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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Note that the oil reserves claimed by Saudi Arabia alone (1.2 trillion barrels) exceed what the Peakers claim are the total recoverable oil reserves for the entire planet. Let’s pause here for a minute and think about the significance of that: one tiny patch of land, accounting for less than than 1/2 of 1% of the earth’s total surface area, potentially contains more oil that the ‘Peak’ pitchmen claim the entire planet has to offer! Is there not something clearly wrong with this picture?
Needless to say, that sort of candor by the Saudis could put a serious crimp in Washington’s plans to sell the ‘Peak Oil’ scam. Perhaps that is why, just three days after that announcement, the Saudi oil industry was attacked by some of those terr’ists. Not to be deterred, however, Saudi officials announced three weeks later, on May 21, that the Kingdom still intended to dramatically increase its petroleum output. And a week after that, on May 29, those crafty terr’ists launched yet another brazen attack on the Saudi oil industry. Shit happens, I guess.

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

Meanwhile, in Russia, the regime of Western puppet Vladimir Putin has been working diligently to transfer control of Russian oil production to what the L.A. Times referred to as “more complaint owners.” From a July 23, 2004 report by Kim Murphy:

Since the arrest in October of former CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, now on trial on charges of fraud and tax evasion [editor’s note: probably trumped-up charges], the financial community has debated the Russian government’s decision to assess at least $8 billion in back taxes against Yukos: Was it to punish Khodorkovsky for his political activism and alleged financial misdeeds, but leave his company intact? To hand control of the company to more complaint hands? Or destroy a company that produces 2% of the world’s oil supply?
(“Oil Flow Could End, Yukos Says,” Los Angeles Times, July 23, 2004)

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

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

Michael Ruppert, being the top-notch journalist that he is, has either completely ignored or grotesquely misrepresented these recent developments in Russia and Saudi Arabia. The ‘Peak Oil’ crowd has claimed, with nothing to offer in the way of supporting evidence, that the Saudis are lying about their oil reserves and their ability to increase production. The Peakers have also strongly implied that the Saudis actually attacked their own facilities, so that they would not have to deliver on their promises. No logical explanation has been offered though for why the Saudis would lie and then immediately attack themselves to cover up the fact that they were lying. It seems to me like it would have taken less effort to just not tell the lie to begin with. The Saudis, meanwhile, have insisted that it is the Peakers who are lying. (http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=42933)
[For a discussion of the ‘evidence’ presented by the Peakers, see Michael Lynch at http://www.aramcoexpats.com/ArticleDetail.asp?article=701. Lynch concludes: “There literally seems to be no evidence that the Saudi oil fields are facing any unusual challenges or that Saudi production will be constrained in the future by anything other than policy … The use of vague language (“tired” fields, “challenges”) rather than specifics about efforts and costs indicate that this is one more instance of Malthusian bias.”]

Even if the Saudis could boost production, say the Peakers, no one would want their extra crude anyway, because, as it turns out, Saudi crude oil just isn’t very good. Who knew? What will we learn from the Ruppertians next? That you can’t get decent champaign in France? That Russian caviar isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?

On the FTW website is a re-post of an article that begins: “The world’s oil refiners are unimpressed by Saudi Arabia’s boost to production capacity that would only swell supplies of sour, high sulphur crude while they hanker for sweet oil … ‘Most refiners couldn’t take more sour if they tried,’ said one refiner, who asked not to be named. ‘We have a glut of sour crude and a short supply squeeze on low sulphur crude oil and products, so extra Saudi makes no difference whatsoever,’ a physical oil trader said.”
(http://www.copvcia.com/free/ww3/100604_refiners_unimpressed.shtml)

Now, I hesitate to point this out, because I know that Ruppert prides himself on his journalistic professionalism, as well as his police training, and I certainly wouldn’t want to needlessly embarrass him, but the truth of the matter is that the article that The Great One re-posted appears to be a fake — a fake that was planted, no doubt, for the ‘Peak’ team to ‘find.’

Here are a few clues that Detective Ruppert missed: the article ran in the tabloidesque Gulf Daily News, which claims to be the “Voice of Bahrain,” although one wouldn’t expect Bahrain to speak in an English voice; the article has no byline, indicating that no real reporter wanted his name attached to it; and the two alleged insiders quoted to establish the premise of the article declined to be identified, even though they were supposedly voicing an uncontroversial opinion shared throughout the industry.
(http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=92871&Sn=BUSI&IssueID=27194)

What we have here then is an unsigned, unsourced article from the Middle Eastern version of the National Enquirer being presented as real journalism. And this from the man who constantly questions the journalistic ethics and integrity of his detractors! Simply put, if this was a real news story that Ruppert was promoting, he would have been able to round up at least one credible report from a legitimate media outlet.

Bizarrely enough, Ruppert has headlined the fake article, “Peak Oil On The Table – Hard To Miss.” Really, Mike? It can’t be that hard to miss, because I’m having trouble seeing it myself. I realize that it might be partly my fault, since I haven’t been attending the ‘Peak’ indoctrination sessions, but here is what I’m having difficulty with: I get the part about how we’re quickly running out of oil, and I understand that it is foolish to consider the viability of alternative energy sources, because only oil will do; but are you now saying that we also have to be very picky about what kind of oil we use?

That reminds me of a story about a guy who was lost in the desert and spent days wandering aimlessly in search of water. This guy – we’ll call him Peak Oil Man – was followed by a circling vulture, who occasionally spoke to him. At one point, the vulture asked Peak Oil Man why he kept ignoring all the succulent plants along his route, from which he could extract life-saving fluids. “A waste of time,” said Peak Oil Man, “must have water.” Later in the journey, Peak Oil Man stopped to relieve himself in the sand. “Why do you not capture and drink your urine, Peak Oil Man,” asked the vulture. “It could save your life.” Ignoring the vulture, Peak Oil Man pushed on, still muttering his mantra: “must have water.” Eventually, Peak Oil Man – emaciated, severely dehydrated, and barely clinging to life – stumbled upon a stranger, and the stranger extended his hand and offered Peak Oil Man a container of water. Peak Oil Man raised the vessel to his lips and began to drink, but quickly spat out the offending liquid. “Is that fucking tap water!?” asked Peak Oil Man. “Where can I get some bottled water around here?” And the vulture said: “But Peak Oil Man, how can you afford to be so picky at a time of such great need? How can you turn away not only viable alternatives to water, but even water itself if the water offered to you doesn’t meet your high standards? It is almost as if you don’t really need water at all.” Peak Oil Man just smiled and continued on his way.

Meanwhile, Mexico, which also hasn’t been reading the ‘Peak’ memos, recently announced the discovery of massive quantities of new petroleum reserves. The Peakers, as we all know, repeatedly claim that no new reserves of any consequence have been found for years. In fact, they go so far as to say that there are no new reserves to be found. In one recent collection of lies posted on the FTW website, Julian Darley writes: “Major oil discoveries have declined every year so that 2003 saw no new field over 500 million barrels … It is well over twenty years since more oil was found than consumed in a year.”
(http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/031704_two_planets.html)

Really, Mr. Darley? Are you sure about that? Let’s check with the Mexican press to see if you are correct:

Three years of exploration has enabled Pemex to map oilfields that the state-owned oil monopoly believes will more than double the nation’s known crude oil reserves. Luis Ramírez Corzo, Pemex’s director for exploration, told EL UNIVERSAL that on a “conservative” estimate, almost 54 billion barrels lie underneath the oilfields. That would take Mexico’s reserves to 102 billion barrels, more than the United Arab Emirates (which has reserves of 97.8 billion barrels), Kuwait (94 billion) and Iran (89.7 billion), and almost as much as Iraq (112.5 billion).The official also said the discovery could enable Pemex to increase Mexico’s oil production from the current level of 4 million barrels per day (bpd) to 7 million bpd. Saudi Arabia currently produces 7.5 million bpd, while Russia’s oil output is 7.4 million bpd.  Ramírez Corzo said the exploration, at an investment of US 4.6 billion, led to the identification of seven separate blocks rich in oil and natural gas. The most promising blocks are under water in the Gulf of Mexico, thought to contain around 45 billion barrels.
(http://www.el-universal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia.html?id_nota=6110&tabla=miami)

No new fields over 500 million barrels? How about the 45 billion new barrels sitting in the Gulf of Mexico, right in our own backyard? Isn’t that just a tiny bit more than is “consumed in a year”?

Of course, the oil will not be easy to extract. Mexico will need some help, since it “lacks the technology for deep water pumping.” And there is another problem as well: “there are territoriality issues with the United States and Cuba over the fields.” In order to bring the oil to market, Mexico will need the cooperation of both the United States government and the major players in the oil industry. In other words, the newly discovered oil isn’t going to be extracted any time soon, which is why the American media, and the ‘Peak’ crowd, haven’t bothered to acknowledge its existence.
(http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=15958)

It will no doubt be determined that it is not economically feasible to extract the oil in the Gulf of Mexico. After all, Reuters has reported that, “Oil from deep-water reserves could cost $4 a barrel to extract, nearly double the cost of oil from shallow water.” And we certainly can’t expect any responsible corporation to shell out $4 a barrel to extract something that they can then trade for $50 a barrel, can we?

Or maybe the Peakers will claim that the oil doesn’t even exist — that Mexico, like Saudi Arabia, is lying about increased levels of reserves. There seems to be a lot of that sort of lying going around these days.
[For more on oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and various other issues directly related to the ‘Peak Oil’ debate, see:
http://www.oralchelation.com/faq/wsj4.htm
http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf124/sf124p10.htm
http://www.newaus.com.au/040908-oil-sources.html
http://www.pnl.gov/er_news/08_95/ER_News/oil1.kb.html]

The real problem with the Saudi crude, as near as I can determine, is that the Saudis and the ‘Peakers’ have entirely different ideas about what the price of crude oil should be. At the time of the attacks in Saudi Arabia, it was hovering at about $40.00/barrel, and is now at about $50.00/barrel. The Saudis would like to bring it down to $25.00/barrel. And the ‘Peakers’ would like to see it raised to – are you ready for this? – a whopping $182.00/barrel — which would, quite obviously, place oil out of reach for the vast majority of the world’s people.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3777413.stm)

The $182.00/barrel figure was provided by Matthew Simmons to a BBC reporter at the ‘Peak Oil’ conference held earlier this year in Berlin. According to Simmons, “Oil is far too cheap at the moment … we need to price oil realistically to control its demand.” Simmons is described in the BBC article as “an energy investment banker and adviser to the controversial Bush-Cheney energy plan.” He is, in other words, a perfectly credible source — if we choose to overlook the fact that everyone connected to the Bush-Cheney team reeks of corruption and outrageous lies.

Nevertheless, the Peakers just adore Mr. Simmons, who was described by Michael Ruppert as “the de facto star of the [Peak Oil conference].” ‘Peak Oil’ pitchmen just love to quote Simmons, says Ruppert, “because his voice is refreshing.”
(http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/062104_berlin_peak.html)

Simmons is a member of ASPO (Association for the Study of Peak Oil), founded and led by ‘Peak Oil’ guru Colin Campbell and promoted relentlessly by Michael Ruppert, who boasts of having “a great many friends in ASPO.” According to the BBC, ASPO includes in its ranks “a diverse range of oil industry insiders,” including a good number of “oil executives” and “investment bankers.” Just the sort of salesmen we should trust, in other words, when shopping for a suitably apocalyptic future.

And make no mistake about it: the future that has been scripted by the architects of ‘Peak Oil’ is not going to be pretty. Massive population reduction has always been a key component of the ‘Peak Oil’ agenda. Ruppert first acknowledged that fact in an e-mail to this website in March of this year. This is what he wrote at that time:

I advocate an immediate convening of political, economic, spiritual and scientific leaders from all nations to address the issue of Peak Oil (and Gas) and its immediate implications for economic collapse, massive famine and climate destruction (partially as a result of reversion to coal plants which accelerate global warming). This would, scientifically speaking, include immediate steps to arrive at a crash program – agreed to by all nations and in accordance with the highest spiritual and ethical principles – to stop global population growth and  to arrive at the best possible and most ethical program of population reduction as a painful choice made by all of humanity.

At that time, I accused Ruppert of advocating a eugenics program, and I was, not surprisingly, harshly criticized by the Ruppertians for doing so. Numerous members of the cult of ‘Peak Oil’ sent e-mail accusing me of “putting word’s in Ruppert’s mouth.” But more recently, while addressing the Commonwealth Club (which apparently just began extending invitations to dissident journalists; who knew?), Ruppert put the words in his own mouth when he quoted approvingly from a eugenics tome penned in 1952 by Charles Galton Darwin. Darwin was, for the record, a rather notorious figure in the American eugenics movement, as were other Darwins and Galtons before him. Are we supposed to believe that there was no significance to the fact that Ruppert referenced a noted eugenicist while addressing such a distinguished audience?
(www.fromthewilderness.com/PDF/Commonwealth.pdf)

In a previous newsletter, I reported that Ruppert had briefly addressed the issue of population reduction during the speech that he delivered at this year’s 9-11 conference in San Francisco. Since then, I have had the opportunity to review an audiotape of Ruppert’s entire ‘Peak Oil’ presentation at the event. Here is a complete (enough) transcript of that presentation: