Albion Monitor Issue 170 JUNE 2008
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FREE! At the hastily convened global oil summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on June 28, top officials of producing and consuming nations from around the world attempted to find a combination of solutions that would somehow extricate us from the current crisis over sky-high energy prices. These proposals ranged from increased output by major producers like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to restrictions on the activities of international oil speculators.

But all were based on the premise that the crisis can be resolved through the right mix of actions, thus restoring an environment of cheap and abundant oil -- a premise that is fundamentally flawed. More and more, the evidence suggests that this is not just a temporary crisis. It is the beginning of the end of the Petroleum Age



Beekeepers Tell Congress: Hive Collapse is Environmental, Economic Crisis FREE!


"Bees are as important to our crops as the water and sunshine. No bees, no crops"

Israel Conducts Training Exercise for Attack Iran


Israelis vague on what appeared to be a rehearsal for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities

IMF Predicts Slow, Risky U.S. Recovery


But classic situation for full-blown stagflation

Zimbabwe in Crisis as Opposition Party Drops Out of Election, Citing Murder Risk


Opposition presidential candidate seeks refuge in Dutch embassy

High Oil Prices Create Wealth in Qatar and Poverty in Egypt


While Qatari citizens enjoy an unprecedented economic boom, millions of Egyptians are unable to buy bread

U.S. Makes Concessions in Deal for Long-Term Presence in Iraq


Both Maliki and Bush want agreement before next president inaugurated

California Begins Historic Same-Sex Marriages

Akemi Hamai and Amy Haruyama are married by Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums as their daughters, Maya Haruyama and Anna Hamai, join in the ceremony (PHOTO: Michael Macor)

Christian conservatives nationwide gearing up for showdown in November referendum

Afghanistan Summit: Lots of Promises, Not Much Money


Bush the only leader willing to throw more cash at what many see as a money sink

Bush Lied to Iraq, U.S. Public on Plans for Permanent Bases


White House says pledge means nothing because "permanent" refers more to a state of mind

Supreme Court Reinstates Habeas Corpus


Can't take away basic legal right by declaring someone an "enemy combatant"

U.S.-Pakistan Confront Over Killing of 11 Soldiers by Airstrike


Pakistan says airstrikes "unprovoked and cowardly" and threatens cooperation with U.S.

One Million Burma Survivors Not Yet Reached, UN Says


Officials boast of progress to media, but UN reps privately say aid operations failing

Burma Not Allowing Monks, Volunteers, to Help Cyclone Survivors


Only junta is allowed to provide aid, even as it proves unable to do so

McCain Embraces the New Neo-Con Platform


"League of Democracies" to bypass UN and face off against "autocratic states"

Pentagon Faced Down Cheney Over Push to Bomb Iran


Insisted that the White House had to make "a policy decision about how far the administration would go -- what would happen after the Iranians would go after our folks"


FREE! The very morning after the last primaries, in which he finally received a sufficient number of pledged delegates to secure the Democratic presidential nomination and no longer needed to win over voters from the progressive base of his own party, Obama -- in a Clinton-style effort at triangulation -- gave a major policy speech before the national convention of the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). As an African-American whose father came from a Muslim family, he is under even more pressure than most candidates to avoid being labeled as "anti-Israel."

But his June 3 speech in Washington in many ways constituted a slap in the face of his grass roots peace and human rights supporters. Obama largely embraced a right-wing perspective which appeared to place all the blame for the ongoing violence and the impasse in the peace process on the Palestinians under occupation rather than the Israelis who are still occupying and colonizing the parts of their country seized by the Israeli army more than 40 years ago. Most disturbing was Obama's apparent support for Israel's illegal annexation of greater East Jerusalem, the Palestinian-populated sector of the city and surrounding villages that Israel seized along with the rest of the West Bank in June 1967.

This speech would have been the perfect time for Obama, while upholding his commitment to Israel's right to exist in peace and security, to challenge AIPAC's militarism and national chauvinism more directly. Unfortunately, while showing some independence of thought on Iran, he apparently felt the Palestinians were not as important. Taking a pro-Israel but anti-occupation position would have demonstrated that Obama was not just another pandering politician and that he recognized that a country's legitimate security needs were not enhanced by invasion, occupation, colonization and repression

Where did all the Turtles go?

Almost two decades of conservation efforts, researchers are now confronting a series of puzzling challenges that suggest global warming as a principal factor in declining sea turtle populations (ART: GMIX Designs)

Sea turtles that can live for a century just disappearing

Senate Repubs Block Global Warming Bill For 2nd Year FREE!


GOP memo surfaces of plan to delay bill, then blame Democrats for high energy costs

Bush Led Nation to War on False Pretenses, Senate Finds


Lied that al-Qaeda and Saddam "posed a single, indistinguishable threat"

A Year Later, Still no Arrests for Darfur War Crimes


"The entire Darfur region is a crime scene"

Burma Forcing Cyclone Victims Out of Refugee Camps


Aid org allowed in country says worst still far from over

Burma Refusing Aid Because it Fears U.S.-Backed Coup


If U.S. warships and foreign forces came to the aid of cyclone survivors in the Irrawaddy Delta, the generals fear repeat of 1988 revolt

McCain Vows He'll Stay the Course on Mideast


Tells AIPAC he plans to continue Bush policies

Cheney Behind White House Campaign to Blame EFP Bombs on Iran


Tried to take decision authority away from national security adviser, State Dept. and give it to his ally, Gen. Petraeus

Africa Nervous as Pentagon Launch of AFRICOM Nears


Fears that U.S. military command means shift towards securing oil reserves

Iraq THE WAR IN IRAQ

Birth Defects Showing up in Post-Invasion Iraq Babies


No formal research into reports of many births with major congenital malformations

Iraqi Children Languish in U.S.-Run Prisons FREE!


Detention rates for children had risen drastically in 2007 to an average of 100 new cases a month

Iraqis Believe True Death Toll 'Above Highest Estimates'


Kidnapped, disappeared, among those presumed dead but uncounted

Politics As Usual POLITICS AS USUAL


The Developers in McCain's Closet FREE!


McCain has often helped contributors navigate the corridors of Congress to help hammer down a good real estate deal

McCain's Judicial Plans in Lockstep with Bush


Key to winning conservatives is promise to continue their quest to control the U.S. judicial system

McCain Has a Path to Win White House


Court the Latino vote, stoke middle and working class workers' disdain for liberal solutions to problems

Hillary at Wounded Knee


Wildly cheered for making reservation appearance, but votes go to Obama

© 2005 Patrick Chappatte


Bush Admin Stands up to Defend Cluster Bombs FREE!


Wacky excuse that ban would block U.S. military ships from peacekeeping ops

Military-Industrial Complex Now Backbone of U.S. Economy, Book Shows


"Having garrisoned the globe, the Complex is returning home in new and unnerving ways"

Countrywide Gave Movers & Shakers Sweetheart Loans FREE!


In the face of a wave of homeowner calamity, where was Congress? Counting its financial blessings

Mortgage Lenders Agree to New Measures to Slow Foreclosures


Non-binding guidelines include being more responsive to homeowners, rewriting mortgages

Sen. Lieberman to Join Christian Zionists at Rev. Hagee's July Summit


Unfazed by remarks about Hitler being sent by God

Russia Expanding Interests in Africa


Expected to compete with China for influence with "socialism oriented" nations

Ireland Blocks New Try at EU Constitution


Many activists regarded it as "neo-liberal juggernaut being pushed down their throats"

Mexico Says it can Win War on Drugs


Mexico poll: Most believe drug gangs in control of country

Gaza Ceasefire Makes Israelis Uneasy


Concessions seen as victory for Hamas

DNA Shows Another Texas Death Row Prisoner Innocent


Was nearly executed in 1999

World Poll: Ahmadinejad, Putin, Trusted More Than Bush


Only Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf ranked lower

Israeli Cabinet in Chaos


"They have no public support whatsoever"

Israeli PM Olmert's Future Grim as Details Emerge of Cash-Stuffed Envelopes


Also likely to kill any hope of Palestine or Syria peace talks this year

Gaza Struggles to Live With no Fuel


"The fact that Israel has created the cooking gas and fuel shortage is actually helping Hamas maintain support"

No Israeli/Palestine Peace Deal on Bush's Watch


There goes main hope to leave White House with a positive legacy
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Columnists

JOE CONASON

Joe Conason

Inventing a Country-Club Muslim Marxist

The Once Principled McCain

A Challenge Obama Should Accept

Now, The Running Mate Dilemma

ROBERT SCHEER

Robert Scheer Democrats Criticize McCain for Wrong Reason

Is Hillary the Ticket for Obama?

Bush Entirely to Blame for High Gas Prices

McCain's Consistent Inconsistencies

ALEXANDER COCKBURN

Alexander Cockburn

Sailing the Course Already Set

Tim Russert's Big Goodbye

Obama's Rush to Pander

Obama Goes Over the Top

STEVE YOUNG FREE!

Steve Young O'Reilly Gets no Respect From Newsweek

Memo to To Poopyhead O'Reilly From Baby Alex

Bill O'Reilly's "Far Left" List

Hillary's Failures

4 Horsemen of the Drillocalypse
© 2008 Wolverton -- All Rights Reserved

IT WAS OIL, ALL ALONG

FREE! Oh, no, they told us, Iraq isn't a war about oil. That's cynical and simplistic, they said. It's about terror and al Qaeda and toppling a dictator and spreading democracy and protecting ourselves from weapons of mass destruction. But one by one, these concocted rationales went up in smoke, fire, and ashes. And now the bottom line turns out to be... the bottom line. It is about oil.

After a long exile, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP are back in Iraq. And on the wings of no-bid contracts -- that's right, sweetheart deals like those given Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater. The kind of deals you get only if you have friends in high places. And these war profiteers have friends in very high places

Albion Monitor
(http://www.albionmonitor.com)
Issue 170

Editor: Jeff Elliott (editor@monitor.net)

The Albion Monitor is currently published as an ongoing newspaper by Wayward Press Inc, POB 1733, Sebastopol, CA 95473

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