Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, again with the tough talk. He’s getting ready for a tour of Belerus, Iran and Russia, and planning some really big military purchases, in the face (he says) of the threat of agression from the U.S.
From brietbart.com:
Dressed in olive green fatigues and a red beret, Chavez spoke inside Tiuna Fort—Venezuela’s military nerve-center—before hundreds of uniformed soldiers standing alongside armored vehicles and tanks decorated with banners reading: "Fatherland, Socialism, or Death! We will triumph!"
"We must continue developing the resistance war, that’s the anti- imperialist weapon. We must think and prepare for the resistance war everyday," said Chavez, who has repeatedly warned that American soldiers could invade Venezuela to seize control of the South American nation’s immense oil reserves.
Will the U.S. invade the South American country for its oil? I’m not sure what the point would be, but then, the view from Pennsylvania Avenue is a little lot different than from everywhere else. What’s important for Chavez, is the appearance in his own country, that he’s their defense agains the boogeyman – namely George W. Bush and the United States. It’s more about his power than anything else. America can destroy his economy with a simple blockade – it doesn’t need boots on the ground to do that. Stop the oil money, and Chavez is done.
breitbart.com | Chavez Warns of Resistance War With U.S.
Posted in
Peak Oil,
War
It’s always near. Seems so, anyway. Doomsday theories have been with us since language started. It seems that the first thing a proto-human said when he first learned to speak was "we’re all going to die."
Of course he was right.
But there’s something apparently hard-wired into our genes that makes some of us think that’s going to happen right now, or tomorrow at the very latest. Makes sense, I suppose -Â Survival instinct and all. But in our modern world, where our very existence isn’t threatened every day, if not every hour, that code, so important for evolution, has gone rogue. It sends warning messages constantly, and sometimes it’s hard to ignore. It’s why some of use experience road rage and all of us at least once in our life, turns into an asshole while driving. But the longer-termed result of this is the doomsday obsession.
In the late 70s, a publication appeared, authored by Robert White, called simply The Duck Book. Mr. White, who made a lot of money resurfacing airport runways, was a conservative who saw our way of life ending, thanks to the Communist threat. He published an issue every couple months, and offered a lifetime subscription (his life, not yours) for about US$30. He admitted to having terminal cancer, and was interested in building up a nest-egg for his wife and young child. Nice come-on. Apparently, it worked. Subscription checks flowed in and White made a lot of money. The terminal cancer thing turned out to be…well…not true.
The Duck Book was compelling stuff, modern John Birch Society stuff, and was for the most part, a reflection of the American return to conservative thought at the beginning of the Reagan 80s. White was murdered in Belize after giving an investment seminar there. It’s suspected his anti-communist stance and comments got him killed.
I remember reading an article by one of his associates, about touring Europe "one last time" before the big showdown with the Soviet Union and how it was only a matter of a couple years, if not a few months when the tanks would roll. I get those exact same feelings reading a lot of the "end is coming, better hunker down" stuff on the web, whether it’s George Ure’s excellent Urban Survival, or the kooky Surfing the Apocalypse. But is it all real? Sure it is. The web bot project Ure talks a lot about has had a number of interesting "hits," and his financial and investment sense is very sharp.
But doomsday?
What these guys will tell you (which your editor agrees with, by the way) is that the best kind of preparation is that which is never needed. As a computer geek from way back (my first website went up in 1994), I understand the power and limitations of our computer systems, and I was concerned about Y2K. I stocked up on basics, and brought in a lot of bottled water. I couldn’t have been happier to "liquidate" (sorry) that stock a year or two after bringing it in, because the peace of mind it bought me was more important than the money and effort involved. That didn’t stop extended family (who, by the way would have survived because of that water, had it been needed) from scoffing that they knew it was unnecessary. Wow, really? They KNEW it wouldn’t be needed? No experience whatsovever with data processing, as opposed to my 19 years of it (at that point)? They KNEW nothing would happen?
That’s why I’m not so quick to scoff. Take it all in, process it and prepare for what you can, in my mind is always a good choice.
So what’s the problem? Well, I’m all for warnings. Hell, that’s partly what this blog’s all about. It just bears thinking about balance when you’re looking for views of the future. Always focusing on the dark dangers can keep you from seeing the hope and optimistic attitudes that many have. We’re drawn these days to the distopian, rather than utopian outlook. The original Star Trek (and The Next Generation for that matter) were far more hopeful and light-filled than Battlestar Galactica, not that BSG isn’t a fantastic bit of sci-fi which I dearly love.
As with all in life, it’s about balance.
- A. MacLeod
Posted in
Economy,
Peak Oil,
Society,
Terrorism,
War
Stunningly grim picture of Iraq today.
These clowns are really good at blowing up trucks, but they steer clear of pitched battles with gunn’d up grunts anymore. They make the nightly news real messy, which is rather more effective than overrunning a FOB anyway. But what they do best is stick it to each other, loot the treasury and generally fuck up anything worthwhile that they touch. That’s why they’re known derisively in these parts as "The Mexicans of the Middle East" (which chaps their ass to no end). There are a handful of exceptions, but they’re few and far between.
Letter from Baghdad, from Kunstler.
Posted in
Terrorism,
War
Kunstler on thinking about what might happen when it’s not such a good idea to display wealth:
I admit it was not a big deep thought, just an eerie one. Of course, one would have to begin by asking what kind of society would worship clowns like Donald Trump in the first place — and the answer would be: a society of envious slobs deluded into thinking that they could become the next Trump if only the Baby Jeezus would whack them over the head with a sock-full of silver dollars. This is, after all, a culture currently fueled by two dangerously childish ideas: that it’s possible to get something for nothing, and that when you wish upon a star your dreams come true.
 People who believe that it’s possible to get something for nothing can be persuaded easily that those who have gotten a lot have gotten it unfairly. And the flip side of wishing upon stars is that when your dreams don’t come true you can only blame it on the stars.
It’s hard to locate in history another society so devilishly rigged for implosion than the empire that runs from sea to shining sea. Every structural element in our financial sector is a jackstraw groaning under a load of false expectation. The hedge funds are only the most elaborate pieces, with their intertwined webs of exponentially unreckoned risk. The equity markets are a three-ringed circus of "greater fools." The mortgage clusterfuck has barely begun, with a tidal wave of ARM re-sets about to kick in that will not only shatter the aspirations of the formerly-middle-class, but will also put the entire suburban sprawl-building juggernaut out-of-business — just as the imminent global oil crisis makes that way-of-life obsolete. The undercarriage of the vehicle — medical and retirement entitlements, plus the social safety net — is rotting away as the massive debt obligations of the federal government are suddenly denied an easy re-fi rollover by the foreign central banks who no longer see the point in buying the trash paper of a nation that manufactures little more than celebrity envy fantasies.
As with many Kunstler posts, it’s a remarkably clear and lucid vision of very real possibilities. He’s no wild-eyed anarchy-loving survivalist praying for all things to come crashing down. You can almost hear the frustration in his writing voice that just doesn’t understand why those who disagree with him can’t see the obvious truth in front of them.
His vision is clear.
Tags: economy, peak oil, kunstler, real estate bubble
Posted in
Economy,
Politics,
Society
It’s amazing how many people subscribe to the philosophy that says what always has been will always be. The only time that’s valid, is when the cycle is at least as long as an old person’s life. We humans have a bad habit of forgetting what’s happened to our species and societies before. We tend to believe those who went before were stupid savages, rather than the intelligent, wise and flawed individuals who brought us to where all the wonderful things we have today were possible. We may have invented the most recent advances in the way we live, but the foundation for it all was laid by people who went before us.
Yet we continue to believe we’re superior to them in every way. We’re not.
The Romans were pretty smart, but their empire fell. It fell for a number of reasons, foreign conflict, too much relying on outsiders for the basic requirements of life, etc. Lots of mistakes brought down the Roman Empire, and we’re repeating many of them today. Yet we believe we’re smarter than they were.
We have people in our society and in our communities (maybe in our own families) who believe that since real estate has always gone up in value (it hasn’t, by the way) that it always will (it won’t). When you ask those people about how sustainable a system is that has housing prices going up faster than income is, they kind of break down and admit they’re hoping for their leaders to supply an answer to that. Those leaders are working on an answer, not just the kind of answer the ruled people are looking for. The answer is for the benefit of the ruling class. It’s important to keep that in mind.
For instance, if you look at Dick Cheney’s financial disclosure (available online), you’ll see that the Vice President is heavily invested in, among other things, Euro-based investments. The Vice President of the United States, according to his financial disclosures, doesn’t believe in the U.S. Dollar, and since he and his cronies can have a great influence on the health of that particular financial instrument, I pay attention to that opinion.
Sure, according to rules, it’s a “blind trust,” but anyone who believes Dick Cheney isn’t directing the investment of his money is just drinking Kool-Aid.
Posted in
Uncategorized
Kunstler with the theory that the 2008 election cycle has started so early because we’re so lacking in confidence that our current leadership can do anything about the horrible situation we’re in. I think he’s absolutely right. He’s also spot-on when he opines that the current crop of candidates on both side may “exhaust, bankrupt, and even disgrace their campaigns as they desperately pirouette around these painful truths, and that none of them will survive the process with their political legitimacy intact.”
I believe that in that lies the reason Al Gore is being coy about entering the fray. He’ll let the others screw themselves and each others, as political candidates almost always do, then jump in at a more economical time. He’s no dummy, and probably the only person who can lead us out of this morass with some union and economy intact.
No Confidence? by Jim Kunstler
Posted in
Global Warming,
Politics