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Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

The Saker

Indymedia ireland

Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

offsite link Army Sergeant Travis Decker Murdered His Three Children After Being Denied Mental Health Care at JBL... Sat Jun 07, 2025 04:52 | JBLM Whistleblowers
A corrupt military police force and incompetent Commander who denied emergency mental health care and crisis counseling to an American service member resulted in the murder of the sergeant's three young daughters

offsite link Gaza doctor grieves her nine children killed in Israeli strike Sun May 25, 2025 20:00 | imc
Israeli regime continues it's slaughter
'The children were completely charred'

Paediatrician Alaa al-Najjar was treating victims of Israeli attacks when her children were killed by an Israeli strike on their home

offsite link British doctors working in Gaza describe territory as a ?slaughterhouse? Sat May 24, 2025 00:23 | imc
There?s no food getting in so people are starving,? surgeon Tom Potokar says
British doctors working in Gaza have described the territory as a ?slaughterhouse,? where the patients they are treating are severely malnourished.

Plastic surgeons and orthopedic specialists from the UK are based at the Amal and Nasser hospitals in Khan Younis in the south of the territory.

Dr. Tom Potokar, a plastic surgeon specializing in burn injuries, has worked in Gaza 16 times but said this mission had revealed a level of destruction far greater than his last visit in 2023,

offsite link It is time to talk about the Out of Control Immigration. Mon Mar 31, 2025 22:12 | imc
For the last few years since the CV19 scamdemic undocumented immigration into Ireland has surged. No one is allowed discuss it because they do not want any rational debate about it. If you do you are labelled an extremist. However this out of control immigration is fully facilitated by the Irish government and the EU and the shady figure behind the Neo Con movement pushing for endless war, wokeism and globalist agenda.

offsite link [Dublin] National Demonstration for Palestine: End Israeli Apartheid & Genocide Thu Mar 06, 2025 22:35 | ipsc
Sat, 22 March 2025, 13:00 Assemble at the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square, Dublin 1
The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, supported by over 150 Irish civil society organisations, has called another National Demonstration for Palestine on Saturday 22nd March.

The march will begin at the Garden of Remembrance at 1pm and finish outside the D?il on Molesworth Street/Kildare Street to bring our demands to the Irish government?s doorstep.

The Saker >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Kneecap ?Two-Tier Justice? Row After Glastonbury Case Dropped by Police Fri Jul 18, 2025 17:00 | Will Jones
Police have closed the criminal investigation into Kneecap?s Glastonbury performance, where the band called for a "riot outside court", prompting criticism of "two-tier justice" by the Shadow Home Secretary.
The post Kneecap ‘Two-Tier Justice’ Row After Glastonbury Case Dropped by Police appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Epping Protesters Have Had Enough of Being Ignored and Lied To Fri Jul 18, 2025 15:00 | David Shipley
Last night's violence in Epping is the desperate cry of people who have been ignored for decades, says David Shipley. Violence must be condemned. But if the state doesn?t change course, and fast, we will see many Eppings.
The post The Epping Protesters Have Had Enough of Being Ignored and Lied To appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link From Vaccine Passports in 2021 to ?Britcard? in 2025 ? Why We Need a Digital Bill of Rights Fri Jul 18, 2025 13:00 | Alan Miller
From vaccine passports in 2021 to 'Britcard' digital ID in 2025, it's becoming clear we need a Digital Bill of Rights to protect us from being brought under the technocratic grip of a surveillance state, says Alan Miller.
The post From Vaccine Passports in 2021 to ‘Britcard’ in 2025 ? Why We Need a Digital Bill of Rights appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Why is Modernity so Ugly? Fri Jul 18, 2025 11:00 | Joanna Gray
Why is the modern world so unremittingly ugly, wonders Joanna Gray. As yet another interchangeable block of beige bricks springs up in town, the contrast with the glories of the structures our ancestors built is damning.
The post Why is Modernity so Ugly? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Climate Consensus Died in Parliament This Week Fri Jul 18, 2025 09:00 | Ben Pile
This was the week that the climate consensus died in Parliament, says Ben Pile. In the debate that followed Ed Miliband's statement on "nature and climate" something new was heard in the House of Commons: dissent.
The post The Climate Consensus Died in Parliament This Week appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

New US report acknowledges peak-oil threat

category international | environment | other press author Sunday March 20, 2005 16:18author by redjade Report this post to the editors

obtained by Aljazeera.net

Report: '...the problem of the peaking of world conventional oil production is unlike any yet faced by modern industrial society.'

It has long been denied that the US government bases any policy around the idea that global oil production may be in terminal decline.

But a new US government-sponsored report, obtained by Aljazeera.net, does exactly that.

Authored by Robert Hirsch, Roger Bezdek and Robert Wendling and titled The Peaking of World Oil production: Impacts, Mitigation, & Risk Management, the report is an assessment requested by the US Department of Energy (DoE), National Energy Technology Laboratory.

It was prepared by Hirsch, who is a senior energy programme adviser at the private scientific and military company, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).

They work extensively on defence and geopolitical issues for clients, including many for the US government.

- from Aljazeera.net
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5EF86883-8CDB-49B5-9A07-5759205A9DBE.htm

--- --- --- --- ---

Download the .PDF format file of the report at

http://www.hilltoplancers.org/stories/hirsch0502.pdf

--- --- --- --- ---

PEAKING OF WORLD OIL PRODUCTION:
- IMPACTS, MITIGATION, & RISK MANAGEMENT

Robert L. Hirsch, SAIC, Project Leader
Roger Bezdek, MISI
Robert Wendling, MISI

February 2005

Our focus on existing commercial and near-commercial mitigation technologies illustrates that a number of technologies are currently ready for immediate and extensive implementation. Our analysis was not meant to be limiting. We believe that future research will provide additional mitigation options, some possibly superior to those we considered. Indeed, it would be appropriate to greatly accelerate public and private oil peaking mitigation research. However, the reader must recognize that doing the research required to bring new technologies to commercial readiness takes time under the best of circumstances. Thereafter, more than a decade of intense implementation will be required for world scale impact, because of the inherently large scale of world oil consumption.

In summary, the problem of the peaking of world conventional oil production is unlike any yet faced by modern industrial society. The challenges and uncertainties need to be much better understood. Technologies exist to mitigate the problem. Timely, aggressive risk management will be essential.

author by Steve Ongerthpublication date Sun May 08, 2005 08:45author email intexile at iww dot orgauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

"Peak Oil" is
about as threatening as the (now largely forgotten) Y2K bug. Let me explain why
I believe this to be so:


I. Demand and consumption are both elastic and do not necessarily correspond to
supply.

The classic Peak Oil theorists are essentially Malthusian--believing that as supply
grows, demand and consumption grow until the peak is crossed. Logic suggests that
this is a gross oversimplification of the real world. Even oil-addicted societies
can deploy methods designed to conserve the oil supply (as as done in the early
1970s, but later abandoned until the gas crisis of 1979).

Furthermore, gas-electric hybrid automobiles, such as the Toyota Prius (which I
drive) or the Honda Insight, reduce gasoline consumption by as much as 67 - 75%
per user. Suppose hybrid technology becomes the dominant automotive trend over
the next ten years? The supply of oil will not change, but the demand and the consumption
rates would plummet.


II. Alternatives to oil exist and are already cost effective.

Most Peak Oil adherents argue that alternatives to oil are pipe dreams or false
hopes. For example, they argue that bio-diesel will not mitigate the oil shortage,
because bio-diesel crops require oil-based fertilizers to produce. I disagree.
Organic farming methods can eliminate the need for fossil-fuel based fertilizers,
but even if fertilizers are still needed, the use of oil for fertilizer is probably
more efficient than the use of oil for internal combustion, so once again, the supply
doesn't necessarily correspond directly to consumption.

Peak Oil alarmists argue that hydrogen is no better, because hydrogen is a carrier
of energy and not a producer, and hydrogen requires more energy to extract than
it saves in usage. Both of these claims, while technically true are utterly meaningless
if they are placed in practical context. Oil is itself, a "carrier" of
energy--not a producer; it, too, has to be extracted and that takes energy. Most
of the energy required in extracting oil for use as an internal combustion engine
fuel is derived from the burning of other fossil fuels. On the other hand, Hydrogen
can be produced using renewable energy. As for hydrogen requiring more energy to
extract than it saves, this claim is only true because the technology for its extraction
as an automotive fuel is in its infancy. Petroleum oil also had its share of "growing
pains" as a resource. Unlike hydrogen and renewables, however, fossil fuel
technology is highly subsidized by the government.

In any case, much of the negative, pessimistic claims about hydrogen are quite thoroughly
debunked by Amory Lovins, who is the CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute, here:
http://www.rmi.org/images/other/Energy/E03-05_20HydrogenMyths.pdf


III. Renewable energy is a viable alternative and developing rapidly.

Peak Oil alarmists argue that renewable energy could replace fossil fuels, but not
before a serious economic (and perhaps societal) catastrophe, primarily because
renewable energy technology cannot be developed fast enough to prevent it.

This pessimism (or perhaps deliberate fear mongering) is unwarranted. In the March
/ April issue of Solar Today, Donald W. Aitken, Ph.D. describes how Germany is on
a course to generate all of its electricity from renewable resources by 2050. In
fact, they are ahead of schedule. An abstract of the article is available here:
http://www.solartoday.org/2005/march_april05/Germany.htm

The previous issue (January / February) of Solar Today includes an article about
the rapid deployment of solar electricity generation technology in Japan.

EVen China is getting on the bandwagon. The demand for hybrid automobiles is higher
in China than it is in the US.

Peak Oil pessimists (and/or ideologues?) argue that the standard of living that
we "enjoy" here in the United States is what all industrialized nations
aspire to achieve, but Canada, Japan, and much of Europe all enjoy similar standards
of living but use less energy. There's no reason to assume that China will follow
the American model, particularly when the alternatives are cheaper and better!


IV. Peak Oil assumes that oil has biotic origins; it may not.

The idea that the world is running out of oil is based on the notion that oil is
a "fossil" fuel, i.e. that it is the remains of organic material. Suppose
that isn't the case? Suppose, as some Soviet geologists argued for half a century,
oil has abiotic origins and is instead the byproduct of chemical processes that
occur below the earth's crust? Keep in mind that oil is known to exist on Jupiter's
moon Io, and possibly on Venus. Did Paleozoic and Mesozoic lifeforms develop space
flight? Not very likely.

The Peak Oil crowd argue that the abiotic origin theory is pseudo-science, perhaps
as unbelievable as "cold fusion", but what evidence do they present to
back up such a pejorative and ad hominem attack?

Here are some--sadly obscure--discussions about the possibility that oil my not
be the remains of organic matter:

http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr52.html

http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr55.html

http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr59.html

http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr64.html

http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr70.html

While the abiotic oil theory is by no means any less controversial than Peak Oil,
it is also no less a legitimate hypothesis.

author by Danielpublication date Mon May 16, 2005 21:34author address author phone Report this post to the editors

There are a few things that make it seem that Steve Ongerth is in fact a very big optimist when it comes to corporations and governments doing the right thing for the world. First of all I would like to comment that most agri-corporations are not going to be willing to shell out the money to convert their enormous monocropped farms to small organically viable farms for biodiesel production. These farms have destroyed much of the arable land in the world through their use of petroleum based fertilizers and pesticides and monocropping. It would be difficult and expensive to return this land to an organic operation. On top of this, what about food production? Not that I am saying that there is scarcity of food in this world for there is in fact anything but scarcity (just wastefullness). Further destruction of the earth in the name of feeding humans is unacceptable, but that is what it would take to create a situation in which a biodiesel based structure was possible along with food production.
From there the next step would be the transportation of...well everything. Once again who is going to pay the huge costs of converting everything to biodiesel?
I also have a comment regarding another form of alternative fuel, hydrogen. Steve is correct when he says that hydrogen fuel cells are carriers of energy. As far as there being sustainable methods to create hydrogen I think Steve is way too optomistic about the path that is being taken to build a hydrogen infrastructure. Our old friend King Coal is coming to the forefront as the cheapest way to create hydrogen through hydrolysis. This process of hydrolysis by way of burning coal has been compared in effieciency to the steam engine. Lots of pollution and not a lot of go!. To increase coal production coal companies have turned to the method known as mountain top removal, which is exactly what it sounds like. Mountains are removed and dumped into river valleys releasing toxic heavy metals and destroying ecosystems.
I do agree that we can have a sustainable system built upon renewables that can cushion the blow from oil peaking, but it does not seem that those making the decisions are choosing that path. I seem to see a last man standing situation in our future.

author by ASFpublication date Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:31author email Fallis61 at hotmail dot comauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

I have some thoughts I wanted to share concerning what I feel would be some of the likely consequences concerning a worldwide peak in oil production should that occur soon. One issue that seldom seems to be addressed is the possibility that peak oil would appear likely to cause an economic crisis by undermining the economic basis for globalization. The United States, for example, has a massive current account deficit with the rest of the world because much of its manufacturing is done by American companies in Third World countries or subcontractors, etc. But with peak oil, making things overseas and shipping them home becomes more and more expensive and at some point simply uneconomic. In effect, the consumers in industrialized countries are not only importing massive quantities of oil directly but also indirectly in the manufactured products they import from the Third World. These countries are much less energy efficient than the First World and obviously shipping the goods is a massive waste of energy as well. This obviously didn't matter much when oil was 10$ a barrel but what about now @ 65$ a barrel? And what about when oil is much more expensive still? There has never been a sustained supply shortage of oil on an international basis in modern times. Do you really think that people would hesitate to pay 100$, 200$ or many more dollars per barrel if they had no immediately available substitute? How could this not result in great inflation in developed countries and severe economic dislocation in Third World countries? Yes, in the long term that may mean that we can bring the jobs back home and open all the factories back up again. It may also mean that we can abandon traditional agriculture and go organic. We could also go build nukes for energy or, if make the wrong choice, return to coal. We could also massively ramp up solar, wind geothermal, etc. Third World countries could develop internal markets based on localized production. In the long run the crisis could open up great opportunities. But how long will doing all of these things take and how much will everything cost when energy is priced rationally? Consider the fact that oil is today priced @ 18-20 cents a pint. Imagine if it was simply priced @ 1$ a pint. That would still be cheap-around the same price as bottled water- but could undermine the economic basis of many societies if such a price increase occurred rather quickly. If oil production peaked in Saudi Arabia, as many now believe it will in the near future, it is very easy to see how this sort of rational price increase could occur quite rapidly. Will we have a complete economic meltdown before we can make the necessary adjustments? Will there be semi-permanent wars for oil around the world as a result? Remember, no amount of technology will get more oil out of the ground when we reach worldwide peak oil-oil production peaked in the U.S. in 1970 and the U.S. still produces less oil than it did then in spite of all the new technology we have today. The difference between the 1970s and now is that when we reach worldwide peak oil there will be nowhere to import more oil from and this would likely make the crisis much worse than it was in the 1970s (when oil went from under 3$ a barrel in 1971 to 40$ in 1980).

Don't forget that prominent supporters of peak oil theory are geologists-like M King Hubbert who predicted in the 1950s that U.S. oil production would peak in 1970 exactly when it did. These people know what they are talking about because there is a very firm scientific basis for much of what they say. It isn't simply a matter of switching to hybrids-we use energy for almost everything we do. Lets look at all the ways we need change society to cope with peak oil and push hard to make those changes now so that we can avoid disaster. If you believe that substitutes for oil could immediately and seamlessly take the place of oil without a worldwide economic/social crisis taking place first I would be interested in what you have to say. Likewise, if you have a scientific quarrel with what Colin Campbell and other geologists say concerning the approaching peak oil event I would like your opinion. I am only saying that I believe we need to act now. Localized economic development (in place of Globalization) large-scale organic agriculture and sustainable non-polluting energy production are necessary and exciting possibilities. As is the development of a comprehensive solution to our need for a new transportation model-both for the transportation of people and goods. But if peak oil is approaching soon and we do not prepare adequately how could we avoid a world economic crisis? Could endless wars for oil (with an escalating threat of nuclear war) be far behind? I think we know the likely results and who would suffer the most under these circumstances...

 
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