A while back Dredd Blog had a post The Peak of The Oil Wars which indicated, among other things, that some professionals think that Iraq will be the number one oil producer in a short while.Recently the German government has completed a study concerning the issue of "peak oil", which was leaked to the internet.
The study contains statements that resemble what peak oil scientists have been saying for decades, while being castigated as "doomers" for so saying.
The reality of peak oil, combined with global warming and global climate change, is a clear and present danger, a sure threat to the continuation of civilization as we know it:
Relapse into planned economy: Since virtually all economic sectors rely heavily on oil, peak oil could lead to a "partial or complete failure of markets," says the study. "A conceivable alternative would be government rationing and the allocation of important goods or the setting of production schedules and other short-term coercive measures to replace market-based mechanisms in times of crisis."(Der Speigel, emphasis added). As oil becomes more scarce the national security of various nations will become more and more threatened.
Global chain reaction: "A restructuring of oil supplies will not be equally possible in all regions before the onset of peak oil," says the study. "It is likely that a large number of states will not be in a position to make the necessary investments in time," or with "sufficient magnitude." If there were economic crashes in some regions of the world, Germany could be affected. Germany would not escape the crises of other countries, because it's so tightly integrated into the global economy.
Crisis of political legitimacy: The Bundeswehr study also raises fears for the survival of democracy itself. Parts of the population could perceive the upheaval triggered by peak oil "as a general systemic crisis." This would create "room for ideological and extremist alternatives to existing forms of government." Fragmentation of the affected population is likely and could "in extreme cases lead to open conflict."
Like addicts fighting for a fix of heroin, nations will drift closer and closer to war as desperation sets in.
In the face of such catastrophe, our Senate could not even pass legislation that would increase the fuel mileage of automobiles, rushing headlong toward oblivion instead.
After all, we have now entered into the age of criminal insanity, a time when more and more insane people get elected into government.
Whether you follow George Oilwell or George Orwell, things are getting curiouser and curiouser are they not?
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