( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – The burning of fossil fuels—oil, coal, natural gas—is responsible for nearly 90 percent of global carbon emissions. Despite almost-universal recognition of the need to reduce the use of those fossil fuels, the industrialized world is having the hardest time breaking its addiction. The economic rebound from the COVID-19 […]
The Shift from Pink to Green in Latin America: Can the United States Become a Green Good Neighbor?
( Tomdispatch.com ) – Gustavo Petro doesn’t just want to transform his own country; he wants to change the world. The new leader of Colombia, who took office last August, is targeting what he calls his nation’s “economy of death.” That means pivoting away from oil, natural gas, coal, and narcotics toward more sustainable economic […]
Ukraine and the Lessons of the Iraq War
By John Feffer | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Leaving aside the manufactured justifications, the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 to reassert U.S. power in the Middle East and reduce the influence of Iran. It wasn’t terrorism or yellow cake or even Saddam Hussein’s appalling human rights abuses that motivated one […]
Corporations are using Trade Treaties to handcuff Efforts to save the Planet from Climate Emergency
( Foreign Policy in Focus) – The global economy hit a new milestone in 2022 by surpassing $100 trillion. This expansion, which has experienced only the occasional setback such as the 2020 COVID shutdowns, has been accelerated by trade. The world trade volume experienced 4,300 percent growth from 1950 to 2021, an average 4 percent […]
Why Isn’t Israel Helping the only other Jewish Head of State, in Ukraine?
By John Feffer | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – There are currently only two Jewish heads of state in the world. The first, not surprisingly, leads Israel. The second is Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine. They don’t get along. Religious affiliation by itself does not determine political or military alliances. Plenty […]
Economic Growth is killing the Planet. How do we Engineer an Alternative?
( Foreign Policy in Focus) – In 1972, the Club of Rome released a report called The Limits to Growth that laid out the damage to the planet and to human beings of unrestrained increases in economic production and population. It was a straightforward extrapolation from then-current trends that took into account limited resources like […]
A New Crop of Disruptor-Politicians is failing the Earth
( Foreign Policy in Focus) – House Republicans, Euroskeptics, Vladimir Putin, and Jair Bolsonaro are the agents of a new kind of political disorder that parallels the chaos of failing states, economic catastrophe, and climate disasters. By John Feffer | January 11, 2023 Some politicians just hate politics. They get into the game in […]
Forget the Deplorables and Focus on the Persuadables: The Code behind the Far Right’s Success
( Tomdispatch.com) – Arizona is ground zero for the wackiest theories and craziest political candidates. Exhibit A: Kari Lake, the Republican who ran for governor in the recent midterm elections. Though she lost in November, she’s still campaigning — on social media, in the courts, and in her own beclouded imagination. She refuses to accept […]
What Climate Debt Does the North Owe the South?
( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Richer countries haven’t met their $100 billion promise to help poorer countries move beyond fossil fuels. Where’s the money going to come from? By John Feffer | November 30, 2022 To keep the planet from overheating, there’s just so much more carbon that humans can pump into the […]
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