Iran Gas Ban: Step toward War with Iran?
The proposed U.S. ban on gasoline sales to Iran is better than bombing the country. But, columnist Michael Klare asks, could such a ban lead to war anyway?
Learning from the British in Iraq
History suggests that the United States won’t be leaving Iraq any time soon.
Blood and Oil in Central Asia
Conn Hallinan shows how the map of conflict corresponds all too well with the map of future energy supplies.
Postcard From…the Niger Delta
The Nigerian military’s joint task force is fighting its own people over access to oil-rich land. The international community needs to push for greater humanitarian access and peaceful resistance efforts in the Niger Delta region.
Obama Visits Africa’s ‘Oil Gulf’
President Barack Obama makes his historic visit to Africa. Born of a Kenyan economist father, Obama will go not to his ancestral lands but to Ghana, Africa’s newest oil state.
60-Second Expert: A Tipping Point in the Niger Delta
Oil companies and the Nigerian military are attempting to maintain control of what will soon be one-quarter of U.S. oil imports.
Book Event: Antonia Juhasz’s The Tyranny of Oil
Come hear IPS visiting scholar Antonia Juhasz discuss her new book, The Tyranny of Oil: The World’s Most Powerful Industry–And What We Must Do To Stop It (www.TyrannyofOil.org).
Finally, the inside story on Big Oil.
A "timely, blistering critique… white-hot… Explosive fuel for the raging debate on oil prices." – Kirkus Reviews.
The hardest-hitting exposé of the oil industry in decades answers today’s most pressing energy questions:
Why have oil and gasoline prices risen so quickly?
Where will prices go in the future?
Who’s really controlling those prices?
How much oil is left?
How far will Big Oil go to get it?
And at what cost to the economy, environment, human rights, worker safety, public health, democracy, and America’s place in the world?
"A worthy successor to ‘The Prize’…A riveting read with a bold blueprint for ending the madness." – Terry Tamminen, former Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency.
"At last, a no-holds-barred book that traces the story of Big Oil from the rise of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company to the scandals and obscene profits of today. Juhasz convincingly demonstrates how Standard Oil’s descendants—Exxon, Mobil, and Chevron—have reassembled much of the power once wielded by their progenitor." – Professor Michael T. Klare, author, Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy.
"Juhasz identifies and articulates an extraordinary problem, provides the critical details, offers real solutions, and gives concrete steps to achieve them." – Jody Williams, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
In The Tyranny of Oil, Antonia Juhasz pulls back the curtain on Big Oil—uncovering virtually unparalleled global power, influence over elected officials, lax regulatory oversight, the truth behind $150-a-barrel oil, $4.50-a-gallon gasoline, and the highest profit in corporate history. Exposing an industry that thrives on secrecy, Juhasz shows how Big Oil manages to hide its business dealings from policy makers, legislators, and most of all, consumers. She reveals exactly what Big Oil wants and how it plans to get it—through money, influence, and lies. Juhasz then provides a clear set of meaningful and achievable solutions, including the break-up of Big Oil.
The Tyranny of Oil prepares readers for election 2008–allowing them to interpret the constant stream of competing proposals and perplexing news stories about gasoline and oil prices, offshore oil drilling, Big Oil’s role in the larger economy, wars for oil, and much more. It arms with the facts while guiding readers through the industry’s rapacious history–demonstrating how the worst abuses of the robber-baron era are being revisited today.
Drawing on considerable historical research, Juhasz explores the parallels between today’s companies and Standard Oil, the most powerful corporation of the early 20th century, whose stranglehold on the economy and government was broken only by the vision and persistence of activists and like-minded politicians. We are in a similar position today, Juhasz argues, with the 2008 elections offering a unique opportunity for ordinary Americans to come together, reclaim their voices, and shore up our nation’s crumbling democratic foundation.
A tool for meaningful change that blends history, original investigative research and reporting, interviews with key industry insiders, and a unique focus on activism, The Tyranny of Oil is required reading for every concerned global citizen.
The World Bank Takes the Money and Runs from Chad
After funding a predictable boondoggle of a pipeline, the international lender hightails it out of an impoverished African nation.
What To Do Now in Georgia
It’s time for the UN to step up to the plate and help resolve the conflict.
Russia and Georgia: All About Oil
Columnist Michael Klare explains that the war between Russia and Georgia centers around a critical oil pipeline that runs through South Ossetia and that Russia doesn’t control.
Mexico’s Oil Referendum
Opposition parties organized a non-binding referendum to fight government efforts to gut a constitutional ban on private investment in the oil industry.
The Commodities Bubble
The economics behind the food crisis.
End of the Petroleum Age?
Columnist Michael Klare says that it’s time to start thinking about the post-oil era.
The Future of Mexico’s Oil: Social Action to Stop the Energy Grab
Mexico is in the middle of one the most intense processes of public debate in its modern history.
Africas Own Needs Should Come First
Rising prices make African oil a tempting prize. But African leaders are resisting U.S. plans to militarize the continent, saying their resources should be used to alleviate poverty.