Tomgram: Rebecca Solnit, Evacuate the Economy

By Rebecca Solnit
Posted on March 11, 2014

Call it a nightmare that passes for good news. Recently, the New York Times optimistically headlined a front-page piece by reporters Coral Davenport and Steven Erlanger, "U.S. Hopes Boom in Natural Gas Can Curb Putin." It offered an eerie overview of where the administration of the president who came into office committed to reversing global warming has ended up.  If there’s "green" left in his presidency, it’s evidently the green of envy -- that's what some of his advisors believe countries like Russia will feel on learning that, with our new frackable energy wealth, we are going to be "Saudi America" in a decade or two.  Then, the implication is, Washington will really be able to throw its weight around geopolitically.