Arundhati Roy on “Democracy” and the state of the world

This is really too good for me to pick excerpts out of. It really expresses so much of what I believe is wrong with the world and to cut it up would diminish it. While focusing mainly on India, Arundhati Roy, author of the God of Small Things (a book I think is overrated since [...]

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The Egypt-Israel Gas Deal

I stumbled upon this post by Mo-ha-med and discovered a pretty good blog. I am reproducing the post in full. It’s about time someone put this much investigation into such a politically and economically critical yet entirely opaque issue. Don’t neglect to check out the first post (referenced in the first line) and the comments [...]

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More on the Brazilian Oil Find

This is pretty much what i was implying earlier.
With the attention of a great power like the United States, and a regional power like Venezuela, Brazil finds itself in a position of power that gives it several opportunities. Whether or not the Brazilian government headed by President Lula Ignacio da Silva will choose a [...]

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Google Tackles Energy

I suppose if anyone’s gonna solve the energy problem, google will.  Power to the problem solver geeks!

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Oil prices: speculative distortion

I realize i’ve been posting disproportionately frequently on oil and energy. I would post more on Egypt and the region but my time is quite limited these days.  I feel there’s no point in just posting links without commentary when someone else (the Arabist) already does it far more efficiently and including most of what i [...]

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OPEC Summit aside

Apparently an oil company consortium led by Brasilian company Petrobras has announced the conclusion of well tests that indicate the deep water Tupi field to be enormous. When the field comes online (it will require the cutting edge of oil drilling technology), it could place Brazil in league with the other major new world fuel [...]

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Oil prices: unstable subsidizers

As OPEC looks set to request assurances that demand wont decrease (hah!) as especially the US and Europe pursue other sources of energy in return for investing significantly in expanding production capabilities, someone finally looks at what these prices mean to people other than the gas excreters and guzzlers swimming in dollars and debt, respectively.
The [...]

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More on biofuels and hunger

George Monbiot argues that governments continue to avoid hard decisions by promoting converting crops for biofuel production – a process which often produces more carbon than petroleum and causes starvation by limiting already stretched food supplies.

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The Age of Insufficiency

One thing i like about oil prices so close to $100 is the fact that it’s forcing a lot of people to stop and think about our dependence on petroleum. There is so much coming out these days that it’s difficult to keep track of. Micheal Klare has an interesting piece in the Nation that [...]

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More On Oil

This article looks at supply trends in recent years and the evolving position of (esp. Sub-Saharan) Africa. With proven oil reserves rising to equal Iraq’s, its relative proximity to the US means that more US oil is sourced there. At the same time, Middle East oil has been increasingly directed eastward. That’s not to [...]

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Oil: shocking lack of shock

Piece on BBC about oil prices and politics. Excerpts:
On Monday, oil rose to $93 a barrel, only seven bucks short of its cataclysmic, futuristic high, and the world is still standing, we are not at war with Iran (yet) and there are no riots at my local petrol station.
[..]
Oil is the poison in the diplomatic [...]

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Biofuels crime agaisnt humanity

According to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, biofuels are a crime against humanity. In a recently submitted report to the UN, he cites the use of food crops for conversion into biofuels as directly responsible for the world price increases. This comes in a year of unusually notable rises [...]

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Nigeria reviews oil contracts

With oil prices up, there’s no doubt that (as before), there wave of resource nationalization (or contract review) will continue. It’s no longer just the pesky socialist and soviet revivalists. Nigeria is considering jumping on  board.

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CFR: “A Hazy Outlook for Private Oil Firms”

After my little tirade on oil yesterday, it was refreshing to see that some people know what they’re talking about. I’m not so sure about the conclusion regarding private oil companies. I highly doubt the demise of ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, and Total is in sight. They’re some of the largest companies in the world.
Nevertheless, [...]

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The Ignorance of Oil Analysts

Forbes’ article on oil prices as they flirt, and even cross, the $90 line. I’ve gotta get this off my chest.
The political dimensions to the soaring price of oil make its future direction difficult to predict, said Global Insight’s Poole. However he added that the price was unlikely to reach $100 a barrel, unless there [...]

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