Before the Bullets Start Flying

The title of this post is taken from an article written by Tony Allison, A Bridge Too Far. The article is yet another Peak Oil warning shot that is likely destined to get lost in the cyber hay stack of the blogosphere. It makes for an interesting read because, in general, Mr. Allison's web site cannot be considered to be a Peak Oil site and because the article points to the hand-cuffed initiatives that will be the likely response to Peak Oil by the Obama Administration.

Mr. Allison writes: "The Obama Administration needs to work closely with other major energy-consuming nations on a massive program to jointly prepare for the effects of ongoing global energy depletion." If read between the lines, the inference is that industrialized nations should incorporate the energy guidelines of The Uppsala Protocol, as prepared by Colin Campbell, the founder of ASPO International.

In a nutshell, The Uppsala Protocol proposes that energy, i.e. oil, consumption be downgraded on a sliding, annual scale by governmental decree to match the anticipated oil depeletion rate, now targeted at a mind-numbing 9.1% by the International Energy Agency. It is not suggested that one hold one's breath awaiting such an international undertaking. Firstly, the corporatist and globalist powers-that-be have no interest in directly contributing to their own economic meltdown (indirectly the meltdown is out of their control) and, secondly, The Protocol calls for the voluntary participation by industrialized nations.

Taking the latter institutional matrix into consideration, the circle for non-action would seem to be complete. Without a structured and agreed-upon downgrading of consumption, global competition for an expanding share of a constantly-decreasing pie funnels the consequences towards a zero-sum bull's eye, ergo, the title of the post. Does anyone doubt that declining oil supplies will be horded and stock-piled by the world's militaries?