WE HOLD OUR BREATH

At the time of writing CNN is reporting that 6,500,000 customers in the north-east of the USA have no electricity due to the combined force of Hurricane Sandy and the blizzard known as Frankenstorm.

Nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen, who worked in the area in the 1970's and was present when there was an incident, reports that there are 26 nuclear plants, some of them old, in the affected area.

Obviously as the present scenario unfolds there are going to be problems. We hold our breath, await the dawn, and hope there is not another Fukushima-type catastrophe in the making.

The US elections are due to take place next week. There has been a lot of hot and cold air expounded on both  sides.  The independent candidate appears to have completely vanished from the scene, or to have never existed.

What really concerns me is that we in Europe have not heard much discussion from over the pond about climate change. We have heard much rhetoric about the usual subjects: wars, tea parties, and economic growth etcetera, but we have not heard much discussion about the consequences of the seeding of clouds, of drilling for oil in geologically sensitive areas, of the demise of the bees in the US, although the latter example reminds me that we have recently heard some talk about drones*.

We remember the promises: I will close that place within a year! and so on.

But what are political promises, even though they may be well meant, really worth? Can politicians actually deliver? Or is the US under the influence of other forces, as the late JFK hinted before he was gunned down?

And we in Europe needn't be smug.

Today's news: Germany sells its stake in the Horizon nuclear energy project to Japan.

After the Fukushima disaster, now sliding from one crisis into the next, can you believe the Germans actually did that? No, I can't either.

We hold our breath. What else can we do?

*Did Iran ever return the US spy drone that was brought down on their territory a couple of years ago? I remember President Obama going on the news to demand they return it. There was also news media discussion of Iran doing some back-engineering, or possibly engaging a friendly super power to do it for them, as I recall. We live in extremely dangerous times.