Watching the Shadows
Military coup d’état against Obama?
Was Rear Admiral Charles M. Gaouette sacked from his command of a Pacific carrier battle group last month because he was plotting a putsch against Obama?
Tag: petro-oligarchy
Planet Watch
Quebec fracking ban challenged under NAFTA
Energy firm Lone Pine Resources is challenging Quebec’s fracking moratorium under the North American Free Trade Agreement, and demanding $250 million in compensation.
Planet Watch
Record $4.5 billion settlement with BP in Gulf spill
British Petroleum agreed to pay a record $4.5 billion in penalties and plead guilty to felony misconduct for its role in the devastation caused by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
East Asia
China: changing of the guard —amid same old repression
Xi Jinping was chosen as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party amid stepped-up repression and a wave of labor unrest in the Fujian and Zhejiang industrial zones.
Planet Watch
Sandy and climate change: media hot air
Media bloviators argue about whether superstorm Sandy was "caused by" climate change, oblivious to the obvious reality: such extreme weather events are climate change!
New York City
NYC: obligatory disaster rant
"Mandatory evacuation" set a dangerous precedent for executive power and displacement of the poor—but will the "Frankenstorm" at least be a climate-change wake-up call?
Planet Watch
Petro-oligarchs play presidential candidates —again
The oil and energy industry are funding both candidates—but not equally. Romney has received $6 million from individuals and PACs linked to the industry; Obama $1.6 million.
New York City
WHY WE FIGHT
From the New York Times, Oct. 8: 4 Die in Crash at Notorious Turn on L.I. RoadAll five were teenage friends from Queens, and four had been classmates at Richmond Hill High School. Some had started college and were planning… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
Africa
Nigerians sue Shell in Netherlands over oil spills
Shell Oil faces litigation over Nigerian oil spills in the Dutch courts, while the Obama administration is urging the US Supreme Court to dismiss a similar case.
Planet Watch
Ninth Circuit dismisses Alaska village claim over greenhouse emissions
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of the Alaskan village of Kivalina's claims against energy companies for greenhouse emissions it says threaten its existence.
North America
The Republicans are the party of white supremacy: deal with it
Both parties represent global empire and corporate rule. But it is also clear that this election is turning into a referendum on whether the USA should be a white republic.
Planet Watch
Petro-oligarchs play presidential candidates —again
Romney’s new energy plan is billed as a drive towards “energy independence”—yet ironically mirrors the plan Obama unveiled two years ago to lift current restrictions on offshore drilling.