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WHY WON’T THE WEST TAKE JORDAN UP ON ITS OFFERS TO PROVIDE ALTERNATIVE ENERGY IN PARTNERSHIP? By Kevin A. Stoda, Kuwait Last November and December 2007, the King of Jordan and Jordanian officials met and spoke several days with their European Union counterparts about creating solar and other alternative energy sources in a partnership in coming years in the Jordanian deserts, with the goal of making both Jordan and Europe less dependent on traditional sources of energy in this 21st Century. http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093133877 In both German DeutscheWelle news and on BBC, in both November and December there were many lengthy reports on how the Hashemite Kingdom was looking to create a partnership with Europe prior to the Global Warming Conference in Bali. Suddenly, in the months after the conference in Global Warming conference in Bali, hardly any new sources in Europe have mentioned again the offer from Jordan to produce in partnership with Europe large quantities of solar power in the Middle East and sell a great part of it back to Europe. AND WHAT ABOUT THE USA?Most disappointingly, the United States has ALSO not been at the forefront once again IN promoting non-petroleum and/or non-nuclear based energy development in the Middle East. Due to the ongoing problem of disposing of nuclear waste, even energy poor states like Jordan and Egypt do not prefer nuclear energy development over alternatives. That is, cleaner solar, wind, and other non-petroleum sources of energy are more attractive in their own nation’s development than are alliances based on petroleum and nuclear technology transfers? In contrast to the EU’s (and USA’s) lack of commitment to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Italy has indeed shown greater interest in developing solar energy projects in the deserts of Libya. However, it is not clear why Jordan has been so slighted—is it simply due to the EU’s fear of investing in a country neighboring Iraq and Israel? Interestingly, recently as part of the global privatization process, Jordan has sold off a majority of its stake in its energy supply chain to a Dubai-based (UAE and Jordanian) business consortium. http://pepei.pennnet.com/display_article/294259/89/ARTCL/none/none/1/Jordan-joins-the-club/ This unique show of interest by the UAE in Jordanian energy projects means that even though the Western countries are a greater consumers of energy than the all of the Middle Eastern countries combined, the West wishes to continue to focus on the Middle East almost solely in terms of petroleum development and trade. Why can’t the West see that its continued dependence on the same energy broker states in the Middle East (along with Russian actors) is a NO-GO in this age where everyone needs to reduce dependence on single main sources of energy?
http://the-teacher.blogspot.com/ KEVIN STODA has been blessed to have either traveled in or worked in nearly 100 countries on five continents over the past two and a half decades. He sees himself as a peace educator and have been a promoter of good economic and social development--making him an enemy of my homelands humongous spending and its focus on using weapons to try and solve global issues. "I am from Kansas so I also use the pseudonym 'Kansas' when I write and publish. I keep two blogs--one with blogger and one with GNN. My writings range from reviews to editorials or to travel observations. I also make recommendations related to policy--having both a strong background in teaching foreign languages and degrees in teaching in history and the social sciences. As a midwesterner, I also write on religion and living out ones faith whether it be as a Christian, Muslim or Buddhist perspective." On my own home page, I also provide information for language learners and travelers http://www.geocities.com/eslkevin/ , http://the-teacher.blogspot.com/ & http://alone.gnn.tv/
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