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Hands Off Iraqi Oil day of action across Britain
Campaigners across Britain took action today against the rip-off of Iraq’s oil wealth by powerful oil corporations. Protests took place at BP and Shell garages in 25 cities, plus a ‘Pirate Tour’ in London, visiting the main players in the Iraq oil privatisation push. There were also 4 protests in the USA, and one in…
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Yasuni – Our Future in Their Hands?
This report was first published in Platform’s Carbon Web newsletter, issue 8. Ecuador proposes to claim compensation in exchange for leaving crude oil in the ground. Esperanza Martinez examines what this means for resource sovereignty. Oil, for countries that possess it, is often centre stage when it comes to issues of sovereignty. Invasions have been…
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The white man’s burden and ‘oil for peace’ in Iraq
Take up the White Man’s burden The savage wars of peace Fill full the mouth of Famine and bid the sickness cease. Rudyard Kipling, 1899 Pressure for Iraq’s controversial oil law intensified throughout the summer, with increasingly overt threats to topple the Iraqi government if it failed to deliver an oil law and other US…
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A game as old as empire
Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and other foreign “aid” organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the…
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The oil and gas bank
A recent report from PLATFORM uncovers the climate impacts of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s identity as “The Oil & Gas Bank” – This feature article was first published in Platform’s Carbon Web Newsletter, Issue 7. The report ‘The Oil & Gas Bank – RBS & the Financing of Climate Change’ investigates RBS-NatWest’s role in fuelling climate change,…
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Iraq oil law in the balance
As Carbon Web goes to press, the Iraqi government’s end-of-May deadline for parliament to pass the controversial oil law is just days away. Like the US government’s 2006 deadline, this one looks set to be missed – again due to arguments over Kurdish insistence that regions play the primary role in signing contracts with foreign…
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US Iraq strategy – oil objectives unchanged
As Carbon Web goes to press, an announcement is expected of President Bush’s “new strategy” for Iraq. But one thing unlikely to change is his approach to Iraqi oil – This analysis article was first published in Platform’s Carbon Web Newsletter, Issue 6. In December, the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group urged the US government to provide…
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Western banks threaten Kazakh communities
A recent fact-finding mission by Crude Accountability and CRBM (Campaign for reform of the World Bank) found expansion of Kazakhstan’s Kashagan field by an international consortium promises environmental degradation and economic uncertainty for residents of western Kazakhstan. Elena Gerebizza and Kate Watters investigate – This article was first published in Platform’s Carbon Web Newsletter Issue 6.…
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Poisoning the Amazon
Cancer, birth defects and skin diseases affect 30 000 rainforest residents in Ecuador, Joseph Mutti investigates – This article was first published in Platform’s Carbon Web Newsletter, Issue 6. It’s the smell that hits you first as you approach a pit the size of a football field filled with a choking sludge of oil and dead…
