As environmentalists in America battle to preserve a drilling ban in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, sensitive eco-systems in foreign countries are being drilled to provide oil for America. Is there a double standard at work, in which America outsources to less-fortunate countries the drawbacks ...
Author: Peter Maass
I was born and raised in Los Angeles. In 1983, after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, I went to Brussels as a copy editor for The Wall Street Journal/Europe. I left the Journal in 1985 to write for The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune, covering NATO and the European Union. In 1987 I moved to Seoul, South Korea, where I wrote primarily for The Washington Post. After three years in Asia I moved to Budapest to cover Eastern Europe and the Balkans. I spent most of 1992 and 1993 covering the war in Bosnia for the Post.
The Price of Oil
The New York Times Magazine
December 18, 2005
More than 35 years ago, an offshore drilling rig spilled approximately three million gallons of oil into the waters near Santa Barbara. A massive slick covered hundreds of square miles and killed thousands of birds, seals and dolphins; the ...
The Breaking Point
Can Saudi Arabia continue to supply the world with as much oil as it needs? I recently travelled to Saudi Arabia to find out whether a problem is on the horizon. The article I wrote, The Breaking Point, is the cover ...
The Breaking Point
The New York Times Magazine
Saudi Arabia, soaring demand and the theory of peak oil.
August 21, 2005
The largest oil terminal in the world, Ras Tanura, is located on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, along the Persian Gulf. From Ras Tanura’s control tower, you can see the classic ...
Theroux in Arabia
No, not Paul Theroux, but his brother, Peter, who wrote an insightful and delightful book, Sandstorms, about his sojourn in Saudi ...
The Way of the Commandos
My latest story, the cover piece of this weekend’s New York Times Magazine, focuses on the Special Police Commandos in Iraq. They are the Iraqi government’s most elite counter-insurgency force, effective and ...
The Salvadorization of Iraq?
The New York Times Magazine
The counterinsurgency is increasingly being waged by former elite troops of Saddam Hussein’s army, with guidance from a U.S. adviser who in the 80’s commanded the Special Forces in El Salvador. It’s not a pretty campaign.
May 1, 2005
In a country ...
Road to Hell
The New Republic
Dispatch from the Niger Delta
January 31, 2005
A cheery sign at the waterfront of Elem Sangama says “Sea Side Lane,” and, on first glance, the village seems a bright spot in the otherwise unpleasant Niger Delta. In addition to its paved walkways, Sangama ...
A Good Book
This post is proof that this blog is not extinct (yet). For a textured look at the life of Muslim immigrants (legal and illegal) who get caught up in an FBI terrorism investigation, check out ““Harbor” by Lorraine Adams. An unusual and timely novel.
A Touch of Crude
Mother Jones
How the pursuit of oil is propping up the West African dictatorship of Teodoro Obiang.
January 2005
The red dirt of the jungle meets a paved road on the outskirts of Ebebiyin, where a national celebration is about to begin. Women are singing and swaying in an African rhythm that ...