Elizabeth Buchanan
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
“In the emerging international power system, we can expect the struggle over energy to override all other considerations” - Michael Klare[1]
Against the backdrop of depleting global energy reserves, a new
geopolitical landscape is emerging, characterised by Petrostates
utilising their natural resources as political commodities. This essay
explores two avenues of countering the challenges posed by the new
geopolitics of energy. Will governments seek cooperation via collective
energy security strategies? Or will the energy-poor nations instead opt
to meet energy-rich Petrostates on the battlefield? To assess whether
the new geopolitics of energy will result in conflict or cooperation,
this essay examines Russia’s emerging energy superpower strategy, and
provides a case study of the 2006 Russian-Ukrainian gas crisis.
Las políticas prohibicionistas para controlar las drogas por medio de
la fuerza pasaron a la historia como el mayor fracaso de una política
en nuestra región. Al centro, y por la masividad de su consumo, el
cannabis se transformó en la excusa perfecta para intentar controlar
nuestra sociedad y ejecutar esta seguidilla de absurdos.
El consumo de cannabis, tanto para fines recreativos como
terapéuticos, es masivo. En países como Uruguay y Chile, la prevalencia
de consumo llega a 5,6% y 4,9% de la población total. En este último,
las detenciones por ley de drogas, en gran parte relacionadas al
cannabis, superaron las 85.000 en 2012. Por otro lado se encuentra la
producción. Ya no podemos hablar de países productores y consumidores
solamente, por la simple razón de que la producción puede tomar lugar en
la tranquilidad de un hogar, ya que afortunadamente miles de personas
han optado por el autocultivo como forma de reducir los daños asociados a
la salud y la seguridad.
* Director de Asuntos del Sur y Observatorio Latinoamericano de Políticas de Drogas y Opinión Pública
The
European Union owes its existence to the efforts of political elites
who could count on the passive consent of their more or less indifferent
populations as long as the peoples could regard the Union as also being
in their economic interests, all things considered. The Union has
legitimized itself in the eyes of the citizens primarily through its
outcomes and not so much by the fact that it fulfilled the citizens’
political will.
This state of affairs is explained not only by the
history of its origins but also by the legal constitution of this unique
formation. The European Central Bank, the Commission, and the European
Court of Justice have intervened most profoundly in the everyday lives
of European citizens over the decades, even though these institutions
are the least subject to democratic controls.
Moreover, the European
Council, which has energetically taken the initiative during the current
crisis, is made up of heads of government whose role in the eyes of
their citizens is to represent their respective national interests in
distant Brussels. Finally, at least the European Parliament was supposed
to construct a bridge between the political conflict of opinions in the
national arenas and the momentous decisions taken in Brussels – but
this bridge is almost devoid of traffic.
SANTIAGO, 21 may 2013 (IPS) - El
liderazgo de Chile como primer productor mundial de cobre no está
amenazado, pero el país tiene el reto de convertir la explotación del
mineral en un capital social de largo plazo y atender los altos costos
de la energía, que aumentaron siete veces en la última década,
analizaron expertos para IPS.
“La ventaja comparativa, distinta a los indicadores de producción,
está viéndose un poco amenazada por alzas de costos, principalmente en
electricidad y los proveedores”, afirmó Rodrigo Balbontín, analista del Centro de Estudios del Cobre y la Minería (Cesco).
Con 36,3 por ciento de la cuota de mercado y 28 por ciento de las
reservas del metal, Chile sigue siendo el principal productor mundial de
cobre, nacionalizado en 1971 por el entonces presidente socialista
Salvador Allende (1970-1973).
The total solar energy hitting Earth each year is equivalent to 12.2 trillion watt-hours. That's over 20,000 times more than the total energy all of humanity consumes each year. And yet photovoltaic solar panels, the instruments that convert solar
radiation into electricity, produce only 0.7 percent of the energy the world uses. So what gives?
For one, cost: The U.S. Department of Energy
estimates an average cost of $156.90 per megawatt-hour for solar, while
conventional coal costs an average of $99.60 per MW/h, nuclear costs an
average of $112.70 per MW/h, and various forms of natural gas cost
between $65.50 and $132 per MW/h. So from an economic standpoint, solar
is still uncompetitive.
Global finance chiefs may have denounced it, but that has not stopped Japan joining other central banks in driving its exchange rate lower. With Australia and South Korea forced to respond, will the Asia-Pacific region be the main battleground in a global currency war?
At the latest Group of Seven (G7) meeting near London, the message from the seven industrialized nations’ finance officials was unequivocal: no currency manipulation by members.
Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said the G7 would continue its three-month-old pact “not to target exchange rates,” with the German and US finance ministers cautioning Japan over the weakening yen.
FRANKFURT
– The euro crisis has already transformed the European Union from a
voluntary association of equal states into a creditor-debtor
relationship from which there is no easy escape. The creditors stand to
lose large sums should a member state exit the monetary union, yet
debtors are subjected to policies that deepen their depression,
aggravate their debt burden, and perpetuate their subordinate position.
As a result, the crisis is now threatening to destroy the EU itself.
That would be a tragedy of historic proportions, which only German
leadership can prevent.
The
causes of the crisis cannot be properly understood without recognizing
the euro’s fatal flaw: By creating an independent central bank, member
countries have become indebted in a currency that they do not control.
At first, both the authorities and market participants treated all
government bonds as if they were riskless, creating a perverse incentive
for banks to load up on the weaker bonds. When the Greek crisis raised
the specter of default, financial markets reacted with a vengeance,
relegating all heavily indebted eurozone members to the status of a
Third World country over-extended in a foreign currency. Subsequently,
the heavily indebted member countries were treated as if they were
solely responsible for their misfortunes, and the structural defect of
the euro remained uncorrected.
Irán está a favor de continuar las negociaciones sobre su programa
nuclear con el Sexteto de mediadores internacionales y rechaza cualquier
interrupción en este proceso, declaró hoy el portavoz del Ministerio de
Exteriores de la República Islámica, Ramin Mehmanparast.
“Irán espera que el proceso de negociación no tenga ninguna
interrupción ni pausa y que, manteniendo el marco lógico de
conversaciones y sobre la base del Tratado de No Proliferación Nuclear,
podamos discutir las propuestas (para resolver el conflicto)”, manifestó
el diplomático iraní.
Every few weeks, it seems, a new twist takes place in the
drama of China’s solar industry. The latest news, however, emerges not
from Wuxi, home of Suntech Power, nor from Xinyu, home of LDK Solar. In
fact, the threat comes from the Brussels in the European Union (EU).
According to recent media reports, the European Union Trade
Commissioner Karel De Gucht will recommend this coming Wednesday (May 8)
that the bloc should slap massive punitive tariffs on Chinese solar panels. Reuters writes
that such Tariffs would be proposed “to guard against Chinese
production [capacity] that quadrupled between 2009 and 2011 to more than
the entire global demand.”
La
cotización del dólar comercializado en el circuito marginal ha subido
en lo que va del año 36 por ciento y desde el comienzo del nuevo régimen
de administración y control de acceso a la moneda extranjera lo hizo en
96 por ciento. A lo largo de ese período los motivos expresados por
analistas de la city para justificar el aumento han sido variados. La
secuencia explicativa comenzó con que el dólar oficial estaba barato,
continuó con los nervios de inversores ante la imposibilidad de ahorrar
en divisas, luego con la dificultad para comprar dólares a la paridad
oficial por parte de turistas al exterior, siguió con la merma
estacional de la liquidación de dólares de exportación de soja, y ahora
que esos mismos exportadores después de vender en el segmento oficial
recompran en el paralelo.
In the wake of reports that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad allegedly
used sarin, a chemical weapon, it appears that U.S. President Barack
Obama
is on the brink of providing the Syrian opposition with lethal weapons.
But it
certainly does not seem that the Obama administration pursued the full
range of
nonlethal options available, particularly those involving the
international
community. Here's an idea: To affect meaningful and decisive change in
Syria, which
is suffering from a humanitarian catastrophe, the international
community should
use all available diplomatic and economic leverage to choke off the
arms,
resources, and money flowing to the regime.
A new Human Rights First report
reveals that at least a dozen countries -- including Russia, Iran, North
Korea, Venezuela, Angola, Georgia, Lebanon, Cyprus, South Africa, and the United
Arab Emirates -- are continuing to provide the Assad
regime with weapons, fuel, military technology, and access to financial
markets. The paper provides both a unique overview of Assad's third-party
supporters and a roadmap the U.S. government can follow to crack down on them. The
U.S. government should use diplomacy to try to influence the countries
providing these resources as well as the countries allowing these resources to
pass through their jurisdiction. In addition, the U.S. Treasury should use
existing authority under the Syria sanctions regime to designate those entities
continuing to support the Assad regime and block them from the U.S.
marketplace.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with visiting Palestinian counterpart
Mahmoud Abbas in Beijing on Monday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu arrived in Shanghai starting his official visit to China on
the same day.
As there is a possibility that the two visiting
leaders could meet in Beijing after diplomatic arrangements from China,
experts say the overlapping trips are an indication that China could
play a more important role in Middle Eastern affairs thanks to its
growing influence in the region.
In his meeting with Abbas, Xi
said China firmly supports the cause of the Palestinian people and
tabled a four-point proposal for the settlement of the Palestinian
question.
