Petroleum

By Michael T. Klare | (Tomdispatch.com | – – The plunge of global oil prices began in June 2014, when benchmark Brent crude was selling at $114 per barrel. It hit bottom at $46 this January, a near-collapse widely viewed as a major but temporary calamity for the energy industry. Such low prices were expected to force […]

Iran

The Nuclear Deal has turned Tehran into Diplomatic Capital of Mideast

contributors

By Javad Heirannia / Farhang Jahanpour | (Tehran Times) | – – TEHRAN – Farhang Jahanpour, a former Senior Research Fellow at Harvard University, says the confirmation of the nuclear deal between Iran and major powers by the UN Security Council is of “enormous importance”. “The new Security Council Resolution 2231 passed unanimously on 20 […]

Iraq

Is the ISIS War About Oil After All?

contributors

By Jack Werner | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – The unfolding intervention against the Islamic State shows that oil doesn't just guide U.S. foreign policy. It constrains our ways of thinking about it. Foreign intervention is 100 times more likely if oil reserves are present in a country experiencing civil war. That’s the […]

Banking

The Real Reason Critics Hate The Iran Nuclear Deal

contributors

Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks Video) | – – “There’s something wrong with people’s reaction to the Iran nuclear deal. If what they’re saying is true then the deal makes no sense at all. They’re saying Iran will be more likely to get a nuclear weapon, but that simply isn’t true. Cenk Uygur delivers […]

Featured

Iran Deal: Winners & Losers in the Greater Middle East

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The end of most UN and European sanctions on Iran and the likely end of US third party sanctions are shaping how regional states see the Vienna agreement between Iran and the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. Iran is expected to […]

journalism

The #SaudiCables reveal how Money Controls Media, Politicians & … MTV?

contributors

By Mohamed Hassan | ( Global Voices Online) | – – The half million leaked cables to be released about Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy by WikiLeaks, which have sparked debates across the Gulf’s social media, offer an invaluable insight into the kingdom’s foreign policy. The information in the leaked cables range from issues with visas […]

Climate Change

Can Big Coal, Oil be Put on Trial for Global Warming Damage by Victims?

contributors

By Thalif Deen | – – UNITED NATIONS, Jun 16 2015 (IPS) – The United Nations, which is tasked with the protection of the global environment, has asserted that climate change affects people everywhere – with no exceptions. Campaigners at the September 2014 NYC Climate March say, “We need a cooperative model for climate justice.” […]

Acidification of Oceans

Climate Denial as a Corporate Criminal Conspiracy

contributors

By Naomi Oreskes | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – Recently, the Washington Post reported new data showing something most of us already sense: that increased polarization on Capitol Hill is due to the way the Republican Party has lurched to the right. The authors of the study use Senator John McCain to illustrate the point. McCain’s political odyssey is, […]

Acidification of Oceans

It’s Getting hot in Here: There never was a Pause in Global Warming: Scientists

contributors

By Jay Lawrimore | (The Conversation) | – National and international studies have shown that the Earth is warming, and with this warming, other changes are occurring, such as an increasing incidence of heat waves, heavy downpours and rising sea levels. In its Fifth Assessment Report in 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found […]