CounterCurrents: Why EROEI Matters: The Role Of Net Energy In The Survival Of Civilization, Obama’s Ukrainian Coup Caused 2.5 Million Ukrainian Refugees Into Russia

Dear Friend,

The Trump administration has further exacerbated the extremely tense standoff on the Korean Peninsula by dispatching attack drones to South Korea and sending special forces units to participate in massive war games already underway. The military build-up takes place as the White House considers launching strikes on North Korean nuclear and military sites.

Just a year after the shocking suicide of dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad Central University, another dalit scholar from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Muthu Krishnan (28) committed suicide in a friend’s home. He was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his friend’s house in the national capital on Monday. Muthu Krishnan had been at the forefront of the movement for justice for Rohith Vemula.

A lively debate is ongoing on what should be the minimum energy return for energy invested (EROEI) in order to sustain a civilization. Clearly, one always wants the best returns for one’s investments. And, of course, investing in something that provides a return smaller than the investment is a bad idea. So, a civilization grows and prosper on the net energy it receives, that is the energy produced minus the energy required to sustain production. The question is whether the transition from fossil fuels to renewables could provide enough energy to keep civilization alive in a form not too different from the present one.

Also check out many other articles on a variety of important topics from around the world. 

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In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org





US Sends Drones, Assassination Squad To South Korea
by Peter Symonds 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/14/us-sends-drones-assassination-squad-to-south-korea/

The Trump administration has further exacerbated the extremely tense standoff on the Korean Peninsula by dispatching attack drones to South Korea and sending special forces units to participate in massive war games already underway. The military build-up takes place as the White House considers launching strikes on North Korean nuclear and military sites.





Obama’s Ukrainian Coup Caused 2.5 Million Ukrainian Refugees Into Russia
by Eric Zuesse 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/14/obamas-ukrainian-coup-caused-2-5-million-ukrainian-refugees-into-russia/

Russia has received more than 2,500,000 refugees since the outbreak of the conflict in eastern Ukriane, Yuri Vorobyov, Deputy Speaker of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament) and Chairman of the Committee for Public Support to Residents of Southeastern Ukraine, said on Tuesday.





JNU Dalit Scholar Commits Suicide

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/14/jnu-dalit-scholar-commits-suicide/

Just a year after the shocking suicide of dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad Central University, another dalit scholar from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Muthu Krishnan (28) committed suicide in a friend’s home. He was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his friend’s house in the national capital on Monday. Muthu Krishnan had been at the forefront of the movement for justice for Rohith Vemula.





Why EROEI Matters: The Role Of Net Energy In The Survival Of Civilization
by Ugo Bardi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/14/why-eroei-matters-the-role-of-net-energy-in-the-survival-of-civilization/

A lively debate is ongoing on what should be the minimum energy return for energy invested (EROEI) in order to sustain a civilization. Clearly, one always wants the best returns for one’s investments. And, of course, investing in something that provides a return smaller than the investment is a bad idea. So, a civilization grows and prosper on the net energy it receives, that is the energy produced minus the energy required to sustain production. The question is whether the transition from fossil fuels to renewables could provide enough energy to keep civilization alive in a form not too different from the present one.





Dakota Pipeline: The Best Way Forward!
by Sally Dugman

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/14/dakota-pipeline-the-best-way-forward/

Yet we, some of us, trek onward to minimally curtail the gargantuan ravage. What other path to take for people like you and me in light of our common values? I wish that I had more hope for the future than I do. I don’t see betterment in the spread of times ahead, but I do what I do since I have no choice. 





Afghanistan: Notes From A Broken Land
by Andre Vltchek 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/14/afghanistan-notes-from-a-broken-land/

Afghanistan has been gradually overtaken by something absolutely foreign: by the Western-style security apparatus. Tens of thousands of highly paid North American and European ‘experts’ have been getting extremely busy, fulfilling their secret wet dream: fencing everything in sight, monitoring each and every movement in the capital city, building taller and taller barriers, while installing the latest hi-tech cameras at almost every intersection, and above each gate.





Parallels Between Syrian Civil War And Soviet-Afghan Jihad
by Nauman Sadiq 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/14/parallels-between-syrian-civil-war-and-soviet-afghan-jihad/

If we were to draw parallels between the Soviet-Afghan jihad of the ‘80s and the Syrian civil war of today, the Western powers used the training camps located in the Af-Pak border regions to train and arm the Afghan Mujahideen against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan with the help of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies.





WikiLeaks, “Year Zero” And The CIA Hacking Files
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/14/wikileaks-year-zero-and-the-cia-hacking-files/

The paradox with information releases that expose a supposedly grand internal stratagem is that they merely provide the food of confirmation otherwise lacking.  Such food is potent.  It blows the lid off the suggestion that a conspiracy theorist was merely a Cassandra in the wilderness chewing fingernails in fear that something hideous was afoot. It provides nutrients for those seeking greater scrutiny over the way state security, otherwise deemed the domain of closeted experts, is policed.





St. Louis City Mayor’s Race Underscores Pitfalls Of Plurality Elections
by Don Fitz 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/14/st-louis-city-mayors-race-underscores-pitfalls-of-plurality-elections/

On March 7, 2017 Lyda Krewson won the Democratic Party nomination for mayor of St. Louis City with only 32.0% of the vote.  Ms. Krewson is white.  Six black candidates split over two-thirds of the votes.





Allowing Child Marriage: Another Regression Therapy For Bangladesh!
by Taj Hashmi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/14/allowing-child-marriage-another-regression-therapy-for-bangladesh/

A recent move by the Government to allow child marriage is tantamount to excluding many Bangladeshis from the benefits of growth and development. Women are likely to become the main victims of the recently enacted Child Marriage Restraint Act-2017




In India Any Social Activist Can Be Arrested, Charged And Tried – Sans Evidence – For Terrorism: Kobad Ghandy’s Case
Co-Written by Dr. P.S. Sahni & Shobha Aggarwal

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/14/in-india-any-social-activist-can-be-arrested-charged-and-tried-sans-evidence-for-terrorism-kobad-ghandys-case/

In 2009, the Government of India announced a new nation-wide initiative viz. “Integrated Action Plan” (IAP) for broad coordinated operations to deal with the ‘Naxalite’ problem. This plan included increased funding for special police for better containment and reduction of Naxalite influence. Kobad Ghandy’s arrest in September 2009 was a direct fall out of this IAP.





Is There Any Justice Possible For Workers In India?
by Press Release 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/14/is-there-any-justice-possible-for-workers-in-india/

We have been handed an anti-worker political verdict in the Maruti Suzuki workers case going on since July 2012. This is Judgment is ‘class justice’, clearly on the side of the multinational companies. It is not only against the workers directly involved in struggle for Trade Union Rights and the 2500 working class families of Maruti Suzuki facing exploitation-repression all these years, but the entire working class in India