The emerging lesson of the war in Iraq, says critic Michael Schwartz, is that foreign policy and energy policy cannot be separated.

In this analysis, commentator Michael Schwartz demolishes the myths used to sell the U.S. public the idea of an endless "war on terror" centered in Iraq, and shows how the real U.S. interests in Iraq have been rooted in the geopolitics of oil and the expansion of a neoliberal economic model in the Middle East.

Michael Schwartz, Professor of Sociology and Faculty Director of the Undergraduate College of Global Studies at Stony Brook University has written extensively on the war in Iraq at sites including TomDispatch, ZNet; Asia Times and Mother Jones, and in many print outlets, including Contexts, Against the Current, and Z Magazine.   

 

The dynamics of the debate  and speculation over the war in Iraq changed during the past year, as defenders of the administration pointed to what they called the success of the "surge," the boost in troop levels in 2007, in damping down the levels of violence there. Schwartz says that comparative quiet was a byproduct of widespread factional cleansing that was actually enabled by the military surge.

The election of Barack Obama as America's next president has boosted hope that he will take actions to expediently wind down the Iraq war. Schwartz cautions, however, that  as a candidate, Obama's position papers did not show a marked break from the polices that got us into the war.

 

 

While the presidential election yesterday was a sweeping victory for Democrats from the top of the ticket on down, many local races in the north bay were much more narrowly decided.

 

 

 

To view the complete list of Sonoma County's unofficial election results, click here.

 For the statewide California election results, click here.

 

 

 

Three generations later, a poisonous chemical used by American armed forces in Viet Nam is still wreaking havoc on the native population.

The effects of the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange in Viet Name are rippling down through the generations of the population there, Merle Ratner says, and so far there is no end in sight.

 

 

      To educate the community on the impact of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, the 4th annual Justice for Vietnam Agent Orange Victims will stop in Santa Rosa at the Glaser Center (see map)  on October 29^th 7  pm.   Tran Thi Hoan (right) and Dang Hong Nhut (below), both victims of Agent Orange, will be speaking at the event. To see a map of the Glaser Center location, click here .               

 

 

 

 

Alternatives to technologies that depend on fossil fuels are all around us, modeled in the natural world, and studied in the new field of bio-mimicry.

Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, is founder of The Biomimicry Institute, whose mission is to nurture and grow a global community of people, who are learning from, emulating, and conserving life's genius to create a healthier, more sustainable planet. 

 

As one delves deeper into biomimicry, Benyus says there are three levels of analysis:

There are instances of complex natural processes that could be adapted for human use all over the planet, Benyus says. African ant mounds are just one interesting example of what is being called "enabling technology."

 

SMIT GROW is an example of biomimicry. By creating solar panels in the shape of leaves, to gather energy from the sun and wind. Find out more here.

 

 

When you look at the global ecosystem, Benyus explains, humans as a species are akin to weeds, gobbling up resources with scant thought for their long-term presence where they have taken root.

 

Janine Benysus will be a keynote speaker at the annual Bioneers Conference, October 16^th-20^th, at the Marin Center in San Rafael. For more information, click here. There is a full roster of presenters here , and a detailed conference schedule here.