One of the main concerns of the Ogoni activist and writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa was the collusion between Shell and the Nigerian Government. We already know that this collusion went from the top levels of the government to routine logistical and financial support for the military. Saro-Wiwa once said that one of their protests was “anti-Shell, … Read More
US foreign policy
Obama’s War Machine Goes Green
On the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, a report from Oil Change International, entitled A Climate of War, analysed both the greenhouse gas emissions of the war and the costs involved in fighting that war rather than climate change. The report contained many shocking facts but a couple were that the projected total US … Read More
Senators Accuse BP of “Blood Money” Handouts
For many in America, BP has been public enemy number one since the Deepwater disaster started on April 20th. It’s not only the disaster itself, but the way BP has handled itself before and since then that has added to the palatable anger. The failure by the company to stop the spill, the public gaffes … Read More
US supports new military offensive in Somalia … just don’t mention oil…
Continuing our African focus over the last couple of days, let’s turn to Somalia. I spent some six months in the country over twenty years ago and even then the American oil company Amoco was busy exploring for oil in the North of the country and in the Gulf of Aden. The reasoning being simple … Read More
“Spend as much on climate change as war”
When the Nobel Peace Prize committee decided earlier this year to award the prize to President Obama, they could not have envisaged that it would be in the same month as he sent 30,000 more troops to war. Giving the peace prize to the Commander in Chief of American forces involved in two brutal and … Read More
De-dollarisation of Oil Market by 2018
Sometimes a story grows legs, other times it hits the dust. But yesterday’s front page story in the Independent about negotiations to end oil trading in dollars seems to have hit a raw nerve and sent shock-waves through the currency markets. In response to the story, gold is now trading at record levels and the … Read More
Oil Traders to Ditch the Dollar…
The dollar is sliding on the currency markets this morning after reports by the Independent newspaper that Arab states are in secret talks with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading. The move – if it happens – would be the most profound financial change in recent Middle East … Read More
Gordon Brown: “No Deal on Oil” Over Lockerbie
When the British Government sanctioned the release of the Lockberbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, they would have hoped that, after an initial outcry about his release, the matter would die down and something else would fill the news bulletins. But this Government has made an artform of creating a crisis out of a … Read More
Dick to the Rescue?
Do not fear worry, everyone, Dick is coming to the rescue. For those of you who were worried that supplies of gas and oil would be disrupted after the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia, there is no need to worry as Old Dick Cheney is going to sort it out. In what could be … Read More
‘Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter’
And so begins George’s long walk into the history books. He has months left in his Presidency. He has finished his farewell tour of Europe and finished his final G8 meeting. In his final few months, he may be responsible for yet another foreign policy disaster if the US attacks Iran, but when the dust … Read More
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