News

Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: Maps Reveal Chain of ISIS Oil Smuggling Routes from Syria and Iraq into Turkey. Russian Defense Ministry

Dec 2, 2015 | Global Research

Russia’s Defense Ministry published images and a map it says reveal a chain of oil smuggling to Turkey from Islamic State – from extraction to…

Iraq/Turkey/Islamic State: Iraq to File Complaint against Turkey if Daesh-Ankara Oil Trade Confirmed

Dec 2, 2015 | PressTV

Baghdad says it will lodge a formal lawsuit against Ankara with the United Nations Security Council if claims are proved right that the Turkish government is…

Environmental Peacebuilding Research Volunteers Needed

Dec 1, 2015 | ELI & UNEP

The Environmental Law Institute (ELI), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the University of Tokyo, and McGill University seek Visiting Attorneys, Visiting Researchers, and Research…

Climate Change Is a National Security Problem

Dec 1, 2015 | Chuck Hagel

It is remarkable that French security forces are taking on the international climate change conference in Paris in the shadow of the recent attacks. Then,…

Gender Equality Is Central to Effective Climate Action

Dec 1, 2015 | Melanne Verveer and Mary Robinson

As the nations of the world meet in Paris to address climate change, it is critical that women play a central role in these historic…

Sierra Leone: AWDC Issues Alert over Fake Sierra Leone KP Certificate

Dec 1, 2015 | David Brummer, IDEX

The Antwerp World Diamond Center’s (AWDC) Diamond Office has alerted the Kimberley Process (KP) about the discovery of a false KP certificate from Sierra Leone.…

South Sudan: Bishops Call on South Sudan Government, Oil Companies to Clean up Pariang Spills

Dec 1, 2015 | Radio Tamazuj

The Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan has appealed to the government of South Sudan and oil companies to deal with the oil spills…

The ECC Factbook Illustrates How the Environment Can Contribute to Peace and Conflict

Nov 30, 2015 | Johannes Ackva & Benjamin Pohl

In his speech on climate change and national security on November 10, Secretary of State John Kerry said climate change is already a “threat multiplier,”…

Algeria/Iraq/Libya/Nigeria/Venezuela: Oil Plunge Raises Fears of Societal Unrest

Nov 30, 2015 | Elizabeth MacDonald, FOXBusiness

With Wall Street shops like Goldman Sachs and government officials in Venezuela signaling oil could go to the mid-$20 per barrel range next year,…

Iraq/Kurdistan: Dana Gas Group Awarded $1.98 Billion in Iraq Kurds Dispute

Nov 29, 2015 | Arif Sharif, World Oil

Dana Gas said a court has ordered the Kurdistan Regional Government to pay it and two other energy companies $1.98 billion in a dispute over…

Climate Change: Meet the Woman Whose Two-Word Catchphrase Made the Military Care about Climate

Nov 29, 2015 | Dan Vergano, BuzzFeed

In 2006, as war mounted in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military began to see the human costs of climate extremes. As drought hit Afghanistan,…

Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone Villagers Sue Mining Company in London High Court

Nov 29, 2015 | Lisa O'Carroll, The Guardian

An iron ore firm once listed in London is being sued in a multimillion pound lawsuit over evictions and alleged violent treatment of workers and…

Timor-Leste: Maritime Arrangements and Timor-Leste’s Oil Ploy

Nov 28, 2015 | Hamish McDonald, Saturday Paper

Who owns the petroleum resources of Tasi Mane is now the subject of diplomatic and legal machismo in a dispute between Timor-Leste and its much…

South Sudan: What Steps are Needed to Create 28 States in South Sudan?

Nov 28, 2015 | Radio Tamazuj

The proposal by South Sudan's President Salva Kiir to create 28 new states in place of the 10 existing states requires practical as well as…

House Hearing on Conflict Minerals Rule: A Mixed Bag

Nov 27, 2015 | Cydney Posner

At a hearing last week before a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee, the members heard testimony regarding the Dodd-Frank conflict minerals provision. The Chair expressed…

Why It’s Time for a Free Kurdistan

Nov 27, 2015 | Aliza Marcus and Andrew Apostolou

It’s time to stop debating whether or not the Kurds deserve an independent state. There are around 40 million Kurds across Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and…

Timor-Leste: Top Lawyer Says Australia Has Criminal Case to Answer over East Timor Spying Scandal

Nov 27, 2015 | Steve Cannane, Sashka Koloff, and Brigid Andersen, ABC News

One of Australia's most senior lawyers believes there is a criminal case to answer over an Australian spying operation in East Timor and that senior…

Myanmar: Controversial Mining Bill Submitted to Parliament for a Third Time

Nov 27, 2015 | Htoo Thant, Myanmar Times

The long-awaited Mining Law amendment bill, which will update legislation from 1994, was suspended earlier this year following fierce disagreements between the upper and lower…

Myanmar: Environmentalists Hope for Stronger Safeguards under NLD

Nov 27, 2015 | Nyein Nyein, The Irrawaddy

In the wake of recent disasters that have shone a light on the human toll wrought by a lack of environmental and development-related safeguards, local…

South Sudan/Sudan/Abyei: UN: Child, Peacekeeper Killed in Attack in Disputed Border Town between South Sudan and Sudan

Nov 27, 2015 | Associated Press

The U.N. says a 4-year-old girl and an Ethiopian peacekeeper were killed and three others wounded in an attack on Thursday in the contested Abyei…

Liberia: NOCAL Claims Community Projects That Do Not Exist

Nov 27, 2015 | Tetee Gebro, FrontPageAfrica

The news that the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) had delivered two much-needed latrines and a water well hand pump to his community came…

China/Vietnam/Taiwan/Brunei/South China Sea: A New Confidence-Building Process for the South China Sea?

Nov 26, 2015 | Bill Hayton, Diplomat

A half-day meeting in Vietnam on Wednesday could mark the beginning of a new confidence-building process in the South China Sea. The meeting, held in…

Myanmar: Myanmar's Suu Kyi Blames Lack of Safety Regulations for Deadly Landslide

Nov 26, 2015 | Aung Hla Tun and Hnin Yadana Zaw, Reuters

A disregard for the rule of law in the jade mining industry in Myanmar had made accidents such as the landslide that killed more than…

Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: Raqqa's Rockefellers: How Islamic State Oil Flows to Israel

Nov 26, 2015 | Al-Araby al-Jadeed

Oil produced from fields under the control of the Islamic State group is at the heart of a new investigation by al-Araby al-Jadeed. The black…

Ex-CIA Chief: Fear for Environment Stays US Hand on ISIS Oil Wells

Nov 25, 2015 | Bradford Richardson

A former CIA director says concerns about environmental impact have prevented the White House from bombing oil wells that finance the Islamic State in Iraq…

Will Low Oil Prices Increase Internal Instability In Conflict Countries?

Nov 25, 2015 | Ryan Opsal

With over 1.6 million internally displaced in South Sudan, and another 600,000 refugees in neighboring countries, are oil price declines exacerbating humanitarian crises in oil-producing African countries,…

Nigeria's Oil Curse

Nov 25, 2015 | Hilary Matfess

On Nov. 8, the head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, announced that the state-run company was on the verge of a major oil…

Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: The Water Wars Waged by Islamic State

Nov 25, 2015 | Ambika Vishwanath, Forbes

The Islamic State’s use of natural resources to achieve its strategic goals has been much discussed. Oil, one of the group’s biggest sources of funding,…

Cambodia: Land Grabs Often Driven by Investors Seeking Land, Global Witness Says

Nov 25, 2015 | Phorn Bopha, Voice of America

Researchers at the environmental watchdog Global Witness say Cambodia’s ongoing land crisis is part of a larger global trend, one driven by economics and resource…

Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: US Syria Sanctions Target World Chess Chief, IS Oil Buyer

Nov 25, 2015 | Agence France-Presse

The United States slapped sanctions Wednesday on backers of the Syrian regime including a middleman accused of buying oil from the Islamic State group and…