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Why the tech revolution isn’t a template for an energy revolution
Kate Mackenzie, Financial Times
It seems a long time ago now, but back in February there was an awful lot of fuss about an energy company that had supposedly come up with a revolutionary new technology.
Of course, it wasn’t that simple, despite the roster of Silicon Valley stars that lined up to trial the company’s wares. Yet breathless reports of exciting energy technologies continue to pop up periodically, particularly in recent years in connection with the information technology world, as many IT entrepreneurs have decided to focus on ‘clean tech’. Some have no doubt made big inroads, such as electric car maker Tesla.
But the idea that the great leaps made by IT and networking technologies in the past decade can be easily transferred to the looming energy challenge is shallow and misleading…
(15 July 2010)
Right Wing Thought Police – An Analysis
Lawrence Davison, Reader Supported News
The American right wing is achieving its long-term goal of becoming the nation’s thought police. They are realizing this goal through the timeless practices of extremists (be they on the right or the left, religious or secular), which are intimidation, slander and harassment. In the past several months, conservative outbursts have ruined the careers of journalists, most of whom were of the political center, but who were indiscreet enough to say something that ran counter to the right’s version of political correctness.
The latest victim in this on-going campaign is Octavia Nasr, who for the last 20 years worked at CNN and, up until July 7, 2010, was the network’s Middle East News Editor. She made the mistake of expressing appreciation for Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, a recently-deceased and important member of Hezbollah. What she liked about Fadlallah was his stand on women’s rights in the Middle East. That was enough to release the dogs of war on the right. No matter that no one who complained about Nasr knew anything about Fadlallah as a person. His association with Hezbollah was enough. Typically, CNN caved in to the attack without a struggle. Almost immediately upon receiving the protests the network executives decided that Nasr’s “credibility” had been destroyed. Nasr herself commented that she had learned “a good lesson on why 140 characters [the length of her statement on Fadlallah] should not be used to comment on controversial or sensitive issues, especially those dealing with the Middle East.” She misses the point. It is not the length of her comment, which was expressed as a private “tweet,” that did her in. It was the fact that she expressed a considered opinion that showed respect for a man the American right, with little or no accurate knowledge, had decided to hate. In truth, it is CNN’s credibility that is called into doubt by this incident. But there is little new about that.
As noted, Nasr is only the latest victim. Last month it was Helen Thomas, whose 60-year career as a journalist abruptly ended when she expressed her frustration with Israel. She said that the Israeli Jews ought to go back to Germany and Poland. All hell broke loose on that one. No one seemed to notice that a good many Israeli Jews are in fact going back to Germany and other European countries. Indeed, more Jews are leaving Israel than are coming in. Also, no one dared mention that while Helen Thomas was indulging in wishful thinking, the Israelis have spent the last sixty years in fact making refugees of as many Palestinians as they could. But such facts are of little interest to the right. Helen Thomas was quickly forced into retirement.
Here are the names of some other victims. The details of their cases can be had by following the links provided by Glenn Greenwald’s piece on this same subject posted at Salon.com (July 8, 2010). David Weigel was fired by the Washington Post for expressing scorn for the likes of Rush Limbaugh. Eason Jordon was fired by CNN for publicly expressing concern about the US military’s appalling habit of shooting at journalists not officially “embedded.” Back in 2003, NBC fired Peter Arnett for remarks on Iraqi TV raising doubts about Bush Jr’s invasion of that country. The right had accused him of treason. MSNBC fired Ashleigh Banfield for suggesting that the American media were all becoming mimics of Fox TV. Even Phil Donahue got axed because he was perceived as being critical of President Bush Jr.’s war. This list of notables is only the tip of the iceberg. Who knows how many non-notables hit the unemployment lines because of the revival of McCarthyite tactics by the American far right?
Why is the screaming right so effective? Is it merely the volume? No, it is more complicated than that. Here is my explanation…
(10 July 2010)
The Iranian Threat
Noam Chomsky, zcommunications
The dire threat of Iran is widely recognized to be the most serious foreign policy crisis facing the Obama administration. General Petraeus informed the Senate Committee on Armed Services in March 2010 that “the Iranian regime is the primary state-level threat to stability” in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, the Middle East and Central Asia, the primary region of U.S. global concerns. The term “stability” here has its usual technical meaning: firmly under U.S. control. In June 2010 Congress strengthened the sanctions against Iran, with even more severe penalties against foreign companies. The Obama administration has been rapidly expanding U.S. offensive capacity in the African island of Diego Garcia, claimed by Britain, which had expelled the population so that the U.S. could build the massive base it uses for attacks in the Central Command area. The Navy reports sending a submarine tender to the island to service nuclear-powered guided-missile submarines with Tomahawk missiles, which can carry nuclear warheads. Each submarine is reported to have the striking power of a typical carrier battle group. According to a U.S. Navy cargo manifest obtained by the Sunday Herald (Glasgow), the substantial military equipment Obama has dispatched includes 387 “bunker busters” used for blasting hardened underground structures. Planning for these “massive ordnance penetrators,” the most powerful bombs in the arsenal short of nuclear weapons, was initiated in the Bush administration, but languished. On taking office, Obama immediately accelerated the plans and they are to be deployed several years ahead of schedule, aiming specifically at Iran.
“They are gearing up totally for the destruction of Iran,” according to Dan Plesch, director of the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at the University of London. “US bombers and long range missiles are ready today to destroy 10,000 targets in Iran in a few hours,” he said. “The firepower of US forces has quadrupled since 2003,” accelerating under Obama.
The Arab press reports that an American fleet (with an Israeli vessel) passed through the Suez Canal on the way to the Persian Gulf, where its task is “to implement the sanctions against Iran and supervise the ships going to and from Iran.” British and Israeli media report that Saudi Arabia is providing a corridor for Israeli bombing of Iran (denied by Saudi Arabia). On his return from Afghanistan to reassure NATO allies that the U.S. will stay the course after the replacement of General McChrystal by his superior, General Petraeus, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen visited Israel to meet IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and senior military staff, along with intelligence and planning units, continuing the annual strategic dialogue between Israel and the U.S. The meeting focused “on the preparation by both Israel and the U.S. for the possibility of a nuclear capable Iran,” according to Haaretz, which reports further that Mullen emphasized that, “I always try to see challenges from Israeli perspective.” Mullen and Ashkenazi are in regular contact on a secure line.
The increasing threats of military action against Iran are, of course, in violation of the UN Charter and in specific violation of Security Council resolution 1887 of September 2009 which reaffirmed the call to all states to resolve disputes related to nuclear issues peacefully, in accordance with the Charter, which bans the use or threat of force.
Some analysts, who seem to be taken seriously, describe the Iranian threat in apocalyptic terms. Amitai Etzioni warns that, “The U.S. will have to confront Iran or give up the Middle East,” no less. If Iran’s nuclear program proceeds, he asserts, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and other states will “move toward” the new Iranian “superpower.” To rephrase in less fevered rhetoric, a regional alliance might take shape independent of the U.S. In the U.S. army journal Military Review, Etzioni urges a U.S. attack that targets not only Iran’s nuclear facilities, but also its non-nuclear military assets, including infrastructure—meaning, the civilian society. This kind of military action is akin to sanctions—causing ‘pain’ in order to change behaviour, albeit by much more powerful means.”
What is the Threat, Exactly?
Such inflammatory pronouncements aside, what exactly is the Iranian threat? An authoritative answer is provided by military and intelligence reports to Congress in April 2010 [Lieutenant General Ronald L. Burgess, Director, Defense Intelligence Agency, Statement before the Committee on Armed Services, U.S. Senate, 14 April 2010; Unclassified Report on Military Power of Iran, April 2010; John J. Kruzel, American Forces Press Service, “Report to Congress Outlines Iranian Threats,” April 2010 (www.defense.gov). The brutal clerical regime is doubtless a threat to its own people, though it does not rank particularly high in that respect in comparison to U.S. allies in the region. But that is not what concerns the military and intelligence assessments. Rather, they are concerned with the threat Iran poses to the region and the world.
The reports make it clear that the Iranian threat is not military. Iran’s military spending is “relatively low compared to the rest of the region,” and minuscule as compared to the U.S. Iranian military doctrine is strictly “defensive…designed to slow an invasion and force a diplomatic solution to hostilities.” Iran has only “a limited capability to project force beyond its borders.” With regard to the nuclear option, “Iran’s nuclear program and its willingness to keep open the possibility of developing nuclear weapons is a central part of its deterrent strategy.”
Though the Iranian threat is not military aggression, that does not mean that it might be tolerable to Washington. Iranian deterrent capacity is considered an illegitimate exercise of sovereignty that interferes with U.S. global designs. Specifically, it threatens U.S. control of Middle East energy resources, a high priority of planners since World War II. As one influential figure advised, expressing a common understanding, control of these resources yields “substantial control of the world” (A. A. Berle)…
(July 2010)
