Of course, the broader question about Iran’s energy sector is not about oil or gas. It’s about nuclear power. Iran’s nuclear power aspirations have been the pivot point for U.S. and European sanctions against the country. But have the sanctions made a difference? A look at the myriad projects now underway in Iran suggests that the impact has been limited...

The confidence that the Iranians displayed in Madrid is further confirmation of their growing influence in Europe and the Mideast. Indeed, their presence at the conference bolsters the belief that Iran may be the biggest winner of the Second Iraq War. And the oil and gas deals they are doing – with the Malaysians, Indonesians, Syrians, Venezuelans, Chinese, and others – provide evidence that America’s ability to influence global energy policy, particularly when it comes to policies that involve sanctions against Iran, is diminishing...

Perhaps the most notable comment from the Iranians came after most of the crowd had left... [Minister for Petroleum] Nozari was... asked, “Are you worried about Israel?” Nozari looked directly at his interrogator, an English-speaking woman (who was not a reporter), and laughed loudly. His peers from the oil ministry joined in the merriment. And then – speaking in English for the first (and only) time – Nozari said, “This is a joke.” [More]

Salutary words for sure. Imagine, then, my surprise on a very recent domestic flight from Melbourne to Sydney that the Qantas 'On Q' TV program was headed by the UK theme show Top Gear. Toys for boys accelerating their oil-guzzling way through the Alps and doing wheel spins and other tricks to prove that this motor had real grunt and was up there with the elite.

Perhaps 40% of the passengers were women and children with no interest in this kind of macho-tele and you'd wonder what PR machine would dream up the juxtaposition of Dixon's message and his company's promotion of anti-social rev-heads burning up the environment.

Despite what the majority of the western media tells its readers and viewers, there is more to the Afghani resistance than the Taliban. In fact, according to a recent report in the US News and World Report, U.S. forces are facing an increasingly complex enemy here composed of Taliban fighters and powerful warlords who were once on the payroll of the CIA. As a military official stated in the aforementioned article "You could almost describe the insurgency as having two branches. It's the Taliban in the south and a 'rainbow coalition' in the east." Add to this the various armed drug traders and their backers and you have a mix at least as volatile as that in Iraq during its worst periods over the last five years...

This is not the "good" war. It is just as wrong as the U.S. adventure in Iraq. Likewise, it can not be won, no matter what the politicians and the generals say. The government put in Kabul by Washington is comparable to a new branch head of a multinational corporation. Its power is dependent on the whim of corporate headquarters and will never garner the support of those not on its payroll. [More]

This old bloke grew up in this church, been going there all his life but he hasn't been back since except for funerals and weddings. He goes off to other catholic churches instead. Lately he started to think the young bishop might have some ability when he saw that he was the coordinator of the World Youth Day. Maybe he should give him another go. Then he heard Bishop Fisher's comment that some victims (and families) were "crankily dwelling... on old wounds" (six months after the last suicide by a victim). That was too much for my old mate. He knows Fisher was most likely saying what Cardinal Pell thought but that's also the problem.

If the Catholic Church is losing the trust of its oldest stalwarts then it's in trouble.

Talented and intelligent filmmaker Christopher Nolan answers the question as philosophical meditation on morality, with an ethical code and moral boundaries as defining the nature of heroism and identity all amidst the vast backdrop of an old fashioned crime “epic” – oh, and with tons of massive explosions and excellent special effects, too. It’s precisely the cast and filmmakers’ intense dedication in sculpting the movie into something “more” than just “pulp” that makes The Dark Knight successful on so many different levels. In lesser hands [Joel Schumacher, for example], the production would resemble a garish, cartoonish parade blowing millions on a formulaic “good hero vs. colorful villain” narrative, which would be easily digested and just as easily forgotten by the time the audience walked to their cars.

Wisely, the filmmakers acknowledge and celebrate the comic medium as a landscape of the fantastic that can embody and personify very real human idealizations of heroism, bravery, tyranny and sacrifice. Indeed, some suggest that comic books have become the pop culture equivalent of modern day “mythology.” [More]

I didn’t give a shit that the acting blows. This is not a movie about stellar acting. This is a movie about the sentiment (taking some motherfuckers down) and the action (exploding brains, righteous car chases, and crashing trains), and in that regard Wanted delivers the goods. The bad acting washed right over me as I hungrily gobbled up the next sweet action sequence and the next slow motion bullet piercing flesh. And why did I so greedily gobble up the violence in this movie? Because ultimately it is a kind of over-the-top rail against capitalism and in a way (albeit an unrealistic way) a call for violent revolution.

Is Wanted a call to arms? Of course not. The movie is too silly for that. I am not going to propose that some mass-produced multi-million dollar Hollywood Summer Blockbuster is a call to revolution, but I will say that it great Rage Therapy for Life Under Capitalism. For two hours, the movie gives us a place to dump all our stresses and anxieties over the system that is fucking us over. For a brief window of time, we can fantasize about the rush we'd get by taking down the motherfuckers who are strangling us with their corporate interests. Violent revolution is a nice fantasy, and when it comes with great car crashes and lots of exploding heads it's even sweeter. [More]