Category Archives: Energy

US resumes theft of Syrian oil hours after merciless attack on occupation bases, by News Desk at The Cradle

Posted on March 26, 2023 | Leave a comment

Trump came right and said it when he was president. The U.S. stays in Syria, uninvited and despised, for the oil. That’s kind of a consolation prize for mission (regime change) never accomplished there. From the News Desk at thecradle.co:

Dozens of fuel tankers filled with Syrian oil were smuggled by US occupation troops to their bases in northern Iraq

https://media.thecradle.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/syria-1.jpg

(Photo Credit: AFP)

On 25 March, the US army smuggled at least 80 fuel tankers loaded with hundreds of tons of stolen Syrian oil from the country’s resource-rich Jazira region to their bases in Iraq.

The tanker trucks were taken out of Syria as part of a 148-vehicle convoy that crossed the illegal Al-Walid border crossing early on Saturday, according to local sources that spoke with SANA.

Other vehicles in the US convoy included refrigerated trucks and armored vehicles, the sources say.

Washington’s latest oil theft operation took place just hours after their occupation bases at Conoco and Al-Omar oilfields in northeast Syria were pummeled by missile and drone strikes in retaliation for a US airstrike earlier on Friday in Deir Ezzor governorate that left several Syrians dead.

According to field sources that spoke with Al Mayadeen, the occupation base at Conoco field was hit with over 15 missiles. Speaking with Al Jazeera TV, a US official said one of the bases was hit by “eight rockets.”

US media quoted the Pentagon as saying the attacks left several casualties. However, no further details were provided.

No group has taken responsibility for the daring attack, which marked the third successful armed operation against US troops in Syria within 24 hours.

Commenting on Friday’s airstrikes — launched from the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar — US President Joe Biden said his country is prepared to “act forcefully to protect our people,” adding that the US “does not seek conflict with Iran.”

Saturday’s oil theft operation marked the third time US troops have plundered Syria’s resources since the country was hit by a devastating earthquake on 6 February.

Washington maintains approximately 900 troops in Syria, primarily split between the Al-Tanf base and the country’s northeastern region. Their occupation is illegal under international law as it was carried out without government approval.

Though US troops – accompanied by fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – initially occupied large swathes of Syria under the pretext of fighting ISIS, the official rationale for the occupation changed once ISIS was largely defeated.

In infamous comments made in 2019, former US President Donald Trump said: “We’re keeping [Syria’s] oil. We have the oil. The oil is secure. We left troops behind only for the oil.”

According to an investigation by The Cradle, dozens of tankers pass through illegal crossings between Iraq and Syria every week in convoys accompanied by US warplanes or helicopters.

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Eminent Oxford Scientist Says Wind Power “Fails on Every Count”, by Chris Morrison

Posted on March 26, 2023 | 1 comment

Of course, there’s a giant government thumb on the scale in favor of wind power. From Chris Morrison at dailyskeptic.org:

It could be argued that the basic arithmetic showing wind power is an economic and societal disaster in the making should be clear to a bright primary school child. Now the Oxford University mathematician and physicist, researcher at CERN and Fellow of Keble College, Emeritus Professor Wade Allison has done the sums. The U.K. is facing the likelihood of a failure in the electricity supply, he concludes. “Wind power fails on every count,” he says, adding that governments are ignoring “overwhelming evidence” of the inadequacies of wind power, “and resorting to bluster rather than reasoned analysis”.

Professor Allison’s dire warnings are contained in a short paper recently published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation. He notes that the energy provided by the Sun is “extremely weak”, which is why it was unable to provide the energy to sustain even a small global population before the Industrial Revolution with an acceptable standard of living. A similar point was made recently in more dramatic fashion by the nuclear physicist Dr. Wallace Manheimer. He argued that the infrastructure around wind and solar will not only fail, “but will cost trillions, trash large portions of the environment and be entirely unnecessary”.

In his paper, Allison concentrates on working out the numbers that lie behind the natural fluctuations in the wind. The full workings out are not complicated and can be assessed from the link above. He shows that at a wind speed of 20mph, the power produced by a wind turbine is 600 watts per square metre at full efficiency. To deliver the same power as the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant – 3,200 million watts – it would require 5.5 million square metres of turbine swept area.

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$3 Billion and Counting, by Eric Peters

Posted on March 24, 2023 | 2 comments

Ford has lost $3 billion on electric vehicles and fully intends to lose even more. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:

It used to be – how much money can we make? It is now how much money can we lose? At least, that appears to be the reasoning behind “electrification” – the neutral-sounding term commonly used to describe the out-regulating of everything that moves that isn’t battery-powered – in favor of everything that is.

Practically every car company has bought in, as it were – and it is costing them, literally, billions.

Maybe, eventually, everything.

Ford just revealed it expects to lose $3 billion – so far – on “electrification.”

In saner times, the losing of $3 billion would be reason enough to pull the plug. But not when it comes to “electrification.” Ford said it expects to lose more billions – through at least 2026. And this provides the impetus to build two million more battery-powered money-losers by 2026.

Emphasis on “build.”

As opposed to sell.

More exactly, build and sell at a profit.

Aye, there’s the rub.

One can build as many of something as one likes, just the same as one can dig (and fill in) as many holes in the backyard as one likes. According to Marx, this is how “value” is created – as by labor. The flaw in Marx’s reasoning is that there may not be value to others in the labor. If Marx had been right then we could all get rich by digging holes in the backyard and filling them in again. Or by hopping up and down for eight hours every day. But we generally get poor – and tired – doing either because there are very few other people willing to give us money in exchange for our digging (and filling in) holes in the backyard or hpping up and down all day long.

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Who Did Blow Up the Nord Stream Pipeline? By Ted Snider

Posted on March 13, 2023 | 1 comment

Regardless of whether Seymour Hersh’s account or the far less believable New York Times’ account of the Nordstream pipeline sabotage is correct, the implications for Europe, Ukraine, and the U.S. are dire. From Ted Snider at antiwar.com:

In September 2022, the Nord Stream gas pipelines exploded in one of the most spectacular political and environmental acts of terrorism in history.

In the days immediately following the attack, which cut Germany and Europe off from its gas supply and released enormous amounts of methane gas into the atmosphere, the West immediately pronounced judgement against Russia. “No one on the European side of the ocean is thinking this is anything other than Russian sabotage,” said a senior European environmental official. US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm immediately said that it “seems” Russia is to blame.

But investigations by Sweden, Denmark and Germany, countries close to the explosion site, were slow to report and unable to arrive at conclusions. Then, on December 21, 2022, The Washington Post reported that, after months of investigation, there is nothing to suggest that Russia was responsible. The Post article interviewed “23 diplomatic and intelligence officials in nine countries” who said that “[t]here is no evidence at this point that Russia was behind the sabotage.” It reports that “even those with inside knowledge of the forensic details don’t conclusively tie Russia to the attack.” The Wall Street Journal reports that there is a “growing sense among investigators in the U.S. and Europe that neither Russian-government nor pro-Russian operatives were behind the sabotage.”

But if Russia didn’t do it, then one of us did.

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Weight Matters, by Eric Peters

Posted on March 12, 2023 | 1 comment

Six pounds of gas or 1000 pounds of battery will take a small car 40 miles down the road. We’re being told the latter is more efficient and therefore better for the environment. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautso.com:

The saying goes that size matters – but weight matters more. If you want to go far. This is why EVs don’t. Even the really little ones – like Chevy’s Bolt, which is even smaller than a subcompact car like the Hyundai Accent – only go about half as far as their size-equivalents. Viz, 259 miles for the 3,589 lb. Bolt vs. 487 (on the highway) for the 2,679 lb. Accent.

That’s because a gallon of gas weighs about six pounds, which means a full tank of gas (12 gallons) in the Accent weighs 72 pounds. A great deal of energy is stored in those 72 gallons of gasoline – or even just six pounds. One gallon will power a car like the Accent some 40 miles down the highway and part of the reason for that is that as you burn it, there is less of it – and so, less weight to keep moving. After a car like the Accent has used up half a tank – about six gallons – it is carrying around half the fuel weight it began the trip with.

It takes a great deal more weight – that is never shed – to power an EV the same distance. A small EV like the Bolt is weighed down by the gas tank equivalent of about 1,000 pounds of battery pack – and in fact, it’s not equivalent, because the Bolt would probably need another several hundred pounds of battery pack to be capable of powering its electric motor for nearly 500 highway miles.

But for the sake of this discussion, let’s assume an equivalence.

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India Takes A Leading Role In De-Dollarization, by Andrew Korybko

Posted on March 11, 2023 | Leave a comment

India is in an enviable position. Its population and economy are too large for either the West or the Eurasian alliance to ignore it. The country is basically free to pursue its own national interest. From Andrew Korybko at theautomaticearth.com:

Reuters reported on Wednesday that “India’s Oil Deals With Russia Dent Decades-Old Dollar Dominance”, which informed their audience that the growing trend of those two using national or third-party currencies like the UAE’s is something significant for everyone to pay attention to. To that outlet’s credit, it also reminded readers that IMF Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath foresaw in the month after Russia’s special operation began that the West’s sanctions “could erode the dollar’s dominance”.

Lo and behold, that’s precisely what happened, with India of all countries accelerating de-dollarization through its non-dollar-denominated energy deals with Russia. About them, Russia has since become India’s largest supplier over the past year and now provides a whopping 35% of that country’s needs, which is also the world’s third-largest oil importer and fifth-largest economy. Their new energy ties, and particularly the growing de-dollarization dimension of their deals, are thus globally important.

None of what was just described is driven by any anti-American animus on India’s part since everything is purely motivated by the pursuit of that country’s objective national interests. Delhi had no choice but to gradually diversify away from dollar-denominated energy deals with Moscow due to Washington’s illegal sanctions. Its multipolar leadership wasn’t going to let the world’s most populous country slip into an economic crisis just to please the US by eschewing the import of discounted oil from Russia.

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The Weakening Electric Grid: Less Reliable, More Fragile, by Milton Exrati

Posted on March 11, 2023 | Leave a comment

Here’s a winning strategy. Increase the load on the electric grid with electric cars while plugging the infrastructure into intermittent wind and solar power and letting its infrastructure go to pot. From Milton Exrati at The Epoch Times via zerohedge.com:

As more and more irritated customers become certain that power shortages and blackouts have become more common, the electric grid’s problems receive more attention. They should. Shortages and blackouts have in fact become much more common than they once were. The electric power grid has become increasingly fragile and considerably less reliable. This is especially troubling because, at the same time, Washington and several states plan to burden it further with electric cars and an increase in the use of electric appliances.

In part, the power problem reflects the increased reliance on inherently intermittent wind and solar sources. But this straightforward fact of life is only part of the story behind the electric grid’s problems. Matters are much more complicated.

Evidence of failure is irrefutable and has sometimes appeared with great drama. A 2021 cold snap in Texas, for example, led to widespread blackouts and the death of 250 people. California has for years regularly imposed rolling brownouts and blackouts on utility customers. Just this past Christmas season, unusually cold weather across the country prompted utilities from Massachusetts and New York across the Midwest and into the south to beg their customers to turn down their thermostats and delay their use of appliances. Millions lost power for days in North Carolina and Tennessee. Downed power lines caused some of the problems, but in many cases electric utilities simply had to cut off power to some in order to a total crash of their systems. The incidence of prolonged blackouts for all reasons has doubled since 2013.

The green lobby, predictably, blames the problem on how climate change has created more severe weather. The fossil fuel industry and its allies in Congress, equally predictably, blame the problem on the unreliability of wind and solar. No doubt there is truth on both sides, though many of these points are debatable. One point, however, is not subject to cavil—that the wind does not always blow, and the sun does not always shine. Even in the face of this reality, these problems would seem to be something engineers could find solutions and investments could implement. But there is a complication, because most of the country uses regional transmission organizations (RTOs) to buy and sell power.

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Doug Casey on the Rise of “Climate Brats” and Other Useful Idiots

Posted on March 8, 2023 | 2 comments

The useful idiots are destroying their own futures. From Doug Casey at internationalman.com:

Climate activists

International Man: Webster’s Dictionary defines a useful idiot as a “naive or credulous person who can be manipulated or exploited to advance a cause or political agenda.”

Lenin is thought to have originated the phrase when referring to communist sympathizers in the West.

What is your take on this term? Is it still applicable today?

Doug Casey: Today’s make-believe democracies are overflowing with useful idiots. They latch on to one lame-brained notion after another, perhaps to give meaning to their confused and pointless lives. They’re a bit like cats chasing the red dot from their master’s laser pointer. The Ukraine, Covid, sex perversions, Trump, racism, climate change—it’s one thing after another.

Climate change is one of the central scams being promoted by the World Economic Forum as part of their Great Reset. It seems everything that comes out of the WEF—I can’t think of any exceptions — is antithetical to the traditional values of Western Civilization, prominently including free markets and personal liberty.

We’ve discussed the COVID hysteria and what looks like World War III starting in the Ukraine. But the biggest thing, with the longest legs, is climate change. Full disclosure: I believe in climate change. The climate has been changing constantly since the world came together about four and a half billion years ago. And it’ll continue to change.

The problem, however, isn’t climate change itself but the process of indoctrinating the public, especially young people, with the belief that humanity is destroying Mother Earth.

They’re given snippets of science, like the fact that the world has been generally warming since the mid-19th century. Well, sure, it has because the planet went through what’s known as the Little Ice Age from the 16th through the 19th centuries. It has cyclically been warming for the last 150 years. As a matter of fact, the world has been warming since the end of the last Great Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago.

The “global warming” people have found a great excuse for changing not just the economy but the way literally everything works. My view is that they’re basically anti-human—they actually hate and fear people. It’s why Yuval Noah Harari, the mincing court intellectual of the WEF, often refers to them as “useless eaters.” He may be right. But what’s insane is that someone like him could gain the power to make serious decisions.

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Posted in Collapse, Economics, Economy, Education, Energy, Environment, Government, Horseshit, Politics, Propaganda, Science

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Commercial Confessions, by Eric Peters

Posted on March 7, 2023 | 1 comment

One auto company has started telling the truth about its EV’s emissions. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:

Maybe you have seen the latest Nissan commercials touting the company’s “electrified” offerings, including the $43,190-to-start Ariya – whatever that means – which is the company’s newest loss-leader now that the Leaf is on its way out.

What’s most interesting about the commercial isn’t the car – nor the pitiful attempt to impart excitement into something as fundamentally boring as a vacuum cleaner. The latter having the merit of working better than a broom and a dustpan.

But back to the interesting part.

If you look closely, you’ll see the confession – in faded font, appearing just barely: Tailpipe emissions-free, it says.

And so it is.

And that is very different from zero emissions, is it not?

Take note of the shifting – of the shifty – verbiage. Of a piece with the way a “vaccine” was redefined to mean something that reduces symptoms – like aspirin. As opposed to something that prevents you getting sick.

The question arises: Why is Nissan telling the truth about EVs? Could it be on account of lawyers telling Nissan that advertising vehicles that are not “zero emissions” is provably fraudulent? Perhaps Nissan is trying to asterisk – and fast-voice-at-the-end-of-the-commercial itself into a position of safety from being sued by a customer – by a class of them – on account of having sold them a lie?

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Whitney Webb on the Globalist Overlords Meeting in Davos, by Dr. Joseph Mercola

Posted on March 6, 2023 | Leave a comment

The World Economic Forum is pushing fascism. From Dr. Joseph Mercola at lewrockwell.com:

Curious about the inner workings of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the driving force behind The Great Reset? Set aside 30 minutes to watch investigative journalist Whitney Webb speak with MintPress News in the video above.1 Every year in January, WEF holds its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

The 2023 theme was “cooperation in a fragmented world,” with WEF noting, “The world today is at a critical inflection point. The sheer number of ongoing crises calls for bold collective action.”2

Their actions, however, while carefully packaged to appear altruistic — and steeped in warm-and-fuzzy buzzwords like “green” and “sustainable” — will ultimately propel its small circle further into power while all but guaranteeing a downtrodden populace. If you so much as dip your finger beneath WEF’s surface, it becomes clear that corporatism and, more aptly, fascism, are its modus operandi.

WEF Promotes Fascist Ideology

WEF often speaks about the “transformative potential of public-private partnerships.” According to WEF:3

“The private sector needs to speak the language of social change, and the public sector needs to create economic incentives to harness the private sector’s innovation and expertise to address society’s challenges. With shared goals, targeted action and monitored impact, we can move beyond dialogue and aspiration to the co-creation of a more inclusive, prosperous and sustainable future.”

It sounds good in theory. But what, exactly, is a public-private partnership? It’s when private entities like multinational corporations join with the public sector, putting the two on equal ground. The problem is that most politicians receive money and other favors from these same multinational corporations, so many facets of the government are essentially owned by these corporations.

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