Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The Collapse of the Old Oil Order

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, March 4, 2011

The Collapse of the Old Oil Order

by Michael T Klare from Asia Times Online.

After reviewing the history of oil production in the Middle East and its control by Western powers, this astute writer reaches this conclusion:

...the handwriting is already on the wall. Since no other area is capable of replacing the Middle East as the world's premier oil exporter, the oil economy will shrivel - and with it, the global economy as a whole.

The global economy as currently organized under private ownership (capitalism) cannot be permitted to continue; because if it does, the world will descend into the inferno of global barbarism and/or severe destabilization of the Earth's ecology where its climate will no longer sustain human life. The human race has no alternative but to choose survival.