Category: Archive

Putin plan to shut out US oil giants

admin /24 July, 2006

Conal Walsh
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1826629,00.html?gusrc=rss

President Vladimir Putin is set to keep US oil companies out of a lucrative gas field in the latest sign of the deteriorating relationship between Moscow and Washington.

The Russian leader is expected to favour Norwegian companies and reject bids by America’s Chevron and ConocoPhillips after failing to secure backing from the United States for his country’s attempt to join the World Trade Organisation.

The tit-for-tat snub will be a blow to US companies scrambling for access to Russia’s huge gas reserves at a time of high energy prices. It comes after Putin failed to resolve differences with US President George Bush over trade and human rights at the G8 conference in St Petersburg last week.

The two leaders were barbed about each other’s democratic records at a tense G8 press conference. Putin later publicly praised Norsk Hydro and Statoil, the Norwegian firms that are competing with US companies for a role in developing the highly prized Shtokman gas field.

‘There is very little chance the American majors will win that tender now,’ a Russian oil analyst said yesterday. ‘Putin was hoping WTO membership would be wrapped up in time for St Petersburg. The failure to do that is a blow to his prestige.’

NeoCons Threaten Americans Too

admin /24 July, 2006

http://www.counterpunch.org/

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

What explains the indifference of the Bush administration to the slaughter of civilians in Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza?

As of the morning of July 19, Israeli bombardments of Lebanese civilian residential districts and public infrastructure have murdered 300 Lebanese, wounded 1,000, and displaced 500,000.  The Lebanese prime minister said that Israel’s attack has caused “unimaginable losses” and that his government will seek compensation from Israel.

In Gaza Israel has murdered scores of Palestinian civilians in the past few days.

In Iraq the civilian daily death toll has risen above 100.

These dead are not Hezbollah  militia.  They are not Hamas militia.  They are not al Qaeda or Sunni insurgents.  They are civilians.

UK considers consumer carbon trading scheme

admin /24 July, 2006

As heatwaves sweep Europe and North America, Britain is devising a plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions by rationing individuals’ carbon use, reported The Sydney Morning Herald (20/7/2006, p.10).

Brits consider carbon card: The scheme could force people to carry a swipe card that records their carbon allocation, with points knocked off each time they buy petrol or air tickets.

Points system proposed: Under the scheme, citizens from the Queen down would be allocated an identical annual carbon allowance, stored as points on an electronic card similar to air miles schemes or supermarket loyalty cards.

Market measures to be introduced: Points would be deducted at point of sale for every purchase of non-renewable energy, and people who did not use their full allocation, such as families who do not own a car, would be able to sell their surplus carbon points into a central bank.

Carbon points for sale: High energy users could then buy the points. Motorists who had used their allocation would still be able to buy petrol, with the carbon points drawn from the bank and the cost added to their fuel bills. To reduce British emissions, the overall number of points would shrink each year.

Testing underway: David Miliband, Britain’s Environment Secretary, is keen to set up a pilot scheme to test the idea, and has asked officials from four government departments to report on how it could be done. It extends the idea of carbon trading – already in place between heavy industrial polluters – to consumers, with heavy users forced to buy unused allowances from people with greener lifestyles.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 20/7/2006, p. 10

Source: Erisk Net  

US and UK thuggery revealed

admin /24 July, 2006

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHI20060719&articleId=2756

by Larry Chin
GlobalResearch.ca

A microphone unintentionally left open at the July 17, 2006 G-8 summit luncheon picked up snippets of unguarded talk between George Bush and Tony Blair. While most media coverage has focused on the embarrassing, stupid and profanity-laced portions of the comments uttered by Bush, a closer examination of the transcript confirms the multinational targeting of Syria and Syrian president Bashar Assad.

It also suggests that severe Anglo-American pressure, via the UN, will continue to be applied to Syria and Iran, both of which have been broadbrushed as the "terror masterminds behind Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists".

Water shortage in Asia

admin /24 July, 2006

According to Chris Wright in The Australian Financial Review (15 July 2006 p24), the John Hopkins School of Public Health says wool and cotton need 765,000 litres of water per tonne produced, synthetic rubber 416,000 litres and steel 235,000 litres.

Different "economies of scale" in modern China: As with everything else in modern commerce these days, from dollar reserves to iron ore demand, the big story is China. Nowhere epitomises the scale of the problem as dramatically as this country.

It’s a dry argument: Consider this: the Yellow River, the cradle of Chinese civilisation, flowed uninterrupted for millennia. Then, for the first time, it dried up in 1972. Since 1985 it’s dried up every year. In 1998 it was dry for nearly eight months.

Crippling industry and agriculture: The Chinese government itself, hardly a barometer of transparency when it comes to a crisis, says water shortages are reducing industrial output by an average of $US25 billion ($A33 billion) a year and agricultural output by $US19 billion. India is facing similar strife.

The Australian Financial Review, 15/7/2006, p. 24

Source: Erisk Net  

The Most Dangerous Alliance in the World

admin /24 July, 2006

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0720-21.htm

by Norman Solomon

After getting out of Lebanon, writer June Rugh told Reuters on Tuesday: "As an American, I’m embarrassed and ashamed. My administration is letting it happen [by giving] tacit permission for Israel to destroy a country." The news service quoted another American evacuee, Andrew Muha, who had been in southern Lebanon. He said: "It’s a travesty. There’s a million homeless in Lebanon and the intense amount of bombing has brought an entire country to its knees."

Embarrassing. Shameful. A travesty. Those kinds of words begin to describe the alliance between the United States and Israel. Here are a few more: Government criminality. High-tech terror. Mass murder from the skies. The kind of premeditated action that the U.S. representative in Nuremberg at the International Conference on Military Trials — Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Jackson — was talking about on August 12, 1945, when he declared that "no grievances or policies will justify resort to aggressive war. It is utterly renounced and condemned as an instrument of policy."

The United States and Israel. Right now, it’s the most dangerous alliance in the world.