John Nordin

John Nordin is a Mint Press columnist who divides his time as a professor and a researcher between the Twin Cities and Greece, where he specializes in Greek politics, international relations and the economy. John holds a Ph.D. from MIT, and has worked as a Lutheran pastor, a computer science teacher in Kenya and a writer.

What You Need To Know About The New Greek Government

New Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, center, and the ministers of a new cabinet , leave the Presidential palace after the Cabinet swearing in ceremony in Athens, Thursday, June 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) (GREECE) – So Greece has a government. A three-party, left-right coalition with a commitment to change agreements European leaders claim can’t […]

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New Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, center, and the ministers of a new cabinet , leave the Presidential palace after the Cabinet swearing in ceremony in Athens, Thursday, June 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

(GREECE) - So Greece has a government. A three-party, left-right coalition with a commitment to change agreements European leaders claim can’t be changed, reform an economy that no one has been able to budge for decades and find a pathway to growth that no political leadership in Europe or the United States has been able to articulate, let alone

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Reporting From Greece: Reading The Greek Election

In this picture taken on May 13, 2012 at the Presidential Palace in Athens the spokesman of the extreme-right Golden Dawn party, Ilias Kasidiaris, left, escorts his leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos during a visit to the Greek President.(AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis) (GREECE) – I could have started with another suicide story; there certainly was one this week. Instead, we […]

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(GREECE) - I could have started with another suicide story; there certainly was one this week. Instead, we can look at the trend. Reuters quoted a study reporting that the suicide rate in Greece rose by 17 percent from 2007 to 2009. The first half of 2011 posted rates 40 percent higher than the first half of 2010. There would be no reason to

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What Leaving The Euro Really Means For Greece

New Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikramenos, right, shakes hands with leader of the Radical Left party Alexis Tsipras during the swearing in ceremony at the Greek parliament in Athens, Thursday, May 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) (GREECE) – A 60-year-old man and his 90-year-old mother jumped together off the roof of their apartment building in central Athens. […]

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New Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikramenos, right, shakes hands with leader of the Radical Left party Alexis Tsipras during the swearing in ceremony at the Greek parliament in Athens, Thursday, May 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

(GREECE) - A 60-year-old man and his 90-year-old mother jumped together off the roof of their apartment building in central Athens. In what appeared to be a suicide note, the man referenced the financial crisis, and his own illness, as reasons for their decision. (Kathimerini English edition, May 25, 2012). Earlier, reports circulated of two

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Reporting From Greece: What You Need To Know About Greek Politics

Greek leader of Coalition of the Radical Left party, SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, speaks to reporters after meeting with Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos at the Greek Parliament in Athens, Friday, May 11 2012. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis) (GREECE) – Warily our group approached Syntagma square at the center of Athens. This square, flanked by the parliament building, […]

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Greek leader of Coalition of the Radical Left party, SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, speaks to reporters after meeting with Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos at the Greek Parliament in Athens, Friday, May 11 2012. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)

(GREECE) - Warily our group approached Syntagma square at the center of Athens. This square, flanked by the parliament building, was ground zero of Greek protests.  It was here that a retired pharmacist, pressed beyond endurance by the cuts to pensions and services, shot and killed himself, leaving behind a suicide note of protest against what was

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What do we use energy for? And can we change?

Wind turbines tower over farmland near Wasco, Ore., March 4, 2002. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File) (MINNEAPOLIS) – If we are going to make fundamental changes in the way we use energy, we have to understand how we use it now.  We use a lot of energy.  The numbers for annual U.S. consumption seem like made up […]

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Wind turbines tower over farmland near Wasco, Ore., March 4, 2002. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File)

(MINNEAPOLIS) - If we are going to make fundamental changes in the way we use energy, we have to understand how we use it now.  We use a lot of energy.  The numbers for annual U.S. consumption seem like made up words: 98 quadrillion Btu a year. “Btu”, or British Thermal Unit, is hardly a term we use every day and talking about “quadrillion” –

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Are Gas Prices Really That High, What’s All The Fuss About?

A sign displays gas prices at a gas station Friday, Feb. 17, 2012, in San Diego. Some analysts are starting to worry that rising fuel costs will undermine consumer spending and stymie economic growth. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) (MINNEAPOLIS) – Republican representatives in Congress are introducing bills to limit environmental regulations and expand domestic production, including  the Gasoline […]

John Nordin
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A sign displays gas prices at a gas station Friday, Feb. 17, 2012, in San Diego. Some analysts are starting to worry that rising fuel costs will undermine consumer spending and stymie economic growth. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

(MINNEAPOLIS) - Republican representatives in Congress are introducing bills to limit environmental regulations and expand domestic production, including  the Gasoline Regulations Act and the  Strategic Energy Production Act, both aimed at lowering gas prices at the pump and expanding domestic oil-and-gas leasing. A Republican super-PAC

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Can The US Become Energy Independent?

In this Feb. 13, 2012 photo, a gas station attendant pumps gas, in Portland, Ore. At an average of $3.51 a gallon, gas is up 23 percent since Jan. 1. And experts say motorists could pay a record $4.25 a gallon by late April. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (MINNEAPOLIS) – The United States is not energy independent. […]

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بواسطة John Nordin
In this Feb. 13, 2012 photo, a gas station attendant pumps gas, in Portland, Ore. At an average of $3.51 a gallon, gas is up 23 percent since Jan. 1. And experts say motorists could pay a record $4.25 a gallon by late April. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

(MINNEAPOLIS) - The United States is not energy independent.  And neither is Japan, Australia, Germany or China.  And, actually, neither is Saudi Arabia. Depending on others Countries that export one form of energy may import another, as Australia exports coal but imports oil.  That’s the situation with Saudi Arabia, which, of course, exports

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