Oberg - What is peace? Summarising 35 years of thinking and practising: "The only realistic way to handle conflict is to accept and embrace them, become clever at handling them – in short, stop conflict avoidance and reduce conflict illiteracy, i.e. intensify across the board education and professionalization when it comes to learning how to “quarrel well.” This means that, grosso modo, peace can be learnt and has extremely little to do with good versus evil human beings as some will have us believe.
So, the dynamics or peace is perfectly compatible with conflict, indeed it can’t be separated from it. What it is incompatible with and must be separated from is violence. Thus, for true peace we need violence prevention or, to quote the UN Charter most significant and globally recognized (but violated) norm: peace by peaceful means (Article 1.1) and the abolition of war as an accepted social institution (the Preamble’s first sentence)."

The Power and Interest News Report (PINR): "Conflict over increasing energy needs is foreseeable; consequently, although demand for energy resources at the global level may be a catalyst for short-term cooperation, it may also lead to conflicts. "

PINR - U.S. Energy Policy Begins to Shift

PINR - U.S. Energy Policy Begins to Shift: "Regardless of the long-term effects of global warming, continued reliance on non-renewable energy sources from geopolitically unstable areas is a policy fraught with risk. The recent example that Russia set by cutting gas supplies to Belarus represents merely the beginning of power that states rich in oil and gas supplies can have over the major energy consumers. The security of oil in the Middle East is at the center of U.S. foreign policy and will remain this way as long as the United States relies on foreign oil.

Whether action is taken as an immediate geopolitical necessity to secure energy and other natural resources, such as water and arable land, or because of a moral imperative on behalf of future generations, global warming stands to be a major political issue of the 21st century. "

Foreign Policy: Think Again: India

Foreign Policy: Think Again: India: "Consider India’s relationship with Iran. The energy-hungry subcontinent looks at Iran in the same way that the United States views Saudi Arabia. Iran and India reached a “strategic partnership” in 2003, cementing the “historical ties” between the two nations. India is now chafing at Western demands that it stop backing Iran’s right to develop its nuclear capacities. Despite a new American deal to share advanced nuclear technology with India, Delhi is likely to resist opening its own nuclear facilities to serious international inspection and remains steadfast in its refusal to sign major international arms-control agreements. A key player in the development of its nuclear weapons, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, is now the country’s president."

CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS: Is Energo-fascism in Your Future? : : The Pentagon Energy-Protection Racket: "Such future possibilities are generating great anxiety among officials of the major energy-consuming nations, especially the United States, China, Japan, and the European powers. All of these countries have undertaken major reviews of energy policy in recent years, and all have come to the same conclusion: Market forces alone can no longer be relied upon to satisfy essential national energy requirements, and so the state must assume ever-increasing responsibility for performing this role. "

CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS: Is Energo-fascism in Your Future? : : The Pentagon Energy-Protection Racket: "Powerful, potentially planet-altering trends like this do not occur in a vacuum. The rise of Energo-fascism can be traced to two overarching phenomena: an imminent collision between energy demand and energy supplies, and the historic migration of the center of gravity of planetary energy output from the global north to the global south.
For the past 60 years, the international energy industry has largely succeeded in satisfying the world's ever-growing thirst for energy in all its forms. When it comes to oil alone, global demand jumped from 15 to 82 million barrels per day between 1955 and 2005, an increase of 450%. Global output rose by a like amount in those years. Worldwide demand is expected to keep growing at this rate, if not faster, for years to come -- propelled in large part by rising affluence in China, India, and other developing nations. There is, however, no expectation that global output can continue to keep pace. "

CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS: Is Energo-fascism in Your Future? : : The Pentagon Energy-Protection Racket: "A ruthless scramble among the great powers for the remaining oil, natural gas, and uranium reserves of Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia, accompanied by recurring military interventions, the constant installation and replacement of client regimes, systemic corruption and repression, and the continued impoverishment of the great majority of those who have the misfortune to inhabit such energy-rich regions. "

CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS: Is Energo-fascism in Your Future? : : The Pentagon Energy-Protection Racket: "the world actually faces a far more substantial and universal threat, which might be dubbed: Energo-fascism, or the militarization of the global struggle over ever-diminishing supplies of energy.
Unlike Islamo-fascism, Energo-fascism will, in time, affect nearly every person on the planet. Either we will be compelled to participate in or finance foreign wars to secure vital supplies of energy"

OECD Observer: Energising change: "Striking a new energy approach is a realistic way forward since it means implementing policies already being considered. Demand for energy is rising and so all energy sources must be involved, whether oil and gas, carbon sequestration, nuclear power, biomass, wind or solar energy. Some new technologies will have to be further developed, and others made more effective.
Take coal. This is the most carbon-emitting fuel in power generation, but it is an abundant and dense energy source. China is the world’s largest user of coal and it is the main fuel for electricity generation in the US and Germany too. Its use is set to go on rising. Equipping new coal generators with technologies to capture carbon to reduce emissions and increase efficiency will be important."

The Power and Interest News Report (PINR): "Recent rumors of a Russian-led gas cartel akin to O.P.E.C. and suggestions that it could redirect energy exports to China are driving Europe's fears that Moscow will seize its role as a major energy supplier to take hostile actions against Europe. As Russia possesses over a quarter of the world's gas reserves, and the European Union predicts that it will have to import 70 percent of its energy needs by 2030, Brussels will continue to search for alternatives to Russian energy in the long term while at the same time seek stable trade relations with Moscow.
"

WFS Forecasts for the Next 25 Years: "Forecast #6: Ocean Currents May Surpass Wind as an Energy Source. Turbines driven by ocean currents could generate four times more electricity than windmills. At one site alone—in the Channel Islands off the coast of France—the potential electricity could match that produced by three nuclear power plants."

WFS Forecasts for the Next 25 Years: "Forecast #1: Hydrogen fuel cells will be cost competitive by 2010. The cost of power via fuel cell is dropping rapidly—from $600,000 per kilowatt-hour in the 1970s to $1,200 today. By 2012, fuel cell power is expected to cost around $400 per kilowatt-hour. It would then be competitive with every type of power. Fuel cells will power cars and allow each home to have its own non-polluting electricity generator."

The Power and Interest News Report (PINR): "New pledges of aid, tariff reductions, incentives for investment, and programs to strengthen cultural ties are expected to come out of the summit. China will specifically be looking to gain access to natural resources needed to maintain its nine percent economic growth rate. By investing in Africa's infrastructure, Beijing also hopes to secure access to developing markets in Africa for its goods. Two-way trade increased by more than 30 percent in 2005, and it is expected to rise a further 25 percent this year. "

The Power and Interest News Report (PINR): "China famously claims, 'Business is business. We try to separate politics from business.' However, after analyzing China's record in Africa, it becomes clear that there is a strategic logic behind China's lending practices. While China is primarily interested in securing natural resources, it also promotes a particular ideology: development before democracy. Beijing is keen to export this model on which it has built its power, and many countries shunned by the West are attracted to this thinking."

The Power and Interest News Report (PINR): "China is also interested in securing other resources from Africa, and is using similar methods to secure iron, uranium, copper, as well as agricultural products. Beijing has remained President Robert Mugabe's main lifeline in Zimbabwe, even as the West has isolated his government for defaulting on loans and continued human rights concerns. China's ambassador to Namibia recently announced Beijing's intention to import uranium from the country.

China's focus on securing Africa's natural resources has drawn concern from some African leaders and from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. By focusing on exporting natural resources, African states are missing out on opportunities to diversify their exports. China has made some steps toward addressing these concerns (for example, it is helping Nigeria to launch a satellite)"