Ah at last a thread worth joining! I'll try and give the UK angle on this one.
1. The Guardian newspaper
Is a Socialist-leaning UK broadsheet, BTW. I personally switched to it about a year ago as I found it's coverage of the financial crisis pretty good, it has in this respect been refreshingly critical of the UK government (which is also supposed to be Socialist). So wheras, as an outlet for the 'Establishment' it's a natural candidate, I don't find it so these days. I think it's independence is thus proven (IMO).
Running this story a few days ago was a pretty good scoop for them, I read the printed version and the article had a 'hold the front page' air about it. It was very short and there was no follow-up inside (late to press, in other words). So I think it's 'genuine' journalism rather than a 'managed' release by the UK government.
Also you have to look at the nature of the article. 'World running out of oil' is NOT news (it hasn't been since the 70's). 'IEA cover-up of figures' IS. So again, I think this is just genuine investigative journalism. With regard to the follow-up articles, well I bet there's plenty of journalists out there that can use the internet. Some of them can probably even find PO.com all on their own. So the rest of the material is easy to explain. I don't see any sinister forces at work here.
2. The IEA.
A bit of a breathtaking turn-around here (re:AGW). One might say they are finally doing their job, in that it's impossible to consider 21'st century energy policy without reference to counter-AGW stratagies. Having said which, the schizophrenia of the report does seem to show that the organization may be in increasing disarray - maybe the Guardian are right in this respect. An AGW-centric stance for the IEA would really have made more sense if they had adopted it 10 years ago when oil was $20 a barrel. I don't know what they are now discussing internally but I suspect the expression 'between a rock and a hard place' might fit here.
Again, I don't see much evidence of a managed stratagy here. Rather the opposite.
3.The role of States and Corporates post peak-oil.
To bring a dose of reality back here, the dominant issue of 2009/10/11 is still going to be the financial mess that the G7 countries (particularly the US, UK and Japan are in). In particular their governments. If Peak Oil has a bearing here, it's probably that rising oil prices (once again) are likly to further wreck State (I mean Federal, if you live in the US) finances. This makes any top-level, managed response to either AGW or Peak Oil increasingly difficuilt. Particularly in the US, the prospect of State Failure becomes increasingly great. In this context I don't yet see any sort of coherent response at all - I don't loose sleep worrying that the carbon police might come to knock my door down one day. I don't think any major country has these plans in place - right or wrong - to 'manage' us off carbon. Again, increasing political schizophrenia seems to be the order of the day. Shouting one thing and doing another. That's the world we live in at the moment. Who knows what happens next, but for now I just expect more of the same.
The Corporates of course are not States (again I mean Federal). Part of the UK experience post-80's was that while private companies can run some things (telecoms for example) well, public utilities such as railways, hospitals and policing are a disaster in the hands of the free market. A market that cannot of course, function without this things operating in the background. So the Coporates neither want to run States or have the ability to do so. Against a background of failing 'big government' their activities would be hampered to the extent that they may pull out entirely from countries that are unable to keep services running. McDonalds recent withdrawal from Icelend being an example. So I don't see IBM stepping forward to run the world, much as some of us might (secretly) want them to.
So the future really is just down to free-thinking individuals (some of them appear to be journalists, BTW) and organised small communities. At the moment, these communities don't even have to physically together in the same place. PO.com is one such, I can think of a few others...
Anyhow I shall stop rambling now - must get back to work. See y'all...
JP
PeakOil is You
Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure-whistleblower
Re: Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure-whistleblower
by JPL » Thu 12 Nov 2009, 08:13:10
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Re: Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure-whistleblower
by Quinny » Thu 12 Nov 2009, 08:34:29
I'm still unsure whether the whistleblower is saying that this report is distorted, or that previous reports were. This one is so bad as it stands, that if things are actually worse than this, I'm seriously starting to worry about short term consequences ie next year.
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Re: Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure-whistleblower
by davep » Thu 12 Nov 2009, 09:08:45
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') think this is just genuine investigative journalism.
I'd have to disagree there. Someone from the IEA contacted the Guardian just prior to the publication of the 2009 World Energy Outlook. They got corroboration from an ex-colleague and printed the story.
The guardian then rushed out the story before the report was published.
This could easily be something stage-managed. I'm not saying it is, but it is most definitely not investigative journalism.
Last edited by davep on Thu 12 Nov 2009, 09:24:31, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure-whistleblower
by JPL » Thu 12 Nov 2009, 09:12:33
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Quinny', 'I')'m still unsure whether the whistleblower is saying that this report is distorted, or that previous reports were..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/09/peak-oil-international-energy-agency
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')n particular they question the prediction in the last World Economic Outlook, believed to be repeated again this year, that oil production can be raised from its current level of 83m barrels a day to 105m barrels.
There in black & white mate
JP
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Re: Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure-whistleblower
by rangerone314 » Thu 12 Nov 2009, 09:18:37
105 mil/bbl by 2030?
I do wonder what they project in between now and then, like for 2020, and for 2012 and 2016...
I'd say if they have figures projected for those years, and 2012 rolls around and the figures are lower than projected for 2012 or even lower than 2008, it'd be pretty obvious what 2030 is going to look like.
I do wonder what they project in between now and then, like for 2020, and for 2012 and 2016...
I'd say if they have figures projected for those years, and 2012 rolls around and the figures are lower than projected for 2012 or even lower than 2008, it'd be pretty obvious what 2030 is going to look like.
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Equals barter and negotiate-people with power just take
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Equals barter and negotiate-people with power just take
You cant defend freedom by eliminating it-unknown
Our elected reps should wear sponsor patches on their suits so we know who they represent-like Nascar-Roy
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Re: Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure-whistleblower
by JPL » Thu 12 Nov 2009, 09:22:04
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('davep', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') think this is just genuine investigative journalism.
I'd have to disagree there. Someone from the IEA contacted the Guardian just prior to the publication of the 2009 World Energy Outlook. They got corroboration from an ex-colleague and printed the sto
The guardian then rushed out the story before the report was published.
This could easily be something stage-managed. I'm not saying it is, but it is most definitely not investigative journalism.
OK fair point but it still looks like the free press at work to me. This is the biggest story since Hitler crossed the Rhine, remember. I'm sure the authorities would have managed it better than that.
JP
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If something like this passes in the U.S. the copycats in Ottawa will most likely lay something like this on us. 
