SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket Sunday from Florida’s Space Coast

James Tutten
Sun, November 12, 2023 

SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket carrying communication satellites in the SES O3b mPOWER mission.

SpaceX is set to launch another Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Space Coast on Sunday.

The rocket is set to launch at 4:08 p.m. from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

This mission aims to send broadband communication satellites into orbit for a foreign internet company.

Watch: SpaceX and NASA looking to launch prototype Starship, awaits second test flight

SpaceX said this launch will be the ninth flight of the rocket’s first-stage booster, which previously launched CRS-26, OneWeb Launch 16, Intelsat IS-40e, and five Starlink missions.

Following the launch, SpaceX is planning to land the first stage of the rocket on its A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket launches with telecommunications satellites aboard
Amy R. Connolly
Sun, November 12, 2023 

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 22 Starlink satellites on mission "6-23" at 8:39 PM from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida on Oct. 17. File Photo by Joe Marino/UPI

Nov. 12 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket successfully Sunday afternoon carrying communication satellites for a Luxembourg-based internet company.

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 4:08 p.m. from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Florida's east coast, taking Boeing-built O3b mPOWER satellites to medium-Earth orbit for SES.

About 8-1/2 minutes after lift-off, Falcon 9's first-stage booster landed aboard a barge, known as "A Shortfall of Gravitas," in the Atlantic Ocean. The mission marked the ninth flight of the first-stage boosters, which previously launched CRS-26, Starlink and others. The rocket's upper stage will not be recovered, which is normal for Falcon 9 flights, Space.com reported.

Time exposure of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as it launches Starlink satellites on mission "6-25" from Launch Complex 40 at 7:20 PM from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida on Oct. 30. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI


The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 21 Starlink satellites at 10:47 PM on mission 6-12 from Launch Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida on Sept. 3. This was the 62nd orbital launch for SpaceX in 2023, breaking last year's total of 61. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI

SpaceX knocks out Sunday launch while targeting 2nd try for massive Starship this week

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel
Updated Sun, November 12, 2023 

Orlando Sentinel/TNS


SpaceX added to the Space Coast’s growing tally of launches for the year with a Sunday night liftoff while gearing up potentially for another attempt of sending its new Starship and Super Heavy rocket up on an orbital test flight later this week.

A Falcon 9 launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 4:08 p.m., sending up a pair of satellites for Luxembourg-based SES.

This is the third time SpaceX has sent up a pair of SES’s O3b mPOWER satellites, which are headed for medium-Earth orbit. They are part of SES’s goal of sending up 11 such satellites to increase connectivity to remote places.

The “O3b” is in reference to the “other 3 billion” referring to the Earth’s population without access to the infrastructure found in more metropolitan areas. The mPOWER satellites are the next generation of an existing constellation of MEO satellites for SES already used by companies such as Princess Cruises.

This was the ninth flight for the first-stage booster, which landed downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.

It marked the 63rd rocket launch in 2023 on the Space Coast, with SpaceX flying all but four of those. SpaceX has also flown 24 missions from California for the year, and has now had 83 successful orbital launches for the year.

In April, it attempted to fly to orbit its Starship and Super Heavy from its Boca Chica, Texas site Starbase for the first time, but problems with stage separation before reaching orbital altitude forced SpaceX to have the rocket self destruct over the Gulf of Mexico.

SpaceX still awaits final approval to fly from the Federal Aviation Administration, but its second attempt for the orbital test flight has a target to launch on Friday, according to the company’s website.

SpaceX will stream the test about 30 minutes before liftoff.

“As is the case with all developmental testing, the schedule is dynamic and likely to change,” the company stated.

Starship is the replacement rocket for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, and despite not making it to orbit, became the most powerful rocket to make it off the launch pad with more than 17 million pounds of thrust at liftoff during the April 20 attempt.

If it makes it orbit on this second attempt, it would surpass the record-holding power generated by NASA’s Space Launch System during its November 2022 launch on the Artemis I mission, which topped 8.8. million pounds of thrust.

“There are really a tremendous number of changes between the last Starship flight and this one, well over 1,000,” Musk said in a June interview. “I think the probability of this next flight working, you know getting to orbit, is much higher than the last one.”

Plans for this attempt still look to have Starship to climb to between 93 and 155 miles during a trip that will take it two-thirds of the way around the Earth for a hard splashdown near Hawaii.

The April attempt saw the rocket, using a combined propellant of liquid methane and liquid oxygen, make it through what’s called Max Q, the area where the craft endures maximum dynamic pressure, and it did achieve speeds up to 1,340 mph.

Had all gone well, both the booster and Starship were to have separated and each made their own hard water landings, with the booster splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico and Starship in the Pacific Ocean after its flight.

The launch system in Texas, and one that will eventually be built at Kennedy Space Center, is designed so that eventually the Super Heavy booster would return to the 469-foot-tall launch integration tower often referred to as “Mechazilla,” with a landing achieved with the aid of two pivoting metal arms called the “chopsticks.”

The Starship spacecraft would make a vertical landing at its destination as well, which would make the combination the first fully reusable rocket in the industry.

NASA has been waiting on SpaceX’s Starship as it has contracted with Musk’s company to provide a working version for its astronauts in the Artemis program to use it as their ride down to the surface of the moon.

That mission is currently slotted for the Artemis III flight, no earlier than December 2025, but that would require for SpaceX to get its Starship up and running and perform a successful uncrewed landing on the moon before NASA would let its astronauts on board.

For SpaceX, plans are to fly dozens if not more than 100 operational launches of Starship before it lets any humans on board, but it has at least three commercial human spaceflight missions already lined up in addition to the NASA mission.


Updates: SpaceX SES O3b mPOWER mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida

Rick Neale, Florida Today
Updated Sun, November 12, 2023 

Updates: Following is live coverage of Sunday's 4:08 p.m. EST liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the SES O3b mPOWER 5 and 6 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Welcome to FLORIDA TODAY's Space Team live coverage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch this afternoon from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

SpaceX is targeting an 89-minute window from 4:08 to 5:37 p.m. EST to launch a rocket carrying a pair of communications satellites from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The Falcon 9 is flying under contract with SES, a Luxembourg-based company that will place two more of its Boeing-built O3b mPOWER satellites into medium-Earth orbit.

After soaring skyward from Launch Complex 40, the Falcon 9's first-stage booster will target landing aboard a drone ship out at sea 8 minutes, 43 seconds after liftoff. No local sonic booms are expected during today's mission.

Countdown Timer

SpaceX Falcon 9 booster lands

Update 4:16 p.m. EST: The Falcon 9 first-stage booster just landed aboard SpaceX's drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas out on the Atlantic Ocean, wrapping up its ninth flight.

Liftoff!

Update 4:08 p.m. EST: SpaceX has launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a pair of SES O3b mPOWER satellites from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Next, the first-stage booster should land on a SpaceX drone ship out on the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX live launch webcast underway

Update 4:02 p.m. EST: SpaceX's live launch webcast hosted on X (formerly Twitter) is now posted at the top of this page.

Liftoff is scheduled in six minutes from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
SpaceX Falcon 9 fueling underway

Update 3:59 p.m. EST: Nine minutes before today's 4:08 p.m. launch window opens, visual cues indicate Falcon 9 fueling procedures are well underway.

That means today's SES O3b mPOWER mission is now committed to lift off today, or else the launch must be postponed.

SpaceX booster to land on drone ship

Update 3:47 p.m. EST: Tonight's mission marks the ninth flight for this Falcon 9 first-stage booster, SpaceX reports.

Following stage separation, the booster is slated to land on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas out on the Atlantic Ocean 8 minutes, 43 seconds after liftoff.
SpaceX Falcon 9 launch countdown

Update 3:22 p.m. EST: Following is a list of key milestones in the upcoming Falcon 9 countdown timeline:

35 minutes: Rocket-grade kerosene and first-stage liquid oxygen loading begins.


16 minutes: Second-stage liquid oxygen loading begins.


7 minutes: Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch.


1 minute: Command flight computer begins final prelaunch checks; propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins.


45 seconds: SpaceX launch director verifies “go” for launch.


3 seconds: Engine controller commands engine ignition sequence to start.


0 seconds: Falcon 9 liftoff.

SpaceX launch weather: overcast skies

Update: 3:11 p.m. EST: Skies above Cape Canaveral Space Force Station are overcast with a temperature of 76 and north wind of 13 mph, the National Weather Service reports.

The Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron previously forecasted a 70% chance of "go" weather for today's launch.

SpaceX to launch SES satellites

The Luxembourg-based satellite company SES released this photo of a technician making preparations alongside O3b mPOWER satellites in advance of SpaceX's Nov. 12 mission launching them into medium-Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Update 2:55 p.m. EST: This morning, SES tweeted a quartet of photos featuring its third pair of O3b mPOWER satellites, which will head into orbit atop the Falcon 9 rocket.

These will mark satellites No. 5 and 6 in the company's planned series of 13 in orbit.

For the latest schedule updates at the Cape, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

321 Launch: Space news you may have missed over the past week (Nov. 14)
Rick Neale, Florida Today
Mon, November 13, 2023 


SpaceX launch obscured by clouds Sunday in Central Brevard during SES O3b mPOWER mission

Quickly cloaked by thick cloud cover, as viewed by many Central Brevard spectators, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted a pair of communications satellites into medium-Earth orbit Sunday afternoon for the Luxembourg-based company SES.

After the 4:08 p.m. EST launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the Falcon 9's first-stage booster separated and returned to Earth for a fiery landing aboard the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas out at sea.

Read the full story here.
NASA supply mission to ISS launches Thursday night aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from KSC

Liftoff! A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center on Thursday night, sending a Dragon cargo capsule on a 32-hour trek to dock with the International Space Station.

NASA's 29th commercial resupply services mission soared into orbit on a northeasterly trajectory at 8:28 p.m. EDT from pad 39A under picture-perfect launch conditions, per the Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron.

Read the full story here.
'Bacteria Boys': Viera students to send experiment on NASA's SpaceX resupply launch to ISS

Scuttling about in the Indian River Lagoon's murky depths, horseshoe crabs — regarded as "living fossils" that predate the dinosaurs — may provide a future biomedical function that helps keep NASA astronauts healthy during marathon missions to Mars and deep space.

The "Bacteria Boys" of Pinecrest Academy Space Coast want to find out. So they're sending horseshoe crab blood up to the International Space Station to study whether it can detect E. coli bacteria in the microgravity of low-Earth orbit.

Read the full story here.

SpaceX Starlink mission launches 5 minutes after midnight, lighting darkened Brevard sky

With SpaceX's newly installed crew access arm for use by future astronauts stationed alongside on a support tower, a Falcon 9 rocket blazed into the post-midnight darkness Wednesday carrying another payload of 23 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit.

Next, SpaceX is slated to launch a Thursday night NASA resupply mission — including a horseshoe crab blood experiment devised by the "Bacteria Boys" of Pinecrest Academy Space Coast — to the astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Read the full story here.

Next launch: SpaceX Starlink 6-28 on Thursday/Friday, Nov. 16/17

Though SpaceX has yet to confirm this mission's existence, a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency navigational warning indicates a rocket launch window will open late Thursday night:

About: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the company's latest batch of Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Launch window: 11 p.m. Thursday to 3:31 a.m. Friday EST.

Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.

For the latest schedule updates, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: 321 Launch: Space news you may have missed over the past week (Nov. 14)

SpaceX launches O3b mPOWER communication satellites on its 84th mission of 2023

Brett Tingley
Sun, November 12, 2023 

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with two SES O3b mPOWER communication satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023.

SpaceX launched the SES O3b mPOWER mission on Sunday (Nov. 12), a flight that placed two communication satellites into medium Earth orbit (MEO).

The Falcon 9 rocket ferrying these satellites lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 4:08 p.m. EST (2108 GMT).

Related: SpaceX launches its 29th cargo mission to the International Space Station

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket's first stage lands on the droneship

The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth and made a vertical touchdown on the company's drone ship about 8.5 minutes after liftoff. The ship, known as "A Shortfall of Gravitas," was waiting nearby in the Atlantic Ocean; the rocket's upper stage will not be recovered, as is standard for Falcon 9 flights.

Two hours after liftoff, the rocket's upper stage deployed the first of the two satellites into medium Earth orbit (MEO) some 5,000 miles (8,000 km) above our planet. Seven minutes later, the second satellite was deployed.

Related Stories:

— SpaceX launches 22 Starlink satellites from California

— SpaceX aims to launch 144 missions next year

— Amazon's Kuiper satellite constellation will use these sleek antennas to serve you internet

The two Boeing-built spacecraft that were aboard the flight will expand the O3b constellation of communication satellites operated by provider SES S.A. of Luxembourg. Once the six-satellite constellation is complete, it is expected to provide high-speed connectivity to a variety of customers in both government and private industries beginning in late 2023.

The Falcon 9 booster on the flight flew on eight previous missions, five of which were devoted to building out Starlink, SpaceX's megaconstellation of broadband internet satellites. Starlink currently consists of more than 5,000 operational satellites.

The SES O3b mPOWER mission marked SpaceX's 84th launch of the year.

SHHH
DoD's secret spaceplane to launch on SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

Emilee Speck
Sun, November 12, 2023 

The X-37B orbital test vehicle on KSC's Launch and Landing Facility after concluding its sixth successful mission. (Image: Staff Sgt. Adam Shanks/U.S. Space Force)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket will deliver the Department of Defense’s record-breaking spaceplane to orbit in December.

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle is scheduled to launch on its seventh mission on Dec. 7 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

According to a U.S. Space Force news release, the mission will mark the first time the Boeing X-37B spaceplane hitches a ride to orbit with SpaceX.


"We are excited to expand the envelope of the reusable X-37B’s capabilities, using the flight-proven service module and Falcon Heavy rocket to fly multiple cutting-edge experiments for the Department of the Air Force and its partners," X-37B Program Director Lt. Col. Joseph Fritschen said in a statement.

The spaceplane is an orbital test platform for different test and experimentation missions, some of which are classified. This seventh mission, known as OTV-7, will fly unclassified and classified experiments.

A NASA experiment called Seeds-2 will expose plant seeds to radiation during long-duration spaceflight. A previous version of the experiment flew on X-37B's last mission for more than 900 days.

X-37B has set new records for time in orbit with each flight.

According to the spaceplane manufacturer Boeing, X-37B spent 908 days in orbit during its last mission, setting a new endurance record. Prior to the most recent mission, the space plane was in orbit for 780 days before returning to Earth in October 2019.

The X-37B orbital test vehicle on KSC's Launch and Landing Facility after concluding its sixth successful mission. (Image: Staff Sgt. Adam Shanks/U.S. Space Force)

X-37B's last mission ended in November 2022 after more than 900 days in orbit on a mission for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force. The spaceplane lands on the former space shuttle runway at Kennedy Space Center – now called the Launch and Landing Facility.

Information regarding when the spaceplane will land is kept confidential and, last year, the only sign of the landing to residents along the Space Coast was the sound of sonic booms when X-37B landed.



Original article source: DoD's secret spaceplane to launch on SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

HERE COMES UAW

Rivian to raise nearly $15 billion in debt for EV plant in Georgia

Reuters
Mon, November 13, 2023 

The Rivian name and logo are shown on one of their new electic SUV vehicles in California

(Reuters) - Rivian Automotive plans to raise nearly $15 billion in debt to help build an electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Georgia, the EV maker said on Monday.

The taxable bonds would be issued by the Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Joint Development Authority of Jasper, Morgan, Newton and Walton Counties, according to an agreement on Nov. 9, it said in a securities filing, adding that Rivian has agreed to purchase bonds as they are issued.

The company has agreed to pay a minimum of nearly $300 million in property tax payments through 2047. The payments would increase if the carmaker exceeds its $5 billion investment.

Rivian had said in 2021 that it plans to set up the Georgia plant and had said at the time that it would be commissioned by 2024. The new plant will employ more than 7,500 people and eventually build 400,000 vehicles a year.

(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich

Megan Rapinoe Says Injury 3 Minutes Into Her Final Game Is ‘Proof’ God Does Not Exist

Favour Adegoke

BLAST
Mon, November 13, 2023

MEGA

Megan Rapinoe tore her Achilles tendon in her final career match. During the National Women's Soccer League Championship, she referred to getting the "Aaron Rodgers treatment" for recovery.

Despite the unfortunate incident, Rapinoe managed to find humor, expressing disbelief in a higher power.

Her impact transcends sports, marked by advocacy for Black Lives Matter, coming out as a lesbian in 2012, and defending patriotism amid controversies. Now retired, Rapinoe leaves a legacy as a complex and outspoken advocate.

Megan Rapinoe Finds 'Proof' There Is No God

MEGA

Rapinoe, the prominent U.S. soccer star, tried to find humor in an injury where she tore her Achilles during the final match of her career on Saturday.

The incident occurred in the sixth minute as OL Reign faced defeat against Gotham FC in the National Women's Soccer League Championship.

In the post-match press conference, the winger humorously mentioned getting the "Aaron Rodgers treatment" for recovery and, despite describing the situation as unfortunate, managed to laugh it off with a candid remark about divine intervention.

"I'm not a religious person or anything and if there was a god, like, this is proof that there isn't," she said, per Daily Mail. "This is f----- up. It's just f----- up. Six minutes in and I eat my Achilles."

Megan Rapinoe Says 'It's Devastating To Go Out In The Final So Early'

MEGA

Rapinoe suffered the non-contact injury during an attempt to make a defensive play at the game, marking the end of her illustrious career.

Before exiting the field for the last time, the FIFA Women's World Cup shared a poignant hug with former USWNT teammate Ali Krieger, who was also playing her final professional game for Gotham FC.

Describing the injury to The Seattle Times, Rapinoe noted: "That's what it felt like. Just a huge pop and I can't even feel where the Achilles is, but pretty sure I tore my Achilles. The worst possible outcome."

Despite the devastating exit from a final, she acknowledged her deep sense of humor, adding: "Thank God I have a f----- deep well of a sense of humor. It's devastating to go out in a final so early."
Megan Rapinoe Jokes About Being A 'NARP' After Her Retirement


MEGA

Rapinoe injected dark humor and self-deprecation into the situation with her trademark style, downplaying the emotional impact of her shocking injury.

"I wasn't overly emotional about it," she said. "I mean, f----- yeeted my Achilles in the sixth minute in my last game ever in the literal championship game."

While reflecting on the injury, the 38-year-old quipped, "I guess I just rode until the wheels came right off! Now I'm just a NARP, a normal-a-- regular person, having to do rehab, which is f----- devastating."

Despite the challenging circumstances, Rapinoe emphasized that "You gotta find the silver lining and the dark humor," and "That's just who I am as well," she added.

However, during her final press conference, she couldn't contain her emotions, tearing up as she approached the NWSL Final against Gotham FC.
Her Impact As An Athlete And Social Advocate

MEGA

Now retired, Rapinoe's impact extends beyond her athletic prowess. Her legacy reflects a complex and outspoken athlete committed to both excellence and societal progress.

She is a vocal supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement and faced criticism for kneeling during the national anthem in 2016.

In 2012, the U.S. player courageously came out as a lesbian, confronting backlash from anti-LGBT detractors.

In another incident in 2019 at the Women's World Cup, she defended her patriotism, describing herself as "particularly and uniquely and very deeply American."

MEGA

In an interview, she said: "If we want to talk about the ideals that we stand for, the song and the anthem, and what we were founded on, I think I'm extremely American."

However, she acknowledged her imperfections but emphasized the continual quest for improvement.

"Yes, we are a great country, and there are many things that are so amazing and I feel very fortunate to be in this country. I would never be able to do this in a lot of other places," she said.

"But also, that doesn't mean we can't get better. It doesn't mean we shouldn't always strive to be better," Rapinoe added.

We wish her a happy retirement!

US needs more pipeline capacity for reliable gas supply -trade group

Reuters
Mon, November 13, 2023 

A warning sign for a natural gas pipeline is seen as natural gas flares at an oil pump site outside of Williston

(Reuters) - The U.S. needs more natural gas pipeline capacity to maintain reliable gas supply during extreme cold weather, a trade group representing pipeline companies said on Monday in support of regulators who last week urged sought new rules to prevent a repetition of last winter's power outages.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corp (NERC) urged lawmakers to fill a regulatory blind spot to maintain reliable supply of natural gas that was highlighted by an inquiry into power outages during Winter Storm Elliott in December 2022.

Elliott delivered sub-freezing temperatures and extreme weather warnings to almost two-thirds of the U.S., resulting in unforeseen energy generation supply losses.

Speaking for operators of around 200,000 miles (322,000 km) of pipelines, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) said the regulators' report confirmed that its members "used all possible flexibility and storage withdrawals to deliver as much natural gas through the system as possible."

Declining production reduced flows of gas into pipelines during Elliott, while demand for the fuel for heating and power generation increased, dramatically lowering line pressures.

Falling pressure levels put the pipeline system at risk of collapse, the INGAA said, forcing operators to implement scheduling restrictions and reduce previously confirmed nominations for transporting the fuel.

The report had found that in New York City, Consolidated Edison declared an emergency because it faced a system collapse that would have taken "many months" to restore service in the middle of the winter.

"The United States needs more natural gas pipeline capacity to maintain a resilient system that affords homes and the power grid access to multiple sources of this critical fuel," the INGAA said.

In its 2023-24 winter outlook, the NERC said last week that prolonged, wide-area cold snaps threaten the availability of fuel supplies for natural gas-fired generation, warning there is not enough natural gas pipeline and infrastructure for the U.S. Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast regions.

(Reporting by Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

US plans to buy 1.2 million barrels of oil for Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Reuters
Updated Mon, November 13, 2023 

Department of Energy officials lead reporters on a tour of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. plans to buy 1.2 million barrels of oil to help replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after it sold off the largest amount ever last year, the Energy Department said on Monday.

The department said the planned purchase for the oil is at an average price of $77.57 a barrel from two companies after 18 bids were submitted.

The administration of President Joe Biden last year conducted the largest ever sale from the SPR of 180 million barrels, part of a strategy to stabilize soaring oil markets and combat high pump prices in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. If the purchase is finalized it will have bought back about 6 million barrels.


As oil prices have risen on production cutbacks by Saudi Arabia and Russia, it has been difficult for the administration to buy back oil for the reserve. Last month it raised the price at which it hopes to buy back oil to $79 or less a barrel, up from an earlier price range of about $68 to $72.

Last month the Energy Department said it hopes to buy 3 million barrels for December delivery and another 3 million for January at the higher price. It said it expects to issue additional oil purchase solicitations for the reserve on a monthly basis through at least May 2024.

"President (Joe) Biden and the Energy Department remain committed to refilling the SPR at fair prices, safeguarding this critical energy security asset while getting a good deal for American taxpayers," a department spokesperson said.

The department has said oil in last year's emergency sales sold for an average of $95 per barrel.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Sandra Maler and Chris Reese)

Here’s one energy win Biden probably won't brag about
Yahoo Finance
Sun, November 12, 2023 at 9:00 AM MST·5 min read
30




Rick Newman is a senior columnist for Yahoo Finance.

U.S. oil production recently hit a new record high. There’s a good chance you’ll never hear President Biden mention it.

Domestic oil production has crept up to 13.2 million barrels per day, slightly above the prior record high of 13.1 million barrels in 2020, right before the COVID pandemic hit. It’s likely to drift higher still in 2024. You might think you’re hearing this wrong. So to reiterate: Yes, the United States is producing more oil under President Biden than it did under President Trump.

That wasn’t supposed to happen. Biden campaigned for the White House by vowing to “end fossil fuel." One of his first acts as president was to cancel the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline that would have carried Canadian oil to refineries on America’s Gulf Coast. Biden is a champion of renewable energy who proved it by signing into law the biggest set of green energy incentives in American history last year.

So Biden would suddenly sound like a fossil fuel cheerleader if he boasted about record levels of oil production under his watch. He’d also upset liberal Democrats who pushed for the “green new deal,” which would have gone a lot further than Biden has gone in forcing the U.S. economy off of fossil fuels. The best Biden can probably do is remind Americans when energy prices fall, while continuing to tout his green energy agenda, which may not be a resounding sell to the moderate swing voters likely to determine whether Biden gets a second presidential term next year.

Yet Biden has clearly learned how important fossil fuels are to his standing with voters, and to his political future. Biden’s approval rating sank as inflation begin to rise in late 2021 and 2022. The high point for inflation was a low point for Biden. The overall inflation rate hit 9% in June 2022, the same month U.S. gasoline prices hit $5 per gallon, the highest level ever. Pump prices have since come down — the current national average for a gallon of regular is $3.40 — but Biden’s approval rating has never recovered.

Biden has spent much of his presidency trying to manage gasoline prices. His administration sold 180 million gallons of oil from the nation’s strategic reserve, to boost global supplies and bring prices down. That brought the reserve to the lowest level since 1984. He and his deputies tried to jawbone US drillers into producing more, but private-sector energy companies aren’t answerable to the president. They’re answerable to investors and shareholders eager to lock in profits instead of putting more money into production, risking oversupply.

Biden has also tried to get foreign drillers, such as Saudi Arabia, to produce more oil, without much luck. The Saudis and other member nations of the oil-exporting group OPEC have been cutting production, not boosting it. In October, the Biden administration even eased sanctions on dictatorial Venezuela, hoping to squeeze a few more barrels out of the oil-rich nation, even though its energy infrastructure is in shambles.

[Drop Rick Newman a note, follow him on Twitter, or sign up for his newsletter.]

The market is now accomplishing what Biden couldn’t. U.S. drillers are producing more energy because they can make more money doing it. Oil prices crashed during the COVID pandemic, even turning negative for a brief time as there was more oil in storage than anybody knew what to do with. But they’ve since recovered to a range of $75 to $95 per barrel. U.S. drillers can make healthy profits at those levels. The OPEC production cuts are actually benefiting US energy firms by keeping prices high enough to make more drilling profitable.

Another happy fact Biden will probably never tout: The United States is the world’s top oil producer. That has been the case since 2018, due to new horizontal fracking technology that made vast amounts of energy, much of it in Texas, newly accessible. As OPEC nations produce less, U.S. barrels become more important to the global market.

Is the boom in U.S. oil production bad news for efforts to wean the world off fossil fuel and address global warming?

There are two ways to look at it. Some environmentalists want to speed the transition to renewables by forcing cuts in the supply of fossil fuels, so that renewables are the only option for some consumers. That’s imprudent, because there’s a good chance it will raise prices for end users if renewables aren’t cost-competitive with fossil fuels, which they aren’t in many places, such as areas where wind and solar aren’t yet wired into the grid.

Biden has discovered the political peril that can come with imposing limits on fossil fuels. Canceling the Keystone XL pipeline in 2021 had no effect on oil or gasoline prices, since the pipeline wasn’t even built and no oil was moving through it. But Biden took a public stance in opposition to fossil fuels, and when gas prices spiked in 2022, consumers blamed him. Biden asked for it.

A better approach to accelerating the green energy transition is doing everything feasible to bring more renewables to market, so that scaling up production helps lower costs and makes renewables cost-competitive with fossil fuels. This is exactly what Biden’s green energy incentives are doing, by effectively lowering the break-even point for green energy production and drawing more investors into the business, to boost supply.

To some extent, this is already working. Biden’s green energy incentives are generating far more investment than drafters of the legislation estimated in 2022. The Energy Dept. recently forecast a decline in US gasoline consumption in 2024, partly because so many electric vehicles are now on the road.

But there are potholes, too. Electric vehicle sales seem to be flatlining, for instance, perhaps revealing a ceiling on the portion of car buyers willing to accept the higher prices and practical limits of electrics.

The bottom line? Green energy adoption will continue, but abundant fossil fuels will be necessary for the rest of Biden’s political career, and well beyond, whether he wants to admit it or not.

Follow Rick Newman on Twitter at @rickjnewman.

TotalEnergies to Buy Texas Gas Power Plants for $635 Million
IMPERIALI$M THE HIGHEST STAGE OF CAPITALI$M

Francois de Beaupuy and Naureen S. Malik
Mon, November 13, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- TotalEnergies SE agreed to buy three natural gas-fired power plants in Texas from TexGen Power LLC for $635 million as it looks to expand in the US market.

The three plants will serve the “fast-growing energy demand” of Dallas and Houston, offsetting the intermittency of renewable power production, the French energy giant said in a statement Monday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. They have a joint capacity of 1.5 gigawatts.

TotalEnergies has pursued gas plants to complement its growing fleet of wind and solar farms that provide more sporadic generation. Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said last month that the company might make such an acquisition in Texas. In the Lone Star State, the French oil major currently has 2 gigawatts of gross installed renewable capacity, another 2 gigawatts under construction and more than 3 gigawatts under development.

“These plants will enable us to complement our renewable assets, intermittent by nature, provide our customers with firm power, and take advantage of the volatility of electricity prices,” said Stephane Michel, president of gas renewables & power at TotalEnergies, said in the statement.

Gas plants have become more valuable in the last couple of years amid supply issues, the rise of intermittent wind and solar generation and higher power prices in key markets like Texas.

Total, which has been acquiring gas-fired plants in France, Belgium and Spain, plans to invest about $4 billion a year in power generation on top of expanding oil and gas production. It’s aiming to reach 100 gigawatts of renewable power capacity globally by 2030, up from 20.2 gigawatts at the end of the third quarter.

In Texas, many generators are reaping record revenues, or close to it, after the state grid operator pushed through reforms to help avoid a repeat of widespread blackouts in a deadly 2021 winter storm.

The purchase of the TexGen plants, which remains subject to regulatory approvals, will complement TotalEnergies’ recent foray in the US clean power market. The French company had a gross installed capacity of 6.2 gigawatts of solar and wind power in North America and a further 3 gigawatts in construction on the continent at the end of the third quarter, thanks to recent acquisitions such as Austin-based Core Solar LLC and a 50% stake in Clearway Energy Group.

Last month, the French energy giant started commercial operations at a 380-megawatt solar farm located south of Houston, which the company said produces enough green electricity to cover the equivalent consumption of 70,000 homes.

Developing countries owe China at least $1.1 trillion – and the debts are due


Simone McCarthy, CNN
Mon, November 13, 2023 

Developing countries owe Chinese lenders at least $1.1 trillion, according to a new data analysis published Monday, which says more than half of the thousands of loans China has doled out over two decades are due as many borrowers struggle financially.

Overdue loan repayments to Chinese lenders are soaring, according to AidData, a university research lab at William & Mary in Virginia, which found that nearly 80% of China’s lending portfolio in the developing world is currently supporting countries in financial distress.

For years, Beijing marshalled its finances toward funding infrastructure across poorer countries – including under an effort that Chinese leader Xi Jinping branded as his flagship “Belt and Road Initiative,” which launched a decade ago this fall.

That funding flowed liberally into roads, airports, railways and power plants from Latin America to Southeast Asia and helped power economic growth among borrowing countries. Along the way, it drew many governments closer to Beijing and made China the world’s largest creditor, while also sparking accusations of irresponsible lending.

Now, 55% of China’s official sector loans to developing countries have entered their repayment periods, according to the analysis of more than two decades of China’s overseas funding across 165 countries released by AidData.

Those debts are coming due during a new and challenging financial climate of high interest rates, struggling local currencies and slowing global growth.

“A lot of these loans were issued during [the Belt and Road period starting in 2013] and they came with five- or six- or seven-year grace periods … and then [international debt suspension efforts during the pandemic] tacked on two additional years of grace where borrowers didn’t have to repay,” AidData executive director and report author Brad Parks told CNN.

“Now the story is changing … for the last decade or so China was the world’s largest official creditor, and now we’re at this pivot point where it’s really about (China) as the world’s largest official debt collector,” he said.

AidData’s figures are based on its database tracking what amounts to $1.34 trillion in loan and grant commitments from China’s government and state-owned creditors to public and private sector borrowers in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2021.

That dataset, built through collecting official and public source information about the individual loans and grants, provides one of the widest windows available into what are notoriously opaque Chinese funding activities.

The researchers also cited data reported by lenders to the Switzerland-headquartered Bank of International Settlements, which they said indicates developing country borrowers owe Chinese lenders at least $1.1 trillion and up to $1.5 trillion as of 2021.

The China-backed Karuma dam at the Karuma Hydropower Plant in Kiryandongo, Uganda. - Hajarah Nalwadda/Xinhua/Getty Images

‘International crisis manager’

AidData says Beijing never had to deal with more than 10 financially-distressed countries with unpaid debts until 2008. But, by 2021, there were at least 57 countries with outstanding debt to Chinese state-owned creditors that were in financial distress, its data shows.

This appears to be a factor changing how China is lending.

Funding for the big-ticket infrastructure projects that had earned Beijing goodwill across the developing world are in sharp retreat. Instead, China is providing substantial numbers of emergency rescue loans, according to AidData.

Chinese lending isn’t bottoming out though. China remains the world’s single largest official source of development finance and continues to out-fund any single Group of Seven (G7) developed economy as well as multilateral lenders, the researchers say.

That’s even as the United States and its G7 partners have ramped up their rival efforts. Together, they outspent China by some $84 billion in 2021.

Overall funding commitments from China to the developing world declined at the start of the pandemic, according to AidData. They fell from a peak that was approaching $150 billion in 2016 and dipped below $100 billion in 2020 for the first time since 2014.

But financing is still in the tens of billions, according to the most recent data from AidData, which documented $79 billion in commitments for 2021, including grants and loans, up $5 billion from the previous year.

By comparable measures, the World Bank reported $72 billion in international development financing commitments in 2021, AidData said.

Chinese infrastructure project lending as a share of total commitments to low- and middle-income country borrowers, however, fell from 65% in 2014 to 50% in 2017, and again from 49% in 2018 to 31% in 2021.

That year, 58% of lending was emergency rescue loans, which help distressed countries stay afloat by shoring up foreign reserves and credit ratings or helping them make debt payments to other international lenders.

This means China is increasingly acting as an “international crisis manager,” according to AidData, which pointed out that which borrowers get bailed out depends on their risks to the Chinese banking sector.

“It’s very telling that not everybody who’s in debt distress gets an emergency rescue loan from China – what we find is that they really only channel these loans to the biggest Belt and Road borrowers where Chinese banks have the most balance sheet exposure,” Parks said.

“At a superficial level, China is bailing out the borrowers, but at a deeper level it’s bailing out its own banks.”

‘Muscling in’

The impact these troubled loans could have on China’s own banking sector, which is burdened by mounting issues with domestic debt, is not clear.

China has joined other lenders in joint negotiations on debt relief for troubled borrowers such as Zambia and Ghana, but AidData researchers suggest it may have also undermined efforts for coordinated relief by “muscling its way to the front of the repayment line by demanding that borrowers provide recourse to cash collateral that others lack.”

It has also been issuing stronger penalties for late repayments, they said.

China has consistently defended its debt relief record, saying it has played a “positive” and “constructive” role in multilateral efforts, noting last month that “debt sustainability has continued to improve” for the Belt and Road program.

Looking ahead, it has also moved toward syndicated loan arrangements, in which China works with Western commercial banks and multilateral institutions to vet projects and reduce future risk, according to AidData findings.

Half of China’s non-emergency lending portfolio to developing countries is now provided via syndicated loan arrangements, with more than 80% of these arrangements involving those Western or multilateral partners, they said.

In recent years China has also moved to recalibrate the Belt and Road Initiative with an eye to bolstering oversight and reducing risk, amid backlash over environmental, social and labor concerns about projects.

Chinese officials have defended the initiative’s impact. At a forum in Beijing last month focused on its Belt and Road drive, they hailed what they said was a new phase of the project focusing on “high-quality” development.

Meanwhile, for those countries already in debt and seeking to refinance with Beijing’s emergency rescue loans, the AidData researchers warned that they “must be mindful of the danger of swapping less expensive debt for more expensive debt.”

BOERS

South Africa’s ‘Too White’ Farms May Lose EU, UK Access

Adelaide Changole
Sun, November 12, 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- South African farms deemed “too white” will no longer be able to export their produce to the UK and the EU, according to postings in the Government Gazette, the Johannesburg-based City Press newspaper reported.

Under the rules, farmers must meet specific Black economic empowerment targets to continuing obtaining export permits.

The guidelines will apply to agricultural businesses with a minimum annual turnover of 10 million rand ($534,000) or more. Milk, cream, butter, fruit, nuts, sugar, jam, fruit purée, fruit juices, yeast, table grapes and wine are among the products affected, according to the notice.

Southern African Agri Initiative (Saai), a farmers’ lobbying group, told City Press that the rules will undermine investor security, job creation and growth in the nation’s agricultural sector.

Further, the measures fall “far outside the framework of internationally acceptable protocols, and the lobby will fight against it in every local and international forum, in courts and multilateral agencies of the UN and the African Union,” City Press reported, citing Theo de Jager, head of Saai.

Democratic Alliance, the biggest opposition party in South Africa, lodged a complaint with the trade offices of the EU and the UK, arguing that the regulations violate the rules of fair trade. South Africa’s agreements with the EU and the UK are explicitly premised upon protecting human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law, the alliance said.

South African agricultural exports were about 240 billion rand ($12.8 billion) in 2022, with 20% headed to the EU and 4% to the UK.

South African companies have been encouraged to adopt Black-empowerment plans to comply with government policies aimed at redressing financial inequality stemming from the apartheid era.

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The Occupied West Bank: Divided by Faith, United by Fear

Jeffrey Gettleman
Sun, November 12, 2023 

Palestinian residents of the West Bank area of Huwara watch as Israeli soldiers close off the entrance to their neighborhood, on Oct. 25, 2022. (Samar Hazboun/The New York Times)

TEKOA, West Bank — As Moish Feiglin pulls up to his settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, he points to an 8-foot-tall concrete slab blocking the middle of the road.

“That’s new,” he says.

He slowly drives around it and nods his head to more security barriers and heavily armed soldiers peering from behind the entrance gate. “And so is that and that and that.”

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In the past month, his settlement, Tekoa, has turned into “an army base,” he says, which goes against his personal code.

“I don’t have rock-proof glass on my car windows,” he says. “I don’t want rock-proof glass.”

“But you have to understand what people are preparing for,” he adds. “They are preparing for 200 terrorists to come in.”

The West Bank, an area many times the size of the Gaza Strip and complicated in its own way, is once again a flashpoint, and all sides are clearly on edge.

While the world is increasingly critical of Israel for its bombardment of Gaza, deep concern is also rising about the actions of the Israeli military and Jewish settlers in the West Bank, a contested patchwork of Palestinian areas and Israeli settlements like Tekoa that most of the world considers illegal.

Jewish settlers of all political stripes are arming themselves, and extremists among them have attacked Palestinians and driven hundreds off their land.

At the same time, there have been more Israeli military raids, more violent protests, more arrests and more Palestinian attacks on Israelis this past month than there have been in any similar period in years.

The result is an increasingly combustible atmosphere where people are divided by faith and united by fear, and just about everyone’s humanity is being tested.

“I’m very confused inside,” says Abu Adam, a Palestinian tour guide who asked to be identified by his patronymic, afraid he could be “socially isolated” — or hurt — for expressing moderate views. “We’re suffering, they’re suffering. Everything has stopped.”

“And it’s only going to get worse,” he adds.

The story of Moish Feiglin and Abu Adam, two professionals whose lives have been upended by the violence, reveals how deeply both sides are afraid even if the power dynamic between them is vastly unequal.

As an Israeli, Feiglin can’t pry his mind away from the Oct. 7 attacks. The scale and horror in which Hamas terrorists slaughtered an estimated 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and some brutally, has led him, by his own admission, to “close off” part of his heart.

He doesn’t like carrying a Glock. But he is allowed to, and so he does. The Israeli army has been assigned to protect his community. Still, he warily scans the open hills separating his settlement from Arab areas and begins to question many of the fundamental things he once believed in.

“I’m struggling,” he says. “Six weeks ago, I was arguing for peace, I was sending my kids to an Israeli-Palestinian summer camp, I was shopping in the village at Arab stores and embracing the ideology that went with that. And now I’m like: ‘What’s next? Can we really go back to that? Was I, in the past, too naive?’”

Abu Adam used to participate in grassroots peace efforts and also wonders if his old attitude is now out of date. He embodies the day-to-day difficulties of a Palestinian living under an Israeli occupation that leaves him stateless, curtails his movements and makes it illegal for him or any other Palestinian civilian to carry a firearm. The Israeli bombing of Gaza, 60 miles away, has killed more than 11,000 people, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas. The images he sees on television of fellow Palestinians, bleeding and dying, mourning and overwhelmed with sorrow, he says, have hardened him.

“We’ve lost everything,” he says. “And sometimes, you just want to escape. But there’s nowhere to go.”

The two men live within sight of each other, share similar thoughts, even do some of the same kind of work.

But they’ve never met and in the occupied West Bank, they inhabit different worlds.

On the morning of Oct. 7, Feiglin was praying in a synagogue in Tekoa, and Abu Adam was leading a tour in Jericho. He was guiding an American family around what may be the world’s oldest city when his phone started buzzing in his pocket.

“I looked down at my messages,” Abu Adam says. “All I saw was: Cancel, cancel, cancel, cancel.”

His upcoming clients were backing out of trips booked for this fall, and the ones with him were so terrified by the news that they insisted on leaving Jericho immediately.

When he got home that night and collapsed on the sofa, he was horrified by what he saw on television.

“It was terrible to see people killed like that,” he said. “Hamas made a mistake.”

But, he was quick to add, “too much pressure causes an explosion.”

Up the hill, Feiglin watched his community transform before his eyes. Anyone who had a gun grabbed it, and a civilian guard force instantly formed.

Tekoa is one of the 130 or so West Bank settlements, built on land Israel seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Many are like islands, plunked down in the middle of Arab areas. They are often criticized, even among many Israelis, as the biggest obstacle to peace. Roughly 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, alongside an estimated 2.7 million Palestinians. The settlements reflect a wide range of politics and lifestyles, from ultranationalist communities to more moderate ones focused on agriculture.

A half-hour south of Jerusalem and with 4,300 residents, Tekoa is somewhere in the middle of the settler political spectrum. Known by some as “the hippie settlement” for its sizable contingent of artists and peace activists, it’s also home to right-wing supporters who advocate taking more Palestinian land.

So far there’s been little violence around here, and Feiglin calls the recent settler attacks in other areas “reprehensible,” “against Jewish values” and “very, very fringe.” And such aggression, he says, clearly contrasts with the modicum of interdependence that Tekoa and neighboring Arab villages had maintained, out of necessity more than anything else.

Before Oct. 7, scores of Palestinian men worked on construction sites in the settlement, which, with its tract housing and squiggly streets, looks like an American subdivision. Some settlers, like Feiglin, ventured into Arab areas to buy hardware or get their cars fixed.

Sometimes Jews and Arabs shared meals, played music together or gathered with their families at a campground near Bethlehem. None of this is happening now.

Feiglin is a therapist, musician and desert guide. He specializes in breath work and music therapy. But with tourists fleeing Israel, his tourism business, like Abu Adam’s, has dried up.

Both are running short on cash. Both are worried about their children. Feiglin’s 10-year-old daughter was riding to school this spring, he says, when a group of Palestinians attacked her bus with rocks. She’s still shaken by it. As for Abu Adam, he worries that his kids will be the ones throwing rocks.

It was for his children’s sake, Abu Adam says, that he had joined local peace efforts in which Palestinians met with Israelis and discussed ways to live together. As a young man, he had been jailed for participating in violent protests against the expansion of Tekoa, which he and other Palestinians said was built illegally on their land.

“But the problem I faced in my life,” he says, “I didn’t want my kids to face.”

Feiglin, 39, is a bit of a contradiction. Australian-born, he moved to the West Bank eight years ago. He says he enjoys spending time with ordinary Palestinians and promoting peace and coexistence.

But doesn’t the very existence of his settlement only complicate peace and coexistence?

“It’s a question I’ve asked myself,” he says. “My presence in the settlement won’t change facts on the ground.”

He chose to live in Tekoa, he says, for its sense of community and the intoxicating effects of living on the edge of a spectacular desert. He finds himself thinking about his Palestinian acquaintances like Ismail, a hardware store owner whom he used to see all the time and now hasn’t seen for weeks.

“All these micro-interactions,” he says, his voice trailing off during a conversation in his kitchen. “I don’t know how far this is going to rewind us.”

“But trusting would be a risk, right?” says his wife, Adena Firstman, sitting next to him. “We’re, like, in survival mode.”

Feiglin cracks an almond between his teeth and answers, “We’re in Rambo mode.”

No place may better demonstrate “Rambo mode” than a hilltop near Tekoa that Jewish settlers recently seized in clear violation of Israeli law.

Feiglin drives there along a bumpy road, past yawning canyons dotted with scrub brush and white stones. The Dead Sea shimmers in the distance. Beyond stand the red rock mountains of Jordan.

The landscape feels ancient, but the road itself is freshly bulldozed. “At any other time,” Feiglin says, “the settlers who made this wouldn’t be able to get away with it.”

The hilltop is guarded by four young men with matted hair, filthy jeans and the sidelocks of the ultra-Orthodox.

Their gear: a few radios, an ammo box, pistol clips, a prayer book, long knives and hunks of half-eaten challah. A belt-fed machine gun sits on sandbags, trained on the craggy hills.

“We should just shoot them in the head,” says Meir Kinarty, one of the young men, speaking of Palestinian protesters. “Only a bullet in their brains will make them learn.”

A reservist soldier, Andrew Silberman, who grew up in suburban Chicago, is also stationed on the hilltop. “This is totally illegal,” he says of the outpost, but he also says it’s his duty to help protect the area.

Like those of many others, Silberman’s feelings are complicated. He seems turned off by the bloodthirsty bravado of the young men strutting around with their knives. He says he understands how all the violence coursing through the West Bank, which has been rocked by major uprisings before, can radicalize people on both sides.

“But I don’t agree that hate should be the response,” he says.

When his shift ends, Silberman takes the belt-fed machine gun with him, uneasy about leaving it with the young men.

Abu Adam, from the rooftop of the home he built with his tour guide earnings, can see, with a squint, this same hilltop.

He laughs when asked what’s the way forward.

“It’s not clear,” he says. “But we have to keep looking.”

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