'S making enough money off it that they're continuing to do it.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday April 12 2019, @03:24AM (2 children)
Not really. Most green energy companies seem to lose far more money than they make and last only until the initial capital runs out they can't get any more loans. I'd be very skeptical even of the large ones that have been around a while and are producing a lot of energy at this point. It's not like no company has ever cooked the books before and someone who thinks they're doing it for the greater good is even more likely to do it than someone who just wants lots of money.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday April 12 2019, @02:23PM (1 child)
I'd like to see those books, absent subsidies (paid by taxpayers) and venture capital (often intended to be blown, as a tax writeoff). My guess would be there's actually no such thing as profitable renewables.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday April 12 2019, @06:43PM
Hard to say. Depends on if they feel the need for insane growth at the expense of staying in the red. I'm certain it can be done profitably but I wouldn't trust anyone who's in the business because of the word 'green' to make any significant decisions or handle the money.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @01:30PM (2 children)
Warming waters (by less than a degree) killed off the fish. You have to be an idiot to believe this stuff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @04:49PM (1 child)
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 10 2019, @04:40AM
I've got experience with reef tanks, there is no requirement to keep the temperature within 1 degree the optimal on average.
(Score: 2, Informative) by quietus on Tuesday April 09 2019, @07:59AM (5 children)
Their investment fund is worth $1 trillion. Norway's social expenditure stands at about 25% of GDP, which was $398 billion as of 2017. All this combined means they'll need a 10% return year-on-year, presuming ordinary Norwegians do not pay taxes for social security.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:32PM (4 children)
Yeah, and ten percent is asking a hell of a lot from your investment manager if losing your principle has to be avoided at all costs. Also, population growth and GDP growth would need to remain in lockstep, which is not remotely going to happen while they're getting so many unskilled refugees (who may or may not work at all) in as new population. It doesn't look good for them.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by quietus on Tuesday April 09 2019, @06:23PM (3 children)
With that scale of investment fund, a yearly return of 7 - 8 percent would be on the conservative side.
Note that we assumed, superficially, that all of that return would be spent on social security. Given that Norway's personal income tax rate runs at about 38 percent, of which slightly more than half is directed towards social security [tradingeconomics.com], it looks like that's not the case.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday April 12 2019, @03:33AM (2 children)
The thing is, "on the conservative side" isn't good enough when you're investing money that you can not afford to lose under any circumstances. As for the further math, you're right in that it needs considered but I'm too exhausted to think tonight.
I notice you didn't address the fairly speedy influx of unskilled, low-earning immigrants though. As a general rule, unskilled immigrants tend to be a net drain on the economy for at least one generation, usually more but it is heavily dependent on a given demographic's cultural factors.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday April 12 2019, @02:26PM (1 child)
Per the most recent stats I've seen, 4 out of 5 working-age males of the current migrant influx are on welfare. Plus their families (sometimes several of 'em apiece, four wives ya know), since naturally none of the women or children work.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday April 12 2019, @06:48PM
Depending on the numbers, that could indeed be a serious problem, yes. Dollars to donuts that the "yay Scandinavian welfare" folks, who also happen to be the "yay open borders" folks will still be calling for both here in the US even if they get to watch first hand how it can bankrupt a nation though. Facts are apparently a social construct now. Or possibly racist.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:09AM (1 child)
Note the emphasis
So, no new oil wells, they didn't close the old ones, the revenue is still there as long as it lasts.
Besides, if they have enough revenue from other sources...
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:36PM
Oil wells are diminishing profit sources. They start slowing down and eventually stop producing entirely. Exploration is necessary to not have your yearly income fade down to nothing. Even more is necessary to offset inflation. Even more is necessary to offset population growth if you're using them as magical free money for social programs.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday April 10 2019, @04:08AM (1 child)
Perhaps it's Norway's way to participate in OPEC production cut to support the prices and save the reserves for future shortages? The US wants to sanction all of them for doing so, therefore Norway needs a good excuse.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by quietus on Wednesday April 10 2019, @07:50AM
Norway's investment fund has been doing this [further diversifying out of oil and gas] for the past 3 - 4 years.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:14AM (49 children)
Yes they did
https://mg.co.za/article/2011-09-08-oil-together-now-nationalisation-lessons-from-norway [mg.co.za]
then it is the perfect counter point to Venezuela , they seem to know how to do things right, i’m Sure they’ll do fine.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:25AM (45 children)
the perfect counter point to Venezuela
Well, that's because Venezuela is full of *Mexicans*!
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:35AM (40 children)
The fundamentals for life are just easier to attain for people near the equator.
Just look at how colorful fish are there vs in the North (indicating extra energy available to flaunt wealth). The equator is prime real estate. Culture and genetics are different as a result of the higher rate of competition.
(Score: 5, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:41AM (1 child)
That's just a red herring.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @04:04AM
What passes for "colorful" in the North:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Clupea_harengus_Gervais.flipped.jpg/1280px-Clupea_harengus_Gervais.flipped.jpg [wikimedia.org]
Tropical fish:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Orange-lined_Triggerfish3.jpg/1024px-Orange-lined_Triggerfish3.jpg [wikimedia.org]
(Score: 2, Troll) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:14AM (37 children)
Oooh, ooh, i know this one! You're gonna say next that all those hardass Nordics...'scuse me, "northern people" are genetically superior due to the environment they had to survive in, and way less effeminate and weak than those pansy-assed brown people^W^W southern types, right? And naturally have higher IQs and more ability to plan ahead and better work ethic, and are of course the master race and deserve to conquer the planet and impose White Culture (TM) on all the worthless heathens who aren't even smart enough to be grateful for the imposition of superiority from above as nature and God intended.
Do I have your dogwhistling bullshit about right, or was there some other vile idiocy I missed out on?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:57AM (3 children)
South American commies spent their oil fortune on Chavez and his generals living lives of luxury while the people suffered. Norway Socialists spent their oil wealth preparing their country for a post-oil world by using the proceeds to invest in other areas. Alaska's dividend program was originally based around the Norway method of funding their government forever using a giant oil based trust fund.
So South American dictators seem to act like the Grasshopper and Northern Europeans act like the Ant. Hookers and blow vs thinking ahead.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by RamiK on Tuesday April 09 2019, @06:58AM (2 children)
Actually the different South American nations had more than a few politicians who wanted to do exactly as Norway did and sensibly manage their means of production and natural resources. The US funded their corrupt opposition and assassinated them when failing that. And when even that didn't work the US created the drug cartels to excuse sending in troops to wage (recently declassified) wars to destabilize the regimes while pressuring other nations not to do business with them. All to force them to sign away their resources to American and British companies or at least put them on the market where shares can be bought by Americans.
Happened in the Middle East. Happened in Africa. Almost happened in Asia but the Chinese saved/beat the US to it in Korea and Vietnam. Even happened in Europe.
compiling...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @12:23PM (1 child)
BS.
The gringos didn't create the drug cartels. We did that all by ourselves.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:11PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_involvement_in_Contra_cocaine_trafficking [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_drug_trafficking [wikipedia.org]
https://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie/index.html [cnn.com]
https://www.globalresearch.ca/drug-war-american-troops-are-protecting-afghan-opium-u-s-occupation-leads-to-all-time-high-heroin-production/5358053 [globalresearch.ca]
The war on drugs is an amalgamation of core Republican interests in foreign resources and capital. Without going into the details, the cartel would never have become anywhere near their size without direct US involvement in offering banking services and directly aiding in the trafficking. But simply put, everyone has criminal but only the US's enemies produce cartels.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @06:01AM
Noticing that certain races are wildly incompetent is RACISS!
I virtue signal in public and declare myself a hero! Notice me people!
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @06:38AM (11 children)
Ooooo, evolution doesn't apply to people cos dat's raciss.
For the last few thousand years those who live well north of the snow line died if they didn't prepare for winter.
Not a minor evolutionary pressure like slightly lower survival rate or less kids, but flat out DEAD. If they were incapable of planning they DIED.
And yet you somehow think that doesn't affect them, because saying they have better planning ability than those who didn't need to plan is soooo non-PC.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:03PM (10 children)
Evolution applies to people. But it applies one king hell mountain of a lot slower than culture, not that you have any. God DAMN are you stupid. And predictable. You are the bottom of the barrel, the absolute laziest sort of "thinker" it is possible to be.
Look, shithead, the point of intelligence is that it allows us to use culture and other social and physical technology. With these tools, we can tell mother nature and her abusive fucking pimp of a boyfriend Malthus to fuck right the fuck off. Memes over genes. We can and indeed MUST control our surroundings with culture, intelligence, and technology in ways evolution alone would never allow us to.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:33PM (9 children)
Not when the driver of that evolution is the entire fucking family dying. I didn't say they were better than africans, they just had different drivers. Given the climate and wildlife in Africa, attempting to stockpile food and firewood would be wasted effort, and so stupid as to be an evolutionary negative.
Not stockpiling food and firewood in Norway would have been fatal. That's a pretty fucking strong bias in favor of future planning on the part of the northerners.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday April 09 2019, @06:44PM (8 children)
Thanks for making my point for me! :) What you have described is culture, not evolution.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 10 2019, @03:21AM (7 children)
It is maybe a combination, but when everybody genetically incapable of planning for the future dies that is a strong genetic component. I think the problem is that you have accepted the tabula rasa hypothesis and assume that attributing anything to genetics is 'bad nazi science'. Separated twin studies have disproved tabula rasa. There are inheritable differences to minds and personalities. As soon as you have inheritable differences you have evolution. It is practically a tautology.
It is not evil to think that some behaviors and traits may have a genetic component, and it is not evil to see that different environments will select for different traits. Applying judgements to individuals based on average genetics is evil, but determining general societal policy based on the average of that society is not.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday April 10 2019, @04:59AM (6 children)
Er, nope. Tabula rasa died 30+ years ago; the problem here is *you* have overcompensated far in the other direction and are attributing far more to evolution and genetics than can be reasonably so attributed. You're also forgetting epigenetics. Do some Googling (or Ducking around on the internet...) for things like "epigenetic effects of famine." These epigenetic effects bridge some, but not all, of the gap that a purely genetic approach misses. They act far faster than gross changes to DNA, as they are merely patterns of expression or silencing of individual genes or gene clusters via methylation or imprinting.
They still, however, don't get you where you want to go (i.e., to the local Klan meeting). Culture is a stronger force in the short term, and thank goodness for that, else we'd just be a bunch of rock-slinging apes with no fur and weirdly floaty breasts. I'll take technology over raw evolution any day.
Sorry, but you're not fooling me with this one here. You are, I notice, neatly avoiding specifying what "societal polic[ies]" you want enacted based on your understanding of evolutionary theory vis-a-vis the human race. Why is that? Would you care to expand, in great detail, on these ideas? :)
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 10 2019, @11:59PM (5 children)
The rules of evolution in a replicating system with inheritance of characteristics may be statistic, but they are so tautologically correct as to be on par with the laws of thermodynamics.
Your claim that it doesn't apply to the human mind is like saying "fire is the gaseous oxidation of decomposition products from heated material, except for that one fire over there which is liberating phlogiston".
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday April 11 2019, @05:41AM (4 children)
You don't read so good, do ya, boy? I never said we're exempt from evolution; I said epigenetics is faster than raw sequence change, and culture faster still as well as far more wide-reaching. In fact, culture can become a driver of evolution (Flynn effect, for example).
It sounds like you just want some sort of "see? the science proves it!" excuse for considering large chunks of the human race inferior, and therefore A-OK to commit genocide against.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 12 2019, @11:47PM (3 children)
This post demonstrates such a lack of understanding of genetics and evolution that there is no point continuing. I suggest you slowly read and think about "The Selfish Gene" and then follow that up by reading "The Extended Phenotype". Both by Richard Dawkins and are an excellent laypersons introduction to how evolution really works.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday April 13 2019, @05:46AM (2 children)
> Implying I haven't read these
> Implying that's germane to the point
> Implying implications
Do you just not understand English or what?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 17 2019, @01:40AM (1 child)
You may have read them but you obviously didn't understand them. Particularly Extended Phenotype.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday April 17 2019, @05:55AM
You're never gonna make evolutionary psychology or evolution in general a justification for racism, bro. It's a category error. I don't understand how so many supposedly smart, "rational" people keep falling for this trap. What we choose to do in how we treat others is not an evolutionary issue; we are intelligent beings with moral machinery (though I suspect yours is broken...missing mirror neurons maybe?). Social technology and intelligence are orders of magnitude faster than evolution and can affect things evolution can't, precisely *because* they are under intelligent control and not simply the end result of a quintillion quintillion interactions of molecules and environment.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:08PM (19 children)
Well, yeah! And?
I guess I should thank you for saving me the trouble...
And, despite their very minority status, look at who rules the entire world. White European males, they own it all. There must be a reason for that.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday April 09 2019, @06:47PM (18 children)
For a long damn time it was China, and at the rate things are going it may very well be China again in a few decades. And East Asians have statistically higher IQs than Caucasians, with the notable exception of--you're gonna LOVE this one, Adolf!--Ashkenazi Jews!
This line of argumentation you're running is going to bite you in the ass so hard your grandparents will feel it in Hell. Don't say I didn't warn you. Who lives by the sword, dies by it, and who lives by deliberate ignorance, will die ignorant.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:34PM (17 children)
Goddamn! I love you! You are so cool!
But maybe you never really noticed. China never came close to running the world. The whole global thing didn't even take off until the Europeans went on their *Three Hour Tour*... And you do remember the opium wars? Remember who won?? How funny that is. Little tiny Britain against big bad China, Africa, Middle east, North America, Oceania ... My god! They even beat off France and Spain!! And Germany before we showed up. Come to think of it, White Europeans IS incorrect! It should White Brits, and that empire still rules today, even over your USA! It shows no sign of diminishing, all their Masterpiece Political Theater notwithstanding...
White people ruled wherever they went for a little over 500 years. And yeah, their fat laziness (and low birthrates) will bring them down a few notches. Probably got another 100 - 150 years... by then even the NHS won't be able to keep up with all the heart attacks. Their coronary bypass unit is quite the little factory..
Life is brief. I would advise you to enjoy your stay. Making yourself miserable doesn't help anybody, least of all you.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday April 10 2019, @01:08AM (16 children)
Okay, so now you're saying it's all down to accidents of history. Which is it, troll-breath? I notice you also had no counterpoint to the proven superiority--hey, statistics say it, it has to be true!--of our East Asian and Ashkenazi overlords :)
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 10 2019, @02:51AM (3 children)
There are a hell of a lot more aspects to a person than the IQ you seem focused on.
I test out way above average on IQ (140 to 150 depending on test/caffeine/alertness/etc.), but I am often outmaneuvered by people who test lower, simply because I am not as driven, ambitious, ruthless or duplicitous. I get interested in solving technical problems, and forget to play the politics.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday April 10 2019, @03:13AM (2 children)
Hey, *I'm* not the one fixated on IQ, it's our "scientific" racist friend(s?) up above who seem to have a permanent woodie for it. Mine is, like yours, in the 140-150 range, though unlike you I have the ability to play politics; I kind of have to, women live and die by social networks unfortunately.
IQ tends to be the fetish or totem the "scientific" racist guys, and they are almost always guys, get hooked on. They seem to have forgotten that there are multiple dimensions to intelligence. I most certainly do not have the equivalent of a 140-150 IQ in music due to severe hearing loss, and am just average athletically, for example.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 10 2019, @03:30AM (1 child)
It is not so much an inability as a disinclination. I don't like playing politics. The few times I have gotten pissed off enough to pay attention and get down and dirty with the assholes, I generally get what I want, and also get left alone afterwards for a considerable time. I feel dirty when I do that though.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday April 10 2019, @05:27AM
And yet you don't feel dirty for suggesting that large swathes of the human race are lost causes, essentially brute beasts, with all the genocidal policy that implies? Your priorities are fucked. Take a long, hard look in the mirror before you call someone else a beast...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 10 2019, @06:23AM (11 children)
Which is it, troll-breath?
:-) You're cute!
I notice you also had no counterpoint to the proven superiority--hey, statistics say it, it has to be true!--of our East Asian
Well let's see... Who won World War II?
and Ashkenazi overlords
Israel, and the whole map of the Middle East (and most of Africa) is a British creation. Sustained by American muscle... can't survive on their own. Same goes for the two bit dictators everywhere south of the Rio Grande. The Americans didn't want the Jews over there either. They wanted to give former slaves a homeland also, somewhere far away from them. So it makes sense, no accidents...
Now then, I never said one word about IQ or "accidents" or anything else. I said, *Who rules the world?* But you just keep going off on your little rants trying to impress.. who? I wouldn't know, but you show high ambitions for something. Hope you're not running for office with that mouth!
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday April 10 2019, @07:54AM (10 children)
So we've suddenly moved from "people rule due to genetic superiority" to "people rule" then? Thanks for flushing your entire argument down the shitter. If you go that route, we're speaking of nothing but accidents of history. What will you say when China takes over the world? Will you then acknowledge them as superior simply because they rule you? Fool.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 10 2019, @10:06PM
Bah, this is stupid! You can't read!
Still love ya :-)
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 10 2019, @11:11PM (8 children)
What the hell... I'll spell it out for ya one more time, babe.
Physical and mental superiority has enabled the White(specially British) Man to conquer every place they ever stepped into, that includes China, Africa, Middle East, India, Europe (still occupied by the Americans) and your east Asian friends, Japan (also still occupied), the arctic and antarctic, and the moon! (Who the fuck wants Korea?). This is a White Man's World, La perfide Albion...
What is this "accident" bullshit you're pushing?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday April 11 2019, @05:57AM (7 children)
And who says this will last? It was not always, and will likely not always be. Hope you're brushing up on your Mandarin, bigmouth...we're gonna need it inside of 20 years. I'm thanking my lucky stars I spent childhood surrounded by Chinese-speakers (and writers) and have picked a bunch of it up early.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @06:24AM (6 children)
And who says this will last?
Some guy named Isaac Newton, I believe? You know, inertia? But really, you are so silly. If we really lose it that fast, we can thank your democrats for that. They made Trump president. And though you deny it all day long, people like you are only making it easier for him with your repulsive bullshit and phony "investigations" (goddamn circus show! Looks like he's turning that around on yer ass! Way to go!). You should be looking for somebody to run against him instead of demanding party conformity and subservience. You should consider how you got yourselves into this mess, but you won't. You will always find somebody else to blame. That's just how you roll. That's why Trump won. And he's steamrollin' right over you people, no Mueller report, no taxes, "acting" cabinet members, it just goes on and on. And look at you! The tact you are taking is so very wrong, only benefits your antagonists. Very very sad...
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday April 11 2019, @06:29AM (5 children)
You're rambling, AC. Gibbering, more like. There are laws against public masturbation and you are flouting them.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @03:26PM (4 children)
Oh my! Such projection! Say what you want, babe. At least you admit that the White Man rules the world when you asked how long it will last, which had nothing to do with what I said, by the way. Your attempts at diversion are a miserable failure. But please, keep trying, it's fun to watch. It's better than TeeVee.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday April 11 2019, @03:58PM (3 children)
Why is it so important to you who rules? What good is that going to do you, even if you are a "White Man" (wtf caps?) when you're dead? You may find it actually does you negative amounts of good, depending on how you interacted with others vis-a-vis your supposed rulership...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @07:20PM (2 children)
Why is it so important to you who rules?
Contrary to what you like to believe, it isn't. I'm just laughing at your bullshit for not acknowledging why they rule.
wtf caps?
:-) Heh, I was wondering how long it would you to gripe about that. That was the reason for doing it that way. You are such a nice soft target for distraction. So easy to throw you off the trail..
And when I'm dead, I won't care what happens to any man, no matter what color.
You know, All your preachy shit is very religious. You don't fool anyone. You are as superstitious as anyone around.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday April 12 2019, @06:00AM (1 child)
I'm definitely not an atheist, if that's what you mean, but this is purely about natural laws. Karma itself is one of those laws; take it out of its Dharmic-religious milieu and just think of it as the moral version of Newton's third law.
You also aren't "just laughing." You are as serious as an Ebola outbreak and about as useful to civilized society. I know full well why whites rule for the moment, and most of it is accidents of history. It's also a rather small slice of history, if you get your head out of this weird Eurocentric worldview and study, for example, the Indians and the Chinese. Even most of what you think of as "western civilization" has its roots way the hell back in Mesopotamia, or Persia and Iraq to us moderns. Study Sanscrit and what we've been able to reconstruct of proto-Indo-European, too.
There is so much to learn, so much to study. How can you possibly be content with such a tiny, constricted worldview and its cheap pleasures? Does temporal, temporary power truly mean that much to you, especially power you have zero part of?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 12 2019, @09:35PM
How is it an accident? That's the silliest shit I've ever heard (well, maybe not from you). If it's an accident, the car is still crashing in very slow motion.
You are as serious as an Ebola outbreak and about as useful to civilized society.
As I said, you can't read then. This is one of your major malfunctions... Your silly biases completely rearrange the letters written down to suit. It can't be more obvious. You just spill rote bullshit. I should expect better, but I don't anymore. Since anger is off the table, I can only express disappointment, and some gratitude in my short time left. Oh, and on that, good luck finding any link at all between one life and the next. I can assure you it's a total crap shoot, another day another universe.... But for shits and giggles, why don't you tell us all about your past lives. I would seriously love to hear it! If you're really tuned it, you should be able to tell us about your next one or two. And furthermore, your whole morality shtick is complete based on superstition. You're just trying ride the coattails of the name. But it's the same old shit in another costume. So please, save yourself the trouble. I ain't buyin' no snake oil.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:01AM (3 children)
And Norway is filling up with muslims
Whats your point
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:10AM
lern 2 rite
(Score: 4, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @10:15AM (1 child)
You keep saying that every country mentioned on SN gets "filled" with muslims. If that's true I assume the countries that they come from are going to be empty pretty soon. Can't you just move there?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @01:34PM
I think that is the plan. Trick all the people living near the equator into moving away with a fake global warming scare, then move in when the places they moved to get covered in a mile of ice.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:46AM (1 child)
Doesn't sound like it. First, it's not fully nationalized, which is why it works in the first place - the private part is what's running day-to-day activities and actually making the profit that funds those goodies. Second, why did the Labor Party (and the groups that really wanted the oil drilling blocked) have a say in blocking a future revenue source for Norway? Once you have a means for the state to control something, then you have a means for the stupid people running the state to control something.
Sorry, I don't buy that the drilling (and its externalities like pollution and slightly negative impact on global warming) is a serious enough problem that it has to be banned instead of regulated.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @11:59AM
Unless, of course, they are not stupid.
Lettuce note nobody tried to sell it to you, so you not buying it is inconsequential.
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday April 10 2019, @04:14AM
Norway is extremely militarized https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditure_per_capita [wikipedia.org] and right on the Russian frontier. That's probably the whole secret.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:44AM (12 children)
We're seeing more and more people from places like Norway that want to come to U.S.A. To immigrate. Too bad. Our Country is full!!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @07:26AM (1 child)
Direct quote:
"Haiti? Why do we want people from Haiti here?" Then they got Africa. 'Why do we want these people from all these shithole countries here? We should have more people from places like Norway."
(Score: 2, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:21AM
I don't agree. I don't agree. Norway, in the early 1940s, used to be great. It's great no more. Too many Radical Muslims. And, too many Socialists. Their country is CIRCLING THE DRAIN!!!!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by stretch611 on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:07AM
You're right, our country is too full... Why don't you leave to make room for others.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday April 09 2019, @11:34AM (7 children)
We're seeing more and more people from places like American that want to come to Canada to immigrate. OUR Country is GREAT!!!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday April 09 2019, @11:35AM
Stupid auto-correct.
*America
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:18PM (1 child)
And it's getting warmer! I never understood why Canadians don't like that. The Canada Goose down jacket lobby?
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:56PM
I like it!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:58PM (2 children)
It's great so long as you're very healthy. Get sick and it's catastrophic. Socialist Healthcare doesn’t work anywhere in the World. It’s good if you don’t mind waiting like 5 weeks to see a Doctor. Very very slow. Frankly, they come from Canada because they want to use our Doctors.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Tuesday April 09 2019, @06:10PM (1 child)
America's great so long as you are Wealthy. Screw everyone else!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday April 09 2019, @06:50PM
So true and we have more VERY VERY RICH people than any other country. We call them billionaires and I, very proudly, am one of them. We have more than China, more than India and more than Germany. Getting richer very quickly, because of me. And we have the richest person -- Jeff Bozo. Should have been tied for #7 with MacKenzie. But she settled, so dumb. NEVER SETTLE!!!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday April 10 2019, @01:18AM
The instant I am able to I am going to Canada. This country has had it. I'm not even sure Canada will be all that safe for all that much longer, especially if I choose the wrong place to go, but it's got to be better than this...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @07:06PM
The country is not full. It's just your small brain that is full.
(Score: 2) by EJ on Tuesday April 09 2019, @04:06AM
More like Snoreway! [youtube.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:16AM (25 children)
They are leaving it in the ground, not "walking away" from it. There's a big difference. Norway is staying where it is and the oil is also staying where it is, in Norwegian possession, and it may well be extracted in the future.
If I have money in the bank and decide to leave it there for my descendants, that doesn't count as walking away from my money, does it? Norway is doing the same, but every f*cking story that can be green-spun gets this kind of treatment now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:34AM
You are neither walking towards them. So, what's the relevance of your example? (grin)
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:41AM (1 child)
You beef is with Bloomberg, buddy, check the original FA.
It's a first for me to hear Bloomberg news qualified as "green spin".
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @01:51PM
Pay attention. Bloomberg are professionals with the green paint.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 09 2019, @06:28AM (15 children)
Pssst... I'm not sure if you've noticed but unless they drill and sell it relatively soon, they're not going to be able to sell it at all, ever. There is no leaving it for their descendants. That's not going to be an option.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:03AM (7 children)
Why? Will someone steal it?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:15AM (5 children)
Unbelievably Stinking Assholes will "liberate" it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:49AM (4 children)
How does one liberate gigaliters of oil from under the nose of a country?
(Score: 4, Funny) by Gaaark on Tuesday April 09 2019, @11:38AM (3 children)
Find imaginary WMD and invade/start a war and put in a government of YOUR choice.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:14PM (2 children)
You must be confused because that would never happen unless the country attacked first
(Score: 3, Touché) by Gaaark on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:59PM
Man, have I got a bridge to sell to YOU!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday April 09 2019, @06:42PM
It can happen if the "people" of Norway demand it. Kuwait, they were having big problems with the Incubators. With, the soldiers from Iraq were taking all the Incubators. And if there was an Incubator with a baby inside, they would dump the baby on the floor. Big piles of dieing babies. But, Nayirah went to Congress, she talked to U. S.A. Congress about all that. And, Amnesty International confirmed it was true. We sent our great, and very brave soldiers. And brought "democracy," very strongly, to Kuwait.
Venezuela, they have more Oil than anybody. But the "people" of Venezuela are asking for our help. And, we sent "aid." Big trucks full of delicious food. But the Venezuela Army, sadly, set the trucks on fire. And burned up all the food. Although, they have no electric in Venezuela anymore. They used to have Energy Grid. For Refrigerator, for many things. They still have Energy Grid. But it no longer works. Refrigerators sitting and getting VERY WARM. Food spoiling. Because they have a Fake President. He won the Election, it was a VERY BADLY RIGGED Election. So we found them an Interim President. President Juan, beautiful man. And we gave Juan all the Venezuela Oil Money in U.S.A.. All the Venezuela Real Estate in U.S.A.. Lot of stuff and he's using it for the Venezuela "people." To end the Socialism Disaster. And we talked to Exxon, we talked to Conoco. They are ready to go in there and get that Oil. And they'll do a magnificent job with that.
Saudi, they're #2. And we're doing great with Saudi. They have one of the strongest governments, very efficient. For so long, U.S.A. was protecting them almost for free. Very tough neighborhood, very dangerous and even some of the Saudi "people" didn't want our Military Bases in their country. I flew over there -- to Middle East -- I said, look this can't go on. You've got to protect yourselves. We'll sell you F-35, we'll sell you nuclear, we'll sell you Aircraft Carriers with the latest Digital -- whatever you need to be 100% safe. We did the biggest Arms Deal ever, I got the Kingdom some terrific prices. And we're making a lot of money there.
Canada, not as much Oil as Venez. or Saudi. But, a lot of Oil. And unfortunately, it's the WORST Oil in the entire World. Very thick and it's full of sand. I moved very strongly on, let Trans Canada build the pipeline to Houston. And somehow they're going to get that VERY BAD QUALITY Oil to Houston. For our Koch Brothers to refine. For the longest time, Canada was absolutely killing us on trade. We were at war -- trade war. And really, we still are. For the first time, America is winning -- because of me. Because of Trump Tariffs. But I worry about the "people" of Canada. Their government is very very corrupt. And many people are saying, Justin of Canada should resign. Should have resigned long ago -- or never gone into Politics. Canadians, TAKE BACK YOUR COUNTRY!!!!
Iran, also a lot of Oil. Not as much as Venezuela. Not as much as Saudi or Canada. But, a lot. And the "people" of Iran have been suffering for 40 years -- Radical Islamic Terrorism. Nobody knew, nobody paid attention. Except me. And I did a big Announcement yesterday. Telling the World, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Core, also known as I.R.G.C., is TERRORISM. And I've known about these guys for a long time. Trump Tower Baku, they screwed us very badly on that one. On the construction, the landscaping, the everything. No more!!!!
Norway -- we are listening. We are on your side. We stand with you. 100%. You can't come here -- Country is FULL. But, you can take back your own country. From the Radical Muslims. From the Socialism. 1940s, you had a great Country. You can be Great Again. You know what to do!!!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:39PM
Because it's becoming increasingly politically incorrect to drill for or use oil at all. Eventually it's going to be illegal. The same people who think Norway is a model utopia are dooming it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:16AM (2 children)
Pssst ... there's still the mater of lubricants, their descendants will ... ummm... you know... have smoother experiences.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:35AM (1 child)
I'll see your lubricants, and raise you chemical feedstocks.
200 million years is actually quite a long time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:44AM
Move along, nothing to see here.
Really? 'cause my stock hasn't raised for quite a while.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:36PM (3 children)
Oh, so you can predict the future price of commodities now? I remember 15 years ago, a Ph.D. physicist was trying to convince me that the world was in danger of running out of oil.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:42PM (2 children)
To some degree, yes, but that's not what I was talking about. Anyone should be able to see a rising movement to do away with using fossil fuels at all though and if it stays even remotely on the same trajectory drilling for and selling oil will not be an option for their grandchildren.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @04:25PM (1 child)
See what happens after 30 years of moderate to no global warming. The pendulum of public opinion never stops.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday April 12 2019, @03:38AM
Bad analogy. It's not moving like a pendulum. Pendulums swing back and forth. This issue has only ever really moved in one direction, though it does slow or stall at times.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:54AM (4 children)
And that difference is? It's not an investment where sitting on it means someone else is using your capital and making things of value. It's wasting an asset. And it won't become any more valuable in the future, particularly if humanity moves away from oil in a big way just like the people who are blocking the move want.
That's the thing to remember. The people making this choice expect oil to drop in value when it gets regulated out of use for transportation. They're not doing it for the future investment. It is indeed walking away.
The thing that bugs me here is not the "walking away". It's the lack of reason for doing so. Sorry, I don't buy that global warming or the more local pollution issues of drilling are serious enough to justify this action. In each case, they've had decades to make their cases. I think the fundamental driver is more a form of Ludditism, blocking progress because oil use is perceived as inherently evil - irrespective of actual consequences.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday April 09 2019, @12:07PM (2 children)
What would be the reason to do otherwise?
Norway seems to have enough money from their investment [soylentnews.org], so what's your problem with how they choose to do with their oil?
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday April 09 2019, @01:41PM (1 child)
Norway != Labor Party != elites of Labor Party cutting deals with other political elites. I guess my problem with it is petty decisions made by proxy.
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Tuesday April 09 2019, @10:03PM
In the same time, Norway != khallow.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:46PM
It's a political decision. I'm sure a significant part of the political majority just wants to slow down the resource extraction and leave more for future generations. If global temperatures don't rise so much over the next few decades, they will revisit the decision.
"Walking away" would be equivalent to injecting some kind of poison into the reservoir, so the oil can never be extracted. Apart from the technical feasibility, I doubt that move would carry the day politically.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @01:39PM
Good point.