Military

According to an often cited saying, "If you want peace, work for justice." But, most economic justice work is currently premised on the view that greater economic equality requires continued economic growth. This constitutes a wholehearted embrace of a cornucopian future; it recognizes no limits to growth that are implied by climate change, world peak oil production, and the rapid depletion of other resources including metal ores, water, soil and fish.

-Push for Afghanistan troop increase continues on deadly day
-Success elusive for U.S. policy in Afghanistan
-Former Marine captain resigns in protest of Afghanistan war
-The great gamble
-A Crash Course in Democracy

The price of oil has more than doubled from its nadir of $30 a barrel earlier this year. To explain the resilience of oil prices in the face of a severe economic slump, the oil optimists have turned to an old standby argument: resource nationalism.

-Obama at the Precipice
-Fighting the Taliban
-Is Escalation Obama's Only Choice in Afghanistan?
-Pakistan targets key Taliban town

-India’s quest for uranium
-Putin’s China Visit Helps Russia Become Global Energy Supplier
-Iraq cuts foreign deals for major boost to oil output
-The U.S. military’s battle to wean itself off oil
-What’s yours is mine
-Big Oil Front Group Fights for Tar Sands
-Saudis Seek Payments for Any Drop in Oil Revenues

-Obama says Nobel Peace Prize is "call to action"
-Afghan War Debate Now Leans to Focus on Al Qaeda
-Mike's Blog #1: 'Pilots on Food Stamps'
-The Economic Revolution Is Already Happening -- It's Just Not on Wall St.
-There's no there there
-Interview with Marcy Kaptur and Simon Johnson

-Keeping Iran honest
-Ahmadinejad Rejects Obama's Nuclear Warning
-Iran's Global Foray Has Mixed Results
-Iran defies Western pressure with missile test-firing
-Iran: The Next Neocon Target
-Obama's Move: Iran and Afghanistan

The following is a selected list of studies of various aspects of energy security (including peak oil) which have either been conducted by members of the military/security research community, or which raise issues with direct military/security relevance.

Within the span of a couple generations, we abandoned a durable, finely textured, life-affirming set of living arrangements characterized by self-sufficient family farms intermixed with small towns that provided commerce, services, and culture. Worse yet, we traded that model for a coarse-scaled arrangement wholly dependent on ready access to cheap fossil fuels.

-A strategic blunder in the North-West Frontier Province
-U.S. Military Says Its Force in Afghanistan Is Insufficient
-Tensions Rise in Post-Election Afghanistan
-Is Pakistan's Taliban movement on the way out?
-Iran Gas Ban: Step toward War with Iran?
-How Crime Pays for the Taliban

We can still hope for unprecedented cooperation to manage the coming decline. But Jay Hanson (dieoff.org) may be right that if that cooperation doesn't emerge, we may be faced with a decision about making preparations for an all-out and probably violent scramble for the world's remaining resources--a contest in which a disciplined, cohesive and militarized society has the best chance of survival. Is he missing a viable third or fourth way?

Iraq: The final countdown
Kurdistan brands Iraq oil contracts 'unconstitutional'
7 Blasts Around Baghdad Kill at Least 24
Rush for ‘easiest oil in the world’

The study’s executive summary ends with these two sentences: “We conclude from these reviews that the most alarmist of the peak-oil claims are likely false. Still, we see some convincing reasons to think that global oil production could peak within 20 years, with demand outstripping production indefinitely.”

Like the soldiers surveyed in Baghdad, a critical mass of Americans and their political leaders are simply not ready to accept the consequences of what is about to befall us.

Regional climate pact’s lesson: avoid big giveaways to industry
Raising The CAFE standard will increase driving
Green camo: seeing through the military’s new environmentalism
Looking at ‘spoiled’ Americans through an energy lens