Thursday, March 5, 2026

Russia's nuclear giant controls massive weapons production ecosystem ignored by sanctions -- Russia continues to escalate drone attacks on passenger trains, railway infrastructure -- Putin increases Russia's regular army personnel to nearly 2.4 million -- In the Middle East, chaos is Putin's new ally ... and more

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/03/thursday-march-5-2026/

Thousands of US #hazardous sites are at risk of #flooding because of #SeaLevelRise, study finds

By DORANY PINEDA, November 20, 2025

Excerpt: "The study’s researchers started by identifying and classifying tens of thousands of hazardous sites near the coasts of Puerto Rico and the 23 states with coastline. Next, they wanted to know each site’s projected future flood risk. They did this by calculating how likely each year coastal flooding could inundate a site using historical sea level measurements and projected sea level rise in 2050 and 2100 under low and high emissions scenarios. Lastly, they identified and classified communities as being at-risk if homes are located within 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) of a hazardous site with a high threat of future flooding, and compared those communities’ characteristics with other Fcoastal neighborhoods with no at-risk sites nearby.

"But researchers did not include all types of hazardous facilities, such as oil and gas #pipelines, nor did they account for #GroundwaterUpwelling or more intense and frequent storms in the future, which could lead to underestimates. On the other end, the flood-risk model they used could have overestimated the number of threatened sites.

" 'It is important to note that previous disasters, such as #hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Harvey, did result in a lot of #ToxicContamination from oil and gas pipelines,' Chandler said.

"The 5,500 at-risk sites includes 44% that are #FossilFuel ports and terminals, 30% power plants, 24% #refineries and 22% coastal #SewageTreatment facilities. Most of the sites — nearly 80% — are in #Louisiana, #Florida, #NewJersey, #Texas, #California, #NewYork and #Massachusetts."

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/20/thousands-of-us-hazardous-sites-are-at-risk-of-flooding-because-of-sea-level-rise-study-finds/

#BigOilAndGas #OilPipelines #GasPipelines #Infrastructure #HazardousWaste #Contamination #WaterIsLife #NuclearWaste #Flooding #ClimateChange #Pollution

Friday, November 14, 2025

Russians are striking residential buildings; Kyiv hit by massive missile, drone attack -- Military releases video of Ukrainian drones striking 'Orion' drone base in occupied Crimea -- "Nobody is pushing them to die for the sake of ruins," Zelensky says of Pokrovsk defense --Pokrovsk not encircled but remains Russia's main target ... and more

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/11/friday-november-14-2025/

Meet the #Indigenous leader using #psychedelic #medicine to heal the #traumas of #colonization

As an #environmentalist, Rueben George fought #oilpipelines in Canada. As a Sundance Chief and #therapist, he’s working to bring the healing potential of psychedelic medicine to his people — and eventually everyone.

https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/indigenous-leader-reuben-george-heal-traumas-colonization-psychedelic-medicine/

Meet the Indigenous leader using psychedelic medicine to heal the traumas of colonization

Indigenous leader Rueben George is working to bring the healing potential of psychedelic medicine to his people and eventually everyone.

Waging Nonviolence

While #PresidentErdogan likes to say #Turkey has severed economic ties with Israel, #Turkish #OilPipelines bely the claim. Major #TransNational oil companies like #Chevron, #Shell, and #BP — are "among the top corporate suppliers of oil to Israel. It operates and is the largest owner of the #BTC pipeline, which transports #AzeriOil that is ultimately sent to #Israel" A recent investigation showed how oil transported via the #BTC pipeline is refined into #JetFuel for the #IDF

https://www.commondreams.org/news/fossil-fuels-gaza-genocide

Exposed: The Oil and Gas Giants Profiting Most From Israel's Gaza Genocide | Common Dreams

"The complicity of international corporations and governments in fueling Israel's war machine represents the latest chapter in a long history of fossil fuel companies enabling genocide and mass atrocities," said one campaigner.

Common Dreams

#Greenpeace Stands Up Against #SLAPPs And Wins

By Joe Mullin
April 26, 2023

"The U.S. litigation system is meant to resolve serious disputes. Unfortunately, the high cost of litigation can be weaponized as a means of #harassment and #censorship. That’s become all too common, and the last few decades have seen the rise of what’s known as a #StrategicLawsuitAgainstPublicParticipation, or #SLAPP.

"At #EFF, as more speech of all types has moved online, we’ve seen SLAPPs proliferate over #DigitalSpeech. SLAPPs get filed against #protesters who oppose #OilPipelines, and regular people doing everyday things like sending #emails to local officials, or even posting an online review.

"Five years ago, together with Greenpeace and other environmental nonprofits, EFF helped create the #ProtectTheProtest coalition, or #PTP. It’s a group of nonprofits that supports its members and others in their fights against SLAPP lawsuits.

"One of the lawsuits that spurred the formation of PTP was #ResoluteForestryProducts v. Greenpeace. In this case, a #logging company claimed that Greenpeace’s advocacy for #CanadianForests amounted to a 'global #fraud' that should be punished under civil #RICO laws—U.S. federal laws that were originally intended to go after organized crime.

"Following a summary judgment hearing last week, the Resolute v. Greenpeace case has finally been put to rest, with a complete victory for Greenpeace. This baseless lawsuit, which lasted seven years, should never have been brought in the first place. We hope Greenpeace’s victory against #Resolute sends a strong message to corporate SLAPP plaintiffs—you won’t win, and your targets won’t stay silent."

Read more:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/greenpeace-stands-against-slapps-and-wins

#DigitalFreeSpeech #DirectAction #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #EnvironmentalActivists #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #SilencingDissent #CorporateColonialism #EcoActivists #Censorship #HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #RightToProtest #SlowMarch #BigOilAndGas

Greenpeace Stands Up Against SLAPPs And Wins 

The U.S. litigation system is meant to resolve serious disputes. Unfortunately, the high cost of litigation can be weaponized as a means of harassment and censorship. That’s become all too common, and the last few decades have seen the rise of what’s known as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public...

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Security Firm Running #DakotaAccessPipeline Intelligence Has Ties to U.S. Military Work in #Iraq and #Afghanistan

By Steve Horn
Oct 28, 2016

"#TigerSwan is one of several security firms under investigation for its work guarding the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota while potentially without a permit. Besides this recent work on the #StandingRockSioux protests in #NorthDakota, this company has offices in Iraq and Afghanistan and is run by a special forces Army veteran.

"According to a summary of the investigation, TigerSwan 'is in charge of Dakota Access intelligence and supervises the overall security.'

"The Morton County, North Dakota, Sheriff’s Department also recently concluded that another security company, Frost Kennels, operated in the state while unlicensed to do so and could face criminal charges. The firm’s attack dogs bit #protesters at a heated Labor Day weekend protest.

"Law enforcement and private security at the North Dakota pipeline protests have faced criticism for maintaining a militarized presence in the area. The American Civil Liberties Union (#ACLU) and National Lawyer’s Guild have filed multiple open records requests to learn more about the extent of this #militarization, and over 133,000 citizens have signed a petition calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene and quell the backlash.

"The Federal Aviation Administration has also implemented a no-fly zone, which bars anyone but law enforcement from flying within a 4-mile radius and 3500 feet above the ground in the protest area. #DallasGoldtooth, an organizer on the scenes in North Dakota with the #IndigenousEnvironmentalNetwork, said on Facebook that '#DAPL private security planes and choppers were flying all day' within the designated no-fly zone.

"Donnell Hushka, the designated public information officer for the North Dakota Tactical Operation Center, which is tasked with overseeing the no-fly zone, did not respond to repeated queries about designated private entities allowed to fly in no-fly zone airspace.

"What is TigerSwan?

"TigerSwan has offices in Iraq, Afghanistan, #Jordan, #SaudiArabia, #India, and #LatinAmerica and has headquarters in North Carolina. In the past year, TigerSwan won two U.S. Department of State contracts worth over $7 million to operate in Afghanistan, according to USASpending.gov.

"TigerSwan, however, claims on its website that the contract is worth $25 million, and said in a press release that the State Department contract called for the company to 'monitor, assess, and advise current and future nation building and stability initiatives in Afghanistan.' Since 2008, TigerSwan has won about $57.7 million worth of U.S. government contracts and subcontracts for security services.

"Company founder and CEO James Reese, a veteran of the elite Army Delta Force, served as the 'lead advisor for Special Operations to the Director of the CIA for planning, operations and integration for the invasion of Afghanistan and Operation Enduring Freedom' in Iraq, according to his company biography. Army Delta partakes in mostly covert and high-stakes missions and is part of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the latter well known for killing Osama Bin Laden.

"One of TigerSwan’s advisory board members, Charles Pittman, has direct ties to the #OilAndGasIndustry. Pittman “served as President of #Amoco Egypt Oil Company, Amoco Eurasia Petroleum Company, and Regional President BP Amoco plc. (covering the #MiddleEast, the Caspian Sea region, Egypt, and India),' according to his company biography.

'Sad, But Not Surprising'

"Investigative journalist #JeremyScahill told #DemocracyNow! in a 2009 interview that TigerSwan did some covert operations work with #Blackwater USA, dubbed the 'world’s most powerful #mercenary army' in his book by the same name. Blackwater has also guarded #OilPipelines in central #Asia, according to Scahill’s book.

"Reese advised Blackwater and took a leave of absence from TigerSwan in 2008 in the aftermath of the #NisourSquareMassacre, a shooting in Iraq conducted by Blackwater officers which saw 17 Iraqi civilians killed. TigerSwan has a business relationship with Babylon Eagles Security Company, a private security firm headquartered in Iraq which also has had business ties with Blackwater.

"'It is sad, but not surprising, that this firm has ties to the US interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq,' Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the women-led peace group #CODEPINK and the co-founder of the human rights group #GlobalExchange, told DeSmog. 'It is another terrifying example of how our violent interventions abroad come home to haunt us in the form of repression and violation of our civil rights.'

"The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Private Investigation and Security Board are also conducting parallel investigations to the one recently completed by Morton County. TigerSwan did not comment on questions posed about their contract."

https://www.desmog.com/2016/10/28/private-security-firm-dakota-access-iraq-afghanistan-blackwater/

#TigerSwan #BigOil #NoDAPL #Blackwater #HumanRights #Covert #Corporatism #CIA #Corporatocracy#Corruption #Capitalism #Colonialism #ACAB #ErikPrince #ErikPrinceColonialism

Security Firm Running Dakota Access Pipeline Intelligence Has Ties to U.S. Military Work in Iraq and Afghanistan

TigerSwan is one of several security firms under investigation for its work guarding the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota while potentially without a permit. Besides this recent work on the Standing Rock Sioux protests in North Dakota, this company has offices in Iraq and Afghanistan and is run by a special forces Army veteran. According to a summary […]

DeSmog
#Manchin’s Permitting Reform Could Lead to More #Oil Spills Like #KeystonePipeline
1,800mi of new #oilpipelines—$8B in #infrastructure—are in the works, mostly in Permian basin of #Texas saving #fossilfuel industry $ could result in more spills like this
https://bit.ly/3uYFDbA
Manchin’s Permitting Reform Could Lead to More Oil Spills Like Keystone’s, Safety Experts Warn - Inside Climate News

Crews continued to clean up the blackened banks of a northern Kansas creek Tuesday morning after a rupture in the Keystone pipeline last week released an estimated 588,000 gallons of Canadian crude—enough oil to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Translating to about 14,000 barrels, the incident is now the nation’s biggest onshore oil spill in […]

Inside Climate News
2 Suspects Sought as 100 Die in Nigeria Oil Refinery Blast

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) -- At least 100 people may have died in an explosion at an illegal oil refinery in southeast Nigeria, a local oil official said Sunday

Claims Journal