When it comes to socialist and communist dictatorships, environmental groups fall silent. There is an unwillingness to criticise these oil-heavy nations for profiting off the black gold of fossil fuel, even when things go horribly wrong.

This moral double standard makes a mockery of UN-affiliated green groups who routinely heap praise on their ideological bedfellows while demonising Western nations for their rolling green fields of family farms or the horror of reliable energy grids.

The ethical dilemma was on full display when a Cuban oil storage facility at the Matanzas supertanker port went up in flames on August 5 after it was...