Yemen leader blames protests on US

Yemen’s president has hit out at Israel and the US, accusing them of destabilising his country and the Arab world as protesters demanding his ouster press ahead with demonstrations. Ali Abdullah Saleh’s comments on Tuesday marked his harshest public criticism yet of the US, a key ally with which his government is battling al-Qaeda pockets […]

West casts military net around Libya

The Pentagon is deploying naval and air forces around Libya as the US and UK governments consider tougher measures to force Muammer Gaddafi from power, including the possible establishment of a no-fly zone. “We must not tolerate this regime using military force against its own people,” David Cameron, UK prime minister, said. “In that context […]

Saudi royals stomp internet for uprising

Democracy activists in Saudi Arabia say the government is closely monitoring social media to nip in the bud any protests inspired by uprisings that swept Arab countries, toppling leaders in Egypt and Tunisia. Activists have set up Facebook pages calling for protests on March 11 and 20, with over 17,000 supporters combined, but police managed […]

Peak Oil — New York Times’ Op-ed Gets it Right and Wrong

On Friday, two weeks after I discussed the issue at length in the Huffington Post (“WikiLeaks Brings Misguided Joy to Preachers of Peak Oil“) the New York Times found the wherewithal to present us with Michael Lynch’s op-ed, “Drilling For an Oil Crisis.” TheTimes piece covers virtually the same territory, namely that the WikiLeaks revelation of […]

Iraqi PM to country: Stay away from Friday protest

Iraq’s prime minister warned his people to boycott a planned anti-government protest scheduled for Friday, saying it was being organized by supporters of Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gave no proof for his assertion in a nationally televised speech Thursday, which echoed similar blanket statements he’s made blaming terrorists and Saddam loyalists […]

Tom Friedman: $1-a-gallon gasoline tax

“America, you have built your house at the foot of a volcano. That volcano is now spewing lava from different cracks and is rumbling like it’s going to blow. Move your house!” In this case, “move your house” means “end your addiction to oil.” No one is rooting harder for the democracy movements in the […]

Thousands protest against high food prices in India

Thousands of people have gathered in the Indian capital, Delhi, to take part in a rally to protest against rising food prices and unemployment. A steady stream of protesters, carrying red flags, has been marching through the streets of central Delhi since early morning. The rally has led to massive traffic jams in the city. […]

Saudi’s $36bn bid to beat unrest

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia announced financial support measures, worth an estimated SR135bn ($36bn), in a bid to avert the kind of popular unrest that has toppled leaders across the region and is now closing in on Libya’s Muammer Gaddafi. The measures include a 15 per cent salary rise for public employees to offset inflation, […]

Gaddafi loses more Libyan cities

Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s long-standing ruler, has reportedly lost control of more cities as anti-government protests continue to sweep the African nation despite his threat of a brutal crackdown. Protesters in Misurata said on Wednesday they had wrested the western city from government control. In a statement on the internet, army officers stationed in the city pledged “total […]

Geithner Says Not To Worry About Surging Oil Prices: “Central Banks Have A Lot Of Experience In Managing These Things”

You really can’t make this shit up: “The economy is in a much stronger position to handle” rising oil prices, Tim Geithner said today during a Bloomberg Breakfast in Washington. “Central banks have a lot of experience in managing these things.” We are, all of us, now doomed. Bloomberg‘s account of one lunatic’s daily ramblings […]

If the world calls, will Saudi be there?

Let’s say that Libya’s entire oil production shuts down, a process that currently seems under way. Would Saudi Arabia genuinely make up the difference, as its energy minister, Ali al-Naimi , has said in Riyadh? The answer is crucial — everyone from the presidents of the world’s leading industrial nations to the CEOs of the […]

Fresh violence rages in Libya

Libyan forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi are waging a bloody operation to keep him in power, with residents reporting gunfire in parts of the capital Tripoli and other cities, while other citizens, including the country’s former ambassador to India, are saying that warplanes were used to “bomb” protesters. Nearly 300 people are reported to have been […]

Libya protesters set fire to government buildings in Tripoli

Protesters in Libya’s capital are reported to have set fire to government buildings and attacked the headquarters of state television as the anti-Gaddafi demonstrations that began in the east of the country threaten to engulf the regime. Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets overnight clashing with police and shouting anti-Gaddafi slogans as tribal leaders […]

Rules Scramble to put Lid on Popular Dissent

The wave of popular uprisings across the Middle East has triggered a fresh round of government handouts and offers of greater political participation, as rich and poor countries alike try to quell or pre-empt unrest. The United Arab Emirates, seen as one of the most politically stable countries in the region, has unveiled limited electoral […]

Bloodshed in Libya, moves for talks in Bahrain

Security forces in the Libyan city of Benghazi killed dozens of people as they fought to crush an uprising against leader Muammar Gaddafi’s rule, the bloodiest of multiple revolts now rocking the Arab world. Witnesses said Benghazi was in a state of chaos, with government buildings ransacked and troops and police forced to retreat to […]

30 wounded in Kuwait protests on Friday

Thirty people were wounded in Friday’s clashes in Kuwait between security forces and stateless Arabs demanding citizenship, security sources said on Saturday. The protest in Jahra, northwest of Kuwait City, was the first in the oil-producing Gulf Arab state since a wave of unrest began sweeping across the Middle East in December. Fifty people were […]

World On Fire – Mapping Last Week’s 88 Global Protests

Feeling like the entire world is on the verge of a global revolution? It’s understandable. According to the attached interactive map, based on Google News data, in the past week, there have been 88 reported instances of protest somewhere in the world. How much of this is due to snow, and how much is due […]

Saudi Arabia Risks Shiite Unrest in Wake of Bahrain

Violent unrest in Bahrain provoked by discontent among the majority-Shiite Muslim population risks spilling over to their co-religionists in neighboring Saudi Arabia, which holds one-fifth of the world’s oil, analysts say. Bahrain, a close Saudi ally which is ruled by the Sunni Muslim Al Khalifa family, has been rocked by protests since Feb. 14 that […]

Oil and Gas Oversight Still Lacking

The Government Accountability Office, weighing in somewhat belatedly, has found the Interior Department’s oil and gas regulation and revenue-collection offices to be beset by problems and in need of a major overhaul. The G.A.O., the investigative arm of Congress, added the former Minerals Management Service to its list of so-called high-risk programs, saying that the […]

Bahrain, Yemen, Libya Face Protests as Region’s Unrest Spreads

Bahrainis took to the streets for a third day of pro-democracy rallies as Yemeni demonstrators clashed with police and the Associated Press reported the first- ever protests in Libya against leader Muammar Qaddafi. Bahrain’s interior minister, Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah al- Khalifa, apologized for the killing of two protesters in clashes with security forces this […]

The coming misery that Big Oil discusses behind closed doors

When big-thinkers at companies with the most skin in the energy game are behind closed doors and they discuss how the world really looks going forward, do they say that there are bumps in the road but that things will be fine, just fine, as they suggest publicly? Three years ago, we got a glimpse […]

Obama gives up on cap-and-trade to curb climate change

US President Barack Obama has officially given up hope of enacting a cap-and-trade plan to limit the emissions of greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming. The system that would have made companies pay for climate-changing pollution was not included in Obama’s 2012 federal budget proposals presented on Monday to Congress. Cap-and-trade had been […]

Iranian Police Fire Teargas at Protesters

Iranian security forces have fired teargas on Monday to disperse thousands of Iranians rallying in support of the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Witnesses say riot police, many of them on motorbikes, fanned out across central Tehran, as opposition groups vowed to rally despite the government’s rejection of their request for a permit. Security forces […]

Bahrain Hands Out Cash Ahead of Day of Protest

Seeking to head off Egyptian-style unrest, ruler also vows more freedom to the media Bahrain is handing out generous cash grants to citizens and promising more freedom to the media as it moved to defuse an aggressive social network campaign calling for a Valentine’s “Day of Rage” on Monday in the Gulf island country. The […]

Forget Facebook, Did Peak Oil Bring Down Mubarak?

Let me start by saying what I’m not saying: I am not making the blanket case here that peak oil brought down Mubarak. I also don’t want to rain on the truly joyous and historic events taking place in Egypt. It was an astonishing example of the power of the people, a type of broad-based, […]

Egypt’s Warning: Are You Listening?

One day, a fruit and vegetable seller was arrested in Tunisia, sparking social unrest, and a few weeks later the government of Egypt was set to topple. Such is the nature of complex, chaotic, and unpredictable systems. The stresses build for years and years, and nothing really seems to be happening, but then everything suddenly […]

Democracy protests bring down Egypt’s Mubarak

Fireworks burst over Tahrir Square and Egypt exploded with joy and tears of relief after pro-democracy protesters brought down President Hosni Mubarak with a momentous march on his palaces and state TV. Mubarak, who until the end seemed unable to grasp the depth of resentment over his three decades of authoritarian rule, finally resigned Friday […]

High-speed rail is BS, but I love it anyway

The Dept. of Transportation proposed high-speed rail corridors in 2009. Now the White House wants to revive the plan. Does it have a snowball’s chance? The Obama administration has re-started its campaign for high-speed rail this week. I want to believe in it. I love all trains, and especially fast ones with aero nosecones like […]

Environmental and Demographic Forces Threaten State Failure

Uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and across the Middle East at the start of 2011 have reminded the world just how politically fragile some countries are. But the focus of international politics has been shifting for some time now. After a half-century of forming new states from former colonies and from the breakup of the Soviet […]

‘Peak oil’ revolutions?

Mexico Will Follow Egypt Into Collapse Bill James, Seeking Alpha Mexico seems likely follow Egypt into collapse within two years based on falling oil revenue and rising food prices: Mexicans spend about 22% of their disposable income on food. In 2010 corn prices increased 52% and wheat 47%. With the floods in Australia, ethanol in […]

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