Europe’s economy is slowing sharply as the Iran war drives up energy costs, deepening pressure on households and challenging policy makers. Fresh data for May showed euro zone business activity contracted at its fastest pace in more than two years while inflation pressures intensified, raising fears of a prolonged cost-of-living crunch and possible recession.
They are not going to get together with Russia as long as it’s busy invading Ukraine, and rightfully so. They could get together with China and Iran, but then the US would probably block the strait of Hormuz for ships bound for Europe and China.
What they should do is make every possible effort to break the dependence on fossil fuels as soon as possible.
That’s wishful thinking and not feasible. Of course we should speed up adoption of fossil-free electricity for many reasons, security being one of them, but:
The most disastrous of these is the fertilizer. People tend to think that you put a seed in dirt and food just grows, forgetting that famines were widespread before the Haber-Bosch process. We went from approximately >50% of people working in agriculture to <1% since the invention of the Haber-Bosch process, and it absolutely hinges on that.
What Europe needs to do is to blockade and sanction Israel until they withdraw from their illegal settlements and unilaterally stop all of their wars. We need to make it clear to the United States in no uncertain terms to fuck off out of the Persian Gulf, and if they don’t we need to be ready for military action against the United States.
I’d also add that Europe is already roughly at max capacity for Solar and Wind power generation, which are the quick-to-build alternatives. If we want to decrease reliance on fossil fuels more, it’s Hydro, Nuclear and energy recovery from burning waste that’s on the menu. All of those take time, especially Nuclear which is the best alternative in the long run. Oil shortages in Europe will likely begin this summer as Strategic Petroleum Reserves run dry. Then what?
I’m not saying we can break our reliance on fossil fuel in short term, just saying that we should work towards it. Cooperating with Russia is also not feasible in the short term, so that just leaves iran and china. The question is if that can be enough.
Whether it is or not, we should start subsidizing circular agriculture anyway, because fossil fuels are limited and going to run out in any case. Europe should try to be independent of the rest of the world before that happens. This does mean that more people will have to work in food production, but we also need new technologies for reliable susta8 good production.
We can still do with more solar and wind power, but we’ll also need to invest heavily in long term energy storage. In the end that will be much better than nuclear energy which will only prolong our dependency on fuels from unstable dictatorships.
China can’t offer us fertilizer or gas. For Europe, that comes out from Russia, Belarus or the Middle East. Among these, I’d pick the Middle East, but that’s going to put us on a collision course with the United States and Israel. Which I think is overdue, but we shouldn’t underestimate it or gloss it over.
I’m not saying we can’t do more with solar and wind, but I’d much rather see solar and wind in Africa rather than Europe. Global warming is global. Half of all jet fuel is used for cooking. The obvious fix is to provide solar panels to rural communities, rather than install them onto brick house rooftops in European suburbs.
But overall, I agree. We need diverse energy sources, and we absolutely should do more on sustainable agriculture. Having a slightly larger proportion of the work force in agriculture is absolutely fine.
fossil fuels are a key point in chemical industries , its not just about power !
True, but the amounts needed for that are much lower, and can be bought from countries in other parts of the world.
So like a decade. Europe has no choice but negociate in good faith with Iran
They can try Venezuela
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Europe will get together with Russia if it benefits it. Getting together on Iran might improve their relationship enabling them to reach a peace deal on Iran.
Europe and China would escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz. The addition of Russia would be a more formidable force.
Breaking the dependence on fossil fuels will take many years.
Russia hardly has any navy left. But even if they did, Putin can not be trusted not to screw Europe over every chance he gets.
Actually, if Europe, China, and Russia reach an agreement with Iran, Trump might be happy since the war would be over and prices will go down.
Russia doesn’t have much of a navy, but the sight of European, Chinese, and Russian warships escorting vessels would be a powerful deterrence from attack.
The purpose should be ending the war in Iran. Ukraine should not be connected.