Secret Weapons
I found this story today on the Energy Bulletin. In my view, the author takes on this sensitive issue, yet he makes the critical issue clear.
Osama's Secret Weapon
by Neal Brandvik
January 26, 2006
Several times a year Osama Bin Laden emerges from seclusion to taunt America. There is always a quiet confidence about him as he proclaims that victory for Islam and God over America is inevitable. In addition to promising more attacks on us, Osama says he is patient and willing to wait for our demise as long as it takes.
Is he crazy?
Where does he get the idea that a group of rag tag thugs who live in caves is going to defeat the greatest superpower nation in history? After all, as horrendous as the 9-11attacks were, our economy rebounded quickly. (clip)
Bin Laden’s strategy is clear. He learned from another Muslim – Muhammed Ali – in his fight with George Foreman.
Remember the rope-a-dope?
While we exhaust our resources “taking the fight to the terrorists” instead of massively investing in alternative energy, Osama’s army will grow because Arabs know our military presence in the Middle East is all about the oil.
The world knows this except for Americans, especially Iraqis who chased the British out of Iraq during the 1920s for doing the same thing. As global oil depletion squeezes the American economy, Osama’s troops will continue to assault our “Way of Life” by bombing pipelines and killing oil workers.
Unfortunately, in the long run there aren’t enough tax dollars and willing young Americans to protect the Middle East’s vast oil infrastructure. Since 60% of the oil remaining on the planet is in Muslim countries, Osama’s minions never have to go far to make increasingly scarce, expensive oil more scarce and more expensive.
Geography, geology and time are on Osama’s side not ours. The Peak Oil wolf is at our door and he knows it. Osama also knows we won’t confront our petroleum demon any time soon. No politician who is interested in keeping his or her job will stop the continual building, maintaining and accessorizing of suburban sprawl that makes us utterly dependent on cheap oil.
The Bush Administration can’t talk about Peak Oil because acknowledging it makes America’s oil grab in Iraq look obvious to all. They know killing for a resource that will run out some day is not palatable to a Christian nation.
So Bush and Bin Laden have one thing in common.
They don’t want you to know about Osama’s secret weapon --
Peak Oil."
Clearly, the people of earth are facing two huge problems.
Well, facing may not be the right description,
but we are at least dealing with the symptoms of them.
Fortunately, these two huge culture shifting problems,
Climate Change and Peak Oil
can be solved by the same solution.
Unfortunately,
The pols and the powerful in charge of the Earth's largest economy,
don't seem to get it yet.
They would rather argue over pseudo moral issues,
and parade around in their tawdry suits of blue.
Osama has his secret weapon.
I suggest we come up with ours.
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posted by oZ @ 8:08 AM
5 Comments:
That's a very insightful take on the Bigger Picture. It makes sense. Thanks for clearing up the Canadian "oil discovery"--there was a piece about it on Discovery that described the problems of extraction.
We need to enveigle the Democrats to pick up the science issues and run with them. If we dither around and let the Re-thugs brand us as evil liberals we will continue to lose. It's high time we end run around their anti-science blathering and act like we have our sights trained on solving the problems of the not so distant future.
FM
Our oil denominated economy plays right into the hands of our adversaries. I agree.
We should get off oil and carbon yesterday.
what secret weapon?
There is beauty in this whole picture. We have the election, three years from now to look forward to. And this one will be grossly different from the last ones. The next president will not only be running on a renewable energy plan and but he will be well versed in the latest technologies. The greater the blunders of this presidency (oh Hillary was so great, no?), the greater the reaction to come in the next. It is unfortunate that mass culture will adopt change with open arms only when in a state of crisis. On the other hand, when the time comes, the momentum will be grand and there will be many who are prepared to show the way with capital to see it done. Looking forward. Its not so far away. (For now, keep excedrin on hand because it is going to get worse.)
The following excerpt is the perfect nexus between seemingly dissimilar concepts:
"While we exhaust our resources “taking the fight to the terrorists” instead of massively investing in alternative energy, Osama’s army will grow because Arabs know our military presence in the Middle East is all about the oil."
While attending university, I lived above a martial arts academy in Boston. My first winter was a real education, both in culture and function, when I found myself stranded in my flat with nothing more than antiquated texts and a discman. From my window, I read the reflection of the academy's signage and called down to see if they were open, and thus began the end of idleness--I started taking martial arts as a remedy to my own idle station and because it did not require an extra pair of shoes to get there.
After a couple of weeks of training, I realized that my weakness was in fact where I would find my strength. As with most martial arts, the emphasis is not within your own individual strength, but rather in learning to manipulate the strength of your opponent, only to turn it against them. I would spar with men twice my size, and even in their half-hearted attempts to floor me I took a beating until they brought the death blow, manuervering aside only to use their own momentum to take them to the ground. Smarter, not harder. And though I looked much worse than them after a spar, I was always the victor.
Coming out of the Cold War era, disposing of the quantitative approach of engagement, Policy is no different.
Whether it be a rag-tag bunch of cave dwellers or a powerful, foreign nation state, the secret weapon of choice is the United States' dependency on foregin oil and the United States' willingness to goto war to obtain resources. Not unlike the fall of the Roman Empire, the US' policies are spreading her thin militarily so that all it will take is a pin-prick to start a perpetual bleeding. This motivation and subsequent momentum will take the US to the floor, even if the US is shadow-boxing with itself.
In following the analogy, all it takes is a simple analysis of the situation to get at the heart of "our inevitable demise."
And this is at the heart of my frustration: Oz alludes to the Royal "We" not only in blaming, but in placating. Who is this "We"?
Strawmans abound, but the premise goes undeveloped. The best premise is without evaluation. There is no good and bad, just truth. And the people that seek the truth do so in knowing that all the direct and latent consequences will take care of themselves so long as the truth is followed.
A grassroots operation is not a desire it is a necessity. It does not take years of planning, it does not take a lot of money, it does not take fighting or war. It takes an understanding that though "we" may come from different values/perspectives, we will never come to moral agreement, nor even have the opportunity to discuss it, until we solve the functional need to end dependency.
We are the we. We are our own problem. If you and I ("we") start today, the rest of the world follows.
Then our fighting forms will evolve to celebratory dance steps as there will be no need for fighting.
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