The Wholesome Photo of the Month Thu May 09, 2024 11:01 | Anti-Empire
In 3 War Years Russia Will Have Spent $3... Thu May 09, 2024 02:17 | Anti-Empire
UK Sending Missiles to Be Fired Into Rus... Tue May 07, 2024 14:17 | Marko Marjanović
US Gives Weapons to Taiwan for Free, The... Fri May 03, 2024 03:55 | Anti-Empire
Russia Has 17 Percent More Defense Jobs ... Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:56 | Marko Marjanović
Anti-Empire >>
A bird's eye view of the vineyard
Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb
The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog. We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).
What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are
Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of
The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by
The Saker >>
News Round-Up Wed Jul 24, 2024 01:01 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Porsche Scraps Electric Car Targets as Demand Slumps Tue Jul 23, 2024 19:43 | Will Jones
Porsche has scrapped its sales targets for EVs amid a slump in demand. A previous goal of 80% by 2030 has been watered down and the company now says sales will depend on uptake and how the technology develops.
The post Porsche Scraps Electric Car Targets as Demand Slumps appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
?Mission-Driven? Government is the Antithesis of Liberty Tue Jul 23, 2024 17:30 | Dr David McGrogan
Labour is "mission-driven", says Keir Starmer. But the last thing anyone should want is a Government with a mission, says David McGrogan. That's because a Government with a mission needs conscripts. That's you and me.
The post “Mission-Driven” Government is the Antithesis of Liberty appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Victory! Hospitals That Brought Back Mask Mandates Backtrack After Complaints Tue Jul 23, 2024 15:30 | Dr Gary Sidley
A victory in the mask wars! Two hospital providers that brought back mask mandates have backtracked and scrapped them following complaints from Daily Sceptic readers and Smile Free supporters.
The post Victory! Hospitals That Brought Back Mask Mandates Backtrack After Complaints appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Read it and Weep: The BBC Journalists Taking Home Six Figure Salaries Courtesy of the Licence Fee Pa... Tue Jul 23, 2024 13:45 | Will Jones
Read it and weep: the list of the BBC journalists taking home six figure salaries courtesy of the licence fee payer. Disgraced presenter Huw Edwards came top with £475k despite being off air for nine months of the year.
The post Read it and Weep: The BBC Journalists Taking Home Six Figure Salaries Courtesy of the Licence Fee Payer appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Netanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en
Will Israel succeed in attacking Lebanon and pushing the United States to nuke I... Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:40 | en
Will Netanyahu launch tactical nuclear bombs (sic) against Hezbollah, with US su... Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:09 | en
Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en
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Comments (8 of 8)
Jump To Comment: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1Depends on the billion. If its the neo-con elite ruling a slave population for their ends, then the human experiment (or whatever you want to call it) has failed. The animal won.
If its a billion rational, socially interdependent healthy hominids conscious of the delicacy of biological existence and in control of its animal instincts(currently still dominant and not under rational control)then maybe we will have evolved a notch.
Either way I wont be about to complain. But that dont bother me as I labour under the delusion I already reached human status. I'm not convinced the likes of the dragons in their Swiss and offshore dens of looted wealth for their bloated financial ego-extensions qualify. But then who am I to call that, as I said, subjective opinion is all I can deliver.
As for Paddy's 'your own ...are not yours..'. I think if you read yourself Paddy, you might spot your contradiction. No reason why ideas cannot be owned in common.
Besides, Einstein and Newton and Groucho all put their individual stamp on and altered by their interpretations, already current ideas, to make their perspectives uniquely their own. They do say there are only seven basic jokes, its how ye tell 'em.
F**k! Now I've misspelt your name. Sorry but I am a shocking typist.
To begin thanks for drawing attention to the misspelling of my moniker and the humourous aside arising from that. Humour is more important than ever in today's mad world.
When I said that no system can make oil, I was quite clearly referring to the black stuff that comes out of the ground. I am aware of the production of 'synthetic oil', however, I do stick by my point that cheap oil has given rise to mass consumerism. I don't think all of the problems of the world are down to recent spikes in oil prices, rather price is more a symptom than cause, nonetheless, given that we are addicted to oil it is perhaps the case of the system bringing itself down by ignoring Nature and resource depletion.
It seems you are hoping for some sort of existential or spiritual revolution, whereby humankind overcomes it's animal limitations and see see the whole, the cosmos as the moral realm. Man I hope you are right because I share James Lovelock's viewpoint-by century's end we will have a human population of less than 1 billion. I hope I am wrong.
I am really not sure what is the best system but I do know that Capitalism is a nihilistic, suicidal and disgusting one.
We are a tribal species but in a ecosystem we can't deal with.
Read 'Rogue Primate' or 'The Human Zoo'.
Thanks!
"But do please, NOT presume I am promoting any ideas other than my own provisional and tentative opinions. Where i see questionable posts I tend to challenge. I do not come equipped with dogma of any shade(so far). Nor do i carry flags for 'thinkers'. I do my own, however weak or sloppy."
Your own provisional and tentative ideas are not your ideas. All ideas come from others even if they have been modified and even transformed. Ideas are a social product. Even Einstein and Newton were not completely original. They intellectually influenced by others.
Its a matter of proportion. I possess my own personal property, but I was referring to the above simplistic reduction of our economic problems to oil prices. Keep to the context.
I am not an ideologue. I know Proudhon's name but am unfamiliar with his writings. Am i right in presuming he originated the 'all property is theft' cliche?I thought that was Marx, but I met too many Marxists to ever want to read him either. Most of his fans seemed opiated by his texts and incapable of framing an argument without his biblical endorsement.
But I do hold that claiming of public resources without recognising attaching public responsibilities is theft, among other crime designations(its been accompanied by slavery, torure and murder historically).
I think we have to reach a stage where we will not nationalise, but internationalise resources on an overt level. Too idealistic?Naive?Is not a private exclusive claim to any portion of the earth primitive?Whether by an individual(Cecil Rhodes), corporation, or nation(the modern intermediate neo-tribal bloc).
Tribal property is NOT private property, quite the opposite. Internationalising ownership would simply move that up a notch to the human tribe ownership.And enlightened self-interest would seem to require we include the human responsibilities to other fauna and our ecological interdependence. We are in transition to the that larger tribal identity, despite the vested interests in retarding our evolution.
Ownership is an abstract concept, with multiple definitions and levels of attaching conditions.
But do please, NOT presume I am promoting any ideas other than my own provisional and tentative opinions. Where i see questionable posts I tend to challenge. I do not come equipped with dogma of any shade(so far). Nor do i carry flags for 'thinkers'. I do my own, however weak or sloppy.
I hope that clarifies. If not I'll give it another shot. Or disagree if I'm off track, in your own opinion.
You seem to share Proudhon's naive view that property is theft when you make the claim that economics is theft. To base property on theft is tantamount to basing it on morality. But who decides what theft is and what is theft?
Even hunter-gatherer society there existed forms of property --tribal propery. Would you necessarily call this property form theft.
Paddy
..or just a symptom of your general inclination?
Either way, to reduce the problems of western economics to the simplicity of energy supply strikes as a wee bit superficial.
You are only looking at micro-fluctuations in a few factors.
Western economics is founded on war and theft(the privatised claiming of public goods which creates scarcity and economic flow to the advantage of the possessor). It was a sick way to run the world even before we became dependent on hydrocarbons.
as for '..no system can make oil..', get yourself an olive tree. Or a rape-seed plant if you've only a window-box.
And weren't the German's producing synthetic fuels to beat the naval embargos, way back?
And the 'next fifty years' will be about whether we can shed a large residue of animal evolutionary traits and realise our humanity; or join the dodo.
Its a sort of a contest between us humans, and a bunch of mutating corporate dinosaurs that have stitched our resources into their liquid accounts so as to exclude the vast majority from access to a share of the wealth our sweat has generated. Trouble is the dinosaurs have hired a large contingent of pre-human hominids to serve them and maintain their dominance.
What 's the difference between a corporate lawyer and a catfish?
Well, one is a muck-sucking bottom feeder; the other is a fish.
The problem with the world economy can be traced to the massive spike in oil prices that occurred in the 2000s. This spike led to increased price inflation and a shrinking of credit just at the time when the financial system had put in place the preconditions for collapse(sub-prime lending, wild speculation and fraudulent financial products).
Oil prices, in the long term, are only going in one direction and will resume this trajectory once demand increases-which it inevitably will. Peak Oil has in all likelihood been reached.
The cheap Cocaine(oil) that the various bubbles needed will no longer be available.
And no system can make oil!
Oil spikes cause recessions. But what are recessions? A dip in consumption!
Consumerism and Globalisation will be ended when the black stuff (not Guinness) fails to flow.
The next 50 years is about Peak Oil, Peak Water.