Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
As negotiators look to next year’s UN climate conference in Paris, there is increasing discussion of a new way forward that does not depend on sweeping international agreements. Some analysts are pointing to Plan B — recasting the climate issue as one of national self-interest rather than global treaties.
Over the weekend The New York Times published what could very well be the dumbest column Thomas Friedman has ever written.
Neither the intensifying “2nd Cold War” between Russia and the West nor the worsening chaos across the Middle East seems to be enough to encourage oil traders to build a risk premium into oil prices.
Permaculture brings peace by achieving food sovereignty, decolonizing our food systems and supporting local producers. It restores the natural world that makes human life possible, even in the desert.
“If a path to the better there be, it begins with a look at the worst.” — Thomas Hardy
A weekly review including: Oil and the Global Economy, The Middle East & North Africa, Russia, Quote of the Week, The Briefs.
The differences in energy outlooks between Tehran and Ankara have created a strong foundation for cooperation.
The number of countries with fossil fuel conflicts and wars is increasing. Libya, Sudan, Egypt (Sinai), Yemen, Syria, Iraq and now Ukraine. The result is that many innocent people die and that actual oil/gas production drops.
A mid-week update. Crude prices continued to fall this week as markets ignored the new sanctions on Russia and the increasing turmoil in the Middle East to focus on sagging gasoline demand and increasing product stocks.
The effect of the sanctions will be to speed the Russian decline, forcing up world oil prices as soon as US tight oil maxes out and goes into its inevitable nosedive.
•US and EU Lose Major Energy Battle in Ukraine •Coordinated Sanctions Aim at Russia’s Ability to Tap Its Oil Reserves •Ukrainian ‘seizes Avdiivka’ in rebel Donetsk stronghold •Ukrainian prime minister Arseny Yatseniuk resigns •Ukraine votes to keep Western companies out of gas industry •US intelligence officials just gave a very unsatisfying briefing on MH17
With no meaningful actions on such things as climate change and peak resources in sight, a realistic assessment of country (and regional) level resilience is required.
