Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth

Rachel Maddow has the great gift of being able to write in an amusing and entertaining way without downplaying the seriousness of this topic. Much of what is written in this book is quite mind-blowing, and yet these abuses by the oil and gas industry are things that are not generally known, or at the very least, the pieces are not put together in a way that would give someone the whole picture.I must admit that I was highly amused to find that I have a silly and tenuous connection to one part of what was written in the book: I happen to know of the person who was responsible for designing and installing the refrigeration system for the fur coat room in Russian oligarch Yakunin's mansion, because he was a high school classmate of my dad's (we're talking here someone who grew up in communist Yugoslavia; now Slovenia). Naturally, getting a client and work assignment like that would get anyone talking, and it's something my dad told me at least a few years before I read this book (though in more general terms, without mentioning the name 'Yakunin' or the word 'oligarch').

This is for sure some of Rachel Maddow's best work. And that's saying something given her prior achievements in relationship to ‘deep-dive’ journalism. It should be required reading for anybody who wants to understand how we got on the near precipice of the staggering environmental catastrophe known as ‘global warming’ and now increasingly referred to with that other euphemism - ’climate change’. The book is riveting, charming, infuriating, and brilliant in its depiction of the co-option of many governments, particularly our own, in the breakneck sociopathic/utilitarian exploitation of natural resources, in the service of unlimited fossil fuels, long-term environmental consequences be damned. All skillfully rationalized (jobs, energy independence, 'progress,' etc.)And yet I have to say, despite my enormous respect for this book, it comes up short framing the bigger picture of how something this catastrophic might really have happened. Standing back a goodly distance, one has to say that one common denominator is that we find sociopaths or at least individuals with significant sociopathic features in leadership positions within both powerful global corporations and within many governments. Rachel's book is littered with them - they are the stars and cast of her story. They simply do not care about the consequences to others of their exploitation of the environment, do not care that they are sacrificing the long-term planetary health for short-term gain, and simply do not care in anything but the most token fashion about the world's citizens, especially the less fortunate and less privileged ones who will certainly bear the extremely punitive impacts of climate change in the intermediate term. Not only do they not care but I believe many of them are genuinely psychologically incapable of caring. On the other hand, they care greatly about money, and the acquisition and corrupt exercise of power. And that's the problem. What the hell are we doing? Rachel talks about how real democracy is the only answer to this – but it's worth remembering that our increasingly manipulated democracy just gave the reins of an aggrandized presidency to Donald Trump, perhaps our second clearly sociopathic president since WWII. But they are everywhere.That is the question which the book begs but does not ask explicitly: why do we so often put sociopaths in charge – not in one place but all over the place? Can't we see who they are? This is really the disturbing question that Rachel does not ask us clearly enough to ponder. Why do we find people like Trump, Putin, Duterte, Erdoğan and yes, paradigmatically Hitler, worthy of leadership and the public trust? How did Putin become the richest and most powerful man in the world running what is essentially a Mafia state with nuclear weapons, working to destabilize and undermine all the Western democracies? What is wrong with us, that as sheep that we repeatedly and willingly enable the most ruthless of wolves?Even a cursory review of our history forces a conclusion that this alarming trend of populist naïveté, and the serial give away of power to the sociopathic is nothing new. If anything, quite the opposite. We apparently have been suckers for a never-ending parade of sociopathic and narcissistic leaders who have charmed us, seduced us and demagogued us into giving them power for as long as we have had human history, often times by channeling populist fear and hatred for out groups and other all-too-convenient scapegoats. The worst forms of tribalism appear to be the best friends and core weaponry of the worst sociopathic leaders. While they don't care about the environment, or the masses they exploit, they do care deeply about money and power. And they are good at acquiring and keeping it - and getting more of it! But it's never enough, as nothing seems to fill a hidden emptiness.And yet this answer itself is also unsatisfying - and gets each of us off the hook. We have to confess that our own utilitarian attitude towards Nature, that the biosphere on this planet is just a pile of resources to exploit without concern, and not something that we have to shepherd and care for, this exploitive and utilitarian attitude has been the invisible partner and enabler of our sociopathic corporate and government leadership around the exploitation of fossil fuels.Fossil fuels have powered the wonders of our technological civilization, but that has led us to a fundamental overconfidence. We have too much faith in technology – technology cannot fix everything, and it cannot replace a fatally damaged ecology. One thing is clear – we are running out of time in which to figure these things out, to save the good and even wondrous parts of our technological civilization. Rachel's brilliant book hopefully will motivate us to take desperately needed action . . . and soon, and to better see through the fog of lies by those with the sickest of motives. As she says, real democracy must win out, or it, and much of the biosphere, dies in a sixth mass extinction that already has a scary level of momentum.

Rachel Maddow has conducted an extensive research on “fracking” as a growing new oil extraction technology and how it is affecting our environment, public safety and world politics. Fracking is a complex process that involves slant drilling and horizontal drilling at deep depths and then pumping a special slimy water mixture into the underground rock strata to stimulate oil and gas flow. The slimy water injected into the rock strata can be toxic. The oil industry has developed “best practices” for handling the toxic slime and the waste water but diligent adherence to best practices just adds to the cost of production. Underground aquifers can be polluted by the injected toxic slime and runoff from the toxic holding ponds can pollute surface water as well. Further, the pumping of slime into the deep rock strata also causes disruption in the underground geology which can then cause local earthquakes. In the state of Oklahoma where fracking has been used extensively over the past 20 years, earthquakes have multiplied to many times the normal number of serious of annual earthquakes in state history. The dangers to the public in Oklahoma and in other areas where fracking has been applied extensively have been disruptive and dangerous. The people of Oklahoma have experienced major increases in the pollution of drinking water and serious damages to buildings and homes as a consequence of the earthquakes resulting from extensive fracking in the state.ExxonMobil and other big oil companies are highly driven to maximize oil production, revenues and profits. The negative impacts to the environment and to public safety represent costs that are unfortunate consequences of maximizing production and profits. As long as billions of people depend on cars, jet planes, electricity and other oil and gas dependent conveniences in their lives, the demand for petroleum fuels will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. The supply must meet the demand which creates great fortunes for the few at the top of the economic pyramid and negative consequences for the many who adapt to their place in the body of the pyramid.Ms. Maddow further documents the insidious affects of the huge oil industry on international politics. Russia needs modern oil production technology from American and European big old companies to exploit their huge untapped oil and gas resources. Currently, political barriers are interfering with collaboration on oil production projects. Eventually, the barriers will be broken and big oil will marry Russia and dominate world oil production and world politics as well. A conglomerate like ExxonMobile combined with Rosneft of Russia will dictate the political agenda for Europe because of its dependence upon Russian natural gas. Unfortunately, the US Congress is at war with itself and has become highly dysfunctional and which lowers the barriers to special interests. International oil oligarchs of the near future will easily dictate the legislative agenda affecting commerce in the US and international commerce as well.International oil conglomerates are now in a position to manipulate the legislative process and public opinion worldwide. Most of society is easily duped by the information campaigns of special interests to accept the propaganda hype funded by big business. Blowout is a subtle warning of the emergence of a future dystopian world increasingly dominated by big oil. But this trend is just part of the growing dominance of world societies by big social media, banks too big to fail and other encroaching world monopolies.

Excellent book.The writer has brilliantly described the reckless actions of oil companies and the individuals involved across companies and governments.

The book provides an entertaining and enlightening overview of the recent history of the oil and gas industry, I particularly liked the in-depth look at the oil and gas industry in Oklahoma as well as the backgrounder on Rex Tillerson. The book is written as a collection of vignettes jumping around between Oklahoma and Russia. It also reads a lot like watching one of Rachel Maddow's TV shows, A style that gets oppressing after a few hundred pages. It is a good successor to The Prize.

化石燃料の大量消費による「地球温暖化」や「気候変動」という視点からクリーンエネルギーへの転換が叫ばれて久しいが、世界のエネルギー源は今日においても石油、天然ガス、石炭に多くを依存している。石油や天然ガスの開発が、環境破壊や政治腐敗(権力者への賄賂や不正蓄財)やマネーロンダリングの温床であり、それらの巨悪に目をつぶるか見て見ぬふりをするかしなければ成り立たないビジネスだということが本書のテーマ。これはロシアやアラブ産油国や赤道ギニアのみならず、民主国家のアメリカにも当てはまること。例えば車社会のアメリカではガソリン価格の高騰はそれだけでも政権の命運を左右する重大事だし、OPECに主導権を握らせまいとするアメリカがシェールオイルや天然ガスの増産に励む過程で有力政治家への政治献金等により環境破壊などの「不都合な真実」から極力目を背けるような政策誘導が行われている。とりわけ多くのページがロシアの石油資源開発に割かれているのは、ロシアは石油資源開発と統治が結び付く典型例で、石油・ガス利権がプーチン政権の権力維持に不可欠なだけでなく、マネーロンダリング資金で西欧社会に分断と混乱を生み出す巨悪の源泉だから。オイルマネーに絡む巨悪を章を追う毎に国名や具体例を挙げて白日の下に晒し、石油・ガス資源開発の深層に迫る本。

The book does a good job of providing factual information, about the oil and gas industry; but not in a "dry, I have to suffer through this" way. Rachel does a fantastic job of delivering this information through riveting, suspenseful intertwined stories of the main actors.Thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend.

The book must be great...but there were 40 odd pages missing from the middle. We could not return it...as I started reading after 10 days of buying.