Nuclear Power

"The capability to maintain continuous deterrent patrols is a big milestone for a nuclear power. Once deployed it will provide China with a capability to strike targets in the continental U.S."

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To comply with the 2005 Real ID Act, which the U.S. government has been slowly implementing for the past decade, citizens in a number of different U.S. states will now be forced to obtain a passport if they want to board an airplane - even for domestic flights.

"If the U.S. and other hostile forces persistently seek their reckless hostile policy towards the DPRK and behave mischievously, the DPRK is fully ready to cope with them with nuclear weapons any time.”

Land of the Fleeced ... Home of the Slave

"We’re exhausted by your antics and empty promises. If we so much as sniff continued nuclear development, we are going to covertly and overtly stop you, even if that means military action and pre-emptive strikes on your nuclear facilities."

The EIA released a report this week that showed that there would be little effect on gasoline prices if the U.S. government lifted the ban on crude oil exports. In fact, gasoline prices could even fall because refined product prices are linked to Brent much more than WTI, so more supplies on the international market would push down Brent prices. The report lends credence to the legislative campaign on Capitol Hill to scrap the ban, a movement that is picking up steam. On the other hand, although few noticed, the EIA report also said that the refining industry could lose $22 billion per year if the ban is removed. So far, many members of Congress have been reluctant to weigh in on this issue for exactly that reason: it pits drillers against refiners, both of which are powerful political players.

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• German industry orders fall in July on weak foreign demand (Reuters)
• Alibaba’s Jack Ma, Joe Tsai to Borrow $2 Billion Against Shares (WSJ)
• U.K. Retailers Post Worst Sales Decline Since Financial Crisis (BBG)

Some context for those who insist renewables will 'solve' everything...

Over the last few years, the United States has not had the best track record with Deep Geologic Repositories (DGR) for nuclear waste. In February of 2014, the U.S.’ DGR, known as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), had two separate incidents that compromised the integrity of the project by releasing airborne radioactive contamination. While most U.S. citizens were relatively unaffected by the events, our Canadian neighbors have proposed a plan to construct a DGR 0.6 miles from America’s largest source of fresh water, the Great Lakes — and the U.S. State Department is remaining relatively uninvolved.

You could see the writing on the walls years ago. In an increasingly authoritarian, lawless, surveillance state like America, it was always inevitable that drones would be weaponized. In North Dakota, this is now a reality.

As Congress prepares to vote on the Iran nuclear deal, the focus remains on what separates the Islamic republic from the United States, which, depending on your worldview is either a lot, or everything. The truth is that similarities, though perhaps few in number, do exist. Similar though contrasting religious convictions, a penchant for exceptionalism, and pistachios aside, water management stands to be a defining issue for both nations – and, truthfully, the world – as we approach mid-century.

Since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Germany has been one of the few countries that have successfully moved away from nuclear energy. In fact, the contribution of nuclear power in Germany’s electricity generation has now fallen to just 16% and renewables are now the preferred source of electricity generation in the country. However, Germany and its neighbors are now facing an unusual problem. With the dramatic increase in green energy usage, Germany is generating so much electricity from renewables that it is finding it hard to handle it.

Chinese authorities ordered the evacuation of residents within a 3km radius of the Tianjin blast site “over fears of chemical contamination” according to BBC. According to a tweet by The People's Daily, anti-chemical warfare troops have entered the site to handle highly toxic sodium cyanide which had been found there.

In case last week’s deadly chemical explosion in the Chinese port of Tianjin wasn’t enough to satisfy your thirst for black swan-ish disasters that could serve to accelerate the ongoing global currency wars, Japan is now warning that Sakurajima, one of the country’s most active volcanos which sits just 50 kilometers from a recently restarted nuclear reactor, is poised for a "larger than usual" eruption.