Q-and-A

 1.  Whats all the protest action in the Netherlands about?

The government passed a measure that would allow local authorities to establish a limit on nitrogen levels in each area....meaning you'd go to local farmers....evaluate their property, and tell them instead of 40 cows, they could have 33 cows.  The farmers are furious that it'll bankrupt their model of business, and the politicians/journalists really don't know or understand where their agricultural products come from. 

Violent?  Well...I'd say we've gone to the stage where the farmers will make life pretty uncomfortable for the cops and judges.  If you do detain a farmer, and livestock are put at risk....you could be drawn into a bigger legal mess.  

No winners....no losers. Just conflict.

Just my humble view....you are looking at the end of agricultural production in the Netherlands over the next twenty years.  If your farm operation is built to produce X-amount of income, and you start to miss the target by 25-percent, there's no reason to operate a farm.  The government reaction?  Probably to artificially inflate prices to the level where taxes would float up and out-of-country products are cheaper than the local stuff.  

2.  This talk about Germans slipping into energy-poverty true?

Well....here is the hype.  Presently, most Germans are now paying 10-percent of their income on electricity, natural gas or oil-heat.  That's a fair sum.  Some chatter is going on....that the gov't needs to get involved.  If they did....they'd have to tax folks more....to hand them a 'gift-money-deal' later.

3.  Can you openly discuss the two genders in Germany?

Well....this past week at Humboldt University (Berlin).....Professor Vollbecht was supposed to give a biology talk, and the threats started to arrive.  So the university cancelled the talk.  

Yeah, it's reaching a stage where the gender-topic can only be openly discussed by certain people with the 'right' credentials.  Being 'pro-science' won't help.

4.  Is Belarus making a direct threat to western Europe? 

Well....Lukashhenko has made a comment or two....'if you cross this line', but otherwise, he's just reading Putin's script.

5.  How much worry is being generated about adequate natural gas supply in Germany for the winter?

On a scale of one to ten....I'd say presently the worry is at a '7'.  I'd go and prepare myself for a mandate that says indoor temperatures have to be set at 18C (64 F).  Use of conventional heat situations?  It will soar and everyone will pay 30-percent more on electrical bills.