A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
“Islands in the Stream” was written by the Bee Gees, named after an Ernest Hemingway novel, and first intended for Diana Ross … but it found its most famous home in the epic country rendition released by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton in 1983 which was Dolly’s second number one hit – knocking Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” off the top spot!
We had planned to do a cover of it to mark Dolly’s 80th birthday earlier this week. But with the bizarre episodes engineered by Donald Trump and some of his despicable false claims about NATO and track records dominating headlines this week, we determined to create a parody reflecting on his increasingly rambling, drivelling, narcissistic, and palpably untrue speeches – including notably the one he gave at Davos as he climbed down (for now) from his bullying of Greenland (not Iceland, as in the clip).
...
*Update 12 hours after upload: thanks for helpful people adding to our fact checking, and reminding that although Trump “taunted men who served as soldiers” there were also many female service people and sadly casualties in the Afghanistan operation.
I feel you, Marsh Family, and so do many other Americans.
Stay tuned for this year's unveiling of the Doomsday Clock. How many seconds to midnight are we now?
This is a hasty cover of Erma Franklin's 1967 belter, written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns, that is one of our favourite soul tracks, and only lost out to a Grammy to her younger sister Aretha in 1969 ("Chain of Fools"). It had a resurgence in Europe in the early 90s after the end of the Cold War thanks to a Levi jeans advert, and its highest chart position for the re-release was number 5 ... in Denmark.
Our treatment pays tribute to the Danes (who suffered proportionally among the highest casualties in wars supporting the USA after its triggering the collective security clauses of NATO in places like Iraq and Afghanistan), and who are being shaken down at the moment by the likes of Trump, Vance, and Miller in their bid to bully Europe to agree to the annexation of autonomous Greenlanders. You probably don't need a link to make sense of this, as it's all over the news, but in case...
There are (again) some rude words in our parody lyrics, for which apologies, as we continue to respond to stress by swearing, which can actually be very cathartic and good for you, as long as you can stop it spreading to your kids...
I enjoyed Dr. Z connecting this monster to both the Winter Solstice and to other European Christmas monsters, including Krampus, who has a video of his own. I'm an environmentalist, so I don't just recycle, I conserve my resources. I'm saving that episode of Monstrum for a future Yule.
You better watch out, you better not cry, and you certainly must behave—or else face the brutal beating of the Krampus. Why does this demonic, horned Yuletide monster exist? This episode looks at the historical origins of Krampus in the winter festivals of the Alpine region, challenging the false claim that this monster came from pagan tradition, and traces its renewed popularity across the globe.
On December 5th, adults celebrating Krampusnacht seek to punish misbehaving children. This not-so-jolly holiday is also referred to as Krampus Night.
Most people associate the holiday season with lots of cheer, merriment, and joy. However, there is one traditional holiday during this time of the year that doesn’t sound so fun. In fact, it seems a little scary. It’s actually more Halloween-like than Christmassy.
Preparing to orbit and do science on the Moon, investigating how solar wind interacts with Mars, and demonstrating quiet supersonic flight are just a FEW of the milestones we have planned for 2025.
Much of this continues what NASA did in 2024, but that's a good thing. It's also what I'm least worried about with the incoming administration. As I wrote in 2016, "space policy is the one area where Trump might actually be good for the country." I also wrote "It's like hoping for the alternative history in The Man in the High Castle to happen just so there could be commercial SSTs by the early 1960s...The cost would be too high." I fear the cost might be higher this time.
In 1975, 10 European countries came together with a vision to collaborate on key space activities: science and astronomy, launch capabilities and space applications: the European Space Agency, ESA, was born.
In 2025, we mark half a century of joint European achievement – filled with firsts and breakthroughs in science, exploration and technology, and the space infrastructure and economy that power Europe today.
During the past five decades ESA has grown, developing ever bolder and bigger projects and adding more Member States, with Slovenia joining as the latest full Member State in January.
We’ll also celebrate the 50th anniversary of ESA’s Estrack network, 30 years of satellite navigation in Europe and 20 years since ESA launched the first demonstration satellite Giove-A which laid the foundation for the EU’s own satnav constellation Galileo. Other notable celebrations are the 20th anniversary of ESA’s Business Incubation Centres, or BICs, and the 30th year in space for SOHO, the joint ESA and NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.
"In 2025, ESA looks ahead to a busy and exciting year." So do I. To paraphrase what I wrote last year and the year before, here's to 2025 being another great year in space.
May the U.K. avoid falling down a rabbit hole because of the election results!
I might return with the results of the U.K. and French elections, where the French seem to have realized that they might fall down a rabbit hole as well and have caught onto the edge to prevent it.
Labour has officially won the 2024 general election after reaching the required 326 seats.
Speaking in central London, the next prime minister Keir Starmer says "change begins now".
"It feels good, I have to be honest," he tells a cheering crowd.
He adds that the task of a Labour government is "nothing less than renewing the ideas that hold our country together".
I liked P.M. Starmer's speech. I especially appreciated his slogan "Country first, party second." That's a sentiment I wish both major U.S. parties believed in. One of ours certainly doesn't.
While Labour was the clear winner in the United Kingdom, there was no clear winner in the French elections, just a clear loser, Marine Le Pen and her National Rally. As BBC News reported this morning, France faces hung parliament after election result.
France is facing political deadlock after parliamentary elections dealt a blow to the far-right National Rally - but leave no party with a majority.
A coalition of left wing parties - have won most seats in the high stakes snap election.
The left-wing New Popular Front has won 182 seats in total, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally have 143 MP’s, coming behind President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble Alliance, which has 168 seats.
RN leader Jordan Bardella blamed "unnatural political alliances" for stopping their rise to power.
France managed to avoid falling into the rabbit hole, but might still be teetering on the edge. Still, it's better than the alternative.
I hope to have more good news about France in time for Bastille Day. If not, no worries, as I already have the plan B I mentioned in A happy drum corps Canada Day 2024! In the meantime, may the U.K. and France serve as good examples for the U.S. in this election year.
John Oliver discusses the UK elections, who’s running, why people are so upset with the Tories, and the happiest surgeon in all of Lithuania.
One ofmy favorite sayings that I tell my students is "no one, or in this case, no place, is completely useless; it can always be used as a bad example." Both austerity, a core conservative project on both sides of the pond, and Brexit, which the first two of five consecutive Conservative Prime Ministers did not support and struggled to implement, serve as bad examples that the U.S. should avoid. There is a reason why I have an anti-austerity label on this blog. Also, Brexit may be an analogy for Hoover Cleveland's hostility to NATO. Leaving NATO would be a mistake, too, and another reason not to re-elect the convictedcriminal.
By the way, tomorrow is Alice In Wonderland Day, a day that the U.S. and U.K. can celebrate together. May the U.K. avoid falling down a rabbit hole because of the election results!
I might return with the results of the U.K. and French elections, where the French seem to have realized that they might fall down a rabbit hole as well and have caught onto the edge to prevent it. In the meantime, stay tuned for the 4th of July.
The last eight years were also the eight warmest recorded.
Since 2021 was the sixth warmest year on record, that means the planet has continued to warm despite last year's continuing La Niña. Even more alarming was that the past eight years have been the eight warmest years on record. Yikes!
NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad joins ABC News Live to discuss the agency’s new climate report, which concludes 2022 was the third-costliest year for the U.S., among other alarming findings.
The US is hit with floods as Europe faces historic drought
Yikes! That's scary. Good thing Trevor is presenting it as comedy, so I can laugh instead of weeping because I can see the dire message on the hunger stone.
Stephen checks on our friends in Europe who are experiencing a record-setting heat wave, and announces that The Late Show will broadcast LIVE this Thursday after the next public hearing by the Jan. 6th Committee.
After starting his monologue with the European heat wave, Stephen moved on to the kind of political news he would normally make fun of, including the third take-home message from the most recent hearing after the 'Unhinged' meeting leading to the January 6th riot and the involvement of extremist groups, The Former Guy calling a future witness, apparently trying to tamper with the witness. We might hear more about that and the Secret Service text messages at tonight's hearing followed by Colbert's live monologue. I'm looking forward to both.
Stephen's writers stepped up the heat wave coverage the next night, beginning with Tuesday's cold open, Peppa Pig And The Very Hot Day.
It's good that Mummy and Daddy Pig are making the best out of a bad situation.
It's a good thing Peppa's fans were all in bed when that aired. It would have upset them.
Stephen celebrates his dog Benny's third birthday, peeks across the pond at the sweltering heat in Europe, and takes a look at what Steve Bannon may say about the former president when he testifies before the Jan. 6th Committee.
Stephen's dog is cute and made a good transition from the roasting of Peppa Pig, pun intended. As for the conversion from Celsius to Fahrenheit that Stephen fumbled hilariously, 40oC is 104oF. Yikes!
Sylvester Stallone is apparently ignoring California's new rules aimed at conserving water during the current drought, and "End Of Days" star Arnold Schwarzenegger has been credibly accused of passing gas into a fellow actor's face on the set of that film.
Having grown up in Southern California around show business people, I'm not surprised by either of the action stars' bad behavior. As for President Biden, he may not be doing enough about climate change, but he's at least doing what he can. It's something, which is better than nothing.
Stay tuned as I plan on returning tomorrow with Stephen's live monologue.
*So were Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and Trevor Noah. Kimmel had guest hosts on, but Seth and Trevor had no new content during their breaks. I missed them, too.
Ukraine is under attack.
...
On February 24th, Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a “special military operation,” but the scale of the attack shows this is a full-scale war that has already caused more than 100 casualties and forced more than half a million Ukrainians to flee their homes.
Ukraine and Russia’s conflict goes back to 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea and Russian-backed separatist forces took over parts of southeastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. But to understand the full context behind the invasion, it’s important to go even farther back, to the time when Europe’s current-day divisions began, and see how that shaped Europe’s power balance today.
To understand the current conflict’s history in less than 10 minutes, watch the video above.
Economic sanctions remain one of the most powerful tools the United States has in its foreign policy arsenal. And as Russian forces continue to amass along the border with Ukraine, officials in the U.S. hope the threat of those sanctions can deter a full-scale invasion.
Besides sanctions that target individuals or specific companies, some proposals involve cutting Russia off from the SWIFT system, which would remove Russian institutions from an important global financial network.
Another target is the near-completed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which when operational would double the amount of natural gas moved from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea and likely reduce the need for other pipelines, such as the Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhhorod pipeline that runs through Ukraine.
The answer is maybe not, at least by themselves. In addition, the two actions likely to be most effective would require the cooperation of our European allies, Belgium and others for SWIFT and Germany for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. That might be possible, but the experts interviewed by CNBC think those actions would be a major sacrifice for our allies and so are unlikely.
Another expert thought that Russia might be motivated enough to go ahead despite sanctions. Vox explained that when it explained Why Ukraine is trapped in endless conflict four years ago.
The present conflict in Ukraine started in 2014. Today, there are 100,000 fighters stationed in the country, making it one of the most heavily militarized regions in the world. In Ukraine's east, Ukrainian forces are engaged in a struggle with Russian-backed separatists.
A ceasefire was called in 2015, with a security zone established that was meant to foster peace. However, today the security zone remains one of the most violent places in the Ukraine. With over 10,000 deaths to date, and over 1.5 million civilians displaced, the cost of ignoring the ceasefire continues to mount by the day. And both sides are still building up their forces.
It looks like things haven't changed much since then, except Vladimir Putin seems to be running out of patience and sees an opportunity. That's not how I want him to be the Most Interesting Man in the World.
Happy WorldBeeDay! The purpose of today's international day is "to acknowledge the role of bees and other pollinators for the ecosystem," something I've been doing for years when I blog about bees. I begin with two videos from the United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe about the day, starting with World Bee Day 2021.
Almost 80% of our flora depends on animals, especially insects, for pollination...Bees are essential to our environment, but they are in danger...Because every little bit counts, let's act together #ForPeopleForPlanet.
While this video has the preview image I want for today's post, its description sacrifices information for emotional appeal, including emojis I haven't figured out how to reproduce on my blog and have replaced with ellipses. On the other hand, last year's video, World Bee Day - 20 May, 2020, has an informative description I like.
Bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies and hummingbirds, are increasingly under threat from human activities. But pollinators contribute directly to food security and are key to conserving biodiversity.
I like this description much better in part because it mentions "other pollinators" besides bees, which is the theme of the rest of the post. Follow over the jump.
My prediction that 2019 would be a warmer year than 2018, which was the fourth warmest on record, looks like it will come true, although the planet is not on track for it to beat 2016 or 2017. Instead, 2019 appears to be on track to become the third warmest year ever. Welcome to the 400 ppm world.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) announces today that 2019 was the fifth in a series of exceptionally warm years and the second warmest year globally ever recorded. Meanwhile, Europe saw its warmest year on record by a small margin. Together with the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), C3S also reports that CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have continued to rise. Their data provide the first complete, global picture of 2019 temperatures and CO2 levels. The results are in line with previous projections from WMO and the Global Carbon Project (GCP) for 2019. The WMO estimated that 2019 was likely to be the 2nd or 3rd warmest year on record, while both WMO and the GCP indicated that atmospheric CO2 concentrations had continued to increase.
...
The temperature dataset provided by C3S shows that the global average surface air temperature was 0.04 °C lower than in 2016, the warmest year on record.
In Celsius, the difference between 2016 and 2019 doesn't even round up to one-tenth of a degree. In Fahrenheit, it converts to 0.72 degrees, which barely rounds up to one-tenth. So not even one-tenth of a degree separated 2019 from 2016, the warmest year on record.
Back to the press release.
The data also show that:
The five warmest years on record have all occurred in the last 5 years, with 2019 coming in as the second warmest and 2010-2019 being the warmest decade on record
2019 was almost 0.6 °C warmer than the 1981-2010 average
The average temperature of the last 5 years was between 1.1 and 1.2 °C higher than the pre-industrial level defined by the IPCC
Europe saw its warmest calendar year on record, marginally ahead of 2014, 2015 and 2018
Furthermore, according to satellite measurements of global atmospheric CO2 concentrations:
CO2 continued to rise in 2019, increasing by 2.3 ± 0.8 ppm
The most pronounced warming compared to the 1981-2010 average occurred in Alaska and over other large parts of the Arctic. Most land areas were warmer than average, especially eastern and southern Europe, southern Africa and Australia. In contrast, central and south-eastern Canada experienced below average annual temperatures.
In Europe all seasons were warmer than usual, with the summer and autumn being the fourth warmest on record. None of the seasons was record-breaking in terms of average temperature, but Europe nevertheless saw its warmest calendar year on record, marginally ahead of 2014, 2015 and 2018. A more detailed analysis of the climate in Europe will be presented by Copernicus in its European State of the Climate 2019, which is set to be released in April.
Here's a graph showing the average temperature for the past 150+ years.
Running 60-month averages of global air temperature at a height of two metres (left-hand axis) and estimated change since the pre-industrial period (right-hand axis) according to different datasets: ERA5 (ECMWF Copernicus Climate Change Service, C3S); GISTEMPv4 (NASA); HadCRUT4 (Met Office Hadley Centre); NOAAGlobalTempv5 (NOAA), JRA-55 (JMA); and Berkeley Earth.
I close out my quoting of the press release with a pair of perceptive quotes.
“2019 has been another exceptionally warm year, in fact the second warmest globally in our dataset, with many of the individual months breaking records”, says Carlo Buontempo, Head of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). “The C3S temperature dataset for 2019 is the first complete set to be published including annual anomalies and globally averaged fields. This is possible because we are an operational programme, processing millions of land, marine, airborne and satellite observations daily. A state-of-the-art computer model is used to bring all these observations together, in a similar way to how weather forecasting is carried out.”
Even The Daily Mail recognized that the 2010s were the hottest decade on record a month ago, when they created the following preview image for an article on the subject.
I'm going to a good environmentalist and close this entry out by recycling what I wrote in August.
The Berlin Wall was torn down 30 years ago sending shock waves across Europe, and sparked hopes for millions of East Germans. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports from Berlin.
Thirty years ago, the Berlin Wall, one of the most enduring symbols of the Cold War in Europe, came down piece by piece. That pivotal moment promised a more unified, democratic world, but decades later, that expectation has faded with the rise of nationalism and cracks appearing in the European Union and NATO. Roxana Saberi reports.
The maintenance and expansion of democracy and liberty require constant effort and vigilance; progress will not happen by itself.
I plan on posting one more entry on the subject focusing on the key decision by East German politicians, which East German bureaucrats amplified by mishandling it, at least from the perspective of the politicians. The East German people had other ideas about its implementation. Stay tuned.
My prediction that 2019 would be a warmer year than 2018, which was the fourth warmest on record, looks like it will come true, although the planet is not on track for it to beat 2016 or 2017. Instead, 2019 appears to be on track to become the third warmest year ever. Welcome to the 400 ppm world.
That's for the global temperature, not about local temperatures, which are likely to still set new records. That happened across Europe last week from Spain to the Czech Republic, which prompted PBS NewsHour to ask Why is it so hot in Europe?
An extreme heat wave is gripping much of Europe, breaking records and causing widespread misery. Temperatures soared well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in France, Germany and Spain. While the heat is coming from sub-Saharan Africa, some researchers say climate change is exacerbating and prolonging it. They warn more record highs are likely--and along with them, more deaths. William Brangham reports.
This summer of fire and swelter looks a lot like the future that scientists have been warning about in the era of climate change, and it’s revealing in real time how unprepared much of the world remains for life on a hotter planet.
The disruptions to everyday life have been far-reaching and devastating. In California, firefighters are racing to control what has become the largest fire in state history. Harvests of staple grains like wheat and corn are expected to dip this year, in some cases sharply, in countries as different as Sweden and El Salvador. In Europe, nuclear power plants have had to shut down because the river water that cools the reactors was too warm. Heat waves on four continents have brought electricity grids crashing.
And dozens of heat-related deaths in Japan this summer offered a foretaste of what researchers warn could be big increases in mortality from extreme heat. A study last month in the journal PLOS Medicine projected a fivefold rise for the United States by 2080. The outlook for less wealthy countries is worse; for the Philippines, researchers forecast 12 times more deaths.
Globally, this is shaping up to be the fourth-hottest year on record. The only years hotter were the three previous ones. That string of records is part of an accelerating climb in temperatures since the start of the industrial age that scientists say is clear evidence of climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
People were out and about trying to figure out how to cope with SoCal's most recent heat wave. Lisa Sigell reports.
Hey, I swam in that pool as a kid, so this report literally hits home. Also, I don't remember heat waves this bad or this frequent growing up, so things have definitely changed.
In Northern Europe, this summer feels like a modern-day version of the biblical plagues. Cows are practically dying of thirst in Switzerland, fires are gobbling up timber in Sweden, the majestic Dachstein glacier is melting in Austria.
In London, stores are running out of fans and air-conditioners. In Greenland, an iceberg may break off a piece so large that it could trigger a tsunami that destroys settlements on shore. Last week, Sweden’s highest peak, Kebnekaise mountain, no longer was in first place after its glacier tip melted.
Words are one thing, but images are another. To see them, watch Europe sizzles as heatwave continues from Euronews, which came out after the New York Times article.
Firefighters in Portugal and Spain were on high alert over the weekend as the heatwave continued across Europe…
Global study predicts dramatic increase in heatwave deaths due to climate change.
Not only is climate change here, but it's going to get worse. Unless people prepare and try to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, thousands more will die every year from heat waves, to say nothing of the other effects of increasing temperature, changing rainfall, and rising sea levels.
In Brexit vote today, I hoped that the British voted to remain. They didn't. As Krugman phrased it, they had a choice between bad and worse and they chose worse. Two of the headlines from Reuters I read when I woke up this morning explain the reaction.
Britain voted to leave the European Union, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron and dealing the biggest blow to the European project of greater unity since World War Two.
Global financial markets plunged on Friday as results from a referendum showed a 52-48 percent victory for the campaign to leave a bloc Britain joined more than 40 years ago.
The pound fell as much as 10 percent against the dollar to touch levels last seen in 1985, on fears the decision could hit investment in the world's fifth-largest economy, threaten London's role as a global financial capital and usher in months of political uncertainty. The euro slid 3 percent.
Reuters has a strong financial slant to its coverage, which explains the third paragraph. It also explains the headline to the next story, which is currently the third most read there: World stocks routed as Britain votes for EU exit.
World stocks saw more than $2 trillion wiped off their value on Friday as Britain's vote to leave the European Union triggered 5-10 percent falls across Europe's biggest bourses and a record plunge for sterling.
Such a body blow to global confidence could prevent the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates as planned this year, and might even provoke a new round of emergency policy easing from all the major central banks.
Risk assets were scorched as investors fled to the traditional safe-harbors of top-rated government debt, Japanese yen and gold.
Almost $1 trillion had been lost from European share prices ahead of what is expected to be a nearly 4 percent fall on Wall Street ESc1 when it opens later.
London's FTSE .FTSE dropped almost 5 percent while Frankfurt .GDAXI and Paris .FCHI fell 6 to 8 percent. Italian FTMIB, Spanish .IBEX and European bank stocks .SX7P all headed for their sharpest one-day drops ever.
Worries that other EU states could hold their own referendums were compounded by the fact that markets had rallied on Thursday, seemingly convinced the UK would vote to stay in.
The Dow closed yesterday at 18,011.07 with the S&P 500 ending the day at 2,113.32. Those are very high numbers, and if the UK had voted to remain, both might have continued on to new highs, beating the record close of 18,312.39 on May 19, 2015. Instead, expect the Dow dropping to 17,290 and the S&P falling to 2029 by today's close. In fact, that's already happening, as Wall St. plunges at the open after shock Brexit vote.
U.S. stocks plunged at the open on Friday, with the Dow Jones average falling more than 500 points, after Britain's vote to quit the European Union delivered the biggest blow to the global financial system since the 2008 financial crisis.
Investors worried about the outlook for the world economy sought refuge in the dollar and other safe-harbor assets such as gold and U.S. Treasury bonds, while dumping riskier shares. The yield on the U.S. 10-year bond hit its lowest since 2012.
Banks and tech stocks were among the biggest losers.
As I write this, voters all over the United Kingdom are voting on whether to remain in or leave the European Union. John Oliver explains the issues and offers his pro-remain opinion in Brexit.
Britain could soon vote to leave the European Union. John Oliver enlists a barbershop quartet to propose a smarter option.
Oliver isn't the only public supporter. Krugman is, too. However, he's less enthusiastic about it, calling it a choice between bad and worse. Still, who am I to disagree with both John Oliver and Paul Krugman in a topic that I'm not a bigger expert in than than they are? So, I hope the British vote to remain. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if they do or choose to leave.
Purim has just about arrived. The date is among the most joyous celebrations in the Jewish calendar, as it celebrates the survival of the Jewish community against an ancient Persian Empire plot to annihilate it. Purim is celebrated on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar, which falls on a Wednesday this year. It begins in the evening and runs until sunset Thursday.
Although Jews began marking the date in the first century, it grew into a popular holiday during the Middle Ages. Today, it is celebrated with food and treats, dancing, festivals and costumes. So what’s the holiday all about, and how is it celebrated? Here’s a handy guide to help answer that question.
Click on the link to read more about the event in history the holiday commemorates and how the holiday is celebrated.
Everyone produces waste, and the Swedes are no different. It’s what they do with it that is unusual. Sweden recycles and sorts its waste so efficiently that less than 1 percent ends up in landfills. But perhaps even more interesting, and somewhat controversial, is that Sweden burns about as much household waste as it recycles, over 2 million tons, and converts this to energy. But even with this amount of domestic waste, the country’s 32 waste-to energy (WTE) incineration plants can handle even more. And when Sweden runs out of its own garbage, it offers a service to the rest of garbage-bloated Europe: importing excess waste from other countries.
