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Oil, Power, And Psychopaths
Submitted by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,
Iran has a – very – long running dispute with the US about its nuclear technology. The US wants Assad (Bashar Al-Assad) out of Syria, while Iran and Russia support Assad (Russia’s sole proper base in the Middle East), who’s an Alawite (a Shi-ite branch), a people historically persecuted by Sunni’s. ISIS (or Daesh in the region) is Sunni. So are the Saudi’s. Iran is Shi’ite. Bahrain is ruled by Sunni but has a majority Shi’ite population. And I could go on for a while. A long while.
All this plays into the oil game, the falling oil prices. Blaming OPEC for the recent price fall is seeing the world from a child’s perspective. OPEC and its major voteholder, Saudi Arabia, are no more to blame for the plunge than the US, Russia or other non-OPEC producers. Everybody produces as if there’s no tomorrow, and the Saudi’s have merely concluded that their only choice is to do the same. It’s a race to the bottom.
The reason is the fast declining demand for oil; China is nowhere near as mighty as we seem to think, Europe is a basket case, emerging economies are being strangled as we speak by the surging dollar and the Fed taper, and we’re just getting started. It’s cute and all that nobody wonders how much virtual money has vanished into the great beyond as both oil itself and the companies that get it out of the earth have lost half of their ‘values’ in Q4 2014, let alone the countries that depend on oil for their very existence. But cute doesn’t cut it.
Oliver Stone talks about ‘Ukraine: The CIA Coup’. I’ve talked about exactly that all of last year. While on vacation, Obama declares new sanctions on North Korea for hacking a Japanese company only the FBI claims it was guilty of. While US sanctions against Iran are ongoing.
America is trying to control the world by throwing it into confusion, emboldened by poorly understood theories about military superiority, and creating conflicts all over the place that look like they will never be solved. Whereas all it would need to do is make sure it secures itself, its own territory, not control the entire planet.
That was always a stupid idea. No big dream empire has ever lasted long enough to truly enjoy the fruits of its dreams for more than ten minutes or so. They’ve all ended in horrific bloodshed. The dark visions of impotent power hungry masters and servants have thrown overstretched empires into lethal turmoil for many thousands of years. It’s just that now, for the first time, it’s happening on a truly global scale.
The result will be the same; only, it’ll all go even more spectacularly wrong. It’s the way things go. But they won’t go the way our deluded powerbrokers think they will. That ‘mission accomplished’ message from W. back in the day is going to start sounding a lot more stupider as time goes by. You just wait and watch.
I found this bit interesting, from Reuters, it paints a good picture of how the confusion-all-around ‘strategy’ is supposed to supposedly work:
Iran Says Saudi Arabia Should Move To Curb Oil Price Fall
The Iranian deputy minister also criticised Saudi military involvement in Bahrain, which has been gripped by tension since 2011 protests led by majority Shi’ite Muslims demanding reforms and a bigger role in running the Sunni-ruled country. Abdollahian said Bahraini authorities’ continued detention of Shi’ite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman would have “serious consequences” for the government there.
Tehran and Riyadh accuse each other of interfering in the pro-Western Gulf island kingdom, one of several countries where their power struggle has played out. They also support opposing sides in wars and disputes in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Abdollahian dismissed United States efforts to fight Islamic State, also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh, as a ploy to advance U.S. policies in the region. “The reality is that the United States is not acting to eliminate Daesh (ISIS). They are not even interested in weakening Daesh, they are only interested in managing it,” he said.
The United States and its allies have carried out hundreds of air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Washington has also sent military support to Baghdad’s Shi’ite-led government but its role in Syria – where it has called for President Bashar al-Assad to step down – is more limited. Iran has sent Revolutionary Guard commanders to help its Shi’ite and Alawite allies in Baghdad and Damascus battle Islamic State and other Sunni fighters. But Abdollahian denied that Iran conducted aerial attacks on Iraqi sites.
“On the ground, where the U.S. should take serious action, there are no serious actions taking place. The US is not doing anything,” he said, accusing Washington of pursing a contradictory policy towards Islamist militants. “One day they support Daesh, another day they are against terrorism,” he said.
Abdollahian reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to Assad, saying the Syrian president must be involved in any political transition aimed at ending more than three years of conflict. He also criticized the latest U.S. sanctions on Iranian individuals and entities, saying they would not have a good impact on Tehran’s talks with world powers over its disputed nuclear program. “The United States must know that these actions make them bear a greater responsibility should the negotiations fail,” he said. “If the other side is honest in their actions, then we should expect these talks to reach a desirable conclusion.”
And then why not throw in a helping of Ambrose for good measure:
The Year Of Dollar Danger For The World
A sated China is as much to “blame” for the crash in oil prices as America’s shale industry. Together they have knouted Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The bear market will short-circuit at Brent prices of $40, but not just because shale capitulates. Marginal producers in Canada, the North Sea, West Africa and the Arctic will share the punishment. The biggest loser will be Saudi Arabia, reaping the geostrategic whirlwind of its high stakes game, facing Iranian retaliation through the Shia of the Eastern Province where the oil lies, and Russian retaliation through the Houthis in Yemen.
Mr Putin will achieve his objective of crippling Ukraine’s economy and freezing the conflict in the Donbass, but only by crippling Russia in the process. Controls will not stem capital flight. Mr Putin will have to choose between a dangerous loss of foreign reserves and a dangerous chain of corporate bankruptcies. He will continue to pawn Russia’s national interest to Beijing in order to save his Siloviki regime, but wiser heads in Moscow will question how a perpetual dispute with Europe and the revival of a dying NATO can possibly be in Russia’s interest. They will check his folly.
Ambrose sees only what fits his preconceived notions; pity, he could have been a great journalist. Putin didn’t seek a fight with the west, and his people, wiser heads or not, won’t blame him for being in one, quite the contrary. The most pervasive emotion in Russia today is deep-seated anger, versus the US, EU and NATO, for their blatant betrayal of both the country itself and the deals that were made ‘when the wall came down’.
Obviously, there’s plenty folk in Moscow, as there are in Kiev, that look to sell out to the US and scrape a million left and right out of that, but Russia is not Ukraine. You can’t just send in Victoria Nuland with $5 billion, organize a street party and expect to change another regime. Pepe Escobar clarifies why, to an extent:
2015 Will Be All About Iran, China And Russia
[..] it will be all about further moves towards the integration of Eurasia as the US is progressively squeezed out of Eurasia. We will see a complex geostrategic interplay progressively undermining the hegemony of the US dollar as a reserve currency and, most of all, the petrodollar.[..] Internationally, the Chinese will accelerate their overwhelming push for new ‘Silk Roads’ – both overland and maritime – which will underpin the long-term Chinese master strategy of unifying Eurasia with trade and commerce.
Global oil prices are bound to remain low. All bets are off on whether a nuclear deal will be reached by this summer between Iran and the P5+1. If sanctions (actually economic war) against Iran remain and continue to seriously hurt its economy, Tehran’s reaction will be firm, and will include even more integration with Asia, not the West.
Washington is well-aware that a comprehensive deal with Iran cannot be reached without Russia’s help. That would be the Obama administration’s sole – and I repeat – sole foreign policy success. A return to the “Bomb Iran” hysteria would only suit the proverbial usual (neo-con) suspects. Still, by no accident, both Iran and Russia are now subject to Western sanctions. No matter how it was engineered, the fact that stands is that the current financial/strategic oil price collapse is a direct attack against (who else?) Iran and Russia. [..]
Russia’s government debt totals only 13.4% of its GDP. Its budget deficit in relation to GDP is only 0.5%. If we assume a US GDP of $16.8 trillion (the figure for 2013), the US budget deficit totals 4% of GDP, versus 0.5% for Russia. The Fed is essentially a private corporation owned by regional US private banks, although it passes itself off as a state institution. US publicly held debt is equal to a whopping 74% of GDP in fiscal year 2014. Russia’s is only 13.4%.
The declaration of economic war by the US and EU on Russia – via the run on the ruble and the oil derivative attack – was essentially a derivatives racket. Derivatives – in theory – may be multiplied to infinity. Derivative operators attacked both the ruble and oil prices in order to destroy the Russian economy. The problem is, the Russian economy is more soundly financed than America’s. [..]
Moscow’s key mistake was to allow Russia’s domestic industry to be financed by external, dollar-denominated debt. Talk about a monster debt trap which can be easily manipulated by the West. The first step for Moscow should be to closely supervise its banks. Russian companies should borrow domestically and move to sell their assets abroad. Moscow should also consider implementing a system of currency controls so the basic interest rate can be brought down quickly.[..]
Russia does not need to import any raw materials. Russia can easily reverse-engineer virtually any imported technology if it needs to. Most of all, Russia can generate — from the sale of raw materials – enough credit in US dollars or euros.[..]
Replacing imports with domestic Russian manufacturing makes total sense. There will be an inevitable “adjustment” phase – but that won’t take long. German car manufacturers, for instance, can no longer sell their cars in Russia due to the ruble’s decline. This means they will have to relocate their factories to Russia. If they don’t, Asia – from South Korea to China — will blow them out of the market.
The EU’s declaration of economic war against Russia makes no sense whatsoever. Russia controls, directly or indirectly, most of the oil and natural gas between Russia and China: roughly 25% of the world’s supply. The Middle East is bound to remain a mess. Africa is unstable. The EU is doing everything it can to cut itself off from its most stable supply of hydrocarbons, prompting Moscow to redirect energy to China and the rest of Asia. What a gift for Beijing [..]
Now imagine Russia and China jointly investing in a new gold, oil and natural resource-backed monetary union as a crucial alternative to the failed debt “democracy” model pushed by the Masters of the Universe on Wall Street, the Western central bank cartel, and neoliberal politicians. They would be showing the Global South that financing prosperity and improved standards of living by saddling future generations with debt was never meant to work in the first place. Until then, a storm will be threatening our very lives – today and tomorrow.
Escobar is nowhere near right on all accounts, but he has some good points. The US enters this self-fabricated and self-desired ‘battle’ with a huge debt disadvantage. However, it holds the reserve currency, and stories about the demise of the petrodollar are way premature. That petrodollar rules well over 90% of all international trade, and it’s going to take a lot of time before that changes in a substantial way.
But countries like Russia and China have plenty revenue coming in in dollars, plus they have huge dollar reserves. It’s not a winnable fight for the power behind the power in Washington, but they’ll fight anyway, partly because that’s all they want and understand, and partly because they won’t do the actual fighting. The way we’ve set up our societies assures the worst possible people rise to the top. That’s just the way it is. And the way we are.
Still, America is never going to control the entire world. And any attempt to achieve that goal will take it further away from it. But a lot of people will be killed in that doomed attempt. And down the line the fighting will go on until there are so few people left, and so little organization, that all that remains is communities of a scale people can actually comprehend. That seems to be the only possible outcome as long as we allow for the psychopaths among us to decide who gets to have their fingers on the nuclear buttons.
But before that, we’ll have other shades of entertainment, we’re not done yet by any means. Angela Merkel just told Der Spiegel that she can live with Greece leaving the eurozone. Though that would blow up the entire edifice. I don’t know that I would call her a psychopath, but I have no confidence in anyone who floats to the top in any of our present political systems. And Europe can’t stomach any one country leaving.
It’s high time for a new model and for new people. But the old ones, and their utterly and dramatically failed economies, hold the power, the media, the money, everything. So what other way out is there but mass fighting, mass casualties, a complete overthrow of everything that exists today, probably nuclear bombs dropping, and in the end a world none of us would recognize, let alone be able to survive in?
It’ll take a while yet to get there, and it won’t be a pretty while by any stretch of the imagination. The powers that be are not done yet pretending to rule the universe and playing God. We should kick ‘em all out today, but we won’t. Because we’re all too much like them.
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the people get the government they deserve
.
....The West is trying to beat up on Russia...because...It is the least indebted Superpower...
the people get the government they deserve
In a democracy they do. Since democracy no longer exists we get what the crony-capitalists want as leaders.
Vampy, that interpretation misses the point.
The goverment is reflective of the collective will, character and psyche of its people.
Even when that will is lacking, character is superficial, and psyche is pathological.
Psychopaths have no conscience. They can plan to kill 3000 people on 9/11 because they believe that it's NECESSARY. They don't think "We shouldn't kill people because it morally wrong." They think it's NECESSARY to achieve their goal of more POWER. When power it the overriding motive, the most abhorrent actions become easily justified as necessary. Just ask Hitler.
If this guy believes he's just like them, then fuck him.
Are you arguing that the pervasive superficiality and weak character that are present in much of America's population are the fault of its leaders?
I'm not claiming that the psychopathology of the welfare/warfare state is representative of its people.
I'm claiming that it is permitted by the populace because its will is weak.
"Are you arguing that the pervasive superficiality and weak character that are present in much of America's population are the fault of its leaders?"
I would. Culture does not exist in a vaccuum, it evolves over time. And its evolution is influenced by those that define the cultural norms, which are those in power. You are arguing that leadership has no influence. How can one break away from a culture when one's thinking is defined by it?
I forgot to mention the common expression of America's victim mentality when reducing America's collective weaknesses to a few core issues.
In no way am I advocating that pathological citizens or leaders shouldn't be held responsible for the actions. They should be.
I am advocating heightened personal responsibility as the appropriate response to collective illness.
Evolution of culture and the healing of social pathology arise because one has the character and will not to be defined by the consensus.
Obama Putin and other leaders are SOCIOPATHS not psychopaths. A subtle difference.
I am not calling the elected officials or electorate psychopaths OR sociopaths.
I am saying that the collective social, cultural and political expression is pathological.
In our hunter-gatherer past, the most violent and psychopathic fought their way to the top of the social order.
Now, in the modern civilized world, the most violent and psychopathic are elected to the top of the social order.
Go figure.
Putin could either capitulate to the Bankster West, or not. Putin chose not.
He saw what capitulation looked like as the Oligarchs pillaged his land and over a million Russians died.
This is a fight to the death for either corrupt hellish America and it's nightmare vision for the world, or a renewed and revitalized economic Eurasian epoch led by China and Russia.
The Banksters will try and convince us that it is in our own best interests for America to ruin the world so it can rule it.
This bullshit article tries to tell us we're all sociopaths, so get used to it. it. Its wrong.
God bless Putin.
i don't think the suggestion is that we're all sociopaths; rather that we, by our collective complicity (as reflected in our thoughtless votes and callow apathy), are mutually guilty of treason against our Constitution, our republic, our culture and our progeny.
at a certain point, people have an obligation to face reality. we can sit back and blame media, politicians, education, etc; but at the end of the day, we all have stewardship for our beliefs, opinions and understanding of the world around us. in other words, people aren't made into sheeple, they by their volition and submission choose their status as such. they yield to the fleecers shears happily; why cry when they lope blithely along to the butcher's bin and are carved into mutton?
the people know they're being lied to; and they demand more and moar of the same.
pity them? i think not.
"for Light did but come into the world, but men preferred the darkness instead."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wycjnCCgUes
janus
The "character" of the American people has nothing to do with it. If you truly believe that real change can or will occur without a full on revolution then by all means please tell us how. In my opinion, the general public has not yet gotten to a point where they have nothing left to lose. And until that happens nothing is going to motivate John Q. Public to risk his/her life (way of life).
To imply this is all the American public's fault is no better than saying the American public is simply a victim. Takes two to tango. Those in power have had a lot to do with the way things are just as the American public allowed themselves to be lied to...a lot.
"In our hunter-gatherer past, the most violent and psychopathic fought their way to the top of the social order."
No.
Anyone who's studied hunters-gatherers knows that the elders (and supposedly wiser) were at the top of the social order. If they had a common trait, it was their total devotion to their elders (tribe chiefs, wise persons and councils of elders).
No society has ever had any use for psychopaths. The laws were born out of the very essence of human society, though the need for the group to protect itself from such individuals, and societies that have let them up the social order have always done so by accident or because they couldn't see though the disguise of a wolf in sheep's clothing.
I'm afraid we're living a new environment: the openly psychopathic bunch that, by all sane social standards, should be in jail is sitting at the top. It was all done with money, social engineering and relentless propaganda.
"In our hunter-gatherer past, the most violent and psychopathic fought their way to the top of the social order."
Not true!!
It is the social isolation of modern elites and the anonymity of the exact extent of their power and influence that goves sociopaths the ability to control government and society.
In contrast, the social cohesion of a tribe is essential to its survival.
See "Evolution and Ethics" by Sir Arthur Keith.
It was only the gradual displacement of tribal chiefs by landed aristocrats (creating social isolation) that began the process of governance by sociopaths.
Why can't people let others be free from their pathological control-freak mentality?
It's because, to some greater or lesser extent, almost everyone has psychopathic traits, especially the desire to use other people as objects.
The average level of how actionable the psychopathic traits are determine how successful and civilized a society will be.
"The average level of how actionable the psychopathic traits are determine how successful and civilized a society will be."
Expound.
In a society of thieves, thievery is condoned. In a militaristic society, warfare is lauded. In a hunter-gatherer society, private property is communal property.
I am not calling the elected officials or electorate psychopaths OR sociopaths.
Well I am calling both the elected officials and the majority of the electorate pathologically psychopathic.
You lack morals and and any virtue is distant from your apologist rhetoric..
we are all..., agreed, but to what level, hmmm - find a greater fool, lies, lies, small lies, half truths, ect.. hmmm again. we all do it! selling a car and a greater fool calls, oh yea, finally a sucker coming out to buy my piece of shit...ha, ...
This notion that society is at fault for "their" psychopathy is exactly what "they" (the psychos) want you to think. They want you to have their mind and by blaming society at large, "they" can justify feeling no guilt...
I would say psychopaths.
psy·cho·path
(s??k?-p?th?)
n.
A person who engages repeatedly in criminal and antisocial behavior without remorse or empathy for those victimized.
so•ci•o•path
(?so? si ??pæ?, ?so? ?i-)
n.
a person, as a psychopath, whose behavior is antisocial and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience.
thefreedictionary
Jesus H. Christ!
It's all DOOM and GLOOM, all the time!
Didn't anybody get laid over the holidays?
Robert Paulson, You have got to be naiive or a statist troll.
You wrote..
I'm not claiming that the psychopathology of the welfare/warfare state is representative of its people.
When 59% of the American Population support torture, in any form, then it is apparent that the psychopathology of the welfare/workfare/warfare/custodial state is representative of the majority of the population.
Personally I find it abhorrent that American Servicemen sodomized Iraqi and Afghani boys in front of their parents to make their parents talk.
Unfortunately the American public will justify this abhorrent behavior as justified because of the "necessary expedience" to protect American Troops from harm.
What is even sadder is that the actions place American Troops in even a more perilous environment because the local citizens of those Nation-States will seek out methods of revenge.
The populace will is not weak at all. The populace is COMPLICIT and not only financially supports it, but also add in their moral support.
What a BULLSHIT apologist response.
Now this is a great response. Well said.
Perhaps I am too judgmental.
I am just so damned angry at what we have developed into as a society.
I wholeheartedly agree.
I can see how what I have said can both be interpreted as naive AND statist.
While statism is implicitly implied by my push towards personal responsiblity for this mess, I have not explicitly made a case for it. Truth be told: while I find the libertarian/anarcho-social construct sexy, I struggle with the near-universally experienced fact that alphas will ascend social systems when there is nothing to "lead" them.
None of that however, has made me an apologist.
The ancient Greeks admired those skilled in argumentation.
The modern world apparently admires those skilled in telepromption.
Truth be told: while I find the libertarian/anarcho-social construct sexy, I struggle with the near-universally experienced fact that alphas will ascend social systems when there is nothing to "lead" them.
I agree. I also see that as the major flaw in the anarcho/libertarian construct. There are far too many that will opt for enslavement. Humans are herd animals and it is genetically hardwired in our DNA to follow the Alpha.
Thus we are in a predicament. THERE ARE NO POLITICAL SOLUTIONS. There are just dismal outcomes with disasterous and tormenting results.
Yeah. I haven't any peace. At times I am just a Cassandra. I can see it. But few will listen.
Then I become agitated...then explode when reason will not bear fruit.
So I vent here. Do not take it personally.
Didn't take it personally at all. I saw your responses coming from a very well reasoned and profoundly compassionate context. Don't let the abyss pull you in ;)
I'm torn on whether or not there is a possibility of a political solution. One could use the same power systems phenomenon for any moral end. The problem with that is there is neither the social nor poltical capital to generate a ground swell for that end. This is why my perspective revolves around the need for heightened personal responsibility and accountability.
But I'm also a student of Kuhn/Foucault, and I believe system-wide change/evolution is dictated by crisis. The mandate for a new perspective only arises when the old perspective systematically fails to address current problems. Current problems are papered over by welfare and confused by conflict. Is system reset the only logical conclusion, or can a boot stamping on a human face last until natural resources are extinguished (and beyond).
Ultimately, the preordained conclusion of those "in the know" that the system must fail is such a burden for humanity to bear. Breakdown or break through on the grandest stage for the highest stakes.
>>>I struggle with the near-universally experienced fact that alphas will ascend social systems when there is nothing to "lead" them
Therefore, we each need to find our inner alpha. No other solution.
And it's possible. The internet is living proof; a skinny pimply dork (usually white) can learn to code and code decently and become a millionaire or billionaire, while the testosterone jacked beefhead in high school who was screwing and banging all the young plums ends up working for 50 grand a year selling insurance. Who's alpha and who's not? Things will only get more interesting, and for the better. But don't take my word for it...
The product you see is the result of media conditioning over time. I would start by looking at those who own/control the media. Look to their bretheren who get most appointments in cabinet or whose "stink" tanks lay out policy. See how they control a totally corrupt financial sector to reap wealth and power at the expense of everything and everyione in this nation.
America isn't being run by Americans and the population are now a product of that foreign agenda. Those running America are not only foreign to Americans but also to every decent person on this planet.
Its will is weak? Ever try getting between someone and their chiming iCrap? No, they have the will. They lack intelligence and interest.
You're absolutely right, SuperRay.
3 thousand or 3 billion.
Meh. It's only a decimal point adjustment for the political psychopaths of the world.
Hitler a "psychopath" indeed NOT
Adolf Hitler for the first time made his appeal to the common sense of the other powers. On May 17, 1933, a few months after his appointment to the office of Reichskanzler, he delivered a speech in the German Reichstag, from which we extract the following passages:
"Germany will be perfectly ready to disband her entire military establishment and destroy the small amount of arms remaining to her, if the neighboring countries will do the same thing with equal thoroughness.
... Germany is entirely ready to renounce aggressive weapons of every sort if the armed nations, on their part, will destroy their aggressive weapons within a specified period, and if their use is forbidden by an international convention.
... Germany is at all times prepared to renounce offensive weapons if the rest of the world does the same. Germany is prepared to agree to any solemn pact of non-aggression because she does not think of attacking anybody but only of acquiring security."
No answer was received.
http://www.wintersonnenwende.com/scriptorium/english/archives/nothanks/w...
The government, (except perhaps in an actual democracy)
is reflective of the top leaders, the organizations headed by those leaders, and the minority (police,propagandists,etc.) who support them and ENFORCE their rule.
Your "collective will" is an over-generalized abstraction, especially when used to
justify or exonerate the (typically violent and self-serving) rule of a few over the many.
In no way am I justifying or exonerating those who propagate the oligarchy and promote the welfare/warfare state- ie, the American electorate at a city, state and national level.
I am saying that "elected" officials are allowed to misrepresent common will because the populace lacks the will and character to get off the couch and do something about it.
Robert Paulson
"will"? "character"? As though the path where to go, what to do, and how to do it is so clearly seen and certain to end in improvement.
Doesn't "deserve" includes an implication of "just"? For a criminal to get the punishment he "deserves", the punishment must be "fair", must be "just".
Haitians do not "deserve" the government imposed on them by the US,
neither do the Iraqis, nor the Palestinians, ...
nor do the citizens of the USA "deserve" the government imposed upon them by those same powers.
The use of "allowed" and "permitted" is misleading.
Should one also say a woman always "allowed" her attacker to rape her, and therefore "deserves" what she got?
How much sense does it make to say that when well-organized institutions backed by a well-organized and armed government
oppress and rape their citizens (and others), citizens "deserve" oppression
because not having been able to stop it (so far) is equated to "allowing" it?
I think some of the conclusions here are logically flawed. I agree that "deserve" is a word that can obfuscate a clearer exploration of how political representation can be reflective of the pathology of its people.
I, in no way, justify or exonerate those in government, or those who support government, for all the death, destruction, theft, and slavery forced upon mankind by government.
"In a democracy they do."
We need to be careful how we define democracy. Many here just see it as the tyranny of 50% +1, which it certainly can be. I like to think of it as the degree to which one can choose his way as opposed to having his choices dictated. ObummerCare is not "democratic" even though a supposed majority in Congress voted for it. It's a private insurance initiative that is being dictated to the populace, i.e., NOT democratic, as there's no choice to opt out without penalty.
You listening Amerika?
"We should kick ‘em all out today, but we won’t. Because we’re all too much like them."
I've never really liked this argument and for one very good reason - it's only patially true. While there are definately shared traits of human nature - like a fondness for the pleasure of women, say - we don't all rape. That's a BIG difference. Understanding and having a working theory of human nature is critical and useful, but it's not the whole story. Choices and values are key ingredients.
Another important element is power. We have a Constitution that took account of the follies of human nature by spreading power around, but the psychopaths in power have done what they can to discount the lessons of history and concentrate power for their own benefit. Hopefully we can find the unity and the courage to wind it back.
Ig, I often enjoy your comments, and read them when I do a quick skim on these threads.
but I need to point out something to you - and many others here.
these "shared traits of human nature" appear to ignore the half of "humans" that are female/gendered women - and there IS a difference, but I don't expect most here to acknowledge or even understand this difference - it's not to their advantage to realise, much easier to imagine others into cultural dead-ends, non-white labels included here as well. other'd peoples.
and this "Constitution" you and others reference - "spreading power around" - well, not originally and not intentionally, and not without some fighting for personal sovereignty by those who weren't "seen" as human from the outset.
privilege is inherent in the systems lauded, that's what heirarchies are/do, and some of that privilege built into the original tales of NationState history is being revised, clawed back by those who have controlled the scripts forever. the sooner people acknowledge this, and stop the lateral hatred so encouraged by "them" - the better.
peace.
Good comment. Mine was a bit hurried.
The Constitution is an important historical document though the limitations you point to exist. By "spreading power aound" I meant that we had the three main branches which are dissolving into one - the Executive, primarily under the guise of national security. I don't idealise the Constitution though its language of "inalienable rights" in the Bill of Rights is a treasure. We need a re-write.
Yes, the rape example pretty much excludes women, a bad choice on my part. Human nature has within it aspects that need to be understood on a structural level - if we put in a door to someone will go through it, etc..
Thanks
ig,
...yes, the rape example pretty much excludes women...
a family member, female, was raped brutally by a female 'friend', she was held hostage and raped with a knife and other objects...when the family member reported the rape she was told...1 in every 7 rapes reported are a woman upon another woman.
that took us all by surprise, but was very crucial in fully understanding, we humans are very complex, and perhaps not so entirely different from one another.
I think Raúl is channeling Radical Marijuana ;)
ZH Snob, In the broad sense I agree because mindless masses keep voting and filling "Ze Papers" with every ABC agency of the gov. Other than the free shit army, what will it take for people living in the States to stop participating with the insanity? Most of you belive that you can't say NO to the State. As an agorist of sorts, I try to promote living free from the State intervention in my private business. It's not easy but still very doable today.
The people get the government they deserve...
...good and hard.
...The Superpower most prone to BK is lashing out...
"Gvt is not the answer to your problems, gvt is the problem", pretty much still holds true today.
"Gvt is not the SOLUTION to your problems...".
FIFY. Problems have solutions, questions have answers.
I totally disagree that we're just like them. Maybe the writer is just like them...
I resemble that remark /s
You may totally disagree if you choose.
The EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE suggests otherwise.
When 59% of the population support torture then it is EVIDENT that there is an underlying malignant, narcissistic psychopathology underlying that social attitude.
Of course you do not offer any counterargument to debunk the author's assertions. You just offer a superficial shallow opinion because you do not want to face the REALITY.
But you are free to live in a fantasy...Knock yourself out.
When 59% of the population support torture then it is EVIDENT that there is an underlying malignant, narcissistic psychopathology underlying that social attitude.
....OR the propaganda the populace is being bombarded with adn the thought 'conditioning' they've gone through has become VERY effective. With limited ownership of media, unity of message and blatant manipulation of the message ('Zero Dark Thirty'!?! ... REALLY?)
I know a naval reservist - in military ingtelligence. They were fed a load of BS abut Iraq and 9/11, 'training' outside Baghdad and other crap that was pure fabrication... He STILL believes it was true. A pity - his father was WWII who would be horrified at torture and all the things we now accept - he was all for Nuremberg and prosecutions - outraged that more Germans and Japanese weren't executed for War Crimes.
You've got our military fed a VERY controlled meme - and taught OBEDIENCE to orders, NOT to think or question authority. They take an oath to 'defend' the Constitution but are never told WHAT they are defending.... Rights? a moral high ground? WHAT does 'America' mean? Few eVER give it a thought. And with an all volunteer military you no longer have ANY 'dissenting' points of view. That's a BIG cahnge from the past when you had the draft. Even at Service Academies you had guys who began to question Vietnam - seeing the bodies of friends come back without any real change in things - with absurd policies that NOBODY thought made sense....
Any poll by the MSM is by its nature fraudulent.
You seem to be apologizing for the same individuals who would "fire on American citizens" if given the order to do so.
I have absolutely no sympathy for .gov stooges (whether military or civilian) who would justify their existence by killing American citizens for some kind of political expediency.
There's a second Civil War coming in this country, ready or not.
You'd better decide which side you're on, cuz it's gonna be a bloody motherfucker.
Have you ever noticed that such "polls" as the cited "59%" almost never reveal how that number was arrived at (unless you really dig, and even then usually not)? Like who was asked? In what socio-economic strata were the respondents? Who paid for the "poll"?
When I see such "polls" my BS meter pegs on the high side and I usually ignore them since it seems that the principle function of such is to persuade, not to report It seems to me that the 50% number is someone trying to justify the bad stuff (that they KNOW is bad) is really okay because, afterall... don't 59% of the people SUPPORT it? So it MUST be the right thing to do.
Sorry. I'm one of the people who think torture is criminal and an offense against humanity, the animal kingdom, and the very stars in the sky, and the "people" who do such things REGARDLESS of motive, should be consigned to Hell for all eternity. End of rant.
Duplicate post deleted due to screwed-up computer/site/program?
"My father rode a camel. I drive a car. My son flies a jet-plane. His son will ride a camel."
Saudi Arabian saying. .... ??
WW IV will be fought with sticks and stones - Einstein.
BTW - it's hard to ride a camel on glass (nuked sand).
They'll be any camels left?
North America will repatriate its ungulates yet!
Lots of arrogant bullshit in this article.
Shorter Version :
The US (FED/IMF/WB/G20 owners) has and still is abusing it's priviledge as Caretaker of the WWRC , and since 1971 has been using it as a Geopolitic WMD.
Now we have the Bankster Cartel Department (G20 Brisbane) telling us that everyone must have a Bank Account and then the Indian (G20) PM saying "Don't buy Gold".... and opens the ICICI Digital Village in the same breath.
http://www.financialexpress.com/article/economy/dont-buy-gold-put-that-m...
Screw'em all I say.
As to : We should kick ‘em all out today, but we won’t. Because we’re all too much like them.
Well, I would prefer to say : "They made ( most of ) us in their image"
PS: ...by owning the MSM.
India seems to be politically bisexual: It goes to bed with both sides, i.e. US and BRICS.
Everybody produces as if there’s no tomorrow, and the Saudi’s have merely concluded that their only choice is to do the same. It’s a race to the bottom.
Blaming excess production for the stunning decline in oil prices from $110 a barrel in June to under $53 today is simply stupid. Everyone seems to have forgotten that low oil prices engendered by Saudi Arabia in 1986 to $10 a barrel caused the collapse of the USSR. It ignores the full spectrum war being waged by the US against Russia:
A multi-spectrum war is being waged against Moscow by Washington. If there are any doubts about this, they should be put to rest. Geopolitics, science and technology, speculation, financial markets, information streams, large business conglomerates, intelligentsia, mass communication, social media, the internet, popular culture, news networks, international institutions, sanctions, audiences, public opinion, nationalism, different governmental bodies and agencies, identity politics, proxy wars, diplomacy, countervailing international alliances, major business agreements, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), human rights, prestige, military personnel, capital, and psychological tactics are all involved in this multi-spectrum war. On a daily basis this struggle can be seen playing out on the airwaves, in the war theaters in Ukraine and the Middle East, through the statements and accusations of diplomats, and in the economic sphere.
Additionally, the debates and questions on whether a new cold war—a post-Cold War cold war—has emerged or if the Cold War never ended should be put to rest too. The mentality of the Cold War never died in the Washington Beltway. From the perspective of Russian officials, it is clear that the US never put down its war mace and continued the offensive. The dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, defeating the Soviets and Eastern Bloc, and seeing the Soviet Union dismantled into fifteen republics was not enough for the Cold War warriors in the US. The newly emergent Russian Federation had to be placated in their views.
Petro-politics have been a major feature of this multi-spectrum war too. [1] Not only have energy prices been a factor in this struggle, but so are financial markets and national currencies. The manipulated decline in the price of energy, which has been driven by the flooding of the global market with oil, is now being augmented by a siege on the value of the Russian ruble. This is part of what appears to be a deliberate two-pronged attack on the Russian Federation that seeks to cut Russia’s revenues through market manipulation via economic sanctions and price drops. It is what you would call a «double whammy». While sanctions have been imposed on the Russian economy by the US and its allies, including Australia, Canada, the European Union, and Japan, offensives on Russia’s main source of revenue — energy — and its national currency have taken place.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/from-energy-war-to-currency-war-americas-at...
On Full Spectrum War , you ommited Bribery, Blackmale, and Murder.
Sorry for the threadjacking.I'm loving every minute about the pedophilia case about the prince and Dershowitz.
Alan dersowitz,how dare you downvote me?
"Slick Willie was also a guest at the mansion where sex orgies were rampant."
So, that means we know it's true, since Hound Dog 1 was a visitor.
"The powers that be are not done yet pretending to rule the universe and playing God. We should kick ‘em all out today, but we won’t. Because we’re all too much like them."
"That is the money quote. If you are repulsed by that idea.....you too have been captured and corrupted by the psychos, through schooling, the culture and the media, but above all by wanting to belong.........to the herd."
It is very hard to go against the herd, but it can be done.
This 4th turning cycle demands it because survival is at stake.
I read "The Fourth Turning"... was not impressed.
Too much pop-news, too much choosing character/actors to fit the pre-choosen "conditions" and behavior thesis being promoted, and conditions expounded on that were at the most minor trends/environmental conditions. ie it looks like a book about a theory where the evidence was selected to fit the theory, not prove/disprove it. BAD pop-social science!!! BAD!
US oil and gas rig count plummets 35 to 1,840, Oil drillers have been shutting down rigs for weeks
http://investmentwatchblog.com/us-oil-and-gas-rig-count-plummets-35-to-1840-oil-drillers-have-been-shutting-down-rigs-for-weeks/
The rig count "plummets" by 2%. Am I missing something?
Yes. You are missing something...INFORMATION.
The Shale Oil paradigm requires growth in drilling to maintain a constant output.
A small decline in drilling and fracking will lead to a major decline in US Oil Production as the fracked well production falls off precipitously.
It will be of major importance for you to understand that as you dismissed a relatively small decline in rigs as meaningless.
I will give you this link to Chris Martenson's Crash Course of the fallacy of the Shale Oil Boom. I suggest strongly that you pay attention to the information presented. But, furthermore, you must develop an ability to INFER consequences from the data presented.
Please watch this video on YouTube. Then go to chrismartenson.com and READ THE TRANSCRIPT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xliyZMPJvjk
Deluded men crave supermen as their leaders and are always disappointed.
In Their Own Image Aspirationals. . .
kinda narcissistic if you think about it, hmm.
'Tyrants' come about when the populace DEMANDS them......
create a crisis and then offer yourself up as the savior... a technique going far back into antiquity, one our FOunding Fathers were acutely aware of.
The Flounders were also aware the Vote belonged to thiose with skin in the game.
Property owners, veterans, those who produce should be able to vote.
Universal Suffrage destroys Republics.
What i don't understand is this: There must be a huge amount of derivative bets out there on the price of oil.
(I wish we had a better idea exactly how much and their trigger dates..) Given the west knows there are derivative debts hanging over our collective heads, why would the west sponsor an huge drop in oil prices....it would amount to shooting yourself in the foot ...if not higher up....
You mean killing the petrodollar as colateral damage wasn't planned ?
I think it was, just not by the US.
This move was beyond predicatable, and someone just used the US's 'weight' against them in
a Judo move.
The fuse is lit, we just don't know how long it is.
Please expand.
This has to be the best headline I've seen in years.
CONGRATS!
"As the archaeology of our thought easily shows, man is an invention of recent date. And one perhaps nearing its end.
If those arrangements were to disappear… as the ground of Classical thought did... then one can certainly wager that man would be erased, like a face drawn in sand at the edge of the sea."
- Michel Foucault
Foucault certainly has a perspective on reality that most here have yet to investigate.
for obvious reasons. . .
the humanity as we knew it has already been dead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanity%2B
and the well-funded brainwashing factory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_Humanity_Institute
Bill Joy is right about the future and the future doesn't need us: http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html
The only way the US can survive is to immediately create and issue a new USD/TBILLS for the deposits in US banks on US soil all of which backed by gold/silver/oil, immediately begin issuing gold/silver/oil backed TBILLS at treasury auctions, immediately and publicly deem all other USD dollars around the globe as the fiat junk dollar it truly is and devaluing the old USD 95% overnight effectively wiping out our debt and re-establishing the US as the supreme superpower. We pull the trigger before they do, before the Commies become even more powerful militarily. Chaos would be certain, but, to an extent, , it would be controlled chaos.
Isn't that a variation of Bix Weir's theory - that there's a DELIBERATE effort afoot to crash the existing system and rid the US of corrupt Bankster control?
He posits that the US has been hiding and saving natural resources in preparation for the world-wide collapse - and the rebuilding of the US. Nice theory but I don't believe anything that altruistic and idealistic could be accomplished. IF that WAS the plan you'd have the corrupt oligarchy hijacking it to their own advantage.
We have a winner!
All that is truly broken is our financial system. It is inherently destabilizing and a financial asset ponzi. Until we reliquify the system (which can only be done through gold), trust in the financial system and the government will collapse, and societal stability along with it. All we have to do to bring about noon violent change is reject the financially asset ponzi. Let the Banksters who created the mess load up on the essentially fraudulent financial assets. Convert yours to gold and physical cash outside TBTJ banks (for future investment in domestic producers). If you can, invest in private domestic producers. 3 decades of gutting domestic manufacturing will reverse as globalization unwinds and reverse.
It can be done through laws, not gold. Of course those in control today have to be dead.
It is only broken for the 99% - the 1% and .gov are enlarged by it.
The author is incorrect about ,"big dream Empires lasting 10 minutes or so".
The Chinese Empire flourished for over 1,700 years ( and on its way back to another long lasting Empire), the Roman Republic and Empire over 1,000 years.
Communications are much better today. People get the word rather quickly. 10 minutes is about right.
A cantering horse, and a very reluctant messenger slowed things down somewhat.
New parties are rising in Europe and even the US has had the Tea Party emerge.
The 1% get one 1% of the vote ...... this is democracy .... we just need new parties and when things get bad enough they come.
in Spain Podemos got 8% of the vote four months after they formed.
They formed in 2014 are are now on for 27% of the vote ..... things can change fast even with democracy.
Don't under-estimate it.
The 1% can only use PR when there are some grains of truth to spin up ..... when they mess up badly they are done for.
I hear ya. Unfortunately, by the time the average cognitive dissonant American wakes up it'll be too late. Every Empire ends the same way. History just keeps on repeating. Decay, then devastation. We'll pick up the pieces later.
blah, blah, blah.
a superior command of the obvious
One wonders what the hell that blurb this means?
Does he not realise the Chinese have been using ships and highways for a very long time now, and trading globally at a furious pace?
What a load of bullcrap.
Bullcrap? Hardly. Google it. The Chinese, Russians, N & S Korea and a host of others are building this new Silk Road as we speak. It'll cut transportation time and costs by 30-40% vs. the old ocean going routes. This new Silk road isn't meant for cars, only goods transport and is structurally designed to last about forever. Even the US is involved in it's construction to some extent. Do your homework before blurting "bullcrap" around here. Anyone reading ZH for more than a couple weeks knows about this.
No, seriously, bullcrap!
Are they using the same contractors that are building the imaginary Qatar to Germany pipeline through Syria, perchance?
It's again completely imaginary hyperbolic utter fucking bullcrap.
Just because somebody lays a new fictional verbal trinket in your frontal lobes, with some catchy suggestive propaganda hook, this doesn't mean you have to fall for it like a wide-eyed Bambi after eating just the wrong sort of mushrooms. The pretty colours and the movement is not real, it's an halucination that was designed to sucker you. And it worked ... far, far too easily.
Now do yourself a favor and snap the fuck out of it, and don't be so bloody stupid.
China has remained dorminant for centuries. They are literally reinvigorating the silk road. No one would have thought of this 40 years ago when China was a communist wasteland. In addition to thr silk road they ate creating railways and pipelines from the north, increased talks about a plan to build the thai canal, and the canal operation in Nicaragua. All roads led Rome. Well, all airways, shipping lanes, railroads, pipelines, canals, roads, and railroads will lead to China.
You forgot the ghost cities, the roads to nowhere, and the ghost factories.
Don't be such a chump.
Also, gold flows where there is wealth: China, India, and Russia.
William Engdahl's 20 year old talk on the matter refreshes the memory; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoCMc-KU8TA
The psychopaths are the world government, and beneath them illuminati. It is not a conspiracy if it is true, and there are plenty of fingerprints throughout monetary history if one looks. This group funds themselves across the equal sign, using usury and rents. Religious means are both a cover and a shield to then give sanction to the rent takings. The main religion that is used for cover and shield is a non-populist blood line religion, and some adherents at top of this power pyramid use cousin marriage to insure control and compliance across generations.
There is an organizing philosophy, and it was learned by observing money power and how it could usurp existing civilization. It did undermine civilization in accordance with the desires of its money masters. Private money powers did have long running disputes with “legal” money, and there was both co-option and usurpations.
The roots of this knowledge go all the way back to Apiru and the beginning of metal money. The release of a unit that was a bearer instrument i.e. pay to the bearer upon demand, made mankind loose the fiat of its king, meaning the fiat of its civilizational law. Within that civilizational law, morality could be coded.
A pay to the bearer instrument is unconditional demand independent of its bearer, yet the creation and destruction of that bearer power (money) can be hidden powers. The Apiru noted this power as they took the exchange rate difference between silver and gold. They then also took the exchange rate difference between intangible and tangible. In other words, the intangible numbers on a clay ledger would grow with usury, and physical commodity money could only grow in volume with iron implements and slaves. Exchange difference is the operative word, and relates to the equal sign. This power subsumed humanity and led to most of the major wars, slavery, and conflicts from then to today.
Note that all bankers and money masters operate about the equal sign, where they do swaps and call it even. MBS, Bonds, Derivatives, Hypothecations, Harvestings for real assets - all of these are magical “swapping” of un-like things, but our weak human minds (yes, me too) accept that they are equal because we are told so and we have trust. The equal sign in economics is anything but equal, and this supposed equality especially cannot code for time, yet economists use it without shame. All economic math methods are therefore null and void as root assumptions are incorrect. Economists then are a priesthood who confuse with their math, and pretend their magic is moral and rational, while taking their pay from their real masters.
Money’s main function is to divide down at the moment of transaction, to then allow the transaction to go forth. Example: two humans engage in an exchange, but there is a difference in perceived value. Money makes up the difference; it disassembles into smaller numbers, and then can coalesce again later into larger numbers. Those two humans will do the trade, but they won’t know that the bearer instrument they are holding is being manipulated, especially its volume, type, and path. The trusting humans will also trust that their government has law that insures contracts are equal as possible, but won’t know that their governments have been usurped by this same shadowy money power. Trusting rational people have paid and are paying for their own dispossession.
Rational humanity, the non-psychopaths need to re-gain control of both money and it’s associated contracts. For morality to be encoded it has be built into money system by design. International credit money, created by private bankers for their profit, by its very nature– will collect and encourage control with psychopaths. We already know that psychopath’s are attracted to Wall- Street in high numbers.
As an aside, our latest technology can now brain scan for psychopathy.
Astle, traces private money power back to its beginnings:
MEFOBILLS
http://www.jrbooksonline.com/pdf_books/the_babylonian_woe.pdf
Interesting book, thanks for sharing, seems to be a good read.
MEFOBILLS
As usual another outstanding post.
Always looking forward reading your posts.
Whatever you do with your life make sure you never forget us here with your writings.
Few questions, if you don’t mind:
Russia money. Could you please comment on that?
Christianity and money.
And the people raiding the Japanese Yen’s…. such as that scumbag called Kyle Bass.
Thanks.
Ohh, by the way, thanks for the movie about Japans’ money system. Have not finish watching it but found it fascinating. And very easy to follow.
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room." President Muffly (Dr. Strangelove).
Watch the movie below. Everyone should.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5Ac7ap_MAY
Anyone who opts out of the game, or who never really engaged from the outset, can defeat and dismantle US economic hegemony, providing they have the resources. Both China and Russia fit this scenario, their current woes notwithstanding, not least since said problems are miniscule compared to those of the US and crucially, these difficulties can be resolved, circumvented if you will, because they are able to take decisions of a fundamental/structural nature without having to worry overmuch about an electorate. I'm new to this site and it's pretty interesting, but it's also clear that there is a constituency posting on here here that still thinks Amerika can and should continue to govern by the divine right of corporate crime and the force of arms. Where I'm standing right now all the indicators point to a major adjustment of current arrangements and tears before bedtime, or at any rate some time before the end of the 1st quarter of 2015, with further woes arising by the end of the 2nd. I'll be watching this space.
Outside the trolls there is still a lot of cog.diss. displayed by a lot of posters.
Even has quite logical thinkers end up wrapping themselves in old glory, from time to time,
I've noticed.A lifetime of brainwashing is hard to shake.
One thing I see Winston is a bunch of gold bugs with buyers regret, grasping at any straw that justifies the purchase and losses incurred. It seems to be quite the mind bender in many, even those quite logical, as opposed to merely partisan.
Which would you be? ... I know you're at least one ... but both perhaps?
Neither, and a legal neutral in the Great game.
I would still be living in the family palazio in Venice, if my ancestors took a wider and
longer view of events.Its a five star hotel now.
There is a message in that for all.
Good to hear, but it doesn't jive with one of your recent coments, which seemed quite odd from you, at the time. But whatever, there's plently of distortion and misunderstanding, all around.
As seen on TAE;
Yes indeed, we should throw out the psychopaths in organized government and replace them with even better organized psychopaths.
Heaven forbid we should see the evils of organized government itself and whittle it down to manageable size, and keep it there.
This is an excellent article. I especially like its emphasis on the fact that we're ruled by psychopaths who should never have been in positions of power.
Ultimately, the only way to change anything is to dismantle the class system. We cannot continue to allow the stratification of society into hierarchical groups.
The primary way to dismantle the class system is to show that society is being ruled only by graduates of Ivy League colleges and other elite schools. Within the Ivy League colleges are secret societies such as the Skull and Bones.
Then there are the other bastions of the Ivy League such as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and the Bilderberger Group. These are the power structures of the ultra-rich and, for the past 50 years, every presidential administration has been populated only by people from these organizations.
It's much the same in big corporations. The CEOs and board members of these corporations are invariably from the Ivy League and prefer to hire job candidates from the Ivy League. That is the very essence of a class system in which the rich control everything.
We like to think we're a meritocracy but we're not. Still the same elite and privileged classes running things. Some groups come and go but the core seems to remain.
They track and advance those with talent - but allow them to 'join' the system only if they fit in.
Rhodes Scholarships, Fulbrights, scholarships to Ivies.... the talented are admitted and tested over time. Do they buy into the system? Those that qualify are rewarded. Frightening actually. Talk to some minority Economics Major at a place like U Chicago who should clearly know better. Astounding at how many buy into the crap that's taught. They WANT to be part of the elite and will sell their souls to gain access.
Ultimately you're in the club or not - a few talented souls are admitted over time to keep things running smoothly (because over time the priviledged inbreed and often become moronic). Meanwhile those that are part of the elite who refuse to play along are punished - sometimes fatally. Dissent is not allowed.
I like your analysis. I think it's spot on.
"The reason is the fast declining demand for oil"
Note to authour: declining demand growth is not the same thing as "declining demand"
IE. demand for oil is not declining at all, let alone "fast" (sic), the rate at which demand for oil is increasing is declining. Big difference.
GoinFawr
There is also a 'big difference' between demand for oil and consumption of oil.
Oil poor nations like Germany and oil crazy nations like America are filling their strategic petroleum reserves whether oil is dear or oil is cheap.
Oil consumption, not oil demand, is a greater indicator of economic activity.
"oil consumption" isn't what the authour wrote, but have it your way; either/or/both 'oil demand' and 'oil consumption' (global) are yet increasing.
Consumption and demand are different but often conflated.
Can you link me to an article showing the consumption of oil is now growing?
thanks
"Consumption and demand are different but often conflated." so you keep saying, but is that the opinion of the article's authour?
Re:"Can you link me to an article showing the consumption of oil is now growing?"
Sure, for historical context:
http://www.indexmundi.com/energy.aspx
and for 'now' (Dec9,2014):
http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/report/global_oil.cfm
you're welcome
Raul's misapprehensions aside, can you link me to an article supporting your apparent belief that the global consumption of oil is now falling off a cliff, or "fast declining"?
thanks
TALK ABOUT PSYCHOPATHS>>>
THE BRITS HAVE GONE ALL OUT INSANE. WORDS CANNOT DISCRIBE HOW FREAKIN LOONY THE HAVE BECOME...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11323558/Anti...
TEACHERS TO SPY ON AND REPORT TODDLERS TO AUTHORITIES! I AM NOT JOKING! YOU JUST CAN'T MAKE THIS SHIT UP!
The UK has gone full fascist... Hitler would be proud.
The US isn't far behind.
Who ever you vote for, the government always gets in. Nothing has changed in my life time, and I suspect it won't. Not until democracy is left behind, and the people try and take the power back. Funnily enough - from what I gather - although democracy was created in Greece, only certain people were allowed to vote. So I am not sure even the word is correct anymore, yet alone the people one might vote for.
For reasons unknown Western banksters went kamikaze.
First the internet mania leading to the dot.com crash.
Then the most successful attempt ever to bring down the Western financial system by wall street in 2008.
Central bankers have decided to abandon Capitalism and do away with the creative destruction of recessions, leaving lots of zombie, inefficient companies and banks.
Not to mention there has been no removal of bad debt from the system since 1999 and debt levels are at all time highs.
Kamikaze banksters, you may yet succeed.
"No big dream empire has ever lasted long enough to truly enjoy the fruits of its dreams for more than ten minutes or so. They’ve all ended in horrific bloodshed."
That's not true. The Roman empire went out by itself, nobody knows exactly how. When the Germanic tribes invaded Europe in the 3rd to 8th century, all they found were barelly defended cities, when there were defended at all. Rome had gone, probably brought down by its own weight and inner conflicts.
Otherwise, it's true: no Empire has ever been able to last. And none ever will.
The end of empires .....
http://www.rexresearch.com/glubb/glubb-empire.pdf
A study through history.
The final phase of all empies is charcterised by an Age of Decadence.
A lust for money makes people selfish, working for their own ends rather than any common good.
Instant gratification, a persuit of pleasure over all else, no common purpose, pessimism.
The heroes are chefs and athletes .... strange but true (in the UK anyway).
It is the way they all end.
really not sure where to begin on this faux triade? its moar like an islamic pentagonal reunification of russia, china, turkey, germany, *azerbaijan/armenian. period!
the financial security of the globe was destroyed after bretton-woods collapsed in 1971. the world was moar insecure than ever, dollar`shocked [goldless?] and then to add moar misery to the pan-atlantist-ideological hysteria was none other than having that convenient-orchestrated dichotomious cold-war officially end between 1989-91... bringing about the totaltality of a fait accompli neo-classical`liberalism/conservatism rubic 's cube`cikle. unbeknowst to most muslim bedouins, there was a movement meandering about-- an islamic-modernization, where the islamic politics and ideologies saw for once with eyes-wide-open how the united states and it underlings would react to anyone nation, region or state upsetting their-- their--their, global [apple-pie cart] imperialist order with their military might to enshrine their hegemonic status-quo. this selfish`idiom of one-way laissez-faire.
here is brief list of wars the us of a has instigated/ perpetrated since wwii: china 1945-46, 1950-53; korea 1950-53; guatemala 1954, 1967-69; indonesia 1958; cuba 1959-60; belgian congo 1964; peru 1965; laos 1964-73; vietnam 1961-75; cambodia 1969-70; grenada 1983; libya 1986; el salvadore 1980's; nicaragua 1980's; panama 1989; bosnia 1995; sudan 1998; yugoslavia 1999; afghanistan 2001-2015; iraq 1990-91, 2003-11...etc., etc., etc., being that the myriad of changing unfavorable regimes to our liking?
think islamic revolution in iran 1978-79. iran had had it with us puppets. so coincidently in 1980-88 iraq starts a war with iran. ironically the us plays both sides agaist each other, but russia backs the iraqi's. why? [note: brzezinski actually wanted to go into iran militarially.] what is really interesting about the free-loving-christian generous and forgiving american world of catholism, etel., religions to follow?... is carter, reagan, bush #41, clinton, bush #42 and obi1, all called islamists.... radical anti-western extremists. why?
america was already anticipating a second cold war festering in africa, and asia via its support of a moderate [please don't laugh] sunni-islamic groups.
the ussr was finnished. history's failed anarchy that paralled nazi germany almost to a shared-insane duality ideology. never quite could figure out socialism versus communism other than a giant abattoir for critical thinking plebs?
now for some regional middle-east events to solidify america's dominace? of, 'divide-em-then-conquer-em'. in 1989 their was a military coup in sudan [note: sudanese & ethiopian nile/egypt's 'aswan dam'], whose administration installed and aligned with the islamic nat'l front, nice. but, what happens next is no-bigger a surprise of religious 'mission-creep' regading muslim [laughing a'ok] detente?, within a period of eighteen months later in 1991, there was an election victory of the 'islamic salvation front' in algeria of all places in north africa? guess the predictability of mixing religion with politics outcome is? a civil war claims 80k lives after the algerian military's abrogation of said elections in 1992.
the first gulf crisis 1990-91 re-establishes we're #1 post-cold war, and you belong to us-me? think what the french and english did to nasser regarding his suez in 1956, and how israel made-out like a bandit!
iran' khomeini, turabi of sudan, egypt's muslim brotherhood [moderate and pragmatic compared to the old days], palestine's hamas, lebanon's/ syria's hezbollah. realize that the us has closely tracked any-and-all political activities in their persian gulf,... their egypt, algeria, with co-cospirator saudi arabia coming in as almost equal to us deviation, with poor ole turkey getting monkey-fucked.
erdogan knows quite well that the us could replace him within a year if so choosed. erdogan must move quickly so he's aligning with the russian's which is a survivalist move. he saw what happened to pm erbakan [pro-islamic party] [ http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/turkey-signs-major-gas-deal-with-iran/320166.html ] when he visited iran and libya in 1996 and signed a us$20billion agreement to buy natgas from iran. on 8/5/97 the ussa imposes a int'l terrorist-sponseing-list with iran, libya and sudan made up the lysting`top via sanctions[!!!], isolation, and perpetual pergatory... wtf? the us wanted the nationalist 'wp' party out and the akp's party in, promising erdogan erdogan his lifelong dream of membership into the eu. in 2001 the akp was founded. what a blessing in disguise that the eu & usa played him and he nor turkey never got-in to the now defunct union. [note: turkey closed their military bases to the us combat troops when they thought of invading iraq in 2003 [ http://www.worldology.com/Iraq/iraq_war.htm ]. the me, african and asian countries were starting to wake up?, to the fact that uncle sam supports monarchial, and conservative regimes, with liberalism and secularism as a no-unknown kinda know if ya follow my drift?
turkey was never, ever actually allowed joining the eu. they were kicked in the face with cyprus and greece, and with eastern soviet blocks that were only a containment mechanism, getting easy access. period!
turkey is a** key-node for russia with the baku-ceyhan pipeline. the caspian sea oil fields are huge. azerbaijan plays big, aong with turkmenistan, with uzbekistan, kazakhstan, tajikistan, and finally, but certainly not least krygyzstan of russua's past satellites wanting a piece of the action. it's all about black and blue gold. the 1992 'black sea economic cooperation project [bsec]' was founded just for this to promote economic, political, and religious/cultural ties between cacasus, balkans, middle-east where turkey could end-up the mediator for russia, iran, china[ monguls/turkic] along the pentagonal rubic centerfuge.
i like to add moar later, bringing us current.... ps. please realize that islam is not a sub-cultural religion, but in fact is a hy-brid of christrianty and judism's
r
Blah blah blah
Speak for yourself you 'tard.
The problem, as I see it put simply, is lack of accountability and transparency.
How many of us would be angels if we could lie, cheat and steal without any consequences? If we could amass wealth beyond counting and the only world left to conquer is sheer naked power to shape society to our benefit and control the masses to do our bidding?
I might suggest that a businessman or Congressman may start his career to produce a good or service that is a benefit to his fellow citizens and at the same time advancing his place at the table. Over time, as wealth and influence accrue to his position, he becomes habituated to cutting a few corners to keep and improve his situation and defend it from those seeking to push them out and take their place. We have all seen this dynamic to some degree in our own careers.
Let us imagine now that we have reached a point where we are free to indulge ourselves in any manner because nobody is looking over our shoulder or looking at the books and the former competition and influence peddlers come calling to invite us to the inner circle where the real power resides. All it takes is a few handshakes and accepting that a few more corners to be cut. Nothing big or grossly illegal, but merely a bend or two here and there.
This isn't a problem because now we see how things really work and the red tape has to be lifted from time to time to get things done. It's obvious that we are the elected to steer the ship on a proper course because we're clever enough to be there in the first place.
Now we have reached the point where the watchdogs are sitting under the the same table looking for some leftovers and guarding you from any intrusion. Now the only bridge to cross is outright criminality without any consequence. It's not a crime because the law is for the little people to keep them in line. We are the elect. It's different for us.
Are there any saints or angels left?
Psychopathy is a process that develops in increments as behavior degenerates without barriers that restrict or control it. To act without consequence is a very powerful drug and I wonder how many of us could resist it if given a taste of the forbidden fruit.
This is not an apology for power addicts but more a rumination on how corruption begins and takes it's place.
One day at a time.
" That petrodollar rules well over 90% of all international trade, and it’s going to take a lot of time before that changes in a substantial way."
90% is an over the top number, in my opinion. This conventional wisdom that since something "IS" the way it "IS" today, then change would have to be very slow and very hard. WHY?
Lot's of trade in the last year has been de-dollarized, and plans are afoot all over the Asia Pacific and parts of Central Asia to continue this as fast as resonable. South America is also sick of dollar hegemony. Argentina sells food to Russia for Fighter Aircraft. No need to buy dollars there is there? Russia - China gas deal. Outside the dollar.
90%, he may be right, everyone seems to have their own numbers. But all world trade is 90% in dollars. That sounds more like from 5 years ago.
All transactions going thru' SWIFT are first converted to USD before conversion again.
And that is why SWIFT, and an alternate system is such a big deal.
In the space of months that 90% could be reversed,noboby likes paying skim.
If governments couldn't lie they would have never come into existence. They lie therefore they are. People don't think therefore government is.
Aliens abduct my ass NOW please.
Creation = destruction of the 1%. The CFR thinks creation = destruction of the 99%. The law of large numbers rules whereas the frauds of small numbers does not. Eventually, the greedy bastards will be supplanted by Hobbesian brutes and society will regress into outright destruction
and chaos until the planet is destroyed entirely with disease that cannot be controlled. The MIC is attempting to speed things up with Weaponized Ebola right now. All players will lose and the unlucky remaining few enclaves will suffer until they perish as well. The numbers alone dictate the probability of a bad outcome IMHO. Destruction of the superstructure of Government is certain.
American NeoCon / ZioCon psychopaths in control are making the biggest mistake in modern history. The USA has a PR problem in the Wold's view. The corrupted Media, Hollywood will NEVER be the same. There will be no forgiveness for this lesson of misplaced trust & mismanaged Modern Rome. Epic Sea Change times but in the diretion the psychopaths & dystopic dysfunctional sychophants think it will go.
Agree. 150 billion in projects put on hold due to price drop- https://www.rigzone.com/news/company.asp?comp_id=79
If lower consumption caused price drop, why did Saudis move to accelerate the price drop? They have a pretty good handle on who hurts when they pull the chain. They dont get a pass with world leaders for nothing
Good question
The Saudis warned Putin to back off Syria. But I dont think they would cry if the entire western economy collapsed. 9-11 knocked the sand out of the US. Someone had to make money on the way down
Saudis aside, I doubt Obama would be sad if the US crashed and burned. His could do the Hitler thing and offer a new shining path
I'd like to make a contribution but am too perplexed by this article in that the author is what i would term scatter brained ; he makes several reasonable points/assertions but out of context, alongside several preposterous arguments , flitting in and out as if he is deliberately trying to fuck with sheeples minds for the hell of it and in line with MSM trivia.
BY KEEPING THINGS SIMPLE a tactic NetanNutJobie and McStain practice to perfection ( who can forget the drawing of a bomb in CONgress or Bomb Iran theme to the Beach Boys respectively ).
By trying to be TOO clever he's made a CUNT of himself and obviously has ZERO intention of reaching the MASSES and in my book has his OWN agenda.
JO & JB sometimes say a lot but it is EASY to FOLLOW in a GOOD WAY and wins the hearts and minds of Neutrals and other lesser tits like myself.
Obama will be gone in 18 months , well out of it , concentrating on his LIBRARY ( fuck me , who gives a shit ) and the FASCISTS will look for another PATSY to sell to the dickweeds in the USSA whilst Putin ( unless someone tries a hitler bomb and gets lucky ) will STAND up in history as a MAN who didn't take the easier option and CARES about his country.
The article has a tinge of the neighbor's grass is greener i.e. China.
Look beneath China's glitzy infrastructures (hard, soft, markets, pliticial, economic, etc) and you find that they are tottering towards economic implosion. For this economic system to engender trust, it is going to take ages after they pull themseleve out of their morass. Meantime, no one including US is about to let China get its act together.
A hope and an articulation out of pains are not realities. While US is not a "beauty", it will take ages for the $ to collapse as a global currency because there is lack of trust in the alternatives. Their own People trapped in their Crony System (just a different variant) are largely dreaming daily to get "out'.
Yes the global econ-politico system is in a horrible mess for the 99% but spins using alternative systems/countries to augment arguments are disingenous.
"The way we’ve set up our societies assures the worst possible people rise to the top. That’s just the way it is. And the way we are."
How completely untrue. Unfortunately your public indoctrination is complete. The American coup started in 1911 with the advent of official secrecy which in effect gave the imperial powers a means to establish all the horrors of unaccountable secret agencies, then the feral reserve act that gave the imperial powers unlimited control of elections and war making powers, then 16th and 17th amendments which turned american citizens and states in subjects of the imperial state (and by extension subjects of the imperial powers). The snowball grew much bigger with the 1917 espionage act which was the military coup. With the States neutered and the people subjugated, the follow-on acts of WW1/2 and perma-war made permanent establisment of the secret agencies complete by 1947. Your indoctrination taught you that the "special relationship" between US and UK was a result of shared heritage. Very true in one sense as you all have always been subjects of Brittania in spirit. Now that yanks have fought every War of discretion on behalf of the imperial powers over the last 100 years, americans cannot even tell how completely subjugated they have become. It is this way because americas have been given the mind of the vile imperial powers and americans are now indistiguisable from their imperial counterparts. Amerika was designed to ultimately become a pawn of the imperial powers so they could go underground. Amerika is their shield and sword. They now operate largely in complete secrecy and "educated" americans (and their commonwealth counterparts) scoff at anyone who suggests the imperials hold any real power. Mardux.