[asg70]

Whither peak oil?

[KaiserJeep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '-')snip-
But the Russians haven't invaded countries and disabled an entire continent like we did in Iraq.
-snip-

[asg70]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '
')...the Russians haven't invaded countries

[charmcitysking]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KaiserJeep', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '-')snip-
But the Russians haven't invaded countries and disabled an entire continent like we did in Iraq.
-snip-

[KaiserJeep]

The belligerent public actions of Russia are reflected in the nightly news, there is no disputing what they do and have done, in pursuit of whatever their real agenda is, which involves numerous trade deals with President Bashar Assad. The US involvements are also public, we have bombed BOTH Assad's military and ISIS, and our policy is to suppress the conflict. Following years of Obama's air strikes against ISIS, Trump bombed the Syrian military airfield from which Assad struck the rebels using Russian-supplied chemical WMDs. Assad may be the elected leader of Syria, but frankly his actions are sickening and he's slaughtered at least 450,000 of his own citizens in the chemical attacks against civilians, and he has created the worst refugee crisis since WW2.

You should not be focussing on this one conflict but looking at the total number of armed conflicts Russia enters into. I realize that (from their viewpoint) they are surrounded by enemies in Asia, but the place was not peaceful when those provinces were USSR satellite nations, either. When the US acts, it is often at the behest of NATO or the UN, or (as with Assad) in response to atrocities.

I happen to believe - as you probably do - that one cannot make peace using bombers and cruise missiles and drone attacks. But pretty obviously the Syrian conflict has escalated to chemical WMDs with Russian military assistance. The UN could take months to respond to such, allowing Assad to "win" by acts of chemical genocide.

[charmcitysking]

In modern times, when the US acts, it is often at the behest of its own corporate interest - it certainly does not give a damn what the general consensus of the UN is concerned about. I think we can all agree that, in the very least instance, the Iraq war proved this and the 'promoting democracy' narrative is played out at best. If you would like me to bolster this argument I most certainly can/will.

In regards to the Syrian chemical weapon attacks, it is hardly a confirmed fact that Assad used chemical weapons against his own people. In fact, most of the (mis) information regarding the sarin gas attacks which Trump used to justify bombing Syria comes from our old buddies in Al-Qaeda.

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/11/09/d ... an-attack/

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/09/07/a ... certainty/

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/09/10/e ... -in-syria/

I don't want to go tit for tat as to who is more of a geopolitical belligerent between the US and Russia. I feel that both nations have acted despicably. However, I do find your argument that the USA is the 'good guy sheriff' of the world somewhat intellectually disingenuous, as the extent of atrocities in Syria, Libya, Iraq, Ukraine and countless countries would never have reached such a level without the US interference in the first place.

[KaiserJeep]

Certainly, one could make that argument from either side, for most conflicts. I have observed for decades that for many US citizens, the basic stance from which they evaluate everything is anti-US-government.

Taleb called these folks "intellectuals yet idiots": https://medium.com/incerto/the-intellectual-yet-idiot-13211e2d0577#.uj4lqx4iv

I don't take the pro-US side for everything. However, Syria is a case where clearly the US has little or no "skin in the game", and Russia has a lot. I find it entirely correct and credible that we are acting to suppress the conflict, and that Russia is acting to ensure Assad wins. Up until the gas attacks, we were more or less both on Assad's side. The dreary truth would be that until one side more or less obliterates the other, the conflict will continue. It remains to be seen if Trump will act with clear purpose over any prolonged period. Obama acted with clear purpose but little decisiveness over a period of years, and the conflict persisted.

Edit: Consortiumnews is NOT a news source, like most internet sites it has no "feet on the street", it simply draws from other online sources with no provenance for any reported information. You should only read it for editorial opinions, not as a news source.

[AdamB]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')
The hidden agenda in the so-called tax reform bill is to act as stop-gap quantitative easing to plug the “liquidity” hole that is opening up as the Federal Reserve (America’s central bank) makes a few gestures to winding down its balance sheet and “normalizing” interest rates. Thus, the aim of the tax bill is to prop up capital markets, and the apprehension of this lately is what keeps stocks making daily record highs. Okay, sorry, a lot to unpack there. Primer: quantitative easing (QE) is a the Federal Reserve’s weasel phrase for its practice of just creating “money” out of thin air, which it uses to buy US Treasury bonds (and other stuff). The Fed buys this stuff through intermediary Too Big To Fail banks which allows them to cream off a cut and, theoretically, pump the “money” into the

[AdamB]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')

And so, as they say in the horror movies, it begins…! The unwinding of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet. Such an esoteric concept! Is there one in ten thousand of the millions of people who sit at desks all day long from sea to shining sea who have a clue how this works? Or what its relationship is to the real world? I confess, my understanding of it is incomplete and schematic at best — in the way that my understanding of a Las Vegas magic act might be. All the flash and dazzle conceals the magician’s misdirection. The magician is either a scary supernatural being or a magnificent fraud. Anyway, the audience ‘out there’ for the Federal Reserve’s magic act — x-million people preoccupied by their futures slipping away, their cars falling apart, their kid’s $53,000 college loan burden, orSynergies Between Nuclear Energy and Coal

[Outcast_Searcher]

Given the history of Kunstler's predictions, and for Y2K predictions in particular (one area where I had a lot of expertise via my job, and where things unfolded very much as I predicted using actual data and computer science) -- why in the HELL should we believe such predictions?

I'm sure doomers will love the doomer porn angle, though.

[AdamB]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')
You can see where this has been going. The wholesale un-personing of “powerful men” in the arts, media, and politics for sex “crimes” ranging from rape to stealing a kiss communicates a hunt up the food-chain that leads to the Golden Golem of Greatness tweeting his wicked id out in his White House lair. The barely suppressed thought behind all this is that Donald Trump raped America… and now he must be found guilty of it… and pay! The Blue women of the land must surely think that, at least, he raped Hillary in the election, and as a pure metaphor that sort of works — recall how he loomed and ranged balefully behind her back during the candidates’ debates like some cartoon thug out of a Batman movie. If he didn’t actually rape her, he sure mugged her politically, but

[AdamB]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'T')rump is the archetypal PIG. Pushes his weight around, against men and woman. He is the last of his kind. I guarantee it.

[asg70]

Whither peak-oil, Mr. Kunstler?

[AdamB]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('asg70', 'W')hither peak-oil, Mr. Kunstler?

[asg70]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AdamB', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'T')rump is the archetypal PIG. Pushes his weight around, against men and woman. He is the last of his kind. I guarantee it.

[AdamB]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AdamB', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'T')rump is the archetypal PIG. Pushes his weight around, against men and woman. He is the last of his kind. I guarantee it.

[asg70]

The point of the matter is that at one time Kunslter was predicting a world made by hand and now he is making a big deal out of a world of hands wanking into potted plants. BAU continues apace and tempests are still only in the teapot.