THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 31 MAY 2019 (Freedom gas (Indian Express))

Freedom gas (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2 : International Relations
Prelims level : LNG
Mains level : Freedom to liquefied natural gas for US government

Context

• America stands for a lot more than freedom now.
• It stands for “freedom gas”.
• And you would be foolish to think this is just more hot air emanating from POTUS and his administration.
• A press release this week, from Trump’s Department of Energy (DoE), has re-labelled liquefied natural gas.

Renaming LNG

• Mark W Menezes, the US undersecretary of energy, renamed LNG while announcing the DoE’s approval of increased exports of the natural gas produced by Freeport LNG, a gas production facility off the coast of Texas.
• The announcement also quoted the energy department’s assistant secretary for fossil energy as saying that the DoE is aiming for the “molecules of US freedom to be exported to the world”.
• This decision by the Trump Administration seems to sit nicely with Jacques Charles’s pioneering work. He said that the volume of a gas is proportional to its absolute temperature at constant pressure.

Implications on the Trump administration

• The Trump presidency has indeed been under pressure.
• Naturally, the volume of rhetoric can only increase as “fake news media” ratchet up the temperature with multiple investigations.
• Earlier this month, the US energy secretary had informed an audience that “the US is again delivering a form of freedom to the European continent”, and that instead of “young American soldiers, it’s in the form of liquefied natural gas”.

Conclusion

• This is the extension of a legacy. The White House cafeteria is said to have renamed French fries as “freedom fries” in 2009 when the French opposed the Iraq war.
• Wondering about the equivalent connect for freedom gas?
• China is the world’s largest source of natural gas demand growth globally now and the US is one of the biggest exporters of it. Freedom always has a price.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) Consider the following statements regarding 'Contingency fund of India ' :
1. It was established to meet unforeseen expenditure pending its authorisation by the Parliament.
2. The fund is held by the finance secretary on behalf of the president.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: C
Mains Questions:
Q.1) After some solid states, America claims to give freedom to liquefied natural gas. Analyse the statement.