Category Archives: Commerce

A Long Read to Ponder: Biden in Vietnam & at the UN: Who Could Have Imagined?

An image from Vietnamese TV news, during Biden’s visit.

NOTE: Friends, this material just blows my mind.

Yes, that’s an outdated 1960s expression, but it fits here: this material is about the Vietnam War. And for me (plus, I figure, most of the remaining survivors of that era of national agony), having our minds blown was a thing.

Maybe initially it was fun, or mind-expanding. But for me, and for many, it happened too often back then, and it didn’t always mean by taking drugs. I didn’t do much of that, but had mind-blown fatigue anyway. Continue reading A Long Read to Ponder: Biden in Vietnam & at the UN: Who Could Have Imagined?

Is the Petroleum Profit Party Really About to End? Two Oil Countries Are Making Their Bets — And an Extra about The Other Washington

I. Guyana: Oil, Time & Money

Gwynne Dyer — Sept. 18, 2023

Guyana is not a ‘hellhole country’ of the sort Donald Trump complained about when he said he wanted immigrants to come to the US from white places like Norway instead, but it did used to be poor, tropical and largely populated by people of colour.

Continue reading Is the Petroleum Profit Party Really About to End? Two Oil Countries Are Making Their Bets — And an Extra about The Other Washington

The Invasion of the Invasives Is Here (Right In My Back Yard)

Washington Post

Scientists warn invasive pests are taking a staggering toll on society

The authors of a major new U.N.-backed report say invasive species are costing the world more than $423 billion a year

By Dino Grandoni
 — September 4, 2023

Invasive pests are wreaking havoc across the planet, destroying crops, disseminating pathogens, depleting fish people rely on for food and driving native plants and animals toward extinction, according to a major report backed by the United Nations.


[COMMENT: Also from a report in my tiny back yard in Durham NC. . . .]

Continue reading The Invasion of the Invasives Is Here (Right In My Back Yard)

Would Putin Be Arrested in Johannesburg?? We May Never Know

Gwynne Dyer — July 24, 2023

“Welcome to Joburg, Vlad— Oh, you are SO BUSTED!” [Sigh, not.]
An International Criminal Court member, South Africa is obligated to execute ICC arrest warrants

Vladimir Putin will not attend an economic summit in Johannesburg in August, choosing instead to participate by video link Continue reading Would Putin Be Arrested in Johannesburg?? We May Never Know

Gwynne Dyer: Could insurance companies help with the climate crisis?

Insurance firms to the rescue?

By: Gwynne Dyer — Jun. 9, 2023

OPINION

California’s fall from grace has been steep and swift, and now even the insurance companies are pulling out. The two biggest American home insurance companies, State Farm and Allstate, announced last week that they will stop selling insurance policies to Californians.

Why? Climate change-related wildfires are making it too risky to insure Californian houses. Continue reading Gwynne Dyer: Could insurance companies help with the climate crisis?