News roundup, week 12

It's heartening to see the Hitlerjugend can still have its voice heard in world affairs.

Guardian: Pope claims condoms could make African Aids crisis worse

The pontiff, speaking to journalists on his flight, said the condition was "a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems".

(...)

Addressing bishops from South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia and Lesotho who had travelled to the Vatican for papal audience, he said: "The traditional teaching of the church has proven to be the only failsafe way to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids."

He also warned them that African life was under threat from a number of factors, including condoms.

"It is of great concern that the fabric of African life, its very source of hope and stability, is threatened by divorce, abortion, prostitution, human trafficking and a contraception mentality," he added.

More than two-thirds – 67% – of the global total of 32.9 million people with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Three-quarters of all Aids deaths in 2007 happened there.

According to the pope, condoms make AIDS worse. I have nothing to add.

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In other stupidity news this week, the Finnish government is moving closer to implementing a windfall tax on hydroelectric and nuclear power in Finland. You see, emissions trading has driven the price of electricity generated by burning fossil fuels up, as it's supposed to. Because the majority of electricity is still produced by fossil fuels, this drives the price of all electricity up. In a situation like this, electricity generated by nuclear or hydroelectric power is obviously more profitable, as the electricity company can charge the same price for it, but not having to buy emission rights for it makes it more profitable.

This amounts to a net incentive for power companies to produce electricity in ways that don't release greenhouse gases. This, in fact, is the exact point of emission trading.

Now, however, the Finnish parliament is passing a "windfall tax" to tax precisely these profits. In other words, to remove the incentive created by emission trading.

Seriously, if someone understands this, can you please explain it to me? First we set up a multi-billion-euro system to create incentives to move away from fossil fuels. Then we implement a tax that reduces that incentive, effectively counteracting the previous system. The only things that have gone up are the price of electricity and the amount of bureaucracy.

Actually, that sounds like a pretty good summary of EU climate change policy in general.