Articles by: Michael T Klare

Collapse 2.0 – What a 2005 Bestseller Tells Us About Climate Change and Human Survival

Collapse 2.0 – What a 2005 Bestseller Tells Us About Climate Change and Human Survival

In his 2005 bestseller Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, geographer Jared Diamond focused on past civilizations that confronted severe climate shocks, either adapting and surviving or failing to adapt and disintegrating. Among those were the Puebloan culture of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, the ancient Mayan civilization of Mesoamerica, and the Viking settlers of Greenland. Such societies, having achieved[Read More…]

by — 19/08/2023 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change
The Military Dangers of AI Are Not Hallucinations

The Military Dangers of AI Are Not Hallucinations

A world in which machines governed by artificial intelligence (AI) systematically replace human beings in most business, industrial, and professional functions is horrifying to imagine. After all, as prominent computer scientists have been warning us, AI-governed systems are prone to critical errors and inexplicable “hallucinations,” resulting in potentially catastrophic outcomes. But there’s an even more dangerous scenario imaginable from the proliferation of[Read More…]

by — 12/07/2023 — Comments are Disabled — World
Goodbye to the American Century – China, India, and the Emerging New World Order

Goodbye to the American Century – China, India, and the Emerging New World Order

Not so long ago, political analysts were speaking of the “G-2” — that is, of a potential working alliance between the United States and China aimed at managing global problems for their mutual benefit. Such a collaborative twosome was seen as potentially even more powerful than the G-7 group of leading Western economies. As former Undersecretary of the Treasury C. Fred Bergsten,[Read More…]

by — 19/05/2023 — Comments are Disabled — World
Spurring an Endless Arms Race – The Pentagon Girds for Mid-Century Wars

Spurring an Endless Arms Race – The Pentagon Girds for Mid-Century Wars

Why is the Pentagon budget so high? On March 13th, the Biden administration unveiled its $842 billion military budget request for 2024, the largest ask (in today’s dollars) since the peaks of the Afghan and Iraq wars. And mind you, that’s before the hawks in Congress get their hands on it. Last year, they added $35 billion to the administration’s request and,[Read More…]

by — 17/04/2023 — Comments are Disabled — World
Is a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan Imminent?

Is a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan Imminent?

Is China really on the verge of invading the island of Taiwan, as so many top American officials seem to believe? If the answer is “yes” and the U.S. intervenes on Taiwan’s side — as President Biden has sworn it would — we could find ourselves in a major-power conflict, possibly even a nuclear one, in the not-too-distant future. Even if confined[Read More…]

by — 16/03/2023 — Comments are Disabled — World
Climate Change Will Supersede Everything

Climate Change Will Supersede Everything

Given the secrecy typically accorded to the military and the inclination of government officials to skew data to satisfy the preferences of those in power, intelligence failures are anything but unusual in this country’s security affairs. In 2003, for instance, President George W. Bush invaded Iraq based on claims — later found to be baseless — that its leader, Saddam Hussein, was[Read More…]

by — 23/01/2023 — Comments are Disabled — World
What If the U.S. and China Really Cooperated on Climate Change?

What If the U.S. and China Really Cooperated on Climate Change?

As President Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping arrived on the resort island of Bali, Indonesia, for their November 14th “summit,” relations between their two countries were on a hair-raising downward spiral, with tensions over Taiwan nearing the boiling point. Diplomats hoped, at best, for a modest reduction in tensions, which, to the relief of many, did occur. No[Read More…]

by — 28/11/2022 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change
The World’s Other Nuclear Flashpoint – Mounting Tensions Over Taiwan

The World’s Other Nuclear Flashpoint – Mounting Tensions Over Taiwan

Thanks to Vladimir Putin’s recent implicit threat to employ nuclear weapons if the U.S. and its NATO allies continue to arm Ukraine — “This is not a bluff,” he insisted on September 21st — the perils in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict once again hit the headlines. And it’s entirely possible, as ever more powerful U.S. weapons pour into Ukraine and Russian forces suffer yet more defeats,[Read More…]

by — 12/10/2022 — Comments are Disabled — World
The Enduring Tyranny of Oil – War, Inflation, Geopolitical Rivalry, and Soaring World Temperatures

The Enduring Tyranny of Oil – War, Inflation, Geopolitical Rivalry, and Soaring World Temperatures

It may seem hard to believe, but only 15 years ago many of us were talking confidently about “peak oil” — the moment of maximum global oil output after which, with world reserves dwindling, its use would begin an irreversible decline. Then along came hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and the very notion of peak oil largely vanished. Instead, some analysts[Read More…]

by — 26/07/2022 — Comments are Disabled — World
The Ukraine War’s Collateral Damage

The Ukraine War’s Collateral Damage

The war in Ukraine has already caused massive death and destruction, with more undoubtedly to come as the fighting intensifies in the country’s east and south. Many thousands of soldiers and civilians have already been killed or wounded, some 13 million Ukrainians have been forced from their homes, and an estimated one-third of the country’s infrastructure has been destroyed. Worse yet, that war’s brutal[Read More…]

by — 26/05/2022 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change
Would a “Cold” War Be the Best News Around?

Would a “Cold” War Be the Best News Around?

Ukraine, Taiwan, and Other Flashpoints in a New Age of Geopolitics Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been widely described as the beginning of a new cold war, much like the old one in both its cast of characters and ideological nature. “In the contest between democracy and autocracy, between sovereignty and subjugation, make no mistake — freedom will prevail,” President[Read More…]

by — 07/03/2022 — Comments are Disabled — World
Washington Tightens the Noose around China: None Dare Call It “Encirclement”

Washington Tightens the Noose around China: None Dare Call It “Encirclement”

The word “encirclement” does not appear in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), signed into law by President Joe Biden on December 27th, or in other recent administration statements about its foreign and military policies. Nor does that classic Cold War era term “containment” ever come up. Still, America’s top leaders have reached a consensus on a strategy to encircle and[Read More…]

by — 14/01/2022 — Comments are Disabled — World
Countdown to World War III?

Countdown to World War III?

When the Department of Defense released its annual report on Chinese military strength in early November, one claim generated headlines around the world. By 2030, it suggested, China would probably have 1,000 nuclear warheads — three times more than at present and enough to pose a substantial threat to the United States. As a Washington Post headline put it, typically enough: “China accelerates nuclear weapons[Read More…]

by — 02/12/2021 — 1 comment — World
How to Save the World (from a Climate Armageddon)

How to Save the World (from a Climate Armageddon)

This summer we witnessed, with brutal clarity, the Beginning of the End: the end of Earth as we know it — a world of lush forests, bountiful croplands, livable cities, and survivable coastlines. In its place, we saw the early manifestations of a climate-damaged planet, with scorched forests, parched fields, scalding cities, and storm-wracked coastlines. In a desperate bid to[Read More…]

by — 14/10/2021 — 1 comment — Climate Change
China, 2049 – A Climate Disaster Zone, Not a Military Superpower

China, 2049 – A Climate Disaster Zone, Not a Military Superpower

In recent months, Washington has had a lot to say about China’s ever-expanding air, naval, and missile power. But when Pentagon officials address the topic, they generally speak less about that country’s current capabilities, which remain vastly inferior to those of the U.S., than the world they foresee in the 2030s and 2040s, when Beijing is expected to have acquired[Read More…]

by — 24/08/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change
On the Brink in 2026: U.S.-China Near-War Status Report

On the Brink in 2026: U.S.-China Near-War Status Report

It’s the summer of 2026, five years after the Biden administration identified the People’s Republic of China as the principal threat to U.S. security and Congress passed a raft of laws mandating a society-wide mobilization to ensure permanent U.S. domination of the Asia-Pacific region. Although major armed conflict between the United States and China has not yet broken out, numerous[Read More…]

by — 13/07/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World
Will There Be Resource Wars in a Renewable Future?

Will There Be Resource Wars in a Renewable Future?

Thanks to its very name — renewable energy — we can picture a time in the not-too-distant future when our need for non-renewable fuels like oil, natural gas, and coal will vanish. Indeed, the Biden administration has announced a breakthrough target of 2035 for fully eliminating U.S. reliance on those non-renewable fuels for the generation of electricity. That would be accomplished by[Read More…]

by — 20/05/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Resource Crisis
Stumbling into War?

Stumbling into War?

Could the U.S. and China Face an Unintended Blowup in the Western Pacific in the Biden Years? The leaders of China and the United States certainly don’t seek a war with each another. Both the Biden administration and the regime of Chinese President Xi Jinping view economic renewal and growth as their principal objectives. Both are aware that any conflict[Read More…]

by — 01/04/2021 — 2 comments — World
Heating the Planet Through a New Cold War

Heating the Planet Through a New Cold War

Slowing the pace of climate change and getting “tough” on China, especially over its human-rights abuses and unfair trade practices, are among the top priorities President Biden has announced for his new administration. Evidently, he believes that he can tame a rising China with harsh pressure tactics, while still gaining its cooperation in areas of concern to Washington. As he wrote in Foreign Affairs during the[Read More…]

by — 25/02/2021 — 3 comments — Climate Change
Can the U.S. and China Cooperate on a Failing Planet?

Can the U.S. and China Cooperate on a Failing Planet?

  Soon-to-be President Joe Biden will instantly face a set of extraordinary domestic crises — a runaway pandemic, a stalled economy, and raw political wounds, especially from the recent Trumpian assault on the Capitol — but few challenges are likely to prove more severe than managing U.S. relations with China. While generally viewed as a distant foreign-policy concern, that relationship[Read More…]

by — 15/01/2021 — 3 comments — World
 Trump’s Pernicious Military Legacy: From the Forever Wars to the Cataclysmic Wars

 Trump’s Pernicious Military Legacy: From the Forever Wars to the Cataclysmic Wars

In the military realm, Donald Trump will most likely be remembered for his insistence on ending America’s involvement in its twenty-first-century “forever wars” — the fruitless, relentless, mind-crushing military campaigns undertaken by Presidents Bush and Obama in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Somalia. After all, as a candidate, Trump pledged to bring U.S. troops home from those dreaded war zones and,[Read More…]

by — 07/12/2020 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism
A Game of Nuclear Chicken with Russia and China

A Game of Nuclear Chicken with Russia and China

On August 21st, six nuclear-capable B-52H Stratofortress bombers, representing approximately one-seventh of the war-ready U.S. B-52H bomber fleet, flew from their home base in North Dakota to Fairford Air Base in England for several weeks of intensive operations over Europe. Although the actual weapons load of those giant bombers was kept secret, each of them is capable of carrying eight AGM-86B nuclear-armed, air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs) in its[Read More…]

by — 12/10/2020 — 1 comment — World
Robot Generals: Will They Make Better Decisions Than Humans — Or Worse?

Robot Generals: Will They Make Better Decisions Than Humans — Or Worse?

With Covid-19 incapacitating startling numbers of U.S. service members and modern weapons proving increasingly lethal, the American military is relying ever more frequently on intelligent robots to conduct hazardous combat operations. Such devices, known in the military as “autonomous weapons systems,” include robotic sentries, battlefield-surveillance drones, and autonomous submarines. So far, in other words, robotic devices are merely replacing standard weaponry on conventional battlefields.[Read More…]

by — 26/08/2020 — Comments are Disabled — World
The Pentagon Confronts the Pandemic Or How to Make War, American-Style, Possible Again

The Pentagon Confronts the Pandemic Or How to Make War, American-Style, Possible Again

  On March 26th, the coronavirus accomplished what no foreign adversary has been able to do since the end of World War II: it forced an American aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, to suspend patrol operations and shelter in port. By the time that ship reached dock in Guam, hundreds of sailors had been infected with the disease and nearly[Read More…]

by — 20/07/2020 — 1 comment — Imperialism
The New Cold War with China: How Will It Affect You?

The New Cold War with China: How Will It Affect You?

America’s pundits and politicians have largely concluded that a new Cold War with China — a period of intense hostility and competition falling just short of armed combat — has started. “Rift Threatens U.S. Cold War Against China,” as a New York Times headline put it on May 15th, citing recent clashes over trade, technology, and responsibility for the spread of Covid-19. Beijing’s decision[Read More…]

by — 12/06/2020 — 4 comments — World
The Beginning of the End for Oil? Energy in a Post-Pandemic World

The Beginning of the End for Oil? Energy in a Post-Pandemic World

Energy analysts have long assumed that, given time, growing international concern over climate change would result in a vast restructuring of the global energy enterprise. The result: a greener, less climate-degrading system. In this future, fossil fuels would be overtaken by renewables, while oil, gas, and coal would be relegated to an increasingly marginal role in the global energy equation.[Read More…]

by — 28/04/2020 — 2 comments — Alternative Energy
Is the Covid-19 Pandemic Mother Nature’s Response to Human Transgression?

Is the Covid-19 Pandemic Mother Nature’s Response to Human Transgression?

As the coronavirus sweeps across the planet, leaving death and mayhem in its wake, many theories are being expounded to explain its ferocity. One, widely circulated within right-wing conspiracy circles, is that it originated as a biological weapon developed at a secret Chinese military lab in the city of Wuhan that somehow (perhaps intentionally?) escaped into the civilian population. Although that “theory”[Read More…]

by — 02/04/2020 — Comments are Disabled — World
War in the Arctic?

War in the Arctic?

  In early March, an estimated 7,500 American combat troops will travel to Norway to join thousands of soldiers from other NATO countries in a massive mock battle with imagined invading forces from Russia. In this futuristic simulated engagement — it goes by the name of Exercise Cold Response 2020 — allied forces will “conduct multinational joint exercises with a[Read More…]

by — 10/02/2020 — Comments are Disabled — World
 Insignia, Badges, and Medals for a Climate-Wracked Era- The U.S. Military on a Planet From Hell

 Insignia, Badges, and Medals for a Climate-Wracked Era- The U.S. Military on a Planet From Hell

It was Monday, March 1, 2032, and the top uniformed officers of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps were poised, as they are every year around this time, to deliver their annual “posture statement” on military readiness before the Senate Armed Services Committee. As the officers waited for the committee members to take their seats, journalists covering the[Read More…]

by — 11/12/2019 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change
What the U.S. Military Will Be Doing in a Climate Crisis Future

What the U.S. Military Will Be Doing in a Climate Crisis Future

The Situation Room, October 2039: the president and vice president, senior generals and admirals, key cabinet members, and other top national security officers huddle around computer screens as aides speak to key officials across the country. Some screens are focused on Hurricane Monica, continuing its catastrophic path through the Carolinas and Virginia; others are following Hurricane Nicholas, now pummeling Florida and[Read More…]

by — 15/11/2019 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change
A Formula for Catastrophe in the Arctic

A Formula for Catastrophe in the Arctic

 The Pompeo Doctrine– How to Seize the Arctic’s Resources, Now Accessible Due to Climate Change (Just Don’t Mention Those Words!) Donald Trump got the headlines as usual — but don’t be fooled. It wasn’t Trumpism in action this August, but what we should all now start referring to as the Pompeo Doctrine. Yes, I’m referring to Secretary of State Mike[Read More…]

by — 13/09/2019 — Comments are Disabled — Climate Change
 The Missing Three-Letter Word in the Iran Crisis – Oil’s Enduring Sway in U.S. Policy in the Middle East

 The Missing Three-Letter Word in the Iran Crisis – Oil’s Enduring Sway in U.S. Policy in the Middle East

It’s always the oil. While President Trump was hobnobbing with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G-20 summit in Japan, brushing off a recent U.N. report about the prince’s role in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Asia and the Middle East, pleading with foreign leaders to support “Sentinel.” The aim of that administration plan:[Read More…]

by — 11/07/2019 — Comments are Disabled — World
071116-N-6106R-369 PHILIPPINE SEA (Nov. 16, 2007) American and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces (JMSDF) ships transit in formation at the end of ANNUALEX 19G, the maritime component of the U.S.-Japan exercise Keen Sword 08. The exercise is designed to increase interoperability between the United States and JMSDF and increase their ability to effectively and mutually respond to a regional crisis situation. Kitty Hawk operates from Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Stephen W. Rowe (Released)

 The Navy’s War vs. Bolton’s War – The Pentagon’s Spoiling for a Fight — But With China, Not Iran 

The recent White House decision to speed the deployment of an aircraft carrier battle group and other military assets to the Persian Gulf has led many in Washington and elsewhere to assume that the U.S. is gearing up for war with Iran. As in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, U.S. officials have cited suspect intelligence data to justify elaborate[Read More…]

by — 03/06/2019 — 1 comment — Imperialism
War With China? It’s Already Under Way

War With China? It’s Already Under Way

In his highly acclaimed 2017 book, Destined for War, Harvard professor Graham Allison assessed the likelihood that the United States and China would one day find themselves at war. Comparing the U.S.-Chinese relationship to great-power rivalries all the way back to the Peloponnesian War of the fifth century BC, he concluded that the future risk of a conflagration was substantial. Like[Read More…]

by — 18/02/2019 — 1 comment — World
Artificial Intelligence and the Future of War

Artificial Intelligence and the Future of War

There could be no more consequential decision than launching atomic weapons and possibly triggering a nuclear holocaust. President John F. Kennedy faced just such a moment during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and, after envisioning the catastrophic outcome of a U.S.-Soviet nuclear exchange, he came to the conclusion that the atomic powers should impose tough barriers on the precipitous use of[Read More…]

by — 19/12/2018 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism
Pic credit: www.enincon.com

How Donald Trump Plans to Enlist Fossil Fuels in the Struggle for Global Dominance 

  The new U.S. energy policy of the Trump era is, in some ways, the oldest energy policy on Earth. Every great power has sought to mobilize the energy resources at its command, whether those be slaves, wind-power, coal, or oil, to further its hegemonic ambitions. What makes the Trumpian variant — the unfettered exploitation of America’s fossil-fuel reserves — unique[Read More…]

by — 12/02/2018 — Comments are Disabled — Resource Crisis, Imperialism
 Beyond Harvey And Irma: Militarizing Homeland Security In The Climate-Change Era 

 Beyond Harvey And Irma: Militarizing Homeland Security In The Climate-Change Era 

Deployed to the Houston area to assist in Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, U.S. military forces hadn’t even completed their assignments when they were hurriedly dispatched to Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to face Irma, the fiercest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean. Florida Governor Rick Scott, who had sent members of the state National Guard to[Read More…]

by — 18/09/2017 — 1 comment — Climate Change
Trump’s Fossil-Fueled Foreign Policy 

Trump’s Fossil-Fueled Foreign Policy 

Who says President Trump doesn’t have a coherent foreign policy?  Pundits and critics across the political spectrum have chided him for failing to articulate and implement a clear international agenda. Look closely at his overseas endeavors, though, and one all-too-consistent pattern emerges: Donald Trump will do whatever it takes to prolong the reign of fossil fuels by sabotaging efforts to curb carbon[Read More…]

by — 31/07/2017 — 3 comments — Climate Change
Climate Change As Genocide

Climate Change As Genocide

 Not since World War II have more human beings been at risk from disease and starvation than at this very moment. On March 10th, Stephen O’Brien, under secretary-general of the United Nations for humanitarian affairs, informed the Security Council that 20 million people in three African countries—Nigeria, Somalia, and South Sudan—as well as in Yemen were likely to die if not provided[Read More…]

by — 22/04/2017 — 1 comment — Climate Change
 Trump’s Military Nostalgia (or Victory at Sea All Over Again) 

 Trump’s Military Nostalgia (or Victory at Sea All Over Again) 

If you are an American male of a certain age — Donald Trump’s age, to be exact — you are likely to have vivid memories of Victory at Sea, the Emmy award-winning NBC documentary series about the U.S. Navy in World War II that aired from October 1952 to May 1953. One of the first extended documentaries of its type, Victory at[Read More…]

by — 15/03/2017 — 1 comment — Imperialism
Drowning The World In Oil 

Drowning The World In Oil 

Trump’s Carbon-Obsessed Energy Policy and the Planetary Nightmare to Come  Scroll through Donald Trump’s campaign promises or listen to his speeches and you could easily conclude that his energy policy consists of little more than a wish list drawn up by the major fossil fuel companies: lift environmental restrictions on oil and natural gas extraction, build the Keystone XL and Dakota Access[Read More…]

by — 16/12/2016 — 1 comment — World
 Election 2016 And The Growing Global Nuclear Threat 

 Election 2016 And The Growing Global Nuclear Threat 

Once upon a time, when choosing a new president, a factor for many voters was the perennial question: “Whose finger do you want on the nuclear button?” Of all the responsibilities of America’s top executive, none may be more momentous than deciding whether, and under what circumstances, to activate the “nuclear codes” — the secret alphanumeric messages that would inform[Read More…]

by — 07/11/2016 — Comments are Disabled — World
The Rise Of The Right And Climate Catastrophe

The Rise Of The Right And Climate Catastrophe

In a year of record-setting heat on a blistered globe, with fast-warmingoceans, fast-melting ice caps, and fast-rising sea levels, ratification of the December 2015 Paris climate summit agreement — already endorsed by most nations — should be a complete no-brainer.  That it isn’t tells you a great deal about our world.  Global geopolitics and the possible rightward lurch of many countries (including a potential deal-breaking election in[Read More…]

by — 16/09/2016 — 2 comments — Climate Change
 Hooked! The Unyielding Grip Of Fossil Fuels On Global Life

 Hooked! The Unyielding Grip Of Fossil Fuels On Global Life

Here’s the good news: wind power, solar power, and other renewable forms of energy are expanding far more quickly than anyone expected, ensuring that these systems will provide an ever-increasing share of our future energy supply.  According to the most recent projections from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy, global consumption of wind, solar, hydropower,[Read More…]

by — 15/07/2016 — Comments are Disabled — Alternative Energy
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