the long now or end-station mellrichstadt

After decades of protest focused around the rallying point of Gorleben in Lower Saxony, a commission has been appointed to seek out other candidate locations to host this onerous and unending olympiad of atomic waste.
One place being considered among a list of many is the sleepy town of Mellrichstadt, on the border with Thuringia and not very far away from us.

The town is being considered because of its relatively sparse population and similarly geologically constituted for long-term stability. Besides the fact it's in our backyard, consideration probably discounts the fact that the Rhön mountains here are a range of extinct volcanoes, and, as with virtually any spot in Germany that may appear like a suitable place for the long-term sequestering of spent nuclear fuel, that surety is threatened by the ambitions of prospectors who peddle American-style fracking as a solution to help meet the goals of the Energy Reform mandate. Germany will not simply export its problems but dealing with not inconsequential by-products takes foresight and commitment, not necessarily to be conduced into accepting this toxic burden but also looking further down the line towards legacies that are hard to imagine or keep in perspective.

painting the roses red or mezzoamerica

Though not necessarily enjoying the moral high-ground due to their own speculative surveillance practices, China and Russia have little reason to dignify threats from the US over harbouring a fugitive from Justice.
Ecuador's bold and unflinching withdrawal, however, from a export regime, instituted to curb cocaine production, with America in response to sabre-rattling over its willingness to grant Snowden asylum is an act of standing up to bullies and the system deserving of one of those slow claps that gallop to a round of applause. The US Senate's Foreign Relations Committee has moved to deny the South American country preferential treatment in trade—something like a Most-Favoured status which is accorded to some 130 nations. The defiance is more than symbolic, since though they will find other willing buyers for their oil and other natural resources, the vegetable and cut-flower industies will take a hit. Ecuador even does its tormentors one better—not only rejecting this framework to end the blackmail but offering to repatriate or render the equivalent millions of dollars it has realised in benefits to the US to fund institutions and programmes in support of transparency, civil liberties and protecting the right to privacy.

brusselsprout oder marco... polo

Some euro-skeptics have maintained from its conception that the union was a means for Germans to enjoy a Mediterranean holiday with minimal fuss. I do not share that opinion and believe that there are far nobler causes and potentials behind this experiment of a united and inclusive continent.

Reading the litany  of disadvantages, usurious baiting—money that's already spent, and generally bleak outlook, however, I have to pause and wonder whether membership has its positive mutually positive aspects. I do hope that this rather sombre assessment is wrong, but presented the way it is, it seems like manufacturers in Germany stand to realise a dramatic, albeit short-lived, windfall by way of new markets. A new sizable demographic has opened up to those companies with the removal of Croatia's tariff regime, no longer an outsider. A discount to further entice consumers, however, bodes only ill for an already struggling financial household (that looks already like a disqualifying factor), threatening to steamroll remaining locally owned enterprise with competition and shove the economy more towards the service and tourism sectors. Of course, other outcomes are just as likely but reciprocation does not seem entirely forthcoming and jubilation is scarce.

for more information, please re-read

Professionally, I often find myself frustrated with the regulations and law for not anticipating my highly specific question and scenarios. I find it slightly chilling, however, when Computer is able to put words into my mouth and correctly guess my obscure and poorly lettered quieries. The New Yorker has an entertaining FAQ on FAQs, demonstrating that by the dint of definition address what is frequently asked.