Articles by David Roberts

And they want us to stay in Iraq

Speaking of the Iraq War, you may have heard that VP Dick Cheney was "summoned" to Saudi Arabia recently by the crown prince. You may also have heard that Bush recently resumed his "stay the course" rhetoric, vowing not to withdraw troops no matter what the Baker Commission says.

Seems those two facts are connected. Seems Saudi Arabia really doesn't want us to leave Iraq, which they apparently communicated to Cheney in no uncertain terms.

Now they're openly threatening that if the U.S. withdraws they will arm Sunni militias (to back them against Iran-armed Shia militias) and sharply boost oil production, thereby cutting oil prices in half and undercutting Iran's economy.

This is particularly comforting:

GM CEO gets called out

A great piece of guerilla activism at the L.A. Auto Show:

Know it

There's a great op-ed in the NYT today making the argument that, however much Malthus and his heirs have fallen out of favor, they may have the last laugh. Limits are back, baby!

Here are two memes I'm happy to see getting out into the mainstream:

1. In the words of a recent interviewee (watch for it tomorrow): Coal is the enemy of the human race.
2. This, from the last paragraph:

   ... we really need to start thinking hard about how our societies -- especially those that are already very rich -- can maintain their social and political stability, and satisfy the aspirations of their citizens, when we can no longer count on endless economic growth.

   Yup.

Analysis

Arguments have wrapped up in the Supreme Court for today. Here's a transcript (PDF). SCOTUSblog has good analysis here. Roger Pielke Jr. has some commentary here. Jonathan Adler reacts here. You can watch a webcast of a panel of experts discussing the case at Georgetown here.