Treehugger.com is reporting that Sweden is going to kick its’ oil habit.

Goran Persson, the Prime Minister of Sweden, has announced that his country will try to end its fossil fuel dependency by 2020. The plan is mostly based on investments and tax incentives for the use and research and development of alternative sources of energy.

The reason… global warming. The Prime Minister acknowledge that of any country in the world, Sweden could be among the worst affected by climate change as temperatures and climate nearer the polls will change much more severely.

Bravo for Sweden for taking the lead on this. Canada needs to take notice. We have the second largest Artic territory on the planet. Will us kicking our oil habit reverse global warming? Of course not. But we have a lot to lose from climate change. Given our ignorance of our own Northern territories, we stand to lose even more than we coud imagine. Surely that is a message we can take to heart.

Lets follow Swedens lead… hell lets help them out by funding research of our own with oil money that Sweden doesn’t have and pool our collective industrial and scientific resources to come up with a solution to this most threatening of human problems. Not Global warming, but rather ignorance and laziness.

After 28 years the Voyager 1 space probe is still making its’ way out to the stars.. what’s more amazing is its’ still sending back useful data and will likely continue to do so for another 15 years at least!

According to the report above and papers submitted to many journals, scientists now agree that Voyager 1 cross the barrier between our solar system and the “in between” area between our solar system and interstellar space beyond. This barrier is known as the “termination shock” because it is the point where the solar wind decreases abruptly in speed due to the pressure of the interstellar space pushing against it. It’s exactly like the “sonic barrier” that planes break through.

Amazingly, scientists heard that “sonic boom” on December 16, 2004 amongst the faint crackle of transmissions from Voyager 1.

Just think… a little probe, no bigger than a bus… hurtling through space.

It’s millions of miles away from us… and yet, just like that.. like breaking through a thin wall… it passed through an invisible barrier.. and we Heard it!

It just boggles the mind.

Apparently it will only take Voyager 1 8-10 years to pass through this middle region known as the “HelioSheath” (Sun - Shield). Once it breaks through no one knows what will happen… but amazingly, we will still be able to use our radio telescopes here on Earth to communicate with and squeeze information from Voyager as it continues to go where no Human has ever gone before.

It looks like Iran is headed for referral to the United Nations Security Council. After rumours that the Russians and Chinese were throwing up big walls to the EU3 referring Iran directly to the UNSC for their behaviour around nuclear issues, a document has now been submitted to the IAEA board that directly indicates Irans non-compliance with IAEA rules.

That assessment of non-compliance, if approved by the IAEA board, is a direct breach of IAEA protocols, and thus an automatic trip to the UNSC.

Apparently, a majority of those on the IAEA board support referral to the UNSC, so it is expected that by this time next week, Iran will find itself under the microscope of the Security Council.

It’s hard to tell what will happen after the referral to the UNSC. Russia and China have made their support for Iran clear, so to convince them to hold back their veto will be difficult. However, I have seen multiple reports that indicate that US intelligence officials have actually provided very impressive and convincing evidence tying Irans nuclear power ambition to a wider weapons initiative. This is what led to the EU3s push to refer Iran… and apparently it may be enough to quiet the objections from other Veto powers.

In short. Iran is not what Iraq was… certainly the newly “elected” President Ahmadinejad is not Saddam Hussein, but he is one thing Saddam was not, and that is unpredictable, and ready for war.

We are starting down what could be a very very dangerous road. Much more dangerous than Iraq or Afghanistan (which Iran happens to be squeezed between) or North Korea. Iran is a real threat, we must not get ahead of ourselves.

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China has been all over the economic news lately.

They’re eating up “other peoples” (I use that term loosely) oil reserves and buying up refineries and pipelines. (though the UNoCAL bid fell through.

They’re beneficiaries of the “outsourcing” scourge of the US and in turn selling their goods back at rock-bottom prices.

It is clear that China will be, if it isn’t already, the most influential economy in the World and it appears as though it will only be more so as time goes on.

Take, for example, todays article from the Washington Post talking about how the revaluation of the Yuan did nothing to stop the flow of cheap goods from China. It was expected that this revaluation would make the Yuan grow in value… making Chinese goods less cheap and thus less of a “threat” to industries in the US, Europe and elsewhere. Well, it turns out that the “floating” of the Yuan did nothing of the sort… and now many around the world, but especially in the US are calling for China to “take action” to increase the Yuan.

Ironic isn’t it, that the Western Capitalist World is now angry at a Communist nation that has fully embraced capitalism in its’ economy… to the point where those Western Capitalists are calling for the Communists to reign in the economy?

It’s just gotta make you laugh… does the term… “You Asked for It!” ring a bell?

On another tact… as I recently reported, China and Canada signed a “strategic partership“. Mainly ensuring that economic and trade ties would continue to grow. Softwood Lumber is one area where trade could really take off… and Prime Minister Paul Martin (PMPM) apparently discussed just that with the Chinese President last week.

No wonder… with our major trading partner for softwood currently imposes obscene and illegal tarriffs… why wouldn’t we sell our wood to China, we certainly have plenty of room to grow.

Check out these charts… they are of softwood lumber exports from British Columbia since 1990. The raw data is available from the BC Stats website.

First of the US and other major softwood buyers (click for larger image):

Notice the major dip in 2003, that was due mainly to the tariffs and duties and the associated mill closures and layoffs.

Now the rest of the world… notice orange… that’s China, and stacked directly above is Hong Kong (click for larger image).

I for one have no problem with China asserting its’ place in the world… as their economy has become more open, there has also been a marked shift in day-t0-day life of the middle-class in China. Those middle-class people have more freedom then any of their relatives before them. Ironically.. again… I also belive that as the rich get richer the poor will get poorer (because that’s simply the nature of capitalism)… but China will be unique. Their middle class wants democracy and knows its’ value… but the going is good, so why bother… the Poor on the other hand will conitnue to get poorer, and this will spell trouble for the Communist Party. As it becomes more clear that the government is responsible for the plight of the poor, the poor will rise up and demand change… at the same time the middle class will wake-up from their cell-phone induced coma and realise that the time to act is now.

This will cause the democratic reform that we are all waiting for.

But until then, we’ll have to stay the course… and let capitalism work its’ ironic magic.