Australia’s fuel security is becoming an increasingly imminent challenge for the country as another refinery closes in Melbourne. With the country’s already high import bill climbing, experts are beginning to question the future of Australian fuel.

ExxonMobil has taken the decision to close its 80,000 bpd refinery in Melbourne, leaving the country with just two plants to meet its fuel needs. The plant will be transformed into a fuel import terminal.

This follows BP’s decision to close its 146,000 bpd Kwinana plant in October 2020. Concerns have also been raised over the viability of Australian energy company Ampol’s Brisbane refinery.

The closure of Australia’s oil refineries makes it significantly more dependent on refined oil imports. While the government has assured the public that the closure will not have a negative impact on Australia’s fuel stocks, it is clear to see that a national fuel strategy is needed.

Prior to recent refinery closures, Australia already imported around 90 percent of its oil needs, a figure that is now expected to rise. In 2019-20, Australia imported a total of $22.4 billion worth of refined petroleum products.

The national stockpile of crude oil goes towards Australia’s 90-day emergency threshold, established to tackle any problems with the supply chain.

However, to date, the government has failed to meet this stockpile quota, having just 63 days’ worth of oil reserves in November 2020, or 86 days if counting oil already en-route to the country.

Here we see sad destiny of colonial country that had been ordered to do certain things, and frequently no one asked them at all, corporations just did their thing.

Recently, there has been an active discussion of the prospects for the introduction of a cross-border tax on carbon dioxide emissions by the EU.

Unfortunately, a myth has formed around this topic, which has completely replaced reality. The participants in the discussion seem to remember what lies at the heart of this notorious problem, but at the same time act as if under hypnosis of rhetoric.

So there is the problem of climate change. Within this problem, two hypotheses compete. The first claims that the planet is gradually warming up, and the reason is human activity. This hypothesis is based on data accumulated over the past 200 years as a result of direct climate observations (mainly in Europe). Proponents of this hypothesis say that due to the increased planetary temperatures, glaciers will melt and coastal cities will be flooded. Thus, the main enemy is CO2; in order to prevent global warming, the burning of fossil fuels must be greatly reduced, or better altogether.

At the same time, it remains behind the scenes that carbon dioxide is needed for plants. Many researchers write with surprise that the green mass of plants on the planet has been increasing recently. This is happening despite stream of constant screams of environmentalists about the massive destruction of forests.

The second hypothesis is based on paleoclimate data obtained from the analysis of Antarctic ice cores, as well as on geology. These experts argue that the Earth's climate itself, without human influence, is subject to severe fluctuations. During the Jurassic period, the planet's average temperatures were much higher than today, as is the CO2 content. Moreover, in the last millions of years, a tendency towards a global cooling prevails. The intervals between glaciations are becoming shorter, and the warming itself is less and less pronounced. The last "glaciation" was observed in the XVI-XVII centuries. We are living in an era of warming after this cold snap. According to forecasts of many scientists, in the next millennium there will be a new cold snap. The glacier will first cover the United States, and then the north of Eurasia.

It would be good for these hypotheses to remain within the framework of science for some time and be the subject of discussions among specialists. Nevertheless, politicians have already made their choice. The global warming hypothesis has become a subject of global action. Why did it happen? The point is not only that for politicians a thousand years is an irrelevant period, because they will not have to live at this time. The reasons lie in the economy, and only in it.

The EU countries do not have their own significant reserves of fossil fuels. Those deposits that exist are already almost exhausted, and there are practically no chances to discover new ones. Accordingly, energy imports are growing, which is bad for the economy: you give the funds that your companies could earn to someone on the side. In response to this challenge, the concept of green European energy was born. In the beginning, it looked attractive. The EU is one of the world's technological leaders. Of course, Europeans can develop any technology. At the same time, the import of hydrocarbons into the EU will be difficult, which will keep the importing countries in good shape.

It quickly became clear that the plan had essentially failed. First, the production of wind turbines requires rare earth metals. China is a monopolist (with a share of about 80%) in the supply of such metals. China quickly set up production of solar panels. As a result, the overwhelming share of “green” equipment used in Europe is made in China. So, they fought with importers of hydrocarbons, and fell into dependence on China.

Meanwhile, the countries that are leaders in the share of "green" energy (in the EU it is Germany and Denmark) have received a natural result - they have the most expensive electricity in Europe. This is a huge challenge to the competitiveness of enterprises. The government is trying to solve this problem by shifting the tariff burden from industrial consumers to the private sector. The consumer doesn't like it. They already have enough problems. Real disposable incomes are falling, the retirement age has to be raised, and pension savings are also melting. This poses risks to social stability. What to do?

The solution suggests itself. “The Kingdom needs money,” as the Danish medieval king used to say, and we will take it, but not in the domestic market, but there! Abroad. We will tax imports, and there will be funds to fulfill social obligations. We would like to especially emphasize this very moment, which for some reason often escapes discussions. While many in Europe sincerely believe in global warming and would not want to allow climate collapse, the main goal of European politicians is to find money to fulfill social obligations to their citizens.

Who will suffer the most? Of course, China. After all, this country is the leader in carbon dioxide emissions. The PRC annually burns as much coal as all other countries combined. In response, this country will begin to impose taxes, duties and other sanctions against European partners. To be honest, the only thing that matters for this story is how Europe and China agree, if they do.

Paradoxically, this is even good for Mordor. Europe has "nothing personal" against Mordor. And - Europe needs to warm up. In winter, it suddenly got colder in Europe. Contrary to hypotheses, it got colder than expected. It turned out that there are not enough solar panels and wind turbines for heating. Europe began to buy more fossil fuels, and, horror, dirty coal. Mordor fuel will continue to be required by the EU countries. What will happen in the end? Mordor will negotiate with Europe, we will seek compromises. Gas is not Chinese coal; it is the cleanest type of fossil fuel. And Europe needs it. Moreover, it is much cheaper to obtain hydrogen from natural gas than from water. Namely, hydrogen has become the new love of European politicians.

Materialism rules!

In 2010, the U.S. Department of Defense found thousands of its computer servers sending military network data to China—the result of code hidden in chips that handled the machines’ startup process.
In 2014, Intel Corp. discovered that an elite Chinese hacking group breached its network through a single server that downloaded malware from a supplier’s update site.
And in 2015, the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned multiple companies that Chinese operatives had concealed an extra chip loaded with backdoor code in one manufacturer's servers.
Each of these distinct attacks had two things in common: China and Super Micro Computer Inc., a computer hardware maker in San Jose, California. They shared one other trait; U.S. spymasters discovered the manipulations but kept them largely secret as they tried to counter each one and learn more about China’s capabilities

China’s exploitation of products made by Supermicro, as the U.S. company is known, has been under federal scrutiny for much of the past decade, according to 14 former law enforcement and intelligence officials familiar with the matter. That included an FBI counterintelligence investigation that began around 2012, when agents started monitoring the communications of a small group of Supermicro workers, using warrants obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, according to five of the officials.

Whether that probe continues is unknown, as is a full account of its findings. But as recently as 2018, the FBI enlisted private-sector help in analyzing Supermicro equipment that contained added chips, according to an adviser to two security firms that did the work.

https://archive.vn/1mbYw#selection-4095.0-4105.267

Most fun is that none of Bloomberg statements had any proof, most fun had been stories about chips in network connectors.

But real economic interests dictate US elites behavior.

Google is testing new privacy features in its Chrome browser for iOS. The update notes for the latest beta version of Chrome 89 for iOS mention that once the browser is launched, the content of incognito tabs will be blurred until the user verifies their identity. In the near future, the application will be able to protect anonymous tabs using Face ID. This system is used by Apple to unlock iPhones and iPads, and many third-party apps use this feature as well. Now Google Chrome will join them.

So, now US and other governments will have 100% proof and track of that you read in incognito mode. As Chrome will send special marker that your face had been checked.