Monday, March 26, 2018

The oil-weapons-war cycle and our relation to Saudi Arabia: Here's more on Yemen: Apocalyptic Numbers: The Saudi-Trump War on Yemen

Last week we discussed the Congressional vote on whether we should be helping Saudi Arabia wage war against Yemen.  We talked about the famine, similar to what happened in Biafra 50 years ago.  Here's U Michigan historian Juan Cole, saying similar things.

Apocalyptic Numbers: The Saudi-Trump War on Yemen  (Juan Cole, March 26, 2018)


Saudi Arabia and its allies bombed indiscriminately. A third of their targets have been civilian buildings like schools or hospitals or key civilian infrastructure like bridges. Perhaps half the people they’ve killed have been civilian non-combatants, including children.
Also deadly have been the public health effects of the war.
The numbers on the Saudi-led Yemen War are apocalyptic, worse even than Syria.
The total number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Yemen is 22.2 million – or 76% of the population – including 11.3 million children.
The Saudis and allies have hit Yemen with 15,000 airstrikes.
5,000 children have been killed.
8,700 civilians have been killed
50,000 civilians have been wounded
1.9 million children are not in school, and both sides have recruited children, some as young as ten, as fighters
11.3 million children need humanitarian assistance, with many on the verge of going hungry.
All in all, 22.2 million Yemenis of all ages need humanitarian assistance, 3/4s of the population.
There have been a million cholera cases and there is the threat of another outbreak.

Worth 4:16 of your time to watch this:

Middle East: Failures of Iraq and New Tensions with Iran: More on militarism and Bolton: | Trump and Bolton’s Plan to Isolate Allies and Encourage Enemies

Opinion | Trump and Bolton’s Plan to Isolate Allies and Encourage Enemies

Militarization and/in Africa: U.S. Strikes Qaeda Target in Southern Libya, Expanding Shadow War There

We discussed mission creep, the blurred lines of justified (and legal) war, and the expansive militarization of Africa being pushed by US through AFRICOM.  This article makes many of the same points.



U.S. Strikes Qaeda Target in Southern Libya, Expanding Shadow War There

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

A Global Energy alum wrote this: Tribes Build a Traditional Watch House to Stop Kinder Morgan Pipeline Expansion

Tribes Build a Traditional Watch House to Stop Kinder Morgan Pipeline Expansion

Mass Arrests at Kinder Morgan Pipeline Blockade

Mass Arrests at Kinder Morgan Pipeline Blockade

“Today we’ve remembered and embraced the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who believed in the power of civil disobedience to shift public opinion. We want to demonstrate that we mean business. We’re going to do whatever it takes, and by any means necessary, and we’ll show up day after day until we win this fight. We encourage our allies, native and non-native alike, to join us in this collective action,” said Clayton Thomas-Muller, member of Treaty 6 Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, as he was being taken away by RCMP.

We'll be discussing on Wednesday: Soldier in Bloody Niger Mission Had Warned of Gaps, Defense Officials Say

Soldier in Bloody Niger Mission Had Warned of Gaps, Defense Officials Say

Friday, March 16, 2018

‘This is a matter of life and death’: A Virginia community choking on coal dust pleads for help

‘This is a matter of life and death’: A Virginia community choking on coal dust pleads for help

Harms of Fracking: Increased Risks of Asthma, Birth Defects and Cancer

Harms of Fracking: Increased Risks of Asthma, Birth Defects and Cancer

And in good news, Army vet and steelworker in Wisconsin running against Paul Ryan...


War on I.S.? or War on Terror? Or permanent wars that are waged outside of law and public oversight, all in the name of assuring extra-legal "access" to places rich in resources or transit zones? U.S. Kept Silent About Its Role in Another Firefight in Niger

Wars are to be waged with congressional and public oversight.  We are a democracy, not a military state (at least in theory).  So have our special forces and intelligence agencies turned into a parallel war-making machine, in service of interests that could hardly be said to be those of our people here at home?  The gentlemen in the photo below are lying to the US Congress, by not being forthright about their actions in places like Niger.
U.S. Kept Silent About Its Role in Another Firefight in Niger (via Ny Times)
Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser, right, the head of United States Africa Command, with Gen. Joseph L. Votel, who leads Central Command. General Waldhauser did not mention the December gun battle in testimony to Congress this month. CreditAaron P. Bernstein/Reuters


Who’s Greener? California Housing Plan Splits Would-Be Allies

Who’s Greener? California Housing Plan Splits Would-Be Allies
We need more density in urban areas, and more proximity to good public transportation.  What is the best way to get there?  Here in California, a debate over the tension between democracy and state mandates.


Saudi Crown Prince Likens Iran’s Supreme Leader to Hitler

Saudi Crown Prince Likens Iran’s Supreme Leader to Hitler
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince (has his mother locked up because she’s one of his critics), trying to convince the U.S. citizens that Iran is the bad guy of the region.  This plays into the hard-line right wing crowd in the White House, and in Israel, who are pushing to undo the nuclear agreements with Iran.  Also stokes the Sunni-Shiite division.  All of which means: use less oil. Click picture for full story.





Burning Coal for Survival in the World’s Coldest Capital

Burning Coal for Survival in the World’s Coldest Capital (New York Times)

Mongolians need renewable energy - good place for solar - but have long been treated as a coal colony, aka sacrifice zone.  And poor folks killing themselves by burning coal to stay warm.

Abandoned open pits of the former Soviet-operated coal mine at Nalaikh. The surrounding hills are green with grass during the warmer months. (New York Times caption)


Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Near Noisy Oil Fields, Lovesick Birds Change Their Tunes

Near Noisy Oil Fields, Lovesick Birds Change Their Tunes

And here's the research on how transportation noise - i.e. fossil fuel combustion – has been linked to hardening of the arteries in humans: https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/ehp1136/.

Monday, March 12, 2018

Saudis Hire Top D.C. Lobbyists to Seek U.S. Approval for Deals

Saudis Hire Top D.C. Lobbyists to Seek U.S. Approval for Deals

Deepwater Horizon/Offshore Drilling lecture coming up, here's an update: Trump Rollbacks Target Offshore Rules ‘Written With Human Blood’

Trump Rollbacks Target Offshore Rules ‘Written With Human Blood’

Resource Curse coming to Ghana? What’s the World’s Fastest-Growing Economy? Ghana Contends for the Crown (via NY Times)

Discusses points we covered in class:  apparent 'boom'; decline in manufacturing; rise in currency valuation; the challenge of economic diversification... can Ghana outsmart the resource curse?

What’s the World’s Fastest-Growing Economy? Ghana Contends for the Crown
Street salesmen in Accra, Ghana’s capital. The country is likely to have one of the world’s fastest-growing economies this year. CreditAshley Gilbertson for The New York Times




Good news: the economics are against the tar sands. Bad news: Part of that is because of the expansion of fracking in the US: Alberta’s oil exports face ocean of trouble - Climate News Network

Alberta’s oil exports face ocean of trouble - Climate News Network
Aptly-named: A very large crude carrier in harbour. Image: By Titus Eapen, via Wikimedia Commons

Saudis Said to Use Coercion and Abuse to Seize Billions

Mentioned this in class when we talked about corruption, authoritarianism, and the political effects of the resource curse.

Saudis Said to Use Coercion and Abuse to Seize Billions
The Saudi government locked up hundreds of powerful businessmen and royals in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh in what it said was a crackdown on corruption. CreditTasneem Alsultan for The New York Times

Friday, March 9, 2018

Ecological Violence should be criminal, not permissible: Ameren Missouri is in collusion with the state to allow for pollution of groundwater at Rush Island plant (and elsewhere). This is what we refer to as ecological and structural violence.

Information on Ameren's Rush Island Coal Plant (from the hearing on March 8, 2018), via Sierra Club.  Ameren has been poisoning us for a long time, and now they seek permission to ensure that future generations will also be subjected to it as well. 



Fossil Fuel Execs Very Annoyed #KeepItIntheGround Movement Crimping Their Ability to Pillage Planet

Fossil Fuel Execs Very Annoyed #KeepItIntheGround Movement Crimping Their Ability to Pillage Planet



#schadenfreude

ENERGY: Pipeline builders, gas drillers fret about protesters

ENERGY: Pipeline builders, gas drillers fret about protesters



Democrats Release Infrastructure Plan With $80 Billion for Grid Upgrades

Democrats Release Infrastructure Plan With $80 Billion for Grid Upgrades

"The plan includes funding for energy storage, smart grid technologies, microgrids and electric vehicles—paid for by reversing parts of the Republican tax bill."

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Re: Our Venezuela Lecture -- Today's NYT -- Opinion | Why I Am Running for President of Venezuela

Opinion | Why I Am Running for President of Venezuela



My email to a student who shared this with me (thanks!):



Yes!

I just tweeted that out a bit ago — and you’re right, he blames it on mismanagement (which there indeed has been) but not on the structure of oil dependence itself (or the low price of oil) — so you are right, he is not questioning oil dependence, but I would not say that he is demanding ‘resource nationalism’ explicitly, since it is not clear whether he suggests that private or American oil industries are the problem (I doubt he would, he is our preferred candidate).  His discourse is probably ‘good governance’ — but what this really means in practice it’s hard to say.  And, he does not recognize that some social gains were made (while prices were high).  

I think the main takeaway for me was that he blames it all on Maduro, and not on the volatility of oil prices or the problem of oil dependence itself.  Note that he says “equitable and sustainable growth”  he does not say anything about moving beyond oil.

Glad you saw that, and thanks for sending!  And stay tuned…

BG

Dear Professor Gustafson, 

I just wanted to share an article I came across today by a candidate who is challenging Maduro in Venezuela. You have probably already seen this, but I thought it was very interesting in light of our most recent lecture. 


I thought that this paragraph was particularly noteworthy: 

"Venezuelans’ plight today is the result of two decades of mismanagement. My country sits on the world’s largest oil reserves and enjoyed a huge oil boom from 1998 to 2012. Regrettably, the money from that good fortune was squandered and stolen. Venezuelans deserve to have their public finances be managed with honesty, responsibility and common sense. We should partner with the rest of the world to build a dynamic economy that can deliver equitable and sustainable growth."

I thought it was interesting that he mentions a dynamic economy in the same paragraph as demanding more control over oil, which we learned leads to resource curse and economic dependence and instability. Is this a recognition of current economic thought that is nevertheless being manipulated to support resource nationalism? 

Thanks for hearing my thoughts, I am really enjoying this class.