The Andes
Contradictory legacy of Hugo Chávez
Whether the gains of Hugo Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution will survive his passing depends on how genuinely it is based on popular power, not just that of a charismatic leader.
Tag: control of oil
Iraq
Exxon begins explorations in Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government announced that ExxonMobil has begun exploring for oil in the region—in a deal rejected by the Baghdad central government as illegal.
Planet Watch
BP Gulf oil spill trial opens
Trial began in US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana between individuals affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and British Petroleum.
The Andes
Colombia: campesino strike in oil zone
The feared riot squad of the Colombian National Police has been mobilized to Arauca to break up peasant blockades of roads leading to Occidental Petroleum’s oilfields.
Mexico
Mexico: at least 37 dead in Pemex explosion
The authorities now blame gas accumulation for a blast that killed at least 37 people at the headquarters of Mexico’s accident-prone state oil monopoly.
Africa
East, West Africa top global piracy: report
The International Maritime Bureau hailed progress against Somali pirates, but urged the world’s navies to keep up the pressure—and warned of growing piracy off West Africa.
Watching the Shadows
Obama’s fourth year: a World War 4 Report scorecard
World War 4 Report offers its annual annotated assessment of Obama’s moves in dismantling, continuing or escalating the oppressive apparatus of the Global War on Terrorism.
North Africa
Algeria: army raids gas complex seized by jihadists
Algerian military forces attacked the Amenas gas complex in the interior Sahara, where a breakaway faction of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb took dozens of hostages.
North Africa
Mali poised for multi-sided war
With French troops fighting on the ground in Mali, jihadist militias advance on the capital, while Tuareg rebels pledge to re-establish a separatist state in the north.
Planet Watch
Protesters occupy Keystone XL offices in Houston
More than 100 protesters stormed the lobby of TransCanada's Keystone office in Houston as a new tree-sit was established at the Texas town of Diboll to block pipeline construction.
Watching the Shadows
Chuck Hagel: revenge of the paleocons?
Leftists are ironically rallying around Chuck Hagel as Obama's apparent pick for Secretary of Defense—a conservative Republican who is wary of the neocons but close to Big Oil.
Planet Watch
National Intelligence Council predicts global climate disaster —again
The US National Intelligence Council issued a report, "Global Trends 2030: Potential Worlds," that emphasizes the rise of China and the risk of catastrophic climate change.