'The phrase petrodollar warfare refers to a hypothesis that one of the driving forces of United States foreign policy over recent decades[when?] has been the status of the United States dollar as the world's dominant reserve currency and as the currency in which oil is priced. #The hypothesis: Most oil sales throughout the world are denominated in United States dollars (USD).[1] According to proponents of the petrodollar warfare hypothesis, because most countries rely on oil imports, they are forced to maintain large stockpiles of dollars in order to continue imports. This creates a consistent demand for USDs and upwards pressure on the USD's value, regardless of economic conditions in the United States. This in turn allegedly allows the US government to gain revenues through seignorage and by issuing bonds at lower interest rates than they otherwise would be able to. As a result the U.S. government can run higher budget deficits at a more sustainable level than can most other countries. A stronger USD also means that goods imported into the United States are relatively cheap. Political enemies of the United States therefore have some interest in seeing oil denominated in euros or other currencies. -- In 2000, Iraq converted all its oil transactions under the Oil for Food program to euros. When U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, it returned oil sales from the euro to the USD. The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran takes this theory as fact. As retaliation to this policy seen as neoimperialism, Iran has made an effort to create its own Iranian Oil Bourse which has sold oil in Gold, Euros, Dollars, and Japanese Yen since its opening. The theory is supported historically by Iranian intellectuals as a move made by the American elites after World War II with the Bretton Woods Act, taking away Gold backing from the Pound Sterling and discreetly starting the eventual pegging of Gulf Arab Oil producers' currencies after Britain gave them independence in 1961 and 1971. These countries were further secured militarily after the Gulf War in 1990. This pegging of the currencies along with the exchanges being exclusively in USD in only two places, the IPE in London and NYMEX in New York City, has given the United States a near monopoly, with growing economies such as India and China waiting in line for orders. Critics say this revolutionary move by Iran in creating a rival market may also be one of the reasons for the ongoing energy-related US competition with Iran.'

'The war rhetoric from Washington towards Iran is again being ramped up - just ahead of the second round of high-level international talks on the country's nuclear program. US military top brass claim they would need just three weeks to defeat Iran's armed forces.' -- Let the dollar circulate

'Every year India spends $12 billion on purchasing oil from Iran, but now it is using gold instead of dollars. India might not be alone; China has suggested it would jump on board with India. New Delhi and Beijing account for 40 percent of the Iranian oil exports.' -- Competition is a sin!

Ingo Bischoff at 03:14 PM -- 'The USD, as exclusive "world reserve currency", is like writing checks which are never cashed. If a competing currency can cut into or replace the USD for paying oil bills, the "USD checks" would be presented for payment. That is the reason the U.S. military makes sure that nothing happens to the Saudis, and nothing happens to the free flow of oil out of the Persian Gulf. It's all about securing the value of the USD. As to Russia and China, they have the democraphic and natural resources to compete with the U.S. as an industrial economy. What they don't have, is a currency which can match the USD in value. Having gold to "back" a currency means nothing, unless the currency is redeemable. Would Russia or China create a "redeemable" currency? There is doubt whether China or Russia would accept Anglo-American monetary superiority voluntarily. A hot war to resolve the problem, is unlikely. Therefore, the fight is on the political level, primarily by turning the U.S. into a complete and openly controlled and managed economy ala Russia and China. In the meantime, the U.S. has been involved in Afghanistan to prevent the construction of an Iranian pipeline into China, and a Russian pipeline into the Indian Ocean. The Obama administration is a friend of the FED central banking crowd which determines the quantity of USDs. However, they are an ardent foe of the American oil majors which decide the "value" of the USD in connection with the Saudis and their fix of the oil price. The present presidential election must be understood in this context. NATO has evolved into a enforcement arm to assist the U.S. in securing the value of the USD. The trouble with the EURO must be seen in context of Europe having to support the value of the USD.'

'The image of the traveling snake oil salesman of 19th century America is by now a familiar trope. It is the image of the heartless huckster who preys upon the trust of the general public to swindle them out of their hard-earned savings. With a bottle of useless tonic and the help of a plant in the audience, the snake oil salesman made a living out of lies and deceit. In these respects, William Levingston was your average snake oil salesman...' -- "Competition is a sin!"

'Dominant Social Theme: Capitalism always seeks to exploit the worker and is always expansive. Wars are always those of exploitation. -- The above is nonsense of course but the memes keep getting repeated. It is a form of mind control ... an elaborate thematic fiction involving the way society is supposed to work. The press will play up the BP documents endlessly because they make great fodder for the perceptions that Western elites want to confirm: All wars, certainly the smaller ones, are those of Western imperialism with the goal of raw material exploitation. This removes the onus of war from the government itself, which is seen suddenly as a passive, put-upon actor. (Without evil corporations, government would be a force for good.) It also obscures the ... small, familial power elite that stands BEHIND government and is waging a war not for resources ... but to, in a sense, RUN THE WORLD. The Anglo-American elites will do anything and everything they can to obscure this fact!'

'Today in the Middle East, either by stupidity or design, the Federal Reserve's perpetuation of the dollar and treasury debt Ponzi schemes is now dependent on the survival of a few dictatorial regimes staying in power in the Persian Gulf while surrounded by spreading freedom revolutions [initially foreign intelligence-engineered for regime change]. This is the most dangerous region in the world and the focal point for conflict between Iran and America, the freedom revolution and authoritarian regimes, Sunni and Shiite, Israel and the Arab world, vast oil resources and the oil needs of the West and China, and where the decision will be made to price oil in depreciating dollars or in other currency alternatives. Of all the conflicts and threats in the region, the question as to whether oil continues to be priced in dollars and the dollar remains the world's reserve currency for now and the risk of a US dollar and debt collapse are the greatest threats facing America and the West.'

'The revolutionary mood has been spreading across the Middle East and North Africa for almost three months. Syria is the latest country where people are marching to voice their anger. For them, it's about the freedom to speak out. Five people have reportedly been killed after security forces fired on hundreds of demonstrators in the southern city of Daraa. The crackdown was launched after multiple protests sprung-up, defying a ban on marches. In Yemen, at least 45 people died and dozens of others injured after snipers allegedly opened fire on workers who staged a walkout in an anti-government protest in the capital. In Bahrain, the army demolished the 'pearl monument' which had become a symbol of a month-long Shi'ite uprising against the Sunni monarchy. But the foreign interference in these countries is noticeably thin on the ground, compared to the focus being given to Libya right now.'

'The globalists have used the Libyan uprising to considerable advantage. The US has made a pretense of reluctance to get involved with the fighting and thus reinforced the idea that the UN itself is in charge of Western warfare. The power elite, wants to preserve the dollar/oil reserve conversion but at the same time it seems intent on general global destabilization. The "war on terror" becomes infinitely more feasible when there are actual Islamic states to focus on beyond Iran or the ephemeral al-Qaeda. Domestic authoritarianism is driven by perceived "enemies," and there is no doubt that Western powers are pursuing domestic civil rights crackdowns with a vengeance. These Western-inspired color revolutions are evolving in ways that are both predictable and unpredictable. But one thing is for certain; they are not what they seem. Where they are headed, and how they will ultimately change the geopolitical context remains uncertain. (Though increased chaos seems a given.)'

'...forget the talking head experts on cable, as the real story is not about Libya but rather about Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and the danger the color revolutions present to Anglo-American interests in the Middle East and the continued world reserve status of the US dollar. What happens now in Libya is anyone's guess because it has served its purpose well and the delays provided the time necessary for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf council to invade tiny, insignificant Bahrain. The nation's only importance is the opportunity for use as an Iranian bridge to Saudi oil. The small island nation produces little oil, but like the major oil producing regions of Saudi Arabia, it is home to a regional Shiite majority which could ally with Iran. Washington and London, controlled by Anglo-American elite financial interests have decreed that the color revolutions must end at the edge of the Sunni/Shiite oil producing regions. -- Remember, it's all about the dollar...'

'Here's what you won't hear discussed on CNN or FOX or in the pages of the NY Times, etc.: The US dollar, priced in oil, became necessary for ALL nations to maintain as a reserve currency. That is if they wanted to buy any oil—as dollars were what the Saudis and the rest of the OPEC members would accept. This created the effect of an ever-growing demand for dollars. And like any Ponzi scheme, you need an ever-expanding base of demand, or else it crumbles, which they all eventually do. So, under the guise of spreading their new religion, democracy, Western elites have brought various developing countries under the control of non-elected world government agencies. If it were just about the oil supply, why wouldn't the US open up their vast oil resources in the mid-west? The answer is because it isn't really about oil at all. It is about maintaining the global oil trade in the fraudulent US dollar so that the 20th century game of wealth redistribution and mind manipulation can continue.'

'Russia is imposing sanctions against Colonel Gaddafi's regime, banning the exports of weapons and military equipment. It's part of mounting pressure for action against Libya, following fresh clashes between rebels and the government. Anthony Wile – founder and chief editor of online newspaper The Daily Bell told RT that the opposition in Libya is far from united.' -- "[The 'rebels'] are going to get help whether they like it or not and some would say that help is what has been driving this 'revolution' to begin with."

"The Jolly Roger it is." -- Starve the beast, me hearties!

Pay-walled. Recommended. -- When a pyramid scheme nears its inevitable end... "...the public insist on being handed the empty bag because they think they're going to make money, they want in on the game, everyone else has been making money, they feel left out so they insist on buying these things at the peak, and they are the ones who lose everything."

'...there is enormous mismatch between renewable resource intensity, demand and grid capacity. ...by the time we get to the point where there could conceivably be the grid capacity, people are not going to be able to finance the projects, because we are moving into a credit crunch. So we are not looking at a scenario where we are suddenly going to invest enormous amounts of money in renewable energy. We don't even have the productive capacity for wind turbines and solar panels and various other alternatives at this point. We would have to build the factories first, then we would have to build the renewable energy infrastructure... The amount of money and the amount of time are absolutely staggering. And a lot of these technologies have a very low energy returned on energy invested anyway, so you are not talking about something where you can create an enormous surplus of energy beyond what you are having to put in to create the capacity in the first place.' -- cont. oil price insights

'"We're looking at a crisis of cataclysmic proportions," said Charles Hartsell, an environmental scientist at Tufts University. "In a matter of days, this oil may be refined into a lighter substance that, when burned as fuel in vehicles, homes, and businesses, will poison the earth's atmosphere on a terrifying scale." "Time is of the essence," Hartsell added. "If this is allowed to continue, the health of every American could be put at risk." Experts are saying the oil tanker safely reaching port could lead to dire ecological consequences on multiple levels, including rising temperatures, disappearing shorelines, the eradication of countless species, extreme weather events, complete economic collapse, droughts that surpass the Dust Bowl, disease, wildfires, widespread human starvation, and endless, bloody wars fought over increasingly scarce resources.'

'Thunder in the Skies implicates the Little Ice Age (ca. 1250-1300 AD) in the invention of the chimney, as well as knitting, buttons, wainscoting, wall tapestries, wall plastering, glass windows, and the practice of privacy for sleeping and sex.'

'BP is accused of destroying the wildlife and coastline of America, but if you look back into history you find that BP did something even worse to America. They gave the world Ayatollah Khomeini. ...the British persuaded the Americans to mount a coup by telling them that Mossadegh was leading Iran towards communism – represented in Iran by the communist Tudeh party. This was not true. But the CIA, led by Allen Dulles, believed it. The coup succeeded and Mossadegh was overthrown. In 1965 the white minority Rhodesian government declared Independence from Britain... A number of countries broke the sanctions – including Iran. But so did some British companies – notably two of the big oil companies – Shell and BP. ...the BBC had decided to make an epic 9-part documentary series about British Petroleum. The films were pretty sycophantic. At that time BP was still owned by the British government – and what you see is one large state-run organisation paying its respects to another.'

Drilling for abiotic oil. BP tried to do what Russia did but at sea. Stupid. Greedy. Accident. Beyond human technology to contain. Nuke? If nuke fails... !!! They hit magma? EPA: Volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere over the Gulf and dispersing inland: Hydrogen Sulphide, Benzene, Methylene Chloride. Toxic rain.

Interview MP3: 'BP + Halliburton + Department Of Energy + University Of California - Coop Radio Interview With Leuren Moret And Alfred Webre - Program Content: Disaster Capitalism: Energy Competitors In Caribbean, Obama And The American Power Act, US Agency + BP Cozy Relationships, Foreshadowing: Coast Guard + BP Drill, Oil Rig Disaster – April 20, 2010, Environmental Impact – Short/Long Term Damage, HAARP Black Sea Storm 2007'

'Big Oil has used environmental regulation to generate a competitive advantage... This sort of mercantilism is endemic to the industry... The Deepwater spill is sure to put pressure on deep-water drilling, which in turn will make the price of oil even more expensive. US oil companies are, at the least, facing the prospect of more regulation as regards deep-drilling, off-shore efforts. Is this something US big oil conglomerates fear? Hardly. More regulation merely raises the barriers to entry once again. Worst case, exploration moves to Africa and central Europe and prices rise once more for American consumers. To visualize the oil industry as fighting like mad to stave off environmental attacks is to utilize a paradigm that is from our point of view a bit naïve. Environmentalism, to date, has been one of the power elite's most successful promotions, a dominant social theme worthy of an Oscar nomination.'

'Completion Date: 2014. Strategic Impact: ESPO has the impact of tying China into its strategic partnership with Russia as it draws more from its neighbor's energy reserves. If Japan remains out of the equation, it may serve to bolster the China-Russia partnership, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization they both lead, and continue to ostracize US allied Japan.'

'KEY COMPONENTS OF THE ROAD TO ROOTA THEORY: #1) All markets have been 100% controlled by computer programs since the 1970's in order to steer and control prices thus prolonging the fiat monetary system. #3) In the early 1900's the United States embarked on a secret policy to hide all of its own natural resources and exploit the rest of the world's until resource scarcity was fully recognized. #4) In order to support the oil backed US Dollar and the world's petro-based economic system the "powers that be" have hidden new energy technologies that would greatly benefit the world's population as well as the environment. #5) Since 9/11 there is a group of people and governments that have decided "enough is enough" and are in the process of removing the banking cabal from their seat of power. #6) The planned destruction of the fiat monetary system is the type of "Creative Destruction" event that will force the implementation of a new Gold Standard within the United States.'

'Specific examples to support the abiotic theory have been cited over the years. Each example has been dismissed by the Western establishment as specious while it has been hailed by proponents as convincing. This is always so when a deeply entrenched belief and massive money flows encounter a subversive idea that profoundly threatens the prevailing order. The matrix of scientific, political and business interests in the West, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Brazil and Venezuela that refuses to countenance abiotic theories is big and potent. These interests want oil and gas to be scarce and expensive for a variety of reasons. It is understandable that no credible test of the theory will be attempted within the ambit of these interests. The Russian authorities and oil and gas companies seem to be deeply conflicted between intellectual pride and the desire to keep oil and gas prices high via the idea of scarcity when talking to the rest of the world about their abiotic oil and gas reserves.'

'By specializing in advanced ultra-deep offshore oil exploration, Brazil has moved from being a country dependent on Ethanol for its gasoline consumption to becoming a net exporter of oil within less than a decade. The discovery challenges "peak oil" theorists who contend the Earth's supply of oil is running out. The geological description of the Campos Basin is consistent with the abiotic theory, that oil is formed inorganically, within the mantle of the earth, and seeps up into reservoirs formed in porous sedimentary rock deposits. WND reported Chevron in September 2006 announced the discovery of a giant oil reserve in the Gulf of Mexico, the Jack Field, estimated to hold as much as 15 billion barrels of oil, enough to increase the U.S. proven reserves by as much as 50 percent. Still, environmentalists largely have blocked offshore ultra-deep oil exploration in the U.S.'

'In "Black Gold Stranglehold," Corsi and Smith expose the fraudulent science and irresponsible politics that have been sold to American people in order to enslave them. #The value of the dollar and its effect on terrorism: Osama bin Laden's "war against America was fueled by his belief that the U.S. has stolen the oil of Muslim countries. At the core of the issue is bin Laden's perception that America has paid for oil, a hard commodity, with paper dollars that are no longer backed as they once were by the hard commodity of gold." #How high the price of oil?: "Today, the U.S. oil industry is sitting on a quantity of oil reserves that has never been higher. Still, we have built no new refineries, and the refineries in operation are producing at or near capacity. The picture that emerges is one of industry conglomerates simply sitting on large reserves and waiting for oil prices to go even higher. At some point, increased gasoline prices become an inevitable drag on the economy."'

'One theory claims that oil is an organic 'fossil fuel' deposited in finite quantities near the planet's surface. The other theory claims that oil is continuously generated by natural processes in the Earth's magma. One theory anticipates deep oil reserves, refillable oil fields, migratory oil systems, deep sources of generation, and the spontaneous venting of gas and oil. The other theory has a difficult time explaining any such documented phenomena. -- So which theory have we in the West, in our infinite wisdom, chosen to embrace? Why, the fundamentally absurd 'Fossil Fuel' theory, of course -- the same theory that the 'Peak Oil' doomsday warnings are based on. -- The message there seems pretty clear: once the people understand what is at stake, they will support whatever is deemed necessary to secure the world's oil supplies.'

'There is no way to conclusively prove that no petroleum is of abiotic origin. Science is an ongoing search for truth, and theories are continually being altered or scrapped as new evidence appears. However, the assertion that all oil is abiotic requires extraordinary support, because it must overcome abundant evidence, already cited, to tie specific oil accumulations to specific biological origins through a chain of well-understood processes that have been demonstrated, in principle, under laboratory conditions. Perhaps one day there will be general agreement that at least some oil is indeed abiotic. But the important question to keep in mind is: What are the practical consequences of this discussion now for the problem of global oil depletion? ...the majority of its production are nearing or past their all-time production peaks. Not even the Russian fields cited by the abiotic theorists as evidence for their views are immune...'

'Lindsey Williams talks about his first hand knowledge of Alaskan oil reserves larger than any on earth. And he talks about how the oil companies and U.S. government won't send it through the pipeline for U.S. citizens to use.' -- Artificial supply shortage/price inflation scheme to prop up the dollar and defend against supply from cheaper sources. Iran cited as wanting to sell their oil in euros (as did Iraq).

'Col Fletcher Prouty explains how oil was falsely classified a "fossil fuel" in 1892 and how that deception was advanced further in the 70's by Kissinger and Rockefeller.'

'This film goes in detail through the untold history of The Project for the New American Century with tons of archival footage and connects it right into the present. This film exposes how every major war in US history was based on a complete fraud with video of insiders themselves admitting it. It film shows the white papers of the oil company Unocal which called for the creation of a pipeline through Afghanistan and how their exact needs were fulfilled through the US invasion of Afghanistan.'

'The amount of work you get out of a given energy source depends, not on the amount of energy, but on the difference in energy concentration between the energy source and the environment. [Example: the heat from hot coffee dispersing in the air whilst the coffee itself cools to room temperature] ..there’s exactly the same amount of energy in the dining room ...what you have is a shortage of the difference between energy concentrations that will allow the energy to do useful work. (The technical term for this is exergy). How do you solve your energy crisis? One way or another, you have to increase the energy concentration in your energy source relative to the room temperature environment. Any time you make energy do anything, you have to let some of it follow its bliss, so to speak, and pass from a higher concentration to a lower one. The more work you want done, the more exergy you use up. Since energy always tries to follow its bliss, highly concentrated energy sources are very rare.'

'...the premise [is] that Americans are genetically/culturally more prone to risk taking, impulsivity, novelty-seeking, and therefore addiction... -- The brain has been fooled into ‘thinking’ that achieving [any] high is equivalent to survival... -- If the rush is tied to something that society rewards we call it ambition, if it's attached to something a little scary, then we label the individual a ‘risktaker’ and if its tied to something illegal – then they are an ‘addict’ or substance abuser. So it seems culture has voted on which drugs are 'good' to pursue. -- In order to overcome addictions, it is usually not enough to argue about which year the drug supply is going to begin its decline. It's a better path to understand the addiction, admit it before one hits rock bottom, and either begin the cold turkey process or become addicted to something else. -- ...when an addict (broadly defined) is exposed to higher prices, conventional economic theory will not hold.'

'Michael Ruppert gives a lecture of Zbigniew Brzezingski's 1997 book: The Grand Chessboard. -- "The most immediate task is to make certain that no state of combination of states gains the capacity to expel the United States from Eurasia or even to diminish significantly its global arbitration role." (p.198) -- "In the long run, global politics are bound to become increasingly uncongenial to the concentration of hegemonic power in the hands of a single state. Hence, America is not only the first, as well as the only, truly global superpower, but it is also likely to be the last." (p.209)'

'Michael Ruppert gives a lecture of Zbigniew Brzezingski's 1997 book: The Grand Chessboard. "Abuot 75% of the world's people live in Eurasia, and most the the world's physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underneath its soil." (p.32) -- "...the three grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependance among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep barbarians from coming together." (p.40)'

'#Russia's slick oil pipeline will change world economy: Over the next few days, on Russia's Far Eastern coast, something will happen that will profoundly impact global politics, diplomacy and the future shape of the world economy. -- ...a major new pipeline, connecting Russia's Eastern Siberian oil fields with fast-growing Asian markets, not least China. -- Russia is now the leading crude producer on the planet. Factor in gas exports and the Bear is the world's biggest energy supplier by far... Russia's existing energy export pipelines point West – and are focused on supplying Europe. But that's about to change. ESPO is what political strategists might call a "game-changer". It means Russia will be able to send its oil either east or west – so can drive a harder bargain when selling crude to Europe. -- I'm still amazed that what's happening in Russia's Far East – not least ESPO and the Russia-China energy link-up – isn't headline news in the West.'

'The United States is massively building up its potential for nuclear and non-nuclear strikes in Latin America and the Caribbean by acquiring unprecedented freedom of action in seven new military, naval and air bases in Colombia. The development – and the reaction of Latin American leaders to it – is further exacerbating America's already fractured relationship with much of the continent. The new US push is part of an effort to counter the loss of influence it has suffered recently at the hands of a new generation of Latin American leaders no longer willing to accept Washington's political and economic tutelage. Brazil had already expressed its unhappiness at the presence of US naval vessels in its massive new offshore oilfields off Rio de Janeiro, destined soon to make Brazil a giant oil producer eligible for membership in Opec.'

'The Peak Oil school rests its theory on conventional Western geology textbooks, most by American or British geologists, which claim oil is a ‘fossil fuel,’ a biological residue or detritus of either fossilized dinosaur remains or perhaps algae, hence a product in finite supply. An entirely alternative [‘a-biotic’ —non-biological] theory of oil formation has existed since the early 1950’s in Russia, almost unknown to the West. The emergence of Russia and prior of the USSR as the world’s largest oil producer and natural gas producer has been based on the application of the theory in practice. This has geopolitical consequences of staggering magnitude. -- While the American oil multinationals were busy controlling the easily accessible large fields of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and other areas of cheap, abundant oil [at the expense of domestic production] the Russians were busy testing their alternative theory. They began drilling in a supposedly barren region of Siberia.'

'The Climate Research Unit (CRU) in the UK was set up in 1971 with funding from Shell and BP... The CRU was still being funded in 2008 by Shell, BP, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and UK Nirex LTD (the nuclear waste people in the UK) This is important to know, for two reasons. Firstly, the key institution providing support for Global Warming theories and the basis for the IPCC findings receives funding from “Big Oil” and the nuclear power industry. Secondly, the research from the institution which is perceived to be independent publicly funded research, is actually beholden to soft money, CRU is in fact a business. -- The IEA put a date on peak oil production THIS WEEK, so if the CO2 scare does not pan out they are already starting to put the ‘Peak Oil’ story into play. It is also the 2020 date -- Since there was not enough money in coal it would not be financially rewarding to simply try to promote coal as a replacement for oil. ...connect the dots and follow the money.'

'Sitting in a room that looks like a bunker, Ruppert recounts his career as a radical thinker and spells out the crises he sees ahead. He draws upon the same news reports and data available to any Internet user, but he applies a unique interpretation. He is especially passionate about the issue of peak oil, the concern raised by scientists since the seventies that the world will eventually run out of fossil fuel. While other experts debate this issue in measured tones, Ruppert doesn't hold back at sounding an alarm, portraying an apocalyptic future. Listening to his rapid flow of opinions, the viewer is likely to question some of the rhetoric as paranoid or deluded, and to sway back and forth on what to make of the extremism. Smith lets viewers form their own judgments.'

'What we are left with are THREE forms of energy acquisition in the oil/gas realm - offshore, Middle East and deep drilling for natural gas. You, dear reader, are welcome to consider this a coincidence. We have a hard time doing that. -- We have long noted how the industry's preferred term for oil is "fossil fuel." Do you think it is possible that a few—a relative handful of top Big Oil geologists—had an INKLING that oil is a naturally occurring geological phenomenon. Is it just possible that even the LABELLING of oil as a "fossil fuel" is a part of the promotion. This is big stuff, that our everyday energy is naturally produced and does not come from the geological renderings of large cold-blooded creatures. Why, oh, why haven't I heard of this, you wonder.'

'Kutcherov has simulated the process involving pressure and heat that occurs naturally in the inner layers of the earth, the process that generates hydrocarbon, the primary component in oil and natural gas. ...the findings are a clear indication that the oil supply is not about to end, which researchers and experts in the field have long feared. He adds that there is no way that fossil oil, with the help of gravity or other forces, could have seeped down to a depth of 10.5 kilometers in the state of Texas, for example, which is rich in oil deposits. “There is no doubt that our research proves that crude oil and natural gas are generated without the involvement of fossils. All types of bedrock can serve as reservoirs of oil,” says Vladimir Kutcherov, who adds that this is true of land areas that have not yet been prospected for these energy sources. -- The degree of accuracy in finding oil is enhanced dramatically – from 20 to 70 percent. “The savings will be in the many billions.”'

'The move will give the hyper-rich club of oil exporters a petro-currency of their own, greatly increasing their influence in the global exchange and capital markets and potentially displacing the US dollar as the pricing currency for oil contracts. Between them they amount to regional superpower with a GDP of $1.2 trillion (£739bn), some 40pc of the world’s proven oil reserves, and financial clout equal to that of China. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar are to launch the first phase next year, creating a Gulf Monetary Council that will evolve quickly into a full-fledged central bank. -- “The US dollar has failed. We need to delink,” said Nahed Taher, chief executive of Bahrain’s Gulf One Investment Bank.'

50min documentary: 'World War I exposed Western greed and political intrigue laying the foundation for wars, coups, revolts, oppressive dictators and military interventions in today's Middle East.' -- "The American people truly believe that the use of military force can only be for a higher purpose."

50min documentary: 'World War I exposed Western greed and political intrigue laying the foundation for wars, coups, revolts, oppressive dictators and military interventions in today's Middle East.' -- "Oil disappeared from the discourse and increasingly elaborate reasons were given for going to war."

'The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency who claims it has been deliberately underplaying a looming shortage for fear of triggering panic buying. -- "Many inside the [IEA] believe that maintaining oil supplies at even 90m to 95m barrels a day would be impossible but there are fears that panic could spread on the financial markets if the figures were brought down further. And the Americans fear the end of oil supremacy because it would threaten their power over access to oil resources," said the IEA source, who was unwilling to be identified for fear of reprisals inside the industry. -- ...as far back as 2004 there have been people making similar warnings. Colin Campbell, a former executive with Total of France told a conference: "If the real [oil reserve] figures were to come out there would be panic on the stock markets … in the end that would suit no one."'

'#When the global economy truly recovers oil will skyrocket up to or beyond the $150 where it was in late 2008. If the dollar is indeed still "overvalued" and going to 40 as many technicians predict, oil will likely reach $300 a barrel. This will in turn drive gasoline prices north of $6, heating oil will reach $7-8/gallon, and diesel will be commensurate with heating oil. #This will in turn decimate the trucking industry. Now you know why Buffett bought BNI. Many things he may be, but dumb isn't one of them. Trucks will of course remain for terminal-to-door deliveries but for long-haul they will simply be uneconomic. Those who currently are employed in this business will lose their jobs. All of them. #The middle class will be decimated. Those who live in suburbia, who are primarily middle-class Americans, will find themselves faced with commute costs that are double or more what they pay now.'

'One of the peculiarities of British politics – and economics – is the reluctance to take into account the critical contribution of oil to the economy. We spend so much time droning on about our excessive reliance on the financial sector that we tend to ignore this elephant in the room. But the truth is that, for the past quarter of a century, Britain has been a petro-economy. In 1999, we were producing more oil than Iraq, Kuwait or Nigeria. The following year, we pumped out almost twice as much natural gas as Iran – a country with reserves that are the envy of the world. There are two problems, however. The first is that the stuff is running out. Production of North Sea oil has halved in the past decade. The second issue is that since the oil arrived, we have treated it not as a luxury but as a staple of economic life. ...treating the oil money as a permanent asset rather than a temporary benefit has left us ill-prepared for its decline. But declining it is.'

'...it's not a matter of political party. It's a matter of energy. And money is useless without energy and money has no respect for power or ideology. We have to reconnect with the requirements that we're living on a planet that's falling apart. And we have to maintain some relationship that's separate from the illusory power of money. Clearly, the power in this country is not in Washington, it's in New York, with the Fed and with Wall Street. Until you change the way money works, you change nothing. The current economic paradigm calls for infinite growth, from fractional reserve banking to [compound] interest. So Wall Street needs to somehow help us find an economy that works without requiring more and more consumption.'

'"I'm talking of people being raped with broken bottles. I'm talking of people having their children tortured in front of them until they sign a confession. I'm talking of people being boiled alive. And the intelligence from these torture sessions was being received by the CIA, and was being passed on." -- "I was absolutely stunned -- it changed my whole world view in an instant -- to be told that London knew..." -- Murray asserts that the primary motivation for US and British military involvement in central Asia has to do with large natural gas deposits in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. As evidence, he points to the plans to build a natural gas pipeline through Afghanistan that would allow Western oil companies to avoid Russia and Iran when transporting natural gas out of the region. -- "...you'll see that undoubtedly the US forces are positioned to guard the pipeline route. It's what it's about. It's about money, it's about oil, it's not about democracy."'

Creditor nations are issuing denials because they don't want to talk down their dollar holdings. Oil-backed currencies are the new black(gold).

'Expect thunderous denials.'

'In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning—along with China, Russia, Japan and France—to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar. Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars. -- The transitional currency in the move away from dollars, according to Chinese banking sources, may well be gold. -- The current deadline for the currency transition is 2018.' -- !!!

'Arithmetic, Population, and Energy.' Dr. Albert A. Bartlett -- "The greatest shortcoming of the Human Race is our inability to understand the Exponential Function." -- Quoting Asimov: "Democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive overpopulation. Convenience and decency cannot survive overpopulation. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies, the more people there are, the less one individual matters."

'The first Gulf War of 1991 brought home the fragility of global supplies of energy. Suddenly our North Sea oil and gas were more important than ever, but there were problems looming on the horizon. As oil reserves were used up, oil companies were about to face their biggest challenge yet. Getting rid of redundant platforms brought them into a dramatic confrontation with an environmental movement that was growing in confidence and influence. As the flow of oil began to slow down, the oil men and women had to venture into ever deeper waters in the search for new supplies. Their quest would inspire a new generation of awe-inspiring underwater technology.'

"As the oil industry boomed in the early 1980s, workers up and down the country vied for jobs offshore. Under Margaret Thatcher, dozens of new platforms were built in the North Sea, bringing in millions of barrels of oil and billions of pounds of taxes to the Treasury. The economy was transformed as the fortunes of oil and banking soared, while Britain's traditional manufacturing industries declined. But before the decade was out the boom would turn to bust with the collapse of the global price of oil, and the industry would be rocked a succession of tragedies, culminating in the destruction of the Piper Alpha platform by fire and the deaths of 167 men."

'Oil giants will be forced to tussle for contracts worth an estimated $16bn (£9.7bn) live on Iraqi television in a bizarre contest they fear could end up resembling a game show. More than 30 energy companies, including BP, Shell and ExxonMobil may be forced to make last-minute alliances and reveal their offers in a tense round of bidding due to start early next week. The scheme appeared to come as a shock to some of the major oil companies. Others admitted they "had an inkling" that Baghdad would conduct the process in the open but had not expected a televised spectacle.' -- It's just one big reality TV show with war/election/auction spin-offs. Sick.

"Robert Newman gets to grips with the wars and politics of the last hundred years - but rather than adhering to the history we were fed at school, the places oil centre stage as the cause of all commotion."

"Written in 1954 by one of the coup's chief planners, the history details how United States and British officials plotted the military coup that returned the shah of Iran to power and toppled Iran's elected prime minister, an ardent nationalist. The document shows that: #Britain, fearful of Iran's plans to nationalize its oil industry, came up with the idea for the coup in 1952 and pressed the United States to mount a joint operation to remove the prime minister. #The C.I.A. and S.I.S., the British intelligence service, handpicked Gen. Fazlollah Zahedi to succeed Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and covertly funneled $5 million to General Zahedi's regime two days after the coup prevailed. #Iranians working for the C.I.A. and posing as Communists harassed religious leaders and staged the bombing of one cleric's home in a campaign to turn the country's Islamic religious community against Mossadegh's government."

'Three-part series combining archive footage and eye-witness accounts to tell the dramatic narrative of North Sea oil and gas from the 1960s to the present. It charts the decades when the country made the most of its 'North Sea windfall, with scarcely a thought about where it came from or of the men and women who brought it to us. Through the story of oil, the series offers a fresh perspective on British politics and society and a timely insight into the state of our economy today.'

"Societies do not self-simplify—they collapse. The riskiest behaviours perpetuate the status quo. Those who feel the need to be inclusive, accommodating, to compromise and to seek consensus, need to understand the awesome force of social inertia. It is an immovable, crushing weight. Our social instincts are atavistic and result far too reliably in mediocrity and conformism. We are evolved to live in small groups of a few families, and our recent experiments that have gone beyond that seem to have relied on herd instincts that may not even be specifically human. When confronted with the unfamiliar, we have a tendency to panic and stampede, and on such occasions people regularly get trampled and crushed underfoot: a pinnacle of evolution indeed! And so, in fashioning a survivable future, where do we put our emphasis: on individuals and small groups, or on larger entities - regions, nations, humanity as a whole? I believe the answer to that is obvious." -- Green Pill

'An alliance of Latin American and Caribbean governments led by Venezuela will create a regional electronic currency that is expected to circulate by 2010, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday. The leftist Chavez, who has called the global financial crisis the end of capitalism, has frequently urged allies to stop storing currency reserves in dollars and recently proposed creating an international currency backed by oil reserves. He did not offer more details on how the currency would work. In the past, Chavez has said the Sucre could one day become a physical currency. The OPEC nation's finance ministry on Thursday said it hopes countries outside the ALBA trade bloc, including other nations in South and Central America and the Caribbean, will later join in using the currency.' -- Backed by oil

"Prior to collapse, the overall macroeconomic positive is an expanding economy. After collapse, economic contraction is a given, and the overall macroeconomic positive becomes something of an imponderable, so we are forced to listen to a lot of nonsense. The situation is either slightly better than expected or slightly worse than expected. We are always either months or years away from economic recovery. Business as usual will resume sooner or later, because some television bobble-head said so. If you thought that the previous episode of uncontrolled debt expansion, globalized Ponzi schemes and economic hollowing-out was silly, then I predict that you will find this next episode of feckless grasping at macroeconomic straws even sillier. Except that it won’t be funny: what is crashing now is our life support system: all the systems and institutions that are keeping us alive. And so I don’t recommend passively standing around and watching the show–unless you happen to have a death wish."

'In the past month, Nigerian rebels threatened renewed warfare against foreign oil producers, Russia sent riot police from Moscow to quell an anti-tax protest in Siberia and China’s communist leadership warned of social agitation as the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre looms. On a global scale, the spiral of economic distress and political radicalism has been at work throughout history, from the bread riots that stoked the French Revolution to the mass unemployment that brought the Nazis to power in Germany. Some dictators, like Hitler and Stalin, turned on their neighbors after disposing of internal enemies. Others, like Mao, walled off their societies, condemning millions to misery. The increasingly lopsided world economy “provides fertile ground for extremism and violence,” Nicolas Sarkozy said at a conference last week in Paris. With globalization, he said, “we expected competition and abundance, and in the end we got scarcity, debt, speculation and dumping.”'

'Ecuador is to default officially on billions of dollars of foreign debt it considers "illegitimate", says President Rafael Correa. Speaking in the city of Guayaquil, Mr Correa said "as president I couldn't allow us to keep paying a debt that was obviously immoral and illegitimate", according to the AFP news agency.'

"World Oil Reserves by country as of Jan. 1, 2007, with info about 10 of the world's largest oil fields."

"The diagram below shows a regional map of the Middle East. The coloured lines represent: Build (green), Under construction (Orange) and Proposed (red) Oil and Gas pipeline since the start of Operation Shock and Ore (March 2003)." Yup. A right carve up.

"China's energy needs will grow 5.1 percent annually through 2015. China also will need an additional 1,300 gigawatts of electricity, an amount equal to what the United States currently produces."

Canadian foreign minister Peter MacKay said yesterday: 'This isn't the 15th century. You can't go around the world and just plant flags and say, “We're claiming this territory”. (So funny)

"Collaborative alternative reality simulating an oil shock"

"It's not just transportation and agriculture that are entirely dependent on abundant, cheap oil. Modern medicine, water distribution, and national defense are each entirely powered by oil and petroleum derived chemicals."