Politics headlines – Oct 22

Sudan war ends, conflict over oil continues /
Iran ‘has proof’ of British role in bombings /
Reenergize America – a Democratic blueprint for energy /
Daily Kos a hotbed of peak-think /
Despite big profits, oil seeks special help /
Violence, politics muddy Iraq’s oil future /
Chavez and Chirac affirm ‘common vision’ /
Imperial candor on US and oilfields /
The new US ‘oil imperialism’ /
Arctic map vanishes, and oil area expands /
Oil-drilling blues for the coasts

Revving up the China threat: new stage in US China policy

The Bush Administration has struggled to define its stance on the most critical long-term strategic issue facing the United States: whether to view China as a future military adversary… or to see it as a rival player in the global capitalist system. …after a four-year period in which neither outlook appeared dominant, the pendulum has now swung conspicuously toward the anti-Chinese, prepare-for-war position.

Peak oil headlines – Oct 16

Robert Hirsch: Inevitable peaking of world oil /
When will PO arrive? /
WSJ: $70/barrel? Relax, it’ll come down /
Kos: Proposal for a serious energy policy /
Japan: What me worry? /
Report on London PO conference /
Malta in shock over fuel prices /
Chavez: world faces major energy crisis /
Americans expect ‘miracle’ oil reserves /
Marxists on PO /
There is no Plan “B”

Organizing ecological revolution

…a global ecological revolution worthy of the name can only occur as part of a larger social—and I would insist, socialist—revolution. Such a revolution, were it to generate the conditions of equality, sustainability, and human freedom worthy of a genuine Great Transition, would necessarily draw its major impetus from the struggles of working populations and communities at the bottom of the global capitalist hierarchy…

Ah, the great fuel shock of 2011

Col. Chin of the U.N. Relief Mission asked me to write about America and the great oil shock. He finds this period of history fascinating. He’s only 27 and on loan from the Chinese army, so it’s not as if he lived through it. As an old man, I have another advantage: I’m one of the few Americans who still can write.