THe Future is Now - the End of Cheap Oil

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By Jim Miles (about the author) Page 6 of 7 page(s)

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"Israel is positioning itself to occupy the position of executive vice-president in charge of Middle Eastern affairs. As it does so, the financial and military powers of what has become an almost openly fascist world order continue to drive humanity toward the brink of destruction."

Palestine is mentioned somewhat indirectly, with a paragraph on Ariel Sharon outlining his war crimes "for a 1982 three-day orgy of killing and rape at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps that occurred when he led an invasion of Lebanon," his charges of "human rights violations in the Jenin and Nablus townships of the occupied territories in Palestine," and in post 9/11 incursions, "many were killed, houses were bulldozed, and people were left homeless and without food, water, or medical supplies in areas totally surrounded by Israeli Defense Forces."

Kunstler sees the Israeli-Arab conflict as "a mask over the much graver contradictions of the West's ever-growing dependence on the oil resources of...nations in the Middle East."

The religious parameters of the conflict are not explored, although in the human psyche, with the triad of religions each containing some element of apocalyptic futures, is quite capable of over-riding purely geopolitical concerns for a conceived larger purpose.

Ruppert stays with the "artificial prosperity of oil wealth," with Israel "being a creature of the industrial era and as dependent on oil as any industrial society, may not survive the fossil fuel crisis of the coming decades. The exploding Palestinian population itself might be the ultimate weapon that would overwhelm the experiment of a modern Jewish state, but as the oil runs out, the region will probably not support continued population growth by any group."

If any area is ripe for a self-fulfilling apocalyptic war, Israel and the greater Middle East are certainly well positioned for that. That would of course do no one any good, and the only twinkling of the 'rapture' would be the many molecular constituents of the bodies being turned to pure energy by nuclear weapons.

Leaving that grim scenario behind, the picture is, from the combined thematic emphasis of these authors concerning the end of oil - grim. Look at Gaza. Is it the future, present now? Will the West Bank soon look the same? What course of action will Israel take as the absolute end of oil nears? Reconciliation? Total domination? Accommodation? Genocide? Expand that outwardly through the Middle East, on to Africa, Asia, South America, finally to come home to me here in North America.

Conclusion

The reader may be now as thoroughly negative about the situation as I am. I would be exceedingly happy if all these predictions were in error and that none of this would happen. It would be a cause for celebration if someone did find the techno-fix for the loss of oil that everyone seems to talk and marvel about without producing any concrete results. Unfortunately, there is too much valid information to deny the end of oil.

But the end of civilization? I would similarly be exceedingly happy if somehow, someone in a powerful enough position was able to look at what is happening and say enough is enough, instead of putting our last valuable resources into a bitter harvest without a solution, let's turn those last resources intellectual, scientific, humanitarian, religious into an immediate search for an alternate society.

A society that is often given lip service to humanitarian, compassionate, existing within the bounds of the ecological limits of our finite planet, existing within a harmony that sustains life and culture without destroying the environment. We need to use our current knowledge and resources to deconstruct our current society and create something that will sustain humanity, before not only the technology but the knowledge as well, disappears.

Parts of the world will survive, those areas still isolated enough that the oil based technological society that gives the minority of us such wealth at the expense of others has not fully intruded upon - the meek shall indeed inherit the earth. Perhaps they deserve it more than the rest of us.

References

Diamond, Jared. Collapse. Viking Press (Penguin). New York, 2005.

Heinberg, Richard. Peak Everything Waking Up to the Century of Decline. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, B.C. 2007.

Klare, Michael T. Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet The New Geopolitics of Energy. Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2008.

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www.jim.secretcove.ca

Jim Miles is a Canadian educator and a regular contributor/columnist of opinion pieces and book reviews to Palestine Chronicles. His interest in this topic stems originally from an (more...)

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