It is time to wake up....

[Workingman]

... to the threats in the M.E. and N. Africa, and I do not mean the regimes in those countries, even if they are Islamist. They will be pragmatic, as the Saudis show us.

I am talking more about the events in Mali and Algeria by hit-and-run merchants who can attack and cripple a facility and then disappear back into the population. They are a real threat to our energy security.

These facilities are often out in the middle of nowhere. To secure them fully would take a huge army... a personnel and economic impossibility. And even if they were secured it is an even more impossible challenge to protect every inch of oil and gas pipeline.

The US appears to have noticed this. It aims to be energy self-sufficient by 2030; but what about us, what about Europe? Europe relies heavily on imported energy, it does not have enough raw material to power itself. A scheme to cover large areas of the Sahara with solar panels to provide electricity to Europe has been scrapped, possibly because of security.

So, when will our politicians wake up and do something about it?

[cromwell]

Well, if it's a choice between being dependent on regimes in unstable countries or starting fracking in Lancashire...?

I know there might be the odd earthquake which would result in Blackpool vanishing forever beneath the chilly waves of the Irish sea, but imo it's a small price to pay..

[Workingman]

I know there might be the odd earthquake which would result in Blackpool vanishing forever beneath the chilly waves of the Irish sea, but imo it's a small price to pay..

Some of the benefits of fracking are exaggerated, imo.

[cromwell]

Seriously though - there's a lot of gas there and it is gettable. With things as they are everywhere else, surely they will have to start going for it?

[Workingman]

I believe so, too, but I also believe that we are going to need a whole selection box of energy alternatives and not rely on a few. Things are going to have to change.

The thing with the nutters with guns is that they are damaging the economies and well-being of the countries and peoples they profess to love; and all in the name of hitting the West. If western technicians and engineers pulled out these facilities would fail fairly rapidly. That would be the sign for China or Russia to move in and if that happened these nutters would be begging for us to return. They are both hard task masters and not renowned for their adherence to personal freedom or human rights.

These places have had to be dragged kicking and screaming out of the Dark Ages, it would not take much to tip them back.