US efforts to force Iraqis to swallow permanent vassal status and give up control of their oil echoes British imperial history argues Seamus Milne.

Growing competition for oil may escalate to something as hot and dangerous as nuclear proliferation, says Michael Meacher

US efforts to force Iraqis to swallow permanent vassal status and give up control of their oil echoes British imperial history, says Seumas Milne

James Hansen is right about lobbyists sponsoring the junk science of climate change denial. But prosecuting energy executives is not the answer, says George Monbiot

Four major US, British and French oil companies are getting their hands on the petroleum reserves of Iraq for the first time in 36 years, based on no-bid contracts. Bill Van Auken reports.

A former senior British Army official in Iraq, James Ellery, has just admitted the link between peak oil and the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq. Currently director of British security firm and US defence contractor, AEGIS, Ellery as well as whitewashing the massive corruption in Iraqi reconstruction projects. Nafeez Ahmed discusses.

The end of cheap oil helps renewables, but makes far dirtier alternatives viable. A low-carbon future will demand brave leadership, writes Mark Lynas.

The newspapers are in a frenzy, but we’ll only see real disruption if British hauliers act en masse against fuel prices, says Gregor Gall

An alliance of grassroots civil society organizations and technocrats has been created in Iraq, intent on keeping Iraq’s oil in the hands of the people. Ewa Jasiewicz reports

Harry Cohen writes about the real motives for the invasion – and the consequences

And Rowell suggests that demand for oil is now outstripping supply, giving credence to the peak oil pundits that the days of cheap oil over, and the global economy could be heading for a nasty shock

An open letter from George Monbiot to the leader of Opec’s biggest oil producer, the one man who can force Britain to cut its carbon emissions.

The Royal Bank of Scotland’s uncritical support for oil has resulted in it nourishing repression and human rights abuses in Darfur, West Papua and Burma, write PLATFORM.

The Iraq war was never about buying Iraq’s oil, says Tom Mills, it was about selling it. The international oil corporations are hanging in there for the biggest prizes.

The ongoing love affair with oil has got to be broken, says Michael Meacher

BP will soon begin extracting tar sands from the Canadian wilderness, a process Greenpeace calls ‘the biggest environmental crime in history.’ Michael Moreci reports.

Britain’s participation in the Iraq war was not in any way forced, says Nu’man Abd al-Wahid – it was done in the spirit of British imperial conquest and with financial motives in mind.

In his latest book Global Rivalries, from the Cold War to Iraq, Kees van der Pijl offers an intriguing analysis of international relations. He views as central the relationship between Anglo-American capitalism and the two powers themselves. Willem Bos, of the Dutch Socialist Party monthly De Tribune, interviewed him about the war in Iraq.

Activists gathered today to sing a new hymn of hope to an oil-free future in the Unnatural History Museum, where the heartbreakingly beautiful Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition has just opened.

PLATFORM’s James Marriot maps the role of BP in the aviation age in a presentation delivered at this year’s Climate Camp.