Economy

By Pepe Escobar | (Tomdispatch.com) — November 18, 2014: it’s a day that should live forever in history. On that day, in the city of Yiwu in China’s Zhejiang province, 300 kilometers south of Shanghai, the first train carrying 82 containers of export goods weighing more than 1,000 tons left a massive warehouse complex heading […]

Featured

The Banality of Terrorism: Sydney’s other Hostage Crisis, of 1984

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — IC doesn’t usually cover hostage-taking, since it is an artificial and manipulative criminal act. Any two-bit thug can grab someone off the street and push them into a car, and subsequently kill them. It doesn’t take intelligence or any other admirable quality, just brutishness. One’s heart goes out to the […]

Climate Change

Green Continent? Will Solar Power allow Africa to Leapfrog Expensive Grid-Building?

contributors

By Wambi Michael LIMA, (IPS) – Africa is experiencing a revolution towards cleaner energy through renewable energy but the story has hardly been told to the world, says Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Steiner, who had been advocating for renewable energy at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Lima, […]

Climate Change

The Koch Tax: Why are Floridians being denied Free, Clean Energy from the Sun?

contributors

WPBT2 | — “According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, Florida ranks third for solar potential nationally, but ranked 18th when it comes to development of this clean energy option. Executive Director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy discusses the untapped clean energy potential in Florida and how climate change plays a role. Guest: […]

Economy

When 1% hog the Wealth, it hurts National Growth for Everyone

contributors

DW | — “OECD says inequality hits national growth and says education the key to fighting this. DW: “OECD finds growing inequality lowers growth | Journal”

Economy

Russell Brand v. Press Lord Rupert Murdoch: Who won?

contributors

AJ+ | — “The British twitterati is in a tizzy over a brawl between Russell Brand and Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun. The “manarchist” comedian has been accused of hypocrisy for championing housing rights and decrying tax-evading gentrifiers all while paying rent to a tax-dodging landlord. Find out who’s winning here.” AJ+: “Russell Brand Vs. Murdoch’s […]

Apartheid

Israeli Squatters chop down 50 Olive Trees in Palestinian Village (800,000 since 1967)

contributors

NABLUS (Ma’an) — Settlers cut down over 50 olive trees in the Nablus village of Aqraba on Friday, Palestinian official Ghassan Daghlas said. Settlers from Elon Moreh, located east of Nablus, attacked Aqraba and cut down 50 olive trees from the Juhr al-Dik area of the village. The trees belonged to Said Bani Jame. Several […]

Coal

Solar Power in US doubles in 2014, Wind now 4% of Energy Mix

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — Compared to Germany and Spain, the United States is woefully backward in its development of wind, solar and other renewable sources of energy for electricity generation. But there is some good news on this front, as CleanTech notes. Utility-scale solar power generation in the United States doubled in the past […]

Democratic Party

The Beltway Beast: How two Tribes in D.C. are Destroying the Middle Class

contributors

By Munir Moon The area inside the Beltway consists of Washington, D.C., and surrounding counties, and what I call the Beast includes defense contractors, lobbyists, Wall Street, think tanks, advocacy groups, journalists, foreign agents, and everyone else who wants something from our government. All of these congregate in the Beltway and are actively engaged in […]