Petroleum

Iraqi Kurds Seek Greater Balance between Ankara and Baghdad By Mohammed A. Salih ERBIL, Dec 4 2014 (IPS) – After a period of frostiness, Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Turkey seem intent on mending ties, as each of the parties show signs of needing the other. But the Kurds appear more cautious this time […]

Climate Change

Antarctica Glaciers Melting 3 Times Faster than 10 Years Ago

contributors

American Geophysical Union | — West Antarctic melt rate has tripled “Joint Press Release WASHINGTON, D.C. – A comprehensive, 21-year analysis of the fastest-melting region of Antarctica has found that the melt rate of glaciers there has tripled during the last decade. The glaciers in the Amundsen Sea Embayment in West Antarctica are hemorrhaging ice […]

Climate Change

Why it makes Economic Sense for Universities to Divest from Fossil Fuels

contributors

By John Quiggin, The University of Queensland The controversy ignited by the Australian National University in October, when it decided to sell its shares in seven resources companies, has raised two important questions about divestment from assets such as fossil fuels. The first is whether divestment is an economically prudent choice, and the second is […]

Featured

Oil Price Fall: Saudi Arabia targets US Shale Oil, Iran, Iraq, Russia

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole It is clear that among the major losers in the fall in the price of Brent crude petroleum from $115 a barrel last summer to about $75 a barrel today are Russia, Iraq and Iran. Petroleum sales are 50% of Russia’s income, and are also central for Iran and Iraq. But the […]

Economy

Iraq: A Bigger Threat than Extremists? Economy on Verge of Collapse

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | via Niqash.org The Iraqi dinar: there might not be enough oil revenue coming into Iraq next year. The high cost of fighting the extremist Islamic State group, the worldwide decrease in oil prices, corruption and a lack of sensible economic forward planning mean that Iraq may be on the […]

astronomy and outer space

How human-emitted Carbon Dioxide Circulates in Earth’s Atmosphere (NASA)

contributors

NASA Goddard | — “An ultra-high-resolution NASA computer model has given scientists a stunning new look at how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere travels around the globe. Plumes of carbon dioxide in the simulation swirl and shift as winds disperse the greenhouse gas away from its sources. The simulation also illustrates differences in carbon dioxide […]

Economy

Saudi Arabia at the G20: Is it waging Econ War on Iran, Russia and N. Dakota?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The G20 is a conference of the world’s top 20 economies as measured by Gross Domestic Product. Some observers have slammed it as an unelected and arbitrary body that is doing some of the work the United Nations was intended to do– only in a much less egalitarian way. The official web […]

Featured

Daesh (ISIL) Loses Refinery City in Iraq to Iraqi Army, Shiite Militias

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | — Iraqi army and police joined forces with Shiite militias and US close air support to expel Daesh (ISIL) from the city of Beiji, north of Baghdad beyond Tikrit. The Iraqi military claim has not been independently verified. The army is now only 1 kilometer (less than a mile) away from […]

Energy

20 Richest Countries Subsidize Oil & Gas Exploration as much as Whole World Subsidizes Green Energy

contributors

Analysis by Shelagh Whitley (IPS) LONDON, Nov 11 2014 (IPS) – Just a week after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) gave its starkest warning yet that the vast majority of existing oil, gas and coal reserves need to be kept in the ground, a new report reveals that governments are flagrantly ignoring these […]