Geopolitics & Military

Islands in an Expanding Sea

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The following is the text of an address by Richard Heinberg to the Moana Nui Conference in Honolulu, November 12, 2011. Honolulu was concurrently hosting the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Conference; as a response to that secretive international trade meeting, the International Forum on Globalization and Pua Mohala Ka Po collaborated to organize Moana Nui.

The Paris-Berlin-Moscow axis back again

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To minimal serious coverage in the media and on the internet, the Nord Stream was inaugurated in Lubmin on Germany’s Baltic Coast on Nov. 8 in the presence of Pres. Medvedev of Russia and the prime ministers of Germany, France, and the Netherlands, plus the director of Gazprom, Russia’s gas exporter, and the European Union’s Energy Commissioner. This is a geopolitical game-changer.

What is Nord Stream? Very simply, it is a gas pipeline that has been laid in the Baltic Sea, going from Vyborg near St. Petersburg in Russia to Lubmin near the Polish border in Germany without passing through any other country. From Germany, it can proceed to France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britain, and other eager buyers of Russia’s gas.

Das Blut der Welt (The Blood of the World)

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(In German) Stefan Aust and Claus Richter have created a two part documentary on the history of oil starting with whale oil and the move from conventional oil to unconventional oil. Includes analysis on depletion and geopolitical implications.

Includes interviews with: Colin Campbell, ASPO; Fatih Birol, IEA; Matthias Bichsel, Shell, Alexander Medwedew, Deputy CEO Gazprom; Christof Rühl, Chief Economist BP; Gerhard Schröder former German Chancellor; Martin Winterkorn CEO Volkswagen Group; Dieter Zetsche, CEO Daimler AG.

CNA military advisory board: cut US oil use 30% to reduce “grave national security risks”

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Even a small interruption of the daily oil supply impacts our nation’s economic engine, but a sustained disruption would alter every aspect of our lives — from food costs and distribution to what or if we eat, to manufacturing goods and services to freedom of movement.

A new CNA analysis finds if America reduces its current rate of oil consumption by 30 percent, and diversifies its fuel sources, the U.S. economy would be insulated from the impact of such disruptions — even in the event of a complete shutdown of a strategic chokepoint like the Strait of Hormuz, the international passageway for 33 percent of the world’s seaborne oil shipments.

Members contributing to the report include some of our nation’s highest-ranking retired military leaders with 400 years of collective military experience.

ODAC Newsletter – Nov 4

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In a year when chaos is beginning to feel like the norm, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s out of the blue announcement calling a referendum on the latest Euro bailout plan caught even the most jaded observers by surprise. Although it looks as if the idea has now been abandoned, the likelihood of a still more serious financial crisis has surely moved a step closer…

Nukespeak: the selling of nuclear technology from the Manhattan Project to Fukushima

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Did the nuclear power industry ever learn and act upon the “lessons” of Three Mile Island? While it’s true that much has changed in the nuclear field since 1979, it’s also true that the more things have changed, the more they have remained the same…
Thus this 30th anniversary edition is inspired by yet another nuclear catastrophe, the partial meltdown of three reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant in March of 2011—the third great nuclear plant accident, following Three Mile Island and the far-worse meltdown at Chernobyl in 1986. This new edition contains the entire text of the 1982 edition of Nukespeak, along with four chapters of fresh material written by two of the three original authors.

Greek debt – Nov 2

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– Kevin Drum: A Conversation About Greece
– Financial Times: Creditors can huff but they need debtors
– BBC: Greece referendum: Democracy versus the eurozone
– Kuttner: Bravo Papandreou!
– Papandreou’s gamble could pay off
– A Greek Gift to Occupy USA
– Greece: going under

Is this group think, or is the U.S. about to be energy-independent?

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One becomes nervous when a consensus begins to form around a Big New Idea — it starts to sound like group think. So what are we to make of the cottage industry developing around the notion that the U.S. not only isn’t facing an impending oil shortage — it is on the cusp of being nearly energy independent, short of a margin of barrels that will be imported from friendly Canada and Mexico?