News for the Waking Generation
The DOJ IG said it found “Burke’s conduct in disclosing the Dodson memorandum to be inappropriate for a Department employee and wholly unbefitting a U.S. Attorney.”
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After the Associated Press revealed on Monday that they are the target of a US Department of Justice probe, Obama asked lawmakers to consider a would-be media shield law that fell apart in Washington after the start of his first presidency in 2009.
The AP wrote this week that the Justice Department subpoenaed two months of phone records likely in an attempt to try and find out with whom the news agency spoke with before publishing a May 2012 article that exposed a Yemeni terror plot foiled by the Central Intelligence Agency. Attorney General Eric Holder called the disclosure of classified information to the AP one of the biggest leaks ever suffered by the US and said publically that it put the American people at risk. On Thursday, Pres. Obama commented that “leaks related to national security can put people at risk,” but suggested that reviving a media shield law that died in Congress could perhaps strike the balance between the public’s right to know and the safety of the nation.
“So the whole goal of this media shield law that was worked on, and largely endorsed by folks like the Washington Post editorial page and prosecutors, was finding a way to strike that balance appropriately,” said the president. “And to the extent this case … has prompted renewed interest about how do we strike that balance properly, I think now is the time for us to go ahead and revisit that legislation. I think that’s a worthy conversation to have and I think that’s important.”
Now as the White House shifts focus from one scandal to another, free speech advocates are concerned that the shield law, as written, wouldn’t do much more than current legislation in terms of thwarting future subpoenas sent to journalists. Trevor Timm, an activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a board member of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, wrote in a blog post this week that the media shield law touted by Pres. Obama during his days as a senator in Illinois failed to take shape after he secured his spot in the Oval Office.
“As a Senator, Obama was a vocal supporter of a robust shield law; he co-sponsored a bill in 2007 and campaigned on the issue in 2008,” Timm wrote. “But when the Senate moved to pass the bill as soon as Obama came into office, his administration abruptly changed course and opposed the bill, unless the Senate carved out an exception for all national security reporters.”
When Obama entered the White House in early 2009, he walked away from a Senate where a shield law he advocated for had just started to take shape. Before long, though, his own administration asked for Congress to make adjustments before it ended up on the president’s desk. That original law would, in theory, put in place safeguards that would help prevent journalists from being compelled to testify who their sources are. Once in the White House, though, Obama did an about face.
In September 2009, Charlie Savage wrote for the New York Times that those safeguards “would not apply to leaks of a matter deemed to cause ‘significant’ harm to national security.”
“Moreover, judges would be instructed to be deferential to executive branch assertions about whether a leak caused or was likely to cause such harm, according to officials familiar with the proposal,” Savage wrote.
One of the bill’s authors, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York), had sharp words for the president at the time. “The White House’s opposition to the fundamental essence of this bill is an unexpected and significant setback. It will make it hard to pass this legislation,” the senator said. Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pennsylvania), a co-sponsor, called the changes “totally unacceptable.”
“If the president wants to veto it, let him veto it,” Sen. Specter told the Times in 2009. “I think it is different for the president to veto a bill than simply to pass the word from his subordinates to my subordinates that he doesn’t like the bill.”
Ultimately, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the shield law after some minor tweaking in December 2009, but as Savage explained in the Times this week, “a furor over leaking arose after WikiLeaks began publishing archives of secret government documents, and the bill never received a vote.”
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I’ve studied and graduated EMT-B certification with the state of Oregon. I’ve been on calls with heavy arterial bleeds, internal bleeding, fatalities, DOA’s. I am speaking from direct personal experience with severe trauma.
Here is a telling photograph of the amputee actor. I encourage readers to view the photo side by side with my analysis.
If you loose both your legs from explosive trauma half your blood is gone in one minute via the femoral arteries, youre dead after two. Bleeding out is worse with blunt force trauma (like shrapnel) because flesh is torn rather than cut, exposing more arterial and vascular tissue. The human body holds 5 to 6 LITERS of blood. If that really happened you would see blood EVERYWHERE, the guy would be drenched in it. You would also see what’s called arterial spurtting from the injury. Most likely he would vomit after turning ghost white from shock, then turning delirious or passing out. As for the “tourniquet”…
Its not even tied off, its suspended via gravity, which would literally do nothing to an arterial sever. There’s no pressure applied. There’s no knott with a turn stick for leverage. You can clearly see a gap in the nonexistent wrap job on his left inner thigh (left anterior proximal for you experts) His hands have no blood on them. There’s no blood on the ground. The color in his hands and lips shows good circulation.
This is an actor. This is staged. How did they pull it off though? I can show you.
Here in frame six on the left we see the the man with a hood setting up the fake leg wound prosthetics. His attention and hands are right there. The woman is acting as a shield covering what’s happening.
Frame 6
Here in frame eight the prosthetics are in place. Amidst all this chaos seconds after the explosion the hooded man takes the time to put on his sunglasses which is a signal.
Frame 8
Here in frame nine with sunglasses now on the hooded man and the woman make eye contact, signal received.
Frame 9
In frame eleven after recieving the go signal the woman makes an open hand gesture the direction both of them are looking, signaling the staged injuries are in place for cameras. The prone amputee raises his left prosthetic injury into the air over the woman’s shoulder. No blood is present. The bone is dry, no blood on his leg above the knee, no blood on the woman, no arterial spurt, nothing.
Frame 11
Here in frame fourteen the woman turns her head right but is still holding up that open palm signal with her left hand. The hooded man again busies himself pouring fake blood on the pavement behind the woman. The amputee has both fake injuries in the air now. There is still no blood on his legs, his skin above the injury is clean and dry.
Frame 14
Frame twenty, the fake blood and prosthetics are in place. The amputee gives an open hand gesture along with the woman to bring the cameras in. We’re now twenty frames in and still not a drop of fresh blood from a double leg amputation. His legs are dry, the woman is dry and unscathed. Both are making the same hand gesture.
Frame 20
These are actors. This is staged. It was flash powder. There was no crock pot nail bomb. There are no bombers, only patsy. If your looking for a gunman look at the Army in the streets of Boston. Share this knowledge with everyone.
ATS
Something about this entire thing smells to high heaven. When have you ever heard of someone with a blown off leg not bleeding? Some make the claim that it was cauterized, but obviously, the picture of them wheeling the guy out on the wheelchair shows ‘blood and gore’ (a cauterization is a burn that seals the wound). Something changed between these images and when they wheeled him out in front of the cameras.
And there is more analysis from Fist-Of-Freedom:
This image was taken by a third party photographer seconds after the first explosion. There is clear evidence of false flag staging here. The man in the red coat and baseball hat on the right is kneeling down giving directions to the guy in the white T-shirt. Also looking to this pair for direction are the woman sitting to the right and the man in a hood and sunglasses who set up the double amputee prosthetics.
Notice the relaxed posture and face of the hooded man. Notice also the calm prepared posture of the woman sitting down on the bottom right. See how her shirt sleeve is severely torn, yet her skin underneath is clean and clear of injury and blood. From where she’s sitting look right to the bottom right corner and you can see an unmarked bottle of fake blood.
Look to the left and see the cowboy hat man standing there doing nothing. This is the same man who will pretend to hold the tourniquet of the fake amputee actor later on. Look to center of the photo and you will see the african woman moving herself away from the amputee actor since her shielding him from camera’s job is over. Next to her is a woman with red hair leaning on her elbow.
Compare this now with another photo taken seconds later. Putting them side by side is very helpful.
The man with the hood and sunglasses, who was just sitting up looking fine and healthy after fixing up the amputee actor’s prosthetics, is now on his back being evaluated by two people. Notice the rips in his jeans have no sign of blood or injury on the skin. The woman with red hair however is in the exact same pose as a minute ago. Meanwhile the double amputee actor is completely ignored by everyone when he is clearly in the most dire need of attention. There is a small amount of fake blood around him where the african lady shielding him used to be, she has dissappeared. What happened to her? Compare this photo with the first in my post.
The african woman who was sitting up, shielding the hooded man and amputee actor’s prosthetic rigging, giving hand signals, looking left and right, having no visible blood or injuries, is now covered in blood and strapped into a spine board stretcher.
In a real medical scenario the amuptee would receive immediate treatment or die from bleed out. The fact this actor woman is removed from the scene via stretcher while the double amputee is left on the ground is ludacris. He would be dead from blood lose before they could even begin spinal assessment procedures involved in moving a patient to a stretched. Not to mention his blood lose would be over five liters, enough to cover the entire scene around these people in a thick puddle.
From firsthand experience with trauma in the field of EMS work, this is not real. These are actors. This is all staged.
I know that many just want to believe. But I can’t help but think. So much doesn’t add up.
KPatrickRyan shared an updated picture of the Bauman guy in the hospital (visited by Bradley Cooper). Compare him to the wheelchair man (Vogt???) and tell me who’s who.
UPDATED: 4/21/13
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In an extraordinary executive intervention, the President of the United States has weighed in on the Boston Bombing case – already delivering a guilty verdict for the Tsaranev brothers.
As reported exclusively on Before It’s News, the FBI surveillance video is in fact a digitally manipulated slideshow of still photos and not an actual video.
This is evidenced by the existence of ghost images appearing in between still photos in the so-called video as a transition effect is applied during the fade between frames.
As many in the alternative media have already pointed out special-ops were photographed all over the site of the Boston Marathon bombing before, during and after the attacks.
While there is speculation those photographed could be Navy Seals the overwhelming majority of the evidence points to those in the photograph being part of a for hire black-ops mercenary squad known as Craft International.
Shortly after Before It’s News reporter Alexander Higgins reported on the digitally manipulated slideshow the FBI and the media are fraudulently passing as actual surveillance video it was suggested the alteration may have been done to hide mercenary’s signature skull logo.
Upon asking why this may have been done it was suggested the video may very well have been altered to hide the tell-tale skull that is part of the Trade Craft insignia the alternative media is buzzing about..
After further investigating the so-called FBI surveillance “video” for signs of alteration it was immediately obvious that the images of the alleged suspects had possibly been altered to hide the fact they where in fact part of the black-ops team on site.
This image comparing the alleged suspect, which police say is still at large and is the man that physically planted both of the bombs, to the black-ops personnel photographed at the bombing.
To be clear here is an actual picture of the alleged suspected.
Enlarging the image reveals a clear area that may have been digitally manipulated to hide the skull logo.
As previously noted:
For an explanation of why the video is clearly a slide show that is being faked into appearing to a video see this.
With mercenary firms around the globe now owned by Wall Street banks and acting as private armies for global elitists who are funded in most cases exclusively with US taxpayer money such ruthless thugs not loyal to our Constitution have no business conducting operations inside the United States.
It raises all kinds of questions about their presence which become even more intriguing when considering the main stream corporate media and law enforcement officials refuse to even acknowledge their presence at the bomb site nonetheless date attempt to explain why they were there and what they were doing.
Mike Adams from Natural News gives a good explanation of why the operatives are believed to be from the private mercenary firm Craft International.
Natural News has now confirmed that at least five private military contractors were operating on scene at the Boston marathon, and that they all carried black backpacks which look very similar to the backpack carrying the pressure cooker bomb (see pictures below).
The mainstream media is completely censoring any mention of these “Craft” operatives, pretending they don’t even exist. Only the alternative media is conducting real investigative journalism on these bombings. The mainstream media isn’t interested in the truth; they only want to spin the attack into a new way to somehow blame conservative Americans for something they had no part in.
Thanks to the help of researchers posting on 4Chan, plus a bit of our own analysis, we’ve been able to bring new research to light as you’ll see in the photos below.
The following photo was snapped mere moments after the first bomb detonation. Many people are asking, “Who is this guy?” and why is he dressed in combat boots and military BDUs (pants)? More importantly, what is he carrying in his hand?
We were able to get a close-up of the object in his hand:
With a bit of research, we were able to confirm this object is an “Inspector Radiation Alert” device that detects the kind of radiation which would be produced in a dirty bomb attack or a nuclear attack:
This immediately brings up all sorts of questions, such as: Who hired this guy? Whose side is he on? Why would he anticipate the need for a nuclear radiation detector? What kind of private military operative routinely carries such expensive gadgets?
As we browsed through the photos, we located four more private military operatives with the exact same dress: Tan combat boots, tan BDUs, black jackets, black backpacks and tactical communications gear.
Here’s a picture of three of these men reacting to the explosion. The one in the middle is the same guy in the radiation detector photo, above:
There are several things worth noting in this image:
1) All three of the men look surprised, even shocked by the events. This might argue against their prior knowledge of the bombings.
2) The object in the right hand of the man in the middle may resemble a small handgun, but I’m sure it isn’t. Why? Because no highly trained private military operative would carry a handgun with a “pincer” grip as appears in the photo. A proper grip on a handgun is far deeper into the palm. This object is most likely the same radiation detector shown above, just captured from a weird angle with a flapping leather case of some sort.
3) The man on the left, an older gentleman, appears to be holding an object in his right hand which seems capable of being actuated with his thumb.
4) The man on the right reveal “The Craft” skull logo on his shirt because his jacket just happened to open up for this photo (see below).
Here’s a photo comparison of “The Craft” logo on his shirt:
Here are two more operatives on the scene, wearing the exact same uniform:
If you look at the hat for one of these men, you can clearly see “the Craft” skull logo on his hat:
Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle was also a member of The Craft. He was murdered by one of his close friends a few months ago. The appearance of The Craft operatives at the Boston marathon bombing raises new questions about Chris Kyle’s death:
Here’s Chris Kyle on national TV wearing the “Craft” hat:
Here’s the Craft motto, which says “Violence does solve problems.”
If you still doubt these are “Craft” operatives, check out The Craft website where all these images, logos and uniforms are instantly confirmed.
Here’s where all this gets incredibly spooky: The backpack that carried the pressure cooker bomb looks very similar to the black backpacks worn by The Craft operatives:
I write this letter on behalf of husbands and wives who have lost spouses, on behalf of children who have lost a parent, on behalf of the fathers and mothers who have lost sons and daughters and on behalf of those who care for the many thousands of my fellow veterans who have brain injuries. I write this letter on behalf of those veterans whose trauma and self-revulsion for what they have witnessed, endured and done in Iraq have led to suicide and on behalf of the active-duty soldiers and Marines who commit, on average, a suicide a day. I write this letter on behalf of the some 1 million Iraqi dead and on behalf of the countless Iraqi wounded. I write this letter on behalf of us all—the human detritus your war has left behind, those who will spend their lives in unending pain and grief.
RELATED: 9/11 Author Philip Marshall Found Dead in Alleged ‘Murder Suicide’
21st Century Wire says… No one can report they heard shots or screams from the Marshall house, nestled in the quiet small picturesque town of Murphys, CA. So what really happened? Let’s see…
“The official version about some ghost (Osama bin Laden) in some cave on the other side of the world defeating our entire military establishment on U.S. soil is absolutely preposterous… The true reason the attack was successful is because of an inside military stand-down and a coordinated training operation that prepared the hijackers to fly heavy commercial airliners. We have dozens of FBI documents to prove that this flight training was conducted in California, Florida and Arizona in the 18 months leading up to the attack.” – Philip Marshall (2012)
By Greg Fernandez Jr
Philip Marshall understood that 9/11 was a false flag event. He wrote two non-fiction books about 9/11 and the lies surrounding it, but he also wrote a fictional book entitled, ‘Lakefront Airport’, which I am told, is virtually impossible to find.
According to the Facebook page False Flag 911, in the book Lakefront Airport, “Marshall writes a contemporary historical fiction based on actual events including his early flying experience at Lakefront Airport, his relationship with the CIA, Barry Seal, Pablo Escobar and the notorious Medellin Cocaine Cartel.”
In his early life Marshall was a contract pilot at Lakefront Airport in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was raised in New Orleans; the same city where on March 1, 1967, District Attorney Jim Garrison arrested Clay Shaw for conspiring to kill John F. Kennedy. As a pilot, Marshall was involved in many government operations. Then one day he decides to kill his two children, his dog, and then himself?
In the words of Han Solo,”I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Another independent researcher looking into the false flag of 9/11 is dead. I actually got a chance to visit the small town where this alleged suicide-murder happened. After visiting, I believe there are many in the town that do not believe that Philip Marshall killed his two teenage children, his dog, and then himself. I hope authorities will not rule out the possibility that Philip Marshall and his two children were murdered by someone or a group of people, especially since the Calaveras Sheriff’s department has no motive for the alleged suicide-murder.
I really enjoyed my trip at Murphys, which was supposed to have nothing to do with researching Philip Marshall. Everyone greeted us friendly with polite nods and and a friendly “hello”.
Murphys is a small town full of local business owners, retired military personnel, wine connoisseurs, bikers, and of course, Free Masons and members of the Order of the Eastern Star. Surely in a small town like this, news travels fast. I knocked on the front door of the Masonic Hall, hoping to get a comment about this tragedy.
I guess no one was home. There were three cars parked in the parking lot though. some type of church or temple was attached to the two-floor building where regular meetings are held. I assume the people inside the hall know as much about the Philip Marshall case as I do, but assumptions are not facts. They’re just unanswered questions.
Later on I took a walk down Main Street and got a chance to talk to a local from the town. I was told that people in the town were still in shock and trying to cope with what happened, but many had suspicions that Philip Marshal and his children were murdered.
“How did you know about Philip Marshall?” I was asked.
“Oh, I write books similar to him,” I responded.
“Be careful,” someone from the town warned me.
“Do you think he did it?” I asked. There was a slight pause. While recognizing the many questions surrounding the case, this person found it easier to cope with the ordeal by thinking Marshall wouldn’t do such a thing. This person also understood that there was something wrong with the official story of 9/11. This person understood the risks Marshall was taking in challenging the official story. After I told this person that Marshall had basically expressed some concern for his safety, and we discussed a little about the World Trade Center, I got the general feeling that this person had the same doubts as me and many others.
There were questions as to why no neighbors reported hearing any gun shots or any suspicious activities. It’s possible no one communicated with Phillip Marshall or his two children for two days before some of the teens friends saw Mr. Marshall lying in a pool of blood inside his house.
I searched the town for any signs or information about Philip Marshall. But why would they have a memorial or any remembrance of someone they were told killed his own children and dog? I couldn’t find The Big Bamboozle or False Flag 9/11 in the local bookstore. “More copies are on the way,” I was assured. I realized I wasn’t the only one asking for his books.
Four years ago, Philip Marshall (under username: Flyer82) posted on the TruthMove.org forum about his first non-fiction book, False Flag 9/11. Marshall wrote, “1. My agenda as an airline pilot is to find the culprits in the attack against my fellow aviators. 2. To reopen hearings with witnesses under oath and to uncover the buried FBI files and the blacked out portions about the Saudis in the congressional report.”
The Official Story
Philip Marshall allegedly shot his two teenage children Alex Marshall (17) and Macaila Marshall (14), his dog, and then himself inside his home in Murphys, California, while his “estranged” wife was out of the country.
The last time some friends heard from Alex or Macaila Marshall was on Thursday, January 31, 2012. On Saturday, February 2, 2013 at 3:10 pm, concerned friends of the two teenagers called the Calaveras Sheriff’s office after knocking on the front door of the Marshall home. Through the front door window, they saw Philip Marshall lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Deputies went to the residency on a suspicious circumstance/welfare check. The two teenagers were allegedly found on the couch next to each other. They also found the dog “deceased in a bedroom,” according to the media release from the sheriff’s office.
It seems clear to me that Philip Marshall was associated with many “black operations” in the 1980′s, as a Learjet captain involving the Central Intelligence Agency. Watch this rare interview with Philip Marshall:
The administrator for TruthMover.org adds a reader’s review that helps us understand a little more about Philip Marshall:
“Marshall is not just a veteran pilot — he’s also a pilot who started out, in his 20s, flying covert missions for Vice President Bush/Oliver North’s Iran-Contra scheme. Thus he became all too well acquainted with “black operations” — the shadow world of secret quasi-official activities. In fact, as he writes in the book, he’s the only pilot from that operation who wasn’t killed shortly thereafter — perhaps because his work was subcontracted and just under the principals’ radar.”
A former guest on Coast to Coast with George Noory, Marshall’s bio for that site states “Marshall has researched 30 years of covert government activities, a revolving door of Wall Street tricksters, media moguls and their well funded politicians into every branch of our government. Post 9/11, Marshall has led a comprehensive, ten year study into the tactical plan used by the 9/11 hijackers and is the leading aviation expert on the September 11th attack.” The same bio also describes Marshall as a “ former government “special activities” contract pilot.”
The Santa Barbara Review’s article stated, “The veteran pilot confided that he was concerned about his 10-year, independent 9/11 study and most recent book since they pointed to the Saudis and the Bush intelligence community as the executioners of the attack that defeated all U.S. military defenses on Sept. 11, 2001. Marshall said he knew his book might cause some people to take issue with him.” The coroner told them, “It did appear as though they were sleeping.” A toxicology report will show if Marshall or his two children were drugged.
The story of Philip Marshall continues after his death. It should be easy to prove whether or not Marshall fired a gun that day. If he didn’t, then perhaps he did not do what he is accused of doing. If someone, or a group of people, “suicided” Philip Marshall and murdered his two children and dog, then I would call that a professional black-op. While I will have my doubts about the suicide and murders, I cannot prove that Marshall was “suicided.” (For more on suicided, watch the video at the bottom) Nor can I conclusively say that he is guilty, based on the little evidence we have been given.
My Video Report of My Trip to Murphys:
http://youtu.be/2DY6AOInxmw
This is what freedom and democracy is about under Barack Obama, as real black artists are silenced for not sticking to the party line, and criticizing the Party Leader (sound familiar?) Watch…
That pretty much sums up where America is at in 2013.
Andrew McKillop
21st Century Wire
Was Iraq an ‘oil war? Probably in 50 years time, academics but not many other persons will still be talking about the subject.
For plenty of historians, journalists, writers, paywrights and movie makers there is no problem at all: since the 1991 Liberation of Kuwait, the 9/11 atrocities in the US, the creation of ‘al Qaeda’ and the global war on terror, the Afghan war, the second Iraq war, and the overthrow and killing of Khadafi, we have had a succession of Oil Wars, either directly caused or promoted by the US and Great Britain. This is always denied, of course.
But 5 years ago – in 2008 – it would have been wildly controversial, or just plain wild to suggest that the US will soon stop being an oil importer: it will be oil self-sufficient. This year, US Dept of Energy and oil industry forecasters say that national oil production will rise at least another 7%, like it did last year, reaching about 11.4 million barrels a day at the end of 2013 – rivalling Saudi and Russian oil output, or even exceeding their output.
By 2020 or soon after it is logical and feasible to predict the US will become entirely self-sufficient for oil and a substantial exporter of natural gas – helped by its continuing near-flatline profile of domestic oil and energy demand, with 2007 still remaining a highwater mark.
Why would the US want oil wars in the Middle East, when it is oil self-sufficient? Is heavy US military presence in the Persian (or Arab) Gulf region a “protection service” it runs for the Europeans, Chinese, Japanese, South Koreans, Indians and any other major oil importer?
The idea of a global oil security protection service – designed by the US and applied by the US and for the moment, still free of charge – surely crops up, ever more frequently, in US political and strategic thinking. President Obama’s very recent announcement of a “zero military option” for Afghanistan – the complete removal of all US fighting forces perhaps this year – is basically a cost/benefit decision. The economic bottom line from staying in Afghanistan, despite the rumors of rare earths, gas, gold and high value buddhist prayer wheel trinkets in simply massive quantities, is negative. Also, no other major Western power wants to pay for the Afghan war. Ergo, the war is terminated.
IRAN WAR – ANOTHER COLLATERAL VICTIM
Despite the rabid tubthumping by Benyamin Netanyahu, and his supporters, lobbyists, activists and others, in Israel, the US, Europe and elsewhere beating the drum of Iran War, this is a failing theme and meme. To be sure, it is regularly recycled in the media by journalists short of supposedly “lurid” copy – because it would concern nuclear war – but the numbers simply do not add. Iran has plenty of oil reserves, certainly, it could produce more, probably, but who exactly needs radioactive crude oil? Iran war would be expensive, oh gosh yes, because the large and highly populated country would need military occupation on a long-term basis. Call it Afghanistan multiplied by 50 or Iraq times 10. Dreams that Iran’s “huge oil reserves” could one day, quite soon, bolster America’s failing reserves and output of oil are now as outdated as a bakelite telephone with a metal dial.
Much digital ink was spilled over the decade of about 1997-2007 on the theme that Peak Oil means Iran’s oil will be “vital to humanity”, that is Wal Mart shoppers and their ilk. Conversely, the oil and gas boom in the US, now subtitled “fracking”, was almost ignored until only the last 3 years. To be sure, a fuzzily defined lobby, including Lady Gaga, Yoko Ono, diehard global warmers and environmentalists say that fracking is close to Satanic, or in Yoko Ono’s gurgling prose “a death camp technology”, but the drilling goes on. Today, there is no longer any space or time for talking about whether or not it will lead to US energy independence: the US overtook Russia to become the world’s biggest natural gas producing nation in 2012, and by about 2014 can be the world’s biggest oil producer. Period.
The curious impacts and ramifications of this massive, unexpected and almost instant energy revolution are still hard to trace, and its results are hard to predict. One is however easy to predict: US Cow Boy Colonialism – or self elected world cop policing of the planet – is now as outdated as that Cold War era bakelite telephone for calling Krutschev’s translator to chat about mutually assured destruction. Another is easy to see and follow at this moment in time: Syria’s civil war and its outcome are of little interest to the US, today. The war’s spillover potential to the Gulf Petro-states with their curious blend of Islamic fundamentalism, dictatorial repression of their populations, and casino capitalism, is probably quite low but in any case, the US needs their oil less and less. Every day less, in fact.
Another predictable impact and sequel is shaping up in the fuzzily defined, always growing Sahel African Islamic insurgency. US participation in military response to “the Islamists” promises or threatens to be low – very low. Policing and paying this post-colonial mess will be the purview and pain of the European nations which set up the mess, but somehow expected the USA to pay for it.The outlook is therefore sombre: the Europeans have a track record of not only walking away from their obligations – but also not even walking up to them in the first place!
With a home-brewed domestic economic crisis of 1930s proportions, desert adventures in low income Africa are surely nice stuff for thriller films and books, but taxpayers will shirk from paying the real thing which will feature tens of thousands of permanently stationed ground troops. The game wasnt worth the candle.
CHINA VERSUS USA
A surprising source – the German Bundesnachrichtendienst - or BND spy agency – in a “restricted circulation report” issued January 17, 2013, says that its readout of the geopolitical results coming from the US energy revolution is not what most persons would predict. It however starts with an unsurprising but blunt-language analysis of the reasons – perhaps the only reason despite the pretexts – for the US being so deeply involved in the Middle East. The BND includes its long and expensive wars in the region, and why the US gives such slavish respect and support to the “highly unpalatable regime” of Saudi Arabia:
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/wirtschaftspolitik/bnd-studie-amerika-wird-unabhaengig-von-der-golfregion-12028549.html
For German home consumers of spy stuff with an oil handle, the BND reports that the inevitably high price of oil, given the geopolitical intensity of action by the USA’s rivals inside and outside the region, and the belief that global oil production could only decline, led to post-communist Russia becoming a very dangerous and sombre force on the world stage. It says that the pending bailout of Cyprus which will cost German taxpayers a lot of money, will mainly and firstly be used to bail out rich Russians who placed their “petro money” stashes in Cypriot banks that are now collapsing as yet another blowback from the European and Eurozone crises. Russia, like Saudi Arabia got rich on petrodollars.
US independence from Gulf region oil will finally, and mostly affect the relationship and balance of power between the US and China, says the BND report. It suggests that China does not have enough time to ramp up its own shale gas, and then shale oil production. Struggling to meets its skyrocketing demand for oil, China will need to take about 50% of all the oil produced on the Arabian peninsula, and like the US before it, China’s dependence on Arab and Iranian oil will grow for decades. Due to China presently not having the military power to exert a permanent military presence in the region, and protect the region’s oil transport routes, China will have to kow-tow to the USA, which has the military hardware and the experience of policing the region.
The first and biggest loser in the worldwide geopolitical scramble caused by the US oil boom, will be China, but another if smaller loser will be Europe - including Germany.
The BND’s analysis is not simple: it argues that Putin’s Russia will become more aggressive and hostile to both the US and Europe, resulting in large-scale effort to drive Russian oil and natural gas out of the energy import mix, in Europe. This will cause Europe to much more intensely act to source more of its oil and gas supplies from Africa – notably Sahel Africa. Countries such as Nigeria, however, will be so intensely courted by China that they will break away from their traditional oil supply role to Europe – but will demand Chinese military presence in Africa to compensate. The BND also forecasts very siginficant, even massive increases in African oil and gas supply over the next 15 – 20 years, which will directly harm Russian producers and exporters facing ever-rising production costs in Russia’s frigid and remote northern and Arctic areas.
The bottom line is also not simple: for the BND, the US energy revolution spells the end of dependence of oil importer countries on Russia and OPEC and the end of their ability, with the banksters, brokers and traders who run the world’s oil markets to raise prices at the flick of a wrist. Conversely, it says, the US energy revolution will be slow to economically benefit the US – even if it liberates the US from its role of World Cop and Warmaker and gives the US the perspective of years of peace. Winners, according to the BND, will be those oil importers on a downward track in oil dependence – that is Germany – and those industries which are very energy intensive and can relocate to the US. With time, the BND says, even the USA’s gargantuan trade deficits can be trimmed, because US oil imports, and the barrel price, will both decline, propping up the dollar as a reserve currency for a while longer.
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