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53 comments on A Discussion of Friedman's "Gas Pump Geopolitics"

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beggar on April 30, 2006 - 3:43pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
In the 2,002 Pre-Iraq-Invasion article, TF is expostulating from the typically "dumb-and-dumber" egocentric perspective our media so carefully cultivates.

"Gosh, Golly, Gee Whiz -- will we see oil at six bucks a barrel or at 60 bucks a barrel if we invade?  Can we wreck OPEC and cause revolutions from Iran to Venezuela so that we can install obediant puppets in those places which happen to have our oil under their ground?"

Perhaps it does some good to look back to the days before "Shock and Awe" to see how the Neo-Con thinking was rationalizing every possibility strictly in terms of oil and how we could get it cheap and dirty.

"Peak Oil?  Global Climate change?  What has that to do with me and my bigger and better SUV, McMansion, and the promise that the age of 60 is 'the new 30' and so I have years to of nothing more than more and better orgasms between now and my 120th birthday....by then, 120 will be 'the new 30' and I'll live another 120 years with the same expectations, only softer skin and an even bigger and better SUV, flying to a senior vacation colony ("Bushville Grande" don't you know) on Mars on weekends..."

Ooops. Sorry to be so cynical.

What does TF say today?  That the stock market is on a permanent, eternal upward swing?  That real estate is an investor's bargain?  That gold is fun to have lying about the house in piles?  Or that he keeps a stash of gold coins in the change drawer of his new hybrid Lexus?

Ooops.  There I go again.

The subtext of all American politics and media narrative today is this:  how in the Hell can we kill and intimidate more people through brutal wars so that no one will stand between us and our next fix of petroleum.

That is it.  Bottom line.  "I want my oil, and I want it now, and I want it cheap!  Where's my dealer!  Where's my oil!"

Ooops.  There I go again.

A few glitches in the system have allowed the term "peak oil" to be uttered seriously lately.  Does that mean we are passed the stage where they laugh at or hate those who take peak oil seriously, or are we still getting to the "laughing at" and "fighting with" stage?

Are we anywhere near the stage of talking about nthe reality of resource depletion, of peaceful allocation of resources?

Are we to the point yet that people accept that global climate change is also an issue, and that we must take that into account as we deal with peak oil?

Imagine the USA this summer if gas gets to five bucks a gallon.  There are too many guns on the street.  There are still too many racial tensions and class divisions.  Even five bucks a gallon will turn us on our heads.

TF, what are you thinking about, now?  If we bomb the Hell out of Iran, maybe we will see revolutions from the UAE to Venezuela...again?

Maybe we will see six-dollar-a-barrel oil again, if we only bomb Iran?  How about $200.00 a barrel oil?

Roll the dice and see what happens...again?

--even so, pedaling for peace and ecojustice -- Gary (beggar)

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fleam on April 30, 2006 - 5:52pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Beggar I think we're going to see $4 this summer and that will be interesting enough.
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costa rica Johns on April 30, 2006 - 10:21pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Awesome post there beggar. Couldn't have said it better.
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Brother Kornhoer on April 30, 2006 - 11:00pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I remember TF writing in the last year or so about how he realized before the war that it was going to happen, that the train was pulling out of the station, and he jumped on the bandwagon (sorry for the mixed metaphor) so as to be in a position to promote his idea of the war transforming the Middle East, which closely paralleled the NeoCons' ideas.    He then went on to blame the whole debacle that resulted on the NeoCons' blotched implementation of the war.....buzzz, wrong answer, Tom, it wasn't a tactical mistake or even thousands of tactical mistakes but a huge strategic mistake from the get-go, the damaging results of which will play out for the next 15 years, if not longer.
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