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Oil & The Clash Of Civilizations
Submitted by James H. Kunstler vis Kunstler.com,
The big turnout in Paris was bracing but it also might reveal a sad fallacy of Western idealism: that good intentions will safeguard soft targets. The world war underway is not anything like the last two. Against neo-medieval barbarism, the West looks pretty squishy. All of the West is one big fat soft target.
Recriminations are flying — as if this was something like a Dancing with the Stars contest — to the effect that the Charlie Hebdo massacre should not be labeled as “France’s 9/11.” It’s a matter of proportion, they say: only 12 dead versus 2977 dead, plus, don’t forget, the shock of two skyscrapers pancaking into the morning bustle of lower Manhattan. Interesting to see how the West tortures itself psychologically into a state of neurasthenic fecklessness.
The automatic cries for “unity,” only beg the question: for or against what? The same cries went up in the USA after the Ferguson, Missouri, riots and the Eric Garner grand jury commotion, pretty much disconnected from the reality of ghetto estrangement, as if unity meant brunch together. The demonstrators quickly reminded everybody that Homey don’t play brunch. If French politicians think that some magical overnight state of fraternité will congeal between the alienated Islamic masses and the rest of the citizenry, they’re liable to be disappointed. If anything, mutual distrust is only hardening on each side, and, anyway, I think that is not the kind of unity they have in mind. Over in Germany, they don’t have to travel very far psychologically to recall the awful efficiency of Hitler in purifying the social scene according to some dark cthionic principle that remains essentially unexplained even after all these years and ten thousand books on the subject. It happened that he picked on a group that wasn’t disturbing the peace in any way; if anything, the Jews were busier than anyone contributing to Western culture, knowledge, and science.
It is at least well-understood that there are seasons in history, but they seem to have a mysterious, implacable dynamism that mere humans can only hope to ride like great waves, hoping to not get crushed. In the background of the present disturbances are not only the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, but the imminent collapse of the machinery that boosted up the greater Islamic economy of our time: the oil engine. It was oil and oil alone that allowed the populations of the Islamic world to blossom in a forbidding desert in the late 20th century, and that orgy of wealth is coming to an end. So will the ability of that region to support the populations now occupying it.
The violent outreach of Islamic wrath is actually a symptom of the region’s death throes, already obvious in the disintegration of one nation-state after another across North Africa and the Middle East. Saudi Arabia will only be one of the last dominoes to fall because it is so stoutly girded by desperate American support. The current theory is that Saudi Arabia can ride out $40-a-barrel oil because of its built-up cash reserves. But that seems mostly a schematic idea. Long before Saudi Arabia goes absolutely broke, it will face terrible internal political strife between the clans and the princes who happen not to be descendants of Muhammad ibn Saud — which represent only 15,000 of the roughly 29 million in the kingdom, and only about 2,000 of those actually in the power loop. King Abdullah is past 90 years old, a mere bit of fragile baling wire holding the whole thing together. Islamic violence is fierce as it is because the Islamic world is actually losing its mojo.
These are the stresses that are boiling over into the West these days. The West itself faces desperately terminal problems around its oil supply, too, mostly having to do with 100 years of the relationship between oil and finance in debt creation. The banking armature that is the dwelling place of all that debt is coming apart just as surely as the 20th century Muslim nation-states that were largely a creation of the West. The long war underway is a race to the bottom where the human project has to re-set the terms of a life above savagery.
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There is no Clash Of Civilizations
There is, we are choosing the road to the future right now
Civilized or not, their strategy of "everyone's a target, anywhere" does have it's tactical advantages to our occasional "surgical strikes" which are not surgical enough strike the right person most of the time. Internet access is going to turn every pissed off, alienated, or broke muslim into a soldier, and no one is ready for that.
Imagine if went to their country and just started killing people indiscriminantly. Oh wait...
Je suis blowback
...and those in the House of Saud, will one day soon (after the Japanese) realize that stockpiling mountains of fiat wealth for the last few decades will not work out so well.
The Japanese will cope with this realization much better since their culture is still obsessed with making things and doing things better than anyone else. The Saudi's....well, hey...you've still got oil for the next 40 to 50 years. party on...
Watch my right hand, not my left hand.
Afghanistan, multiplied 100 fold would be the best result if this truly turns into a clash
of cultures.Kunstler misses the obvious that this is blowback.
Wikileaks 1976: PBOC Focussed On Gold & SDR's
https://www.bullionstar.com/blog/koos-jansen/wikileaks-1976-pboc-particu...
Thanks for the link. Excellent info.
what he said...and great picture
The cash of civilization
You are correct in saying that there is no clash of civilizations. I think we are seeing the clash of savages and barbarians.
Christians have largely forgotten how to live a Christian life, Muslims are clinging to a second rate code of conduct, Jews continue to think they are the chosen ones and the consumerists are dying a slow and painful death.
Anyone who calls this civilization just because of technological developments is kidding themselves.
I'll agree, but I'd qualify twp points:
Not all Muslims are extremist/fundamentalist, and not all Jews are Zionists.
https://www.youtube.com/user/2628342
Except on Gameboy.
There is no world war underway. Just a selection of people who want it
Because very few are civilized and it's best demonstrated right here on this forum.
I'll say it again: It is worth learning skills all the way from the 19th century to the neolithic.
" Individual Muslims may show spendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the World. "
Winston Churchill , 1899
In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar, the Egyptian, combining the powers of transcendent genius with the preternatural energy of a fanatic and the fraudulent spirit of an impostor, proclaimed himself as a messenger from Heaven, and spread desolation and delusion over an extensive portion of the earth. Adopting from the sublime conception of the Mosaic law the doctrine of one omnipotent God, he connected indissolubly with it the audacious falsehood that he was himself His prophet and apostle. Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus the faith and hope of immortal life and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex and the allowance of polygamy, and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. The essence of his doctrine was violence and lust. To exalt the brutal over the spiritual part of human nature. Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged. That war is yet flagrant, nor can it cease but by the extinction of that imposture which has been permitted by Providence to prolong the degeneracy of man. While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon earth and good will towards men. The hand of Ishmael will be against every man, and every man's hand against him.
-The American Annual Register for the Years 1827-8-9 (1830), Ch. X, p. 269. Authorship has been attributed to Adams in "John Quincy Adams: A Bibliography: (1993) by Lynn H. Parsons, p. 41, and in "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)" (2005) by Robert Spencer, p. 83. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams
Great quote. Puts the lie to all the idiots who claim that Islamic violence is a modern phenomenon.
The history of Islam is one endless'blowback'
..but libtards will be libtards.
No one doubts that Islamic non-state terrorism is the dominant form of non-state terrorism right now.
Western states, of course, have been killing tens of thousands yearly for decades, as, in fairness, they have done amongst themselves.
The Koran contains a great number of passages of violence. It also contains passages of peace. As it happens, with 1.4 billion Muslims in the world, it should be obvious that the vast majority don't find in the Koran motivation to engage in violence. It is a tiny, tiny minority.
If we are to be honest, the Old Testament/Torah celebrates violence and xenophobia at least as much as the Koran, and clever Jewish and Christian apologetics really only ever make arguments for the absurd idea that it's not violence and hate when Yahweh commands it.
Islamic violence always existed because violent people always do - the same minority of psychopaths as surely have been found in Christianity and Judaism''s wide histories.
When you claim to be Chosen, and Eternal Sacred Victim - how blinded one is by Lucifer's light to not see one's own violence, and vileness and hate?
When Israel Is MightyAh, the old "There is violence in the Old Testament, therefore Christianity = Judaism = Islam"
Unfortunately, that is a naive and facile analysis.
Compare HOW violence is depicted in the Old Testament to the Koran.
In the Old Testament, violence is typically portrayed in descriptions of historical events.
In the Koran, violence is portrayed as a manner of religious doctrine and policy. Believers are commanded to wage war on the infidel; to kill the infidel, or conquer and subjugate him. "Peace" is defined as a world united in Islam, either by eliminating all unbelievers, or forcing them to convert at swordpoint.
Hopefully you can understand the difference?
it's cause Jesus had blue eyes right? and the infidels have brown? or is that just the picture book?
All religions have similar core values and all religions are "used" politically for their opposite purpose
Religion has always been useful to stir the populace to engage in wars. Remember the Christian Crusades and the Muslim responses, the "Gott Mit Uns" belt buckles of German soldiers, and "God is on our side" preached to the armies of the Allies?
The moral lessons of Jesus: "turn the other cheek", and "forgive your enemies" are conveniently overlooked by the "Christians" when it comes time to raise an army.
The Koran is a Manual for Government of Arab tribes; the Old Testament has only Leviticus as a Manual for Government and the rest is 6000 years of Judean history
Human skull drinking cups may become fashionable again.
Rainman,Do you know that winston churcill wanted to convert to Islam?
And then he figured out what an idiot he was being in 1897 and wrote that quote in 1899.
Just in time, I always wanted to be a spear chucker.
Time to pick a side. We all know that the first ISIS mass attack on the US is coming, it is just a matter of when. That will be the justification for the invasion of Syria.
ISIS comes out ot it's hole to make a video now and then. Otherwise they are losing.
Look at the massive amounts of wealth being expended to ferret out a few hundred or a few thousand Warriors of Islam...I'd say their asymmetric war is reaping phenomenal gains. Not to mention the police state on steroids empowered to protect us.
Its mostly field testing drone weapons.
Its all fun until someone loses an eye and if ISIS gets a nook and runs a touchdown, it will be on like Donkey Kong.
The middle east will get dogpiled and at best will end up a US protectorate.
Everyone seems to forget how bloodthirsty Americans can get. Just look at any kid playing Call of Duty all day...
Soon war will be almost automated and our side's soldiers wont be the flesh and blood kind
The Germans believed that in 1944.
Once the IS takes over Saudi Arabia and gets the Saudi nuclear arsenal (you know, the one the Saudis bought from Pakistan), they will use it immediately to wipe out the Shiites and confirm their status as the true and rightful Caliphate. That is when they become unstoppable and swarm into Central Asia and conquer everything up to the borders of China and Russia.
The ISIS army is now about 200K troops. They have recruited huge numbers of men from the territory they rule.
We've done a good job creating a brewpot for pissed off desperate boys
it's almost as if...we meant to
What happened to my picture?
It won't save it when I try to upload?
weird, it fixed itself
Liiiink
Yeah, I'll be on my own side because such an attack would also be the justification for what the powers that be have been wanting for ages: total lock-down and daily anal probings of the American citizenry.
Syrian invasion, ramped up police state... two birds with one stone.
Tell us, do you have a rifle in your car trunk ready to go? Those terrorists may pop-up at your local 7-11 any moment. Will you shoot them as they dash to their get-away car, or phone 911?
LOL
Yes, I do. Never know what it will take to get home.
There's certainly a lot of amrchair generals here.
What was that Edmund Burke quote?
All that is required for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.
You're welcome.
Danke
they came for your neighbor and you cowered down. next they came for you and...
The West is led by a political class that will sacrifice the individual, one by one, on the Altar of Tolerance. If you're waiting for a political messiah to save your language, your borders, your Nation...you might as well make funeral plans for you and those you love. Only action by individuals will change the course of history. jmho
Hopeful words but is there another Christ or Gandhi out there? I think not. But I wholeheartedly agree that the individual is the one that must make a stand and at least not allow himself to become fodder or an incubator for more evil.
Gandhi was successful only because those he sought to overcome were followers, however imperfectly, of Christ. Do you think he would have overcome ISIS? Or the Nazis? He would be less than a footnote in history had either of those groups controlled India. The British had higher ethical standards. Another Gandhi would probably have little effect in the post-Christian milieu in which we live.
As for another Christ: One was/is all we need. His second coming will not resemble the first.
Of course...he'll be clean shaven and in suit & tie.
Can it wait until after the Super Bowl?
It already has waited until after the super bowl and it will continue to wait until after the super bowl. Unless it happens concurrently with the super bowl. The question is which super bowl and does it matter?
The violent outreach of Islamic wrath is actually a symptom of the region’s death throes
Kunstler is always the first to blame Muslims. Apparently, Obama bombing 7 Muslim countries has not contributed to those countries becoming failed states or for any blowback. And the 3.3 million Muslims killed in Iraq on lies about WMDS was just fine and dandy. Apparently, the Muslims are only capable of savagery even as the US engaged in genocide:
US Sponsored Genocide Against Iraq 1990-2012. Killed 3.3 Million, Including 750,000 Children Statement by Professor Francis Boyle, Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunalhttp://www.globalresearch.ca/us-sponsored-genocide-against-iraq-1990-201...
Kunstler is well known for supporting the US/Israeli war against Muslims. And his credibility is less than zero as he subscribes to the official government fantasy that 19 Muslims were responsible for 9/11:
I regard the 9/11 conspiracy theories as a fantasy and a distraction from the real problems we face Kunstler
The purpose of our Iraq project was to stabilize the Middle East by creating a successful buffer state between Iran and Pakistan to the east and the nations west of Iraq, especially Saudi Arabia. Kunstler
An illegal war that killed millions is neatly described as a project for stability to make it palatable. And so what if 3.3 million Iraqis died? It was all OK as Madeline Albright declared on 60 minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbIX1CP9qr4
Kunstler is just a warmongering neocon with less that zero credibility.
Not that I necessarily believe it, but according to many comments I've read here on ZH, you just blamed a Muslim for bombing 7 Muslim countries. Are you just like Kunstler?
How can anyone take the 'west' seriously. They can't even get home grown parasites off their EBT cards...fight an insurgency on western soil???
Naaa. Too messy. Just give in and HOPE everything CHANGES.
an old man putting his cart before his horse
http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/the-clash-of-civilizations/
"The violent outreach of Islamic wrath is actually a symptom of the region’s death throes, already obvious in the disintegration of one nation-state after another across North Africa and the Middle East."
I agree with most of the article, but I must recall that most North Africa and the Middle East nation-state collapses (Lebanon, Iraq, Lybia, Siria...) have been engineered by USA and their allies. Somalia, Yemen and Bahrein are perhaps a different thing (unsure of Somalia...). Other nation-states are still performing not bad (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt...).
If Egypt is on your 'not bad' list, that's ... not good.
Ask yourself this question: After the age of oil, how can Islamic Civilization sustain itself? They are anti-modern and incapable of technological industry and innovation. Their only hope is to conquer the whole world and make other nations their slaves. An ISIS caliphate is the only possible future Islam can ever have.
" Against neo-medieval barbarism, the West looks pretty squishy. All of the West is one big fat soft target."
I feel like that is a very true statement. What amazes me is how totally inept the radical Muslims Jihadists really are. Their recent attacks on France were very spur of the moment type of targeted assassinations, showing lack of planning, total lack of ambition and poorly executed. That is a good thing, it shows those ready to kill like this are very few and very unskilled. What I worry about, is if these ass clowns ever awaken to the softness of the targets. Frankly, a motivated and intelligent terrorist, with a partner or 1 or 2 could reap a terrible toll in minutes, should they wake up to their potential.
Makes me wonder what goes on in their pea brains, crippled and depleted of cognitave abilites by religion. We are "in the shit" if they ever wake up. What was it a few years back in Bombay India, the ass clowns killed something like 100 or more! The same could be done here.
Muslim immigration is large and growing, we are told Europe is as much Muslim land as it once was European. Most liberals accept that Muslims have a god given right to move into Europe in unlimited numbers. Well, liberals, when Muslims are local majorites, which they already are in some places, like the UK, they immediately take over. It was found that public schools in the UK, run by Muslim school boards, pushed christianity out, and forced Musilm belief and worship in, and it was all planned in secret.
That sort of thing will grow and grow. And when liberals demand Muslims majorities respect European ethinics and christain religion, these Muslims will laugh in their faces. I give you a 100% guaratee of that!
The Muslims haven't been able to compete militarily against the West since the Ottoman Empire folded up shop. Since then it's been 1) They kill a couple of thousand of us. 2) We kill a couple of hundred thousand of them. 3) They kill half a million of each other.
Uh, that's not gonna work. But immigration will. The pen may be mighter that the sword, but the fruitful womb trumps both.
The womb has to be kicked back to Arabia.
The coming right-wing 'revolution' in Europe will see to that.
With the native European birth rate below replacement levels, the PTBs there have to do somethng. Otherwise their cradle-to-grave nanny states will go tits up.
Ponzis have to be constantly fed with new blood. It's the nature of the beast.
ISIS has the potential to change that dynamic. They are a modern day Genghis Khan, and just as unstoppable if they break out of their current box. If ISIS takes over Saudi Arabia and grabs the nuclear arsenal, they will make short work of Iran and Assad's regime, and then expand without any constraint. An India-Pakistan nuclear war would be pure joy to ISIS. They would finish off the Hindu survivors and expand their empire right up to the borders of China. A Caliphate has the potential to raise a 200 million man army.
I was about to respond to this and I just realized that I am an idiot for even entering into this false debate. I would rather see the "fuck you Bernake" comments. They are more well thought out. The comments for this moronic article are the most idiotic I have seen since i started reading zerohedge in 2009. I am dumber for reading and responding to this. I am an idiot. I really truely hope that most of these comments are by paid disinformation agents of various governments. If not, we are truely fucked. A 200 million man army? WTF?
Yes Hindus are pussy cats like Americans.......you really have to learn what India is capable of with modern Russian weapons
Genghis Khan was successful because he and his army were able to move fast; he had top notch horsemen. He used the "shock & awe" techniques which other aggressors of this world used effectively in later times.
These ISIS fellows have no advantage today.
"Their recent attacks on France were very spur of the moment type of targeted assassinations, showing lack of planning, total lack of ambition and poorly executed."
There are professionals who disagree with you on this point.
"I will add the following after watching the footage with my staff several times.
What many do not know is that the GIGN has been watching and defacto protecting that media outlet since the firebombing a couple of years ago. GIGN is as capable and good at killing as any US PSD Group.
That these terrorists managed to find the keyhole into this, carry out their mission and then escape, is indicative of a highly trained paramilitary group...not some crazy guy with a gun. It also speaks to me of either a complete coincidence, a deliberate political order standing down of forces "at just the right moment", or an inside job.
Watching them move one can say they are no strangers to team tactics, killing, or special hit and run direct action. Hardly the lone wolf jihadist, or "sudden jihad syndrome", this was a well planned, supported and executed event."
http://blog.suarezinternational.com/2015/01/islamic-terror-strikes-franc...
yes, but here's the thing.
my opinion.
They were trained, but quite narrowly for this one mission. And they very probobably expected an extraction.
You entirely missed the point. These men were trained in tactical movement, marksmanship, and small-team tactics.
That is NOT "single mission" training.
Let's assume I have more direct combat and combat extraction experience than you.
Listen, buzz words, if you focus on what looks cool, you miss what they did wrong or did not do at all.
If I miss a point, I'll fucking let you know, champ.
If 15000 morons receive on average a million a year to get by, that’s over 15 billion in revenue that goes to people who crawled out of the right pussy.
No wonder muslim leaders keep tapping on the Koran while saying democracy is evil and only for infidels....
The Middle East was divided up by the British and French during Victorian times, then the US got some clout and took over, so what. We wanted their oil and took it - I suspect soon there will be some payback.
Today the Chinese and emerging economies need the oil and Russia is a competitor, Europe fancied itself as a player, but Uncle Sam said, "No, you're too young and stupid, shut up and do as you're told!"
The world needs less oil and gas and will continue to need less - economies in the serfdom model are tanking. Renewables and nuclear are the growing industries, so fossil fuel is returning to be exactly that, an uneconomic fossil that stays in the ground, like coal (and wood before it).
We didn't take their oil. We had them sell it to us. Taking it might have been cleaner.
Anglo-Persian was create by the Persians ? ARAMCO was created by the Saudis ? I think you might find the oil was taken in Burma, Persia,
More like clash of the criminals.
Ok.
And what role does Expansionist Zionism [Oded Yinon + The Grand Chessboard] play in this clash?
Class?
Those evil Muslims made Jim become bad at math as well.
WTC1 + WTC 2 + WTC 7 = 3 buildings not two.
wishcasting
If you don't know why Hitler purged Jews in Germany you have not read "Mein Kampf" where it was very, very clear how much he loathed Jewish journalists and Socialist politicians from his days in Vienna and the trades union bullying and the extolling of France and denigration of German culture. It is so patently clear what his gripe was, it is so apparent to anyone with an ability to read that your somewhat deceitful inability to articulate what it was suggests you are avoiding a truth you fear might resonate beyond 1930s Germany and Poland and Austria.
Unclear, it is not and was not. Unpalatable for modern sensitivities perhaps, but do not try to twist historical fact to suit your modern agenda in 21st century USA
Kuntsler has no understanding how much oil Saudi Arabia has, which is LIMITLESS!!! Don't think so? Try them. Better yet, take them over, they're the problem in the Middle East, the very center.... electanewcongress.com scienceofliberty.us
SERFS UP MOTHERFUCKERS!!!