Shifting Strategic Alliances

Since the EU Constitution seems to be dead in the water, EU Referendum has expanded it coverage of other topics. A post entitled The realignment continues eplores the changing relationship between Australia and the United States.

US President Bush, it reports, has issued a decree changed US national disclosure policy, upgrading Australia to the highest rank of intelligence partner that the US has in the world. Australia's new status is equalled only by Britain and vastly expands the quantity and quality of US intelligence our agencies receive.

Also given coverage is Europe's changing relationship with China. A post entitled Christmas time for China, the author explores Europe's financing of and technological transfers to China.

Yesterday, we also head from The Financial Times that the EU is to fund China's development of a low-emission coal-fired power station, paying the (unspecified) difference between the cost of a conventional plant and one equipped to demonstrate technologies both for carbon capture and storage and for clean coal.

What the EU thinks it is doing can only be imagined, as China is way ahead of Europe in the development of nuclear power, not least with pebble bed technology and could well leave nuclear-averse Western nations trailing behind in the electricity generation stakes

Just in case you missed the coveage in your local newspaper, there is an election coming up in Germany. Germany calling gives context for the election.

What is not possibly realised abroad is quite how much Schröder’s Social Democrats are playing the anti-American card, to which we to which we referred to earlier, but a graphic illustration of this can be seen from this picture of a recent election rally – redolant more of a third world country, like Iran, than a supposedly civilised country like Germany.

Evidently, the Socialists consider Christian Democrat Merkel to be more than "in the pocket" of Uncle Sam.