{"id":218873,"date":"2022-09-05T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T11:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=218873"},"modified":"2022-08-31T03:29:32","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T02:29:32","slug":"a-tale-of-spanish-neckties-and-other-made-in-europe-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/09\/a-tale-of-spanish-neckties-and-other-made-in-europe-things\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tale of Spanish Neckties and Other Made-in-Europe Things"},"content":{"rendered":"

30 Aug 2022 – <\/em>Shortly before the 25 August approval by the Spanish Parliament of the government\u2019s plan to save energy, the country\u2019s right and far-right opposition parties revived their debate about an earlier suggestion of not wearing neckties in the Spanish Congress and Senate and other official institutions.<\/p>\n

\""Wildfires<\/p>\n

\u201cWildfires \u2013 well known for their disastrous consequences in southern Europe \u2013 are now occurring as far north as Scandinavia\u201d. Credit: Unsplash\/Fabian Jones.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The suggestion was made by Pedro Sanchez, President of the Spanish government, as a way to help save energy.<\/p>\n

The idea was that neckties increase the feeling of warmth, now that the country has to face two great problems: energy shortage and unprecedented heatwaves that increase the consumption of electricity and other energy sources.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Spanish-approved plan includes limiting the air conditioned temperature to 27 degrees C, and the winter heating devices to a maximum of 18 degrees, among many other measures.<\/p>\n

The European Commission hailed the Spanish plan to reduce around 7% of its energy consumption. Other European Union member countries allocated different percentages. And one of the most dependent European powers on Russian oil and gas\u2013Germany, plans to reduce its energy consumption by 15-20%.<\/p>\n

As expected, the Spanish right and far right parties fiercely defended the \u2018institutionality\u2019 of the necktie as a symbol of respect.<\/p>\n

And they voted against the plan, alleging that it falls short, that it demonstrates the failure of the government, that it increases the citizens\u2019 suffering, that promoting public transportation and providing financial assistance to the most hit sectors, are not the solution.<\/p>\n

They say that the way out is to reduce taxes. No wonder. Likewise the ruling centre-left coalition, they now are focused on the next regional and municipal elections that they hope will lead them to the central government.<\/p>\n

The argument<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Likewise other European countries, Spanish politicians and the media continue to tirelessly blame the Russian Federation\u2019s President Vladimir Putin for their harsh energy crisis, much too often attributing it to what they call \u2018Putin\u2019s blackmailing.\u2019<\/p>\n

The point is that this crisis has greatly emerged as a consequence of the United States-led severe sanctions on Moscow following the beginning on 24 February 2022 of the ongoing proxy war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The sanctions include, above all, the prohibition of importing Russian oil, gas and other products like grains and fertilisers; the withdrawal and blockage of Western business activities, and a very long etcetera.<\/p>\n

The sanctions were immediately implemented by the usual chorus of well-mannered US allies in Europe and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Then came the 30 June Summit in Madrid of the Western \u201cdefensive\u201d military alliance \u2013 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which decided to double Europe\u2019s military spending on weapons as a way to face the \u201cRussian threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

All this happened before the Ukrainian war<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

While the United States continue to rank top oil and weapons producers, the world\u2019s citizens are, once more, to pay the price: skyrocketing energy and food prices, unprecedented inflation rates, economic slowdown and the risk of a great recession, just to mention some.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian war is absolutely condemnable as are all wars. Once more, diplomacy has failed or even unwanted to be seriously try. Meanwhile, Western powers continue to update the former US president George W. Bush and his allies list the \u201cAxis of Evil.\u201d Now Vladimir Putin tops it.<\/p>\n

Anyway, the Made-in-Europe current crisis \u2013both Russia and Ukraine are European countries\u2013 just adds to earlier disasters. Indeed, likewise everywhere else, Europe now faces unprecedented heatwaves. And devastating fires.<\/p>\n

These emergencies: war, energy, heat and fires are not new. They are just some of the symptoms of a much bigger, untreated disease: climate change.<\/p>\n

Such a disease is much more dangerous that any other pandemic. Indeed the whole world population, in particular the poor, has been severely infected.<\/p>\n

The \u2018POP\u2019 and the \u2018POS\u2019<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Being \u2018part of the problem,\u2019 Europe is not \u2018part of the solution.\u2019 Even if European politicians continue to show shameful indifference toward the unspeakable suffering -and death- of other regions\u2019 human beings, they don\u2019t pay attention even to those of their own citizens.<\/p>\n

See what the World Health Organization (WHO<\/a>)\u2019s Regional Director for Europe stated<\/a> on 22 July 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnprecedented. Frightening. Apocalyptic. These are just some of the adjectives used in news reports as vast swathes of the WHO European Region suffer from ferocious wildfires and record-breaking high temperatures amid an ongoing, protracted heatwave,\u201d said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge.<\/p>\n

Heat kills, he said, and reminded that over the past decades, hundreds of thousands of people have died as a result of extreme heat during extended heatwaves, often with simultaneous wildfires.<\/p>\n

\u201cWildfires \u2013 well known for their disastrous consequences in southern Europe \u2013 are now occurring as far north as Scandinavia, and this week fires in London have destroyed 41 homes. This scorching summer season is barely halfway done,\u201d the WHO representative went on.<\/p>\n

Extreme heat exposure often exacerbates pre-existing health conditions. Heatstroke and other serious forms of hyperthermia \u2013 an abnormally high body temperature \u2013 cause suffering and premature death. Individuals at either end of life\u2019s spectrum \u2013 infants and children, and older people \u2013 are at particular risk, warned Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge.<\/p>\n

And the consequences are\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

A simple equation would say that more heat and more fires cause greater land degradation, droughts, desertification, loss of fertile soils and water resources, fewer crops, less food supplies, growing demand, more market speculation, higher prices, rising inflation, among others, all of them harshly impacting the already hard lives of the lay citizens.<\/p>\n

Talking about water in Europe. As reported in a previous IPS article: Not Enough Clean Water in Europe? Who Cares\u2026<\/a>, two specialised bodies \u2013the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE<\/a>), and the European branch of the World Health Organization (WHO<\/a>)\u2013 have warned that plans to make water access possible in the face of climate pressures \u201care absent\u201d in the pan-European region.<\/p>\n

And \u201cin most cases\u201d throughout the region there has also been a lack of coordination on drinking water, sanitation and health during the Thirteenth meeting of the Working Group on Water and Health held on 19-20 May 2022 in Geneva.<\/p>\n

The poor?\u2026 What is that?<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

This short story has addressed the case of the highly industrialised, rich Europe.<\/p>\n

What about the rarely severe impacts of all that on the so-called low-income countries?. No mention of them in European political speech, let alone the mainstream media.<\/p>\n

No matter if the number of hungry humans now amounts to one billion? No matter if the world\u2019s billions of poor have by no means caused the current catastrophe, while bearing the burden of its severest consequences?<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t have neckties!<\/p>\n

_____________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Baher Kamal, <\/em>a member of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a>, <\/em>is an Egyptian-born, Spanish national, secular journalist, with over 45 years of professional experience \u2014 from reporter to special envoy to chief editor of national dailies and an international news agency. Baher is former <\/em>Senior Advisor<\/a> <\/em>to the Director General of the international news agency IPS (Inter Press Service)<\/a> and he also contributed to prestigious magazines such as <\/em>TRANSCEND Media Service<\/a>, GEO, Muy Interesante, and<\/em> Natura, Spain<\/em>. He is also publisher and editor of<\/em> Human Wrongs Watch.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 human-wrongs-watch.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

30 Aug 2022 – While the United States continue to rank top oil and weapons producers, the world\u2019s citizens are, once more, to pay the price: skyrocketing energy and food prices, unprecedented inflation rates, economic slowdown and the risk of a great recession, just to mention some.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":67245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[1014,1268,250],"class_list":["post-218873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members","tag-energy","tag-european-union","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}