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Geopolitics & resource wars

Staking Out the Middle Ground

Dave Cohen, ASPO-USA

In my view, the Uppsala study is unduly pessimistic, implying an immediate crisis (in 2010 and thereafter) which is not in accord with reasonable expectations about future production levels both within OPEC and outside the cartel. In alerting the public to the peak oil issue, the Guardian is doing good work. But not knowing any bettter, they picked the wrong study in my view. The false choice the Guardian offers us, the IEA or Uppsala, amounts to a kind of all or nothing proposition.

archived November 19, 2009
	

Chris Nelder’s Notes on the 2009 ASPO-USA Peak Oil Conference (pdf)

Chris Nelder, Energy Bulletin

These are merely my notes from the conference. I hope they will be useful to others as an index to the volumes of material that were covered.

archived November 18, 2009
	

Gas debate heats up - Nov 18

Staff, Energy Bulletin

-Gazprom defends rigid contract terms with Europe
-Gazprom dismisses warnings of lengthy gas glut
-EU seeks Russian energy boost

archived November 18, 2009
	

Some predictions on the forthcoming Russian-Ukrainian gas 'crisis'

Jerome a Paris, The Oil Drum: Europe

We've recently heard more veiled threats from Putin about Ukraine being unable to pay for gas (thus presumably leading to new attempts at cutting them off), which suggests that Russia is getting itself ready to start a new crisis.

archived November 18, 2009
	

China and the world - Nov 18

Staff, Energy Bulletin

-Obama and Hu aim to agree greenhouse gas targets
-China's empty city
-China's Blunt Talk for Obama
-Market cornered for rare minerals
-Chinese credit card debt mounts

archived November 18, 2009
	

Feeding the world, climate change, and peak oil - Nov 17

Staff, Energy Bulletin

-UN links climate with hunger
-Hungry for change
-The Links Between Food Security And Climate Change
-Agriculture in the Climate Change Negotiations, Platform Issue Paper
-The one thing depleting faster than oil is the credibility of those measuring it
-Promoting climate-smart agriculture

archived November 17, 2009
	

The new farm owners

GRAIN, www.grain.org

With all the talk about "food security," and distorted media statements like "South Korea leases half of Madagascar's land," it may not be evident to a lot of people that the lead actors in today's global land grab for overseas food production are not countries or governments but corporations.

archived November 16, 2009
	

Just Tell Us The Truth

Richard Heinberg, Post Carbon Institute

At last we know...sort of. An article in the UK newspaper The Guardian for November 9, titled “Key Oil Figures Were Distorted by US Pressure, Says Whistleblower,” reveals what hundreds of analysts have been trying to convey to world leaders for years: The global oil supply situation is critical and getting worse, and vested interests are playing key roles in covering up this devastatingly inconvenient truth.

archived November 11, 2009
	

The great global land grab

Sue Branford, Red Pepper

The global food crisis has prompted various rich countries to start buying up land in the poorer world to secure their food supplies. As well as affecting domestic food supplies in the countries affected, Sue Branford says it could be a time bomb for the world’s ability to cope with climate change.

archived November 11, 2009
	

Saudi Arabia Pursues New Oil Trade Opportunities: Implications for the US

James Leigh, University of Nicosia, Energy Bulletin

The Saudis are exploring the opportunity to sell their oil on more transparent exchanges in which they feel they have some logical control over production levels and pricing in relation to world demand, and also be paid in currencies outside the anemic US dollar. Such a mover would be a great influence on all of OPEC. This has crucial implications for the US as it could take oil trading from US exchanges and eventually outside the dollar as the currency of trade.

archived November 10, 2009
	

Peak oil review - Nov 9

Tom Whipple, ASPO-USA

A weekly review including:
- Production and prices
- Recovery or Speculation?
- Climate Change
- Peak Demand
- Quote of the Week
- Energy Stat of the Week
- Briefs

archived November 9, 2009
	

The peace movement and the cornucopian view

Kurt Cobb, Resource Insights

According to an often cited saying, "If you want peace, work for justice." But, most economic justice work is currently premised on the view that greater economic equality requires continued economic growth. This constitutes a wholehearted embrace of a cornucopian future; it recognizes no limits to growth that are implied by climate change, world peak oil production, and the rapid depletion of other resources including metal ores, water, soil and fish.

archived November 1, 2009
	

Afghanistan again - Oct 28

Staff, Energy Bulletin

-Push for Afghanistan troop increase continues on deadly day
-Success elusive for U.S. policy in Afghanistan
-Former Marine captain resigns in protest of Afghanistan war
-The great gamble
-A Crash Course in Democracy

archived October 28, 2009
	

The great biofuels debate - Oct 27

Staff, Energy Bulletin

-Biofuel Displacing Food Crops May Have Bigger Carbon Impact Than Thought
-Biofuels rather than electric cars to meet renewables target
-Tanzania Suspends Biofuels Investments
-Who says it's green to burn woodchips?
-Carbon advantage of biofuels may be overstated

archived October 27, 2009
	

Peak oil, prices, and supplies - Oct 27

Staff, Energy Bulletin

-Oilwatch Monthly October 2009
-A post-oil world gets less sci-fi by the day
-The Truth About Energy
-Global oil supply: Separating fact from fiction

archived October 27, 2009