Desert Storm and Iraq were wars fought over oil fields. Venezuela and Iran are global issues, because they have oil fields. Russia funded its military expansion via oil fields, while the world has been limited in its economic response because, of course, oil fields. Or gas fields. Same problem: fossil fuels.
Indeed, as Russia oil becomes persona non grata in western circles, the United States is suddenly playing footsie with Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, is eager to kickstart a new Iranian nuclear pact that would allow it to lift sanctions on its oil, and planning a trip to Saudi Arabia soon to “repair” damages so that the country will sell more oil, lowering prices. The “lesser of two evils” principle has suddenly kicked into high gear.
Meanwhile, the European Union has released a plan to lower demand for Russian fossil fuels by 85%, though implementation is left up to member states, and some like Germany are dragging their heels. They depend on Russia to heat their homes and can’t replace that fuel as quickly.
Today, on Daily Kos’ The Brief, we have the triumphant return of Meteor Blades, aka, Tim Lange! He and Mark Sumner will join me to talk about how our oil addiction has fueled repressive regimes around the world and what we can do to wean ourselves for a cleaner, healthier world—one in which we’re not directly funding horrid repression and giving cause for more war.
You can watch the show live right here on Tuesdays at 1:30 PM PT/4:30 PM ET, while the podcast version goes live Wednesday mornings at all the usual places, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. A full list of places to download the show is available here.
Wednesday, Mar 9, 2022 · 12:21:14 AM +00:00 · kos
That makes five different anti-tank systems flooding into Ukraine (17,000 at last count, not sure that even includes these). There’s the Javelin (U.S.), NLAW (British), Panzerfaust (German), AT4 (Swedish, disposable one-shots, the name is a play on it being 84 mm munition), and Ukraine's homegrown Stugna-P, which is actually quite the system—the launcher is hidden behind cover, with the operator up to 500m away. Here it is in action:
It’s like a land drone. Except that it can’t get up and run away. But operator is safe. Great tool for ambushes.