( Tomsdispatch.com ) – On March 26th, the coronavirus accomplished what no foreign adversary has been able to do since the end of World War II: it forced an American aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, to suspend patrol operations and shelter in port. By the time that ship reached dock in Guam, hundreds of […]
The Looming US-Chinese Missile Crisis
( Tomdispatch.com) – America’s pundits and politicians have largely concluded that a new Cold War with China — a period of intense hostility and competition falling just short of armed combat — has started. “Rift Threatens U.S. Cold War Against China,” as a New York Times headline put it on May 15th, citing recent clashes […]
The Beginning of the End for Oil? Energy in a Post-Pandemic World
( Tomdispatch.com) – Energy analysts have long assumed that, given time, growing international concern over climate change would result in a vast restructuring of the global energy enterprise. The result: a greener, less climate-degrading system. In this future, fossil fuels would be overtaken by renewables, while oil, gas, and coal would be relegated to an […]
Pandemics as the Revenge of Mother Earth: Human-Caused Climate Change Impels Mass Migrations of Humans and Animals
( Tomdispatch.com ) – As the coronavirus sweeps across the planet, leaving death and mayhem in its wake, many theories are being expounded to explain its ferocity. One, widely circulated within right-wing conspiracy circles, is that it originated as a biological weapon developed at a secret Chinese military lab in the city of Wuhan that […]
As Fossil Fuels Melt Arctic, Pentagon Dreams of North Pole War
(Tomdispatch.com) – In early March, an estimated 7,500 American combat troops will travel to Norway to join thousands of soldiers from other NATO countries in a massive mock battle with imagined invading forces from Russia. In this futuristic simulated engagement — it goes by the name of Exercise Cold Response 2020 — allied forces will […]
After the Cold War: Is the Climate Crisis the US Military’s Biggest Enemy?
(Tomdispatch.com) – It was Monday, March 1, 2032, and the top uniformed officers of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps were poised, as they are every year around this time, to deliver their annual “posture statement” on military readiness before the Senate Armed Services Committee. As the officers waited for the committee members […]
All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon’s Perspective on Climate Change
(Tomdispatch.com) – The Situation Room, October 2039: the president and vice president, senior generals and admirals, key cabinet members, and other top national security officers huddle around computer screens as aides speak tokey officials across the country. Some screens are focused on Hurricane Monica, continuing its catastrophic path through the Carolinas and Virginia; others are […]
Trump v. Climate Emergency: A Formula for Catastrophe in the Arctic
By Michael T. Klare | – Donald Trump got the headlines as usual — but don’t be fooled. It wasn’t Trumpism in action this August, but what we should all now start referring to as the Pompeo Doctrine. Yes, I’m referring to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and, when it comes to the Arctic region, […]
Iran in Crosshairs Again: It is Always – Always – about the Oil
By Michael T. Klare | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – It’s always the oil. While President Trump was hobnobbing with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G-20 summit in Japan, brushing off a recent U.N. report about the prince’s role in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo […]