The enthusiastic statements made by German leaders against global warming at the G7 held in Bavaria or in the perspective of the Paris Conference, should not be misunderstood. German leaders, as always – they cannot be blamed for this – protect their industry. Chancellor Angela Merkel treats her political supporters in order to stay in charge; whatever effect this may have on her country’s CO2 emissions. Climate change? Sure. But not at the clients’ expense.

First, Germany gave up on nuclear power. This is one of the few domains in which the German industry did not perform. We forgot about it ...

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Fossil fuels hold their head high in the United States. Europe just became aware of it. The discovery and the commissioning of shale gas deposits attracted much interest, because they represented a technological challenge, but they had no major impact outside of the US. The construction of LNG terminals has recently been authorized and will allow the United States to become exporters. But evolution is slow. Meanwhile, several consequences will result from the emergence of unconventional oil.

Three large deposits were discovered and put into operation in 2006: Eagleford in Texas, Permian between Texas and Arizona, and Bakken in North ...

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In less than a year, three key companies of the French industry found themselves in a critical situation. The first, Alcatel, has been bought by a competitor, the second, Areva, has announced considerable losses and asked for the support of its shareholders, and the third, Alstom, had to sold two-thirds of its businesses. Telephone networks, nuclear power plants and turbines are not low-cost jobs destined for relocation. They have always been considered the strengths of French economy. So what happened? As surprising as it may seem, the same scenario happened in all three cases.

The combination of strategic mistakes of ...

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