Beware the 'Peak Oil' Agenda

Beware the 'Peak Oil' Agenda
http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr70.html

[Due to recent developments in the 'Peak Oil' scam, I decided to put Act III of the new September 11 series on hold for a couple weeks.]

It has become apparent that many people have misinterpreted my 'Peak Oil' rants. I know this because I get e-mail with messages like, "thanks for giving me hope," and "thanks for changing my view of the future." I am sorry to have to report here that the newfound optimism of some of my readers is entirely unwarranted. After reviewing my past writings, I realize that the fault for this misunderstanding lies with me, since I haven't done a very good job of articulating exactly what my position is.

This, my friends, is the harsh reality, so pay very close attention: the fact that 'Peak Oil' is an entirely manufactured construct does not mean that the doomsday scenarios painted by the 'Peak' crowd will therefore not become our new reality. This is not just another scam to further pad the pockets of the oil industry and other financial elites. The stakes are much higher than that. Much higher.

In order to clarify my position on 'Peak Oil,' it would be instructive to briefly review the areas of agreement, and the areas of disagreement, that I have with those who are selling the scam.

The Peakers claim that 'Peak Oil' is the single most important issue that we are facing today. I agree with that assessment (but not because 'Peak Oil' is a valid concept).

The Peakers claim that much of America's military might has been directed in recent years at conquering the key oil and gas producing regions of the world. And that is obviously quite true. Central Asia and Iraq have been seized, Venezuela has suffered through constant meddling by the CIA, the Sudan has been targeted for a future assault, and Saudi Arabia and Iran have been subjected to saber rattling.

But the Peakers also claim that these military ventures have been motivated by America's desire to seize what will soon be the last drops of the world's precious reserves of oil -- and that is entirely untrue.

The Peakers claim that we will very soon be facing a world where chaos reigns supreme -- a world of war, famine and death on a scale unknown in recorded human history. And that does, in fact, appear to be the case. And we're not talking about the distant future here, folks; we're talking about the very near future.

But the Peakers also claim that this global "die off" will be a regrettable, but quite natural, and entirely unavoidable, consequence of the world's oil taps running dry. And that is the really big lie. That is the lie that will very soon be used to rationalize the killing off of hundreds of millions, possibly billions, of the world's people. There are, you see, simply too many people in the world who, by merely being alive, are standing in the way of the aspirations of the global elite.

The people that the 'Peak Oil' pitchmen are fronting for are deadly serious about selling 'Peak Oil' to the masses -- and not just in theoretical terms, as a cynical ploy to raise prices and increase profits. No, it has become clear that the real goal is to actually cut off most of the world's oil supplies under the ruse that the oil simply no longer exists. The desired result is massive social unrest, widespread famine, and endless war. The majority of the world's people will not survive. Those that do will find themselves living under the overtly authoritarian form of rule that will quickly be deemed necessary to restore order. And if you think that we here in America are exempt, you are sadly mistaken.

In order to pull off this stunt, all the world's major oil producing regions must be solidly under the control of the U.S. and it's co-conspirators, otherwise known as 'allies.' In other words, the puppet-masters have to control all the major oil taps, so that they have complete control over the flow of oil -- or lack of it. And that, in a nutshell, is the real reason for America's recent military ventures. The goal, you see, is not to steal Iraq's oil, or the oil in the 'Stans, or in the Sudan, or in Venezuela, or anywhere else. We don't want to take their oil, because the truth is that we don't really need it (http://www.oilandgasreporter.com/stories/090101/cov_opinions.shtml). What we want to do is sit on the taps so no one else can get to the oil.

The Peakers have claimed that the Central Asian adventure - launched with the invasion of Afghanistan, but certainly not limited to Afghanistan - has largely been a bust. We have all heard the spin: the hoped-for reserves aren't there, what has been found can't be extracted economically, the grand plan simply didn't pan out, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Frankly, I find all of that a little hard to believe. After all, hasn't Central Asia been the subject of intense interest and study by geologists and the petroleum industry for the last century or so? You would think that the lords of oil were operating on more than just a hunch when they drafted this gameplan. And I couldn't help noticing that the United States has established a massive military presence in the area, and it looks very much like it was designed to be a permanent military presence. If the oil and gas aren't there, then what exactly is it that our troops are standing guard over?

At least one researcher has doggedly claimed that the Central Asian and Middle Eastern military ventures are but a prelude to military confrontations with Russia and China. But that hardly seems to be the case. It does not appear as though there is any urgent need for 'regime change' in Russia or China, since the West seems to already have 'friendly' regimes in place in both countries. And I have to add here that if the ruling regimes of Russia and China really are enemies of the United States, they will undoubtedly go down in history as the stupidest enemies of all time for watching approvingly as the United States entrenched its military machine in their backyards on the most transparent of pretexts.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, I believe that the Central Asian adventure has been wildly successful. True, the West hasn't reaped the bounty of the region's oil and gas reserves -- but I don't think that was ever the goal. To the contrary, I think the U.S. has done exactly what it set out to do: deny anyone else the opportunity - by force if necessary, and it will become necessary - to exploit the area's resources.

Also contrary to conventional wisdom, I believe that the Iraq adventure has also been successful. Again, the goal was not to steal Iraqi oil; the goal was to shut down or severely limit the flow of Iraqi oil, and that goal has obviously been accomplished. Indeed, some reports have held that American troops (and American mercenaries) are responsible for at least some of the pipeline bombings and other attacks on the Iraqi oil infrastructure.

Interestingly, Michael Ruppert began one of his recent "Peak is the Word" rants with an ominous quote attributed to an "Anonymous Middle Eastern Participant at the Third Conference of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas – Berlin, May 2004." The quote, which Ruppert presents without comment, reads as follows:

The one thing that every Middle Eastern leader, manager, and planner who dreams of holding his country together fears now, is that there will be a widespread uprising, inspired by the perceived victory against Spain after Madrid, and Spain's withdrawal from Iraq, that it might prompt much of the Muslim world to start attacking oil facilities everywhere. This is the way they see that has worked to defeat the West and to avenge their grievances. May God help us all if that happens.
(http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/062104_berlin_peak.html)

This statement, if taken literally, is patently absurd -- beginning with the Bill O'Reillyesque claim that the 'terr'ists' somehow scored a victory in Spain, and continuing through the astounding leap of faith required to equate manufactured attacks on commuter trains to widespread attacks on oil facilities. The only way that the uncredited statement makes any sense at all is as a tip-off that the CIA's future playbook is packed with false-flag terr'ist operations directed at critical oil facilities -- especially in countries that haven't yet been convinced that their vast oil reserves don't really exist.

In order to carry out the 'Peak Oil' agenda, the powers-that-be need to have all the major oil producers on board. Some of them have been on board all along. Some have to be recruited through military force (Iraq, for example). Some will be compelled to join the team through covert operations (e.g., Venezuela). And some are being brought on board through threats, intimidation, and saber rattling.

The two most sought after recruits, of course, are Russia and Saudi Arabia, since they are the world's two top oil producing nations. As of this past April, Saudi Arabia apparently hadn't yet received the latest memos on 'Peak.' Much to the consternation of Ruppert and his handlers, Saudi officials announced on April 28 that the Kingdom's estimate of recoverable reserves had nearly quintupled! (The article below says "tripled," but the math isn't that hard to do.)

Saudi Oil Is Secure and Plentiful, Say Officials
Tim Kennedy, Arab News
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=6&section=0&article=44011&d=29&m=4&y=2004

WASHINGTON, 29 April 2004 — Officials from Saudi Arabia’s oil industry and the international petroleum organizations shocked a gathering of foreign policy experts in Washington yesterday with an announcement that the Kingdom’s previous estimate of 261 billion barrels of recoverable petroleum has now more than tripled, to 1.2 trillion barrels.

Additionally, Saudi Arabia’s key oil and finance ministers assured the audience — which included US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan — that the Kingdom has the capability to quickly double its oil output and sustain such a production surge for as long as 50 years.

[...]

“Saudi Arabia now has 1.2 trillion barrels of estimated reserve. This estimate is very conservative. Our analysis gives us reason to be very optimistic. We are continuing to discover new resources, and we are using new technologies to extract even more oil from existing reserves,” the minister said.

Naimi said Saudi Arabia is committed to sustaining the average price of $25 per barrel set by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. He said prices should never increase to more than $28 or drop under $22.

[...]

“Saudi Arabia’s vast oil reserves are certainly there,” Naimi added. “None of these reserves requires advanced recovery techniques. We have more than sufficient reserves to increase output. If required, we can increase output from 10.5 million barrels a day to 12 - 15 million barrels a day. And we can sustain this increased output for 50 years or more. There will be no shortage of oil for the next 50 years. Perhaps much longer.”

Note that the oil reserves claimed by Saudi Arabia alone (1.2 trillion barrels) exceed what the Peakers claim are the total recoverable oil reserves for the entire planet. Let's pause here for a minute and think about the significance of that: one tiny patch of land, accounting for less than than 1/2 of 1% of the earth's total surface area, potentially contains more oil that the 'Peak' pitchmen claim the entire planet has to offer! Is there not something clearly wrong with this picture?

Needless to say, that sort of candor by the Saudis could put a serious crimp in Washington's plans to sell the 'Peak Oil' scam. Perhaps that is why, just three days after that announcement, the Saudi oil industry was attacked by some of those terr'ists. Not to be deterred, however, Saudi officials announced three weeks later, on May 21, that the Kingdom still intended to dramatically increase its petroleum output. And a week after that, on May 29, those crafty terr'ists launched yet another brazen attack on the Saudi oil industry. Shit happens, I guess.

At that very same time, and in the months that followed, the U.S. was sending clear signals that it would not hesitate to set its military dogs loose on the Kingdom if necessary. Michael Moore's "the Saudis are the real enemy" movie, for example, splashed across America's screens. Various voices involved in both the official and unofficial 9-11 investigations were pointing the finger toward the Saudis as well. The message couldn't have been clearer: "we can easily drum up public support for 'regime change' if you won't play ball." The Saudis, it would appear, have now fallen in line.

Meanwhile, in Russia, the regime of Western puppet Vladimir Putin has been working diligently to transfer control of Russian oil production to what the L.A. Times referred to as "more complaint owners." From a July 23, 2004 report by Kim Murphy:
Since the arrest in October of former CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, now on trial on charges of fraud and tax evasion [editor's note: probably trumped-up charges], the financial community has debated the Russian government's decision to assess at least $8 billion in back taxes against Yukos: Was it to punish Khodorkovsky for his political activism and alleged financial misdeeds, but leave his company intact? To hand control of the company to more complaint hands? Or destroy a company that produces 2% of the world's oil supply?
("Oil Flow Could End, Yukos Says," Los Angeles Times, July 23, 2004)

"Yukos," according to the Times, "produces about 1.7 million barrels of oil a day, equal to some OPEC countries." The turning point in the case against Yukos, the Times noted, came "when court bailiffs moving to execute an initial $3.4-billion tax judgment announced that they were preparing to seize and sell not one of the dozens of small Yukos assets that might easily settle the tax bill, but the company's production unit, Yuganskneftegaz ... the two-month deadline for selling the company means there would be little time to raise financing, and a potential buyer would acquire it at a fire-sale price, analysts said. The government listed the unit's official value at about $1.8 billion."

The actual value of Yuganskneftegaz, as the Times admitted, is probably closer to $30 billion, or nearly 17 times the Russian government's ludicrous assessment. And who do you suppose will acquire the assets of Yukos, and the control of Yukos, at these fire-sale prices? I'm guessing it could very well be one or more of the Western oil giants. The Russian people, of course, will be less than thrilled with such a scenario, which is probably one of the key reasons that Putin has recently opted to reveal the iron fist within the velvet glove.

Michael Ruppert, being the top-notch journalist that he is, has either completely ignored or grotesquely misrepresented these recent developments in Russia and Saudi Arabia. The 'Peak Oil' crowd has claimed, with nothing to offer in the way of supporting evidence, that the Saudis are lying about their oil reserves and their ability to increase production. The Peakers have also strongly implied that the Saudis actually attacked their own facilities, so that they would not have to deliver on their promises. No logical explanation has been offered though for why the Saudis would lie and then immediately attack themselves to cover up the fact that they were lying. It seems to me like it would have taken less effort to just not tell the lie to begin with. The Saudis, meanwhile, have insisted that it is the Peakers who are lying. (http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=42933)
[For a discussion of the 'evidence' presented by the Peakers, see Michael Lyn