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The
Lessons of War
Summer has been overshadowed by the brutal destruction in
The Lebanon and the death of civilians on both sides of the
conflict. What has been accomplished? Have lessons been learned?
At least an expanded regional conflict has been avoided this
time. But there will be a next time – and what then?
Nuclear proliferation is a reality in the Middle East as elsewhere
in the world. So, what is it all about?
It is about the right
to exist and the right to territory (to be or not to be, in
the case of Israel and of the Palestinians). It is also about
economic and military power and, of course, religion. Behind
all of that there is something else even more fundamental – access
to water, food and energy.
Reports gather dust…
A decade
ago the Commons Defence Select Committee reported to Parliament
on the Southern Flank of NATO. We drew attention to the growing
Arc of Instability, stretching from the Maghreb in Western
North Africa, through Egypt and the Middle East right up to
the Caucasus, and stretching out to include Iran, Afghanistan
and Iraq. We pointed out then that water, food and energy were
major drivers in the political and military instability in
the region, with disputes over water in strategic rivers such
as the Euphrates dominating the agenda. Did anyone take any
notice? Did anyone read it apart from assiduous civil servants
and academics? We were right then and politicians had better
wake up now!
Ideas are instant
Prosperous Western Democracies
in search of peace and stability, if that is indeed their objective,
have enormous advantages over extremist dictatorships and theocracies – the
power to reach over the heads of repressive or intolerant regimes,
direct to the majority of ordinary people. That power of ideas,
dreams and ambitions – above all of knowledge - is unstoppable.
It led to the collapse of the Soviet Union – and why
would China seek to censor the world-wide web if not to attempt
futile mind-control of its people? The same could be true in
the Middle East – but we have to start engaging much
more seriously and positively with the issues underlying the
problems. Take energy.
Drowning in energy
If you still don’t
believe climate change is happening, spare a thought for your
children and the world we are creating for them. Global energy
demand will increase by 60% by 2030. Who will get it? Those
who need it most – or those who waste it most? Science
now confirms that sea levels are rising and that world oceanic
currents are changing for the worse. So what are we doing about
it in the UK?
Domestic energy usage on household products has
doubled in the last 30 years. In the 1970s a typical UK home
had 17 energy using products. Today it has 47 products plus
five mobile phones. If one mobile charger per household is
left on standby, the energy wasted is enough to provide the
electricity needs of 66,000 homes for one year. By 2020 there
will be an extra two million households in the UK to equip
with such products. In the UK (not yet a hot country) we spend £1.2
billion every year on cooling and freezing food and drink.
Set-top digital TV boxes will cost £30 per house per
year in electricity. Large plasma screen TVs can consume up
to four times more than a normal TV. We already have many of
the answers in consumer products – lighting technology,
condensing boilers, insulation levels, hybrid cars. But so
far the Government has failed to achieve its targets for cutting
CO2 emissions which are the main driver of climate change.
It is down to you and to me. And we’d better start listening
to people and nations with little or no economic development
before we drown in energy and greed. Both of which are motives
for economic migration, instability and ultimately war. Ask
the Poles, the North Africans or the Afghan poppy growers.
This green and pleasant land?
In July you may have noticed,
if you looked over a bridge across the Avon anywhere below
Amesbury, that the water had taken on a green colour due largely
to growth of algae. Fishermen were concerned that fish would
die for lack of oxygen. The exceptionally high standard of
water in our river was threatened. I asked the Secretary of
State for the Environment for an explanation – and what
he was doing about it.
The cause of the green bloom is a combination
of high temperatures, low water flow and increased concentration
of ‘nutrients’, largely from sewage works along
the river. Wessex Water has spent your money installing four
phosphate-strippers and two more are planned by 2010. That
is good news. But we are back to low flows, caused by excessive
abstraction – to supply 80% of the water for 1.2 million
consumers in Wiltshire, Somerset and Dorset from our groundwater
sources. Most of Wiltshire’s water is ‘stolen’ to
supply the ‘Central Area Link Main’ to Yeovil and
Bath.
I have campaigned against this wanton and unsustainable
use of water from our chalk for some twenty years, so I was
pleased the Minister also confirmed that under the Habitat
Directive Review of Consents, the water company may have to
reduce abstraction after 2008. I should blooming well hope
so!
Robert Key MP
17 August 2006 |
