Geography Archives: United States

  Excerpt: The mid-2000s marked the start of a trend of steeply rising commodity prices, accompanied by increasing volatility.  The prices of a wide range of commodities reached historic highs in nominal terms in 2008 before falling sharply in the wake of the financial and economic crisis.  Since mid-2009, and especially since the summer of […]

There was a time when global oil prices reflected changes in the real demand and supply of crude petroleum.  Of course, as with many other primary commodities, the changes in the market could be volatile, and so prices also fluctuated, sometimes sharply.  More than anything else, the global oil market was seen to reflect not […]

The torture of prisoners in U.S. custody isn’t confined to foreign countries.  For more than two weeks, inmates at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison have been on a hunger strike to protest torturous conditions in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) there.  Prisoners have been held for years in solitary confinement, which can amount to torture.  […]

Still lacking a fire starter called diplomacy, Uncle Sam fails to detonate a war against Syria. Hamid Karout is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was first published in Tishreen on 14 July 2011; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  Cf. “‘The OIC has a strong desire to build national dialogue between governments and […]

The Euro is crashing today to record lows against the Swiss Franc, and interest rates on Italian and Spanish bonds have hit record highs.  This latest episode in the Eurozone crisis is a result of fears that the contagion is now hitting Italy.  With a two-trillion dollar economy and $2.45 trillion in debt, Italy is […]

Javier Batiz, the great Mexican rock-and-roll guitarist, played and sang last week in a concert that embodied and gave voice to everything that is most wonderful about Tijuana and the U.S.-Mexico border region.  Batiz, who since he was thirteen has played in the bars and nightclubs of Tijuana, performed this time with the Baja California […]

Iran’s recent successful launch of a second satellite into orbit has drawn considerable attention around the world. As in the past, Iran’s announcement of the launch of its domestically built satellite into space received mixed reactions in the West. Some mainstream U.S. media treated the announcement with skepticism and ridicule. “Before you cancel that European vacation or start building a bomb shelter, it’s worth taking Iran’s boasts with a grain of salt,” one commentator wrote in Wired. “While Iran has cooked up some indigenous weaponry over the years, its desire to puff out its chest and pronounce immunity from the effects of international sanctions has led to some absurd exaggerations and outright lies.”

  Excerpt: Cooling power plants requires the single largest share of U.S. freshwater withdrawals: 41 percent.  This water dependence threatens both the availability and the quality of our water resources. . . . The water use habits of power plants pose risks, not only to the water sources and to other users, but also to […]

“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.” — Bob Marley, “Redemption Song,” 1979 I’ve got it made.  I’m sixty-one years old and I’ve been retired for two and a half years.  I’ve got a pension, health insurance, and money in the bank.  I own my own home.  I’m debt free.  I’m a fortunate man, but it wasn’t […]

  NUMSA and other COSATU workers, ANC Youth League President Julius Malema, and members of the South African Communist Party gathered outside the United States Embassy in Pretoria, Gauteng to demonstrate against the NATO bombings of Libya.  “South Africa should not have voted for that resolution,” said Malema, referring to UN Security Council Resolution 1973 […]

Bernard-Henri Lévy, well known for his devotion to humanitarian military interventions, organized a conference to “stop the massacre” in Syria, “SOS Syrie,” in Paris on the fourth of July.  There is no doubt that BHL is eager to replicate his Libyan success in Syria.  Given the clear Russian opposition to any military intervention in Syria, […]

One of last month’s most interesting developments in Persian Gulf power politics played out not in the Middle East, but in Vienna, Paris, and Washington.  For these Western cities were the venues for an important series of exchanges that revealed much about the changing balance of power among the Middle East’s major oil producers, including […]

There is a pervasive view that growth under capitalism, though it may worsen poverty, even absolute poverty, to start with, eventually leads to a lowering of poverty.  The experience of the English Industrial Revolution is invoked in this context.  There has been a huge debate among economic historians about the impact of the Industrial Revolution […]

  After a two-hour standoff at sea, the U.S. Boat to Gaza The Audacity of Hope was seized by the Greek Coast Guard and forced to return to the port of Piraeus under military escort.  The boat’s captain has been put in jail, charged with disturbing sea traffic — which includes endangering the lives of […]

The US government has been increasing aggressive actions against the Chavez administration in an attempt to isolate the major petroleum-producing nation and aid in ousting the Venezuelan President. During a hearing last Friday, June 24, in the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives regarding “Sanctionable Activities in Venezuela,” Democrats and Republicans requested the […]

  Prisoners in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay State Prison (California) are going on an indefinite hunger strike as of July 1, 2011 to protest the cruel, inhumane, and torturous conditions of their imprisonment.  The hunger strike has been organized by prisoners in an inspiring show of unity across racial and geographic […]

During the last century, the establishment of Social Security and the tax-favored employer pension plans that followed transformed and improved the lives of American workers.  Combined with economic growth, these institutions meant that both the rich and the poor lived longer and every worker became entitled to pensions at the end of their working lives. […]

Advocates of nuclear power are promoting a “nuclear renaissance” based on claims that a new generation of reactors will produce relatively cheap electricity while solving the threat posed by global climate change.  U.S. power producers have proposed building more than 30 new nuclear reactors — and some proponents have called for building as many as […]

The European authorities are playing a dangerous game of “chicken” with Greece right now.  It is overdue for U.S. members of Congress to exercise some oversight as to what our government’s role is in this process, and how we might be preparing for a Greek debt default.  Depending on how it happens, this default could […]

The notion of the “west”, like any such construct, has various associations depending on who is using it, where and in what circumstances.  Many people (especially in other parts of the world) tend to associate the “west” with military campaigns and foreign interventions by Nato and its leading states, the United States and Britain.  More […]