Tony Blair: The former prime minister for hire
The Guardian reports: hen Jonathan Powell, the gatekeeper to the corporate empire of Tony Blair, sat down to lunch with the former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Faisal Al Turki in June 2010 he could...
View ArticleLakota lead the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline
Jason Coppola reports: As the start of 2016 shatters last year’s record as the hottest year on record, the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires of the Great Sioux Nation) once again find themselves on...
View ArticleFort McMurray and the fires of climate change
Elizabeth Kolbert writes: No one knows exactly how the fire began — whether it was started by a lightning strike or by a spark provided by a person — but it’s clear why the blaze, once under way, raged...
View ArticleSyrian-Russian businessman serves as middleman between ISIS and Assad
The Wall Street Journal reports: In Syria, George Haswani sees himself as a patriot. In the West, he is a wanted man. Mr. Haswani acts as a middleman between Islamic State and the Syrian government,...
View ArticleDo countries fight over oil resources?
Emily Meierding writes: When China’s Haiyang Shiyou 981 oil rig sailed into waters off the Paracel Islands in May 2014, it provoked an international crisis. Hanoi insisted that the rig was operating...
View ArticleSaudi Arabia has declared an end to its oil war with the U.S.
Quartz reports: Two years after quietly declaring war on upstart US shale, Saudi Arabia says the need for the fighting is over. In remarks to journalists while on a US visit, Saudi Arabian energy...
View ArticleSeizure of Libyan oil terminals prompts call for military action
The Guardian reports: Forces opposed to the UN-backed Libyan government in Tripoli appear to be making a clean sweep through the country’s “oil crescent”, seizing control of oil terminal headquarters...
View ArticleHaftar forces now control Libya’s ‘oil crescent’ along coast
Al Jazeera reports: Forces opposed to Libya’s unity government have seized a fourth oil port, Brega, completing their takeover of vital installations in the North African country’s “oil crescent”,...
View ArticleU.S. Army Corps of Engineers blocks Dakota Access oil pipeline route
The Associated Press reports: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Sunday that it won’t grant an easement for the Dakota Access oil pipeline in southern North Dakota, handing a victory to the Standing...
View ArticleWill the victory at Standing Rock outlast Obama?
Rozina Ali writes: Late Sunday afternoon, protesters at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, in North Dakota, received unexpected and welcome news. Jo-Ellen Darcy, the U.S. Army’s assistant secretary...
View ArticleLeak reveals Rex Tillerson is director of Bahamas-based U.S.-Russian oil company
The Guardian reports: Rex Tillerson, the businessman nominated by Donald Trump to be the next US secretary of state, is the long-time director of a US-Russian oil firm based in the tax haven of the...
View ArticleNothing happened. It happens all the time
It’s a strange line of argument but surprisingly commonplace: to first vigorously deny something has happened, but to then say that if it did happen it’s perfectly normal. When it comes to the issue of...
View ArticleMichael Klare: The coming world of ‘peak oil demand,’ not ‘peak oil’
In a Greater Middle East in which one country after another has been plunged into chaos and possible failed statehood, two rival nations, Iran and Saudi Arabia, have been bedrock exceptions to the...
View ArticleU.S., in reversal, issues permit for Keystone oil pipeline
The New York Times reports: During his presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump repeatedly hailed the Keystone XL pipeline as a vital jobs program and one that sharply contrasted his vision for the...
View ArticleExxon seeks U.S. waiver to resume Russia oil venture
The Wall Street Journal reports: Exxon Mobil Corp. has applied to the Treasury Department for a waiver from U.S. sanctions on Russia in a bid to resume its joint venture with state oil giant PAO...
View ArticleExxon and Conoco reiterate support for Paris climate deal
Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump faces some unlikely opposition to the idea of pulling the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris climate accord: Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips, two of the world’s...
View ArticleThe rise and deadly fall of ISIS’s oil tycoon
The Wall Street Journal reports: Islamic State oil man Abu Sayyaf was riding high a year ago. With little industry experience, he had built a network of traders and wholesalers of Syrian oil that at...
View ArticleHow Saudi Arabia turned its greatest weapon on itself
Andrew Scott Cooper writes: For the past half-century, the world economy has been held hostage by just one country: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Vast petroleum reserves and untapped production allowed...
View ArticleAdam Hochschild: A corporation goes to war
So much that matters in our world and on our planet happens in and remains in the shadows. This website is dedicated to shining at least a small light into some of those shadows. Commenting recently...
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