Israeli Oil: Black Gold in the Holy Land
New technology enabling the extraction of shale oil from Israel's Shfela Basin could well be one of the most geo-politically consequential discoveries of the twenty-first century.
On the Newsstand:Oil
Uncovering the Cracks
Conflict in Libya reveals flaws in the European Union's coordination capacity.
South Sudanese Succession and its Scary Prospects
Southern Sudan's vote of independence sounds great. But in the current climate in North Africa, it could have dire repercussions
Breaking America’s Oil Dependence: Eighth Time’s the Charm?
Is Obama's alternative energy commitment real? History says it's a long road.
Do Conservatives “Just Hate All Taxes”?
In a generally well-written article, HPR staff writer Will Rafey recently addressed the need to raise the gas tax “to make the private cost of driving a car reflect its actual social costs: global warming, air pollution, traffic congestion, and highway maintenance,” and how difficult this has become in the current political climate. I have no disagreement with the thrust ... Read More
Drill, Baby, Drill: Searching for Nuance
In the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill,there has been no shortage of finger-pointing. There’s plenty of blame to go around, no doubt, but there is one group that the Right has mysteriously implicated in this disaster: environmentalists. In an editorial in the Washington Post last Friday, Charles Krauthammer wrote that environmentalists are partially to blame for the spill ... Read More
Rand Paul a Racist? I Think Not.
Sam Barr’s most recent post makes the rather shocking claim that Rand Paul, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky being vacated by the retiring Jim Bunning, is a racist, or at least that he is not a non-racist. Sam deduces this from the fact that Mr. Paul is not a “consistent libertarian,” that he “picks and ... Read More
Rand Paul: Against the Civil Rights Act
As I said yesterday, the Kentucky Senate race between Rand Paul and Jack Conway should be a real battle. Paul is probably not helping himself by insisting, as many libertarian ideologues but few Senate hopefuls do, that the 1964 Civil Rights Act was wrong to ban racial discrimination in private establishments like restaurants and movie theaters. INTERVIEWER: Would you have ... Read More
Divining the Progress of the Climate Bill
Since the recent explosion of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, the politics of the climate bill have become more complicated, according to the New York Times. The newly perceived safety risks make it difficult to include increasing offshore drilling as part of any new policy. The Kerry-Graham-Lieberman bill is being pitched as an energy independence and climate ... Read More
