The Coming Big Freeze in Europe Is Very Well Deserved and Long Overdue

I’m a lifelong horseman and a man who’s fond of metaphor, so I liken many governments throughout the world to stables in need of cleaning. In horse parlance that’s called mucking out the barn. Pitch-forking out the shit, spreading fresh straw, topping up the oats and filling the water-bucket.

European parliaments have not been good at stable-management and are about to pay the price

According to Google, despite various protests and the rise of large Russian gas firms such as Gazprom, Russian fossil fuel production has facilitated a large expansion in the quantity of gas supplied to the European market since the 1990s.

That’s two decades, 20 years, a generation, however you care to count it. One can only presume the euphoria of the wall coming down, perestroika and the release of the Iron Curtain countries all pointed toward the friendliness of the seemingly tamed Russian bear.

Even horses know better than to believe a bear in the stable is a good idea

The Russian bear had just lost its cubs in ’89 and a bear in that state requires—at the very least—some watching. But Europe was distracted by finally feeling itself free and at peace, with communism at long last a thing of the past. A bear having lost its cubs is a poor choice for dependency and, while it may have hibernated, the bear had its paw on Europe’s oil, gas and electricity.

So Europe did nothing to protect itself, choosing instead to poke at the bear, tell the bear it was powerless and allowing NATO’s bear traps to creep closer. First the Czech and Slovak republics, then Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, Albania and Croatia all became members of the EU and NATO.

Setting aside metaphor for the moment, Europe is likely to endure a cold winter without sufficient power, which was both predictable and unnecessary

Case in point; what’s the biggest problem with solar power? Twenty-four hour dependability, right?

Six years ago Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk offered to save Australia’s most renewable-energy dependent state from blackouts by installing $25 million worth of battery storage within 100 days, and offering it for free if he missed the target.

The offer followed a string of power outages in the state of South Australia, including a blackout that left industry crippled for up to two weeks and stoked fears of more outages across the national electricity market due to tight supplies. Musk made the offer in response to a comment on social media by Mike Cannon-Brookes, the co-founder of Australian software maker Atlassian Corp, who said he would be willing to line up funding and political support if Tesla could supply batteries that would solve South Australia’s problems.

82 days later, South Australia had its Powerwall

Governments have responsibilities and their primary obligation is to feed, house and protect their inhabitants from the weather. Frankly, they’re not very good at that.

It’s pretty late in the game for a neglectful European Union, but not yet too late. I don’t happen to have Elon Musk’s phone number handy, but I’ll bet EU President Ursula von der Leyen could find someone to get it for her.