In 2010, I was invited to hold a presentation titled “Will Russia someday close the gas tap?” It was a rookie mistake, early in my career, so I didn’t think about how the presentation would be advertised. I just suggested general topics I wanted to talk about in the broader context of...
On the final day of the recently concluded Olympic Games in Tokyo, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe warned that climate change will adversely impact the regular schedule and timing of major sporting events. This warning came amid increasing concerns that extreme weather conditions and harsh...
Jair Bolsonaro gave a speech at the UN General Assembly last month. It was full of the usual misstatements and exaggerations for which the Brazilian leader has become notorious. But the most noteworthy part of the speech had nothing to do with its contents. It was Bolsonaro’s refusal to take a...
In December 2019, I wrote an article on Fair Observer titled, “Climate Change: One Step Forward, While Standing Still.” It was a cheeky piece, looking somewhat depressingly at the progress of the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC) meetings, otherwise known as the...
US President Joe Biden addressed the UN General Assembly on September 21 with a warning that the climate crisis is fast approaching a “point of no return.” He promised that the United States would rally the world to action. “We will lead not just with the example of our power but, God...
Admittedly, I hadn’t been there for 46 years, but old friends of mine still live (or at least lived) in the town of Greenville, California, and now, well, it’s more or less gone, though they survived. The Dixie Fire, one of those devastating West Coast blazes, had already “blackened”...
In August, the Daily Devil’s Dictionary appears in a single weekly edition containing multiple items taken from a variety of contexts. Obama Hosts the Jet Set While Biden Plays the Propeller As Barack Obama held a lavish do at his Martha’s Vineyard manor, US President Joe Biden tweeted...
I have a Friday night tradition with my family. After slogging home from work, we each order our favorite handroll from our local sushi restaurant. Accompanied by steamed veggie dumplings and a delicious avocado salad, this tradition has long served as a nice reward to a hard-worked week. Salmon...
The United States has been the most powerful country in the world for 130 years and has actively led the international community for 75. With only 4.25% of the world’s population, the US still accounts for a little more than 24% of the world’s GNP. Its military is by far the world’s most...
Recent events across the globe have confirmed that the two institutions most people think of as the pillars of our evolved consumer society — capitalism and democracy — are undergoing an existential crisis whose evolution no one can predict. The sustainability of both has been called into...
Let me start with my friend and the boat. Admittedly, they might not seem to have anything to do with each other. The boat, a guided-missile destroyer named the USS Curtis Wilbur, reportedly passed through the Straits of Taiwan and into the South China Sea, skirting the Paracel...
