The Green Petrostate
NEED TO KNOW
The Green Petrostate
NORWAY
Norway appeared ready to give miners what they wanted.
In June, Norwegian officials cordoned off more than 100,000 square miles of the ocean floor off the Nordic country’s coast for seabed mining projects, Mongabay wrote. It was the first in the world. Licenses were scheduled to be issued next year. By 2030, miners were planning to dig up cobalt, copper, zinc, and rare earth elements.
Politics derailed the plan recently, however, when the Socialist Left party announced they would not vote for the government’s budget if it included the mining project, Reuters reported. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre presides over a minority government, giving small parties like the Socialist Left significant power.
The project, meanwhile, was bucking a coalition of 32 countries, including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, that oppose deep-sea mining.
Environmental groups like the World Wildlife Fund, which was suing Norway over the proposal due to its potential damage to undersea habitats, applauded the Socialist Left’s move. “This is a pivotal moment for Norway to demonstrate global leadership by prioritizing ocean health over destructive industry,” the group said in a statement.
The development illustrated Norway’s unique relationship with sustainability.
On the one hand, Norway is extremely green-minded and a leader of sustainability internationally, using its sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, to put pressure on companies to be more sustainable. Meanwhile, for example, more electric vehicles roam the roads of the country than gas-guzzling vehicles, according to the BBC. Two-thirds of Norwegians heat their homes with heat pumps. Sustainable hydropower generates the country’s electricity. Officials are leading the fight against plastic pollution, too, added Phys.org.
But on the other hand, Norway is also a petrostate. Oil revenues are a mainstay in the economy. And the country is the largest per capita exporter of CO2 emissions, due to its large petroleum industry.
Some argue that the seabed mining is also vital to manufacturing renewable energy technologies, like solar panels and wind turbines. Officials said they wanted to access their own minerals for these technologies in order to avoid dependence on China, too, Le Monde noted.
This situation has been called the “Norwegian paradox,” explained the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, David Boyd. “The global climate emergency is causing a wide range of human rights violations across the planet today and threatening to do so on a devastating scale in the years ahead,” he said. “In some ways, Norway is at the forefront of the global transition to a fossil-fuel-free future.”
But it must do more, he added.
Meanwhile, officials said the deep-sea mining plan has only been postponed. Two political parties that are slated to win in the parliamentary election next year, the Conservatives and Progress Party, support deep-sea mining, suggesting the proposal will be revived.
The government’s decision and other trends – including the success of left-wing political parties among voters, as Jacobin reported – suggest the paradox might be coming to an end. As climate researcher Esmeralda Colombo argued in the Verfassungsblog, activists have succeeded in challenging fossil-fuel projects in Norway’s courts, signaling that the massive industry is not as omnipotent as one might assume.
Even so, analysts say that Norway is headed for more turbulence because of its economic dependence on oil and gas.
Norway has done “some very wise things” in managing its petroleum resources, Erlend Hermansen at the Center for International Climate Research in Oslo (CICERO) told the Guardian, adding that it faces a hard landing if it does not plan for its decline. “How do you transform that business in a society that’s going to net zero? That’s the billion-dollar question.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
The Relocation Blues
LIBYA
Russia is relocating advanced air-defense systems and military equipment from its bases in Syria to eastern Libya, signaling a strategic shift in the wake of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s ousting and reflecting Moscow’s bid to preserve its influence in the Middle East and North Africa amid significant geopolitical upheaval, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
In recent weeks, Russian cargo planes have transported S-300 and S-400 air-defense components, along with troops and logistical equipment, to bases controlled by Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, according to US and Libyan officials.
The relocations mark a substantial drawdown of Russia’s long-standing presence in Syria, where its naval base in Tartus and the air base Hmeimim were critical for projecting power across the region and supporting Assad’s regime.
But observers hinted that eastern Libya now appears poised to become Russia’s new regional hub: Last year, Moscow started talks with Haftar for long-term docking rights at the ports of either Benghazi or Tobruk – both of which are located less than 400 miles from Greece and Italy.
One US official told the newspaper that Russia is also considering upgrading facilities in Tobruk to accommodate Russian warships.
This shift comes despite US pressure on Haftar to expel Russian forces, a demand reiterated during recent visits by American officials.
For years, Haftar has relied on Russian support, including Wagner Group mercenaries, to bolster his control of eastern Libya.
The transfer has drawn criticism and concern from various leaders including Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, whose internationally recognized government is based in Tripoli, and who decried the presence of unauthorized foreign troops, warning against attempts to impose foreign dominance, Bloomberg added.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto described Russian naval maneuvers in the Mediterranean as “a cause for concern,” given their proximity to NATO member states.
Despite the relocation, Russia is negotiating with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist group now controlling most of Syria, to retain access to its former bases.
Still, analysts warned that relocating operations to Libya – while maintaining some access to Syrian facilities – cannot fully compensate for the logistical and strategic advantages Russia once enjoyed in Syria.
And Justice For All
FRANCE
A French court on Thursday sentenced Dominique Pelicot to the maximum of 20 years in prison for drugging and raping his ex-wife Gisèle, as well as 50 other men invited to assault her, for nearly a decade, concluding a three-month trial that has shocked the country and spurred a national reckoning on sexual violence, CBS News reported.
Pelicot, 72, was also found guilty on all charges, including taking indecent images of his daughter and daughters-in-law and the attempted rape of another woman. Videos recovered from Pelicot’s computer showed the extent of his crimes, including over 20,000 images and videos documenting the assaults.
The court in Avignon also convicted the other 50 defendants involved, with sentences ranging from three to 15 years.
While the ex-husband admitted guilt, many of the other defendants denied the accusations, claiming they were misled and that the assaults were part of consensual fantasies.
Thursday’s verdict marked the conclusion of what observers have described as the largest rape trial in France and one that sparked outrage across the country and the world, according to the BBC.
After the verdict, supporters gathered outside the courthouse, holding banners reading “Merci Gisèle” (Thank you, Gisèle).
Gisèle, who chose to waive her right to anonymity to ensure the trial was held publicly, became a symbol of courage and resilience, the BBC said.
She described the proceedings as “a very difficult ordeal,” while expressing support for other victims of sexual assault whose cases don’t get enough attention.
“I wanted all of society to be a witness to the debates that took place here,” Gisèle, 72, said as reported by the Associated Press. “I never regretted making this decision.”
She added that her fight was for future generations: “It’s also for (my grandchildren) that I led this fight.”
The trial has reignited debate on France’s legal definition of rape, which currently focuses on coercion or violence but does not explicitly address consent, leaving a gap in cases involving unconscious victims or the use of drugs against victims’ will.
Campaigners are calling for reforms, emphasizing the need to explicitly incorporate consent into the legal framework to better protect victims and secure convictions.
Legal analysts said the current laws often force victims to fit stereotypes of “a ‘good victim’ and a ‘true rape,’” which does not reflect the reality of most cases.
Women’s rights advocates hope that the Pelicot case will be a turning point, prompting the government to strengthen protections and ensure justice for survivors of sexual violence.
Let’s Make a Deal
MAURITIUS/ CHAGOS ISLANDS
A contentious deal for the United Kingdom to cede control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is being challenged by the African island country’s new prime minister, who is now offering his own “counterproposals,” Al Jazeera reported.
The British government has said it still plans to give control of the chain of the contested Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius under the condition that the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia, and its strategic joint UK-US military base, remain under British rule for at least 99 years.
The initial agreement to transfer sovereignty of the chain of more than 60 islands off the southern tip of India, just below the equator, was announced in October, according to the Associated Press.
When the announcement was made, the UK’s governing Labour Party said it was finalizing the treaty’s details with the Mauritian government. Since then, the government in Mauritius was voted out by voters, and replaced by one led by Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam who took office last month.
On Tuesday, Ramgoolam said he was reopening negotiations because the current deal “would not produce the benefits that the nation could expect from such an agreement,” wrote Al Jazeera.
Ramgoolam added that his government “is still willing to come to an agreement with the United Kingdom” and had submitted counterproposals.
Stephen Doughty, the UK’s minister for overseas territories told lawmakers in the House of Commons on Wednesday that the deal would be finalized as it was fair and in both countries’ best interests.
Doughty also said that the deal “protects the base at proportionate cost. It has been supported across the national security architecture in the United States and by India.”
The UK’s Conservative Party has criticized Labour for surrendering control of the territory that has been under their jurisdiction since 1814 – despite the negotiations over the Islands that led to this point having been mostly conducted under the previous Conservative government.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the UK forcibly evicted nearly 2,000 local residents to make way for the military base, which in the years since has played a pivotal role in US military operations in Vietnam, Iran, and Afghanistan, and was used for covert rendition flights of terror suspects.
The displaced people have fought in British courts for years for the right to return to their homes. The new agreement would allow them and their descendants to return to the islands, but not to Diego Garcia.
US President Joe Biden has praised the agreement as “historic,” emphasizing the importance of the US Navy base. The base on Diego Garcia is currently home to around 2,500 American military personnel and has continued to be a strategic point for security operations in the Middle East, South Asia, and East Africa.
DISCOVERIES
The Wings of Wisdom
Birds are generally not known for their long lifespans. Some species live only an average of a few years in the wild, while others can defy the odds and live for decades.
Meet one of those birds, a Layasan albatross named Wisdom, who at 74 still flies, and recently laid another egg.
She has been astonishing scientists for decades.
“It’s very rare” that Wisdom has laid an egg at her age, Jonathan Plissner, a wildlife biologist at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, told the BBC. “We don’t know of any others that are even close to her age.”
Wisdom is part of a breed of seabirds, which dwell in the tropical Pacific, mostly on Hawaiian islands, and generally live about 30 years. She’s also the world’s oldest known bird in the wild.
Wisdom laid her most recent egg on Nov. 27 on Midway Atoll, a speck of land in the Pacific Ocean, according to a post on social media by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Researchers are hopeful that it will hatch in about two months, making Wisdom a mother for the 30th time – her last egg hatching was in 2021.
Plissner believes that Wisdom has outlived at least three mates, even though albatrosses usually mate for life. She mated with another albatross named Akeakamai for decades, but Akeakamai has not been seen in a few years.
Wisdom’s new mate has now been outfitted with a tracking band by researchers. The new mate stayed back to incubate the egg on Midway Atoll while Wisdom headed back to the sea for some time. Wisdom has spent most of her life at sea, with her tracker indicating that she has flown about 3.7 million miles.
“The fact that she’s old is one thing,” Carl Safina, a marine biologist at Stony Brook University, told the New York Times. “The fact that she has survived this long is actually much more impressive,” Safina marveled, referring to the increasing environmental dangers to Wisdom’s species, including plastic pollution and rising sea levels that threaten their nesting grounds.
“I think it’s impossible for us to look at that bird and not be stunned that she is still breeding and has laid an egg,” Safina added.
Although birds can lay eggs late into life, they may slow down as they get older. Wisdom was originally found in a nest, with researchers at the time estimating she was at least five years old. Her exact age is unknown, although the estimation of her being around 74 years old is based on when she was banded, in 1956.
Meanwhile, this albatross is a survivor: In 2011, she lived through a deadly tsunami and evaded marine plastics and other environmental dangers that face many species, according to the Ocean Conservatory.
Now she spends the year, as she always has, flying in the North Pacific and/or southern Bering Sea, around the Aleutians and perhaps west toward the Kamchatka Peninsula and Japan, before returning to her home base of Midway Atoll, home to one of the largest colonies of albatrosses.
Meanwhile, scientists are excited to watch Wisdom break more records. “She’s important for us to understand survivorship,” said Beth Flint, a wildlife biologist at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, opining: “She knows so much, has seen so much.”