ＣＮＮテレビの切迫する石油危機についての一連の特別番組についてＭ・Ｃ・ルパートが注意を喚起する。

平成十八年（二〇〇六年）三月二十二日（水）
（第一千六百二十四回）
　　　　　　
◯ＦＴＷ誌、マイケル・ルパートのニューズレター、
　二〇〇六年三月二十一日。

◯マイケル・ルパートが、ＣＮＮテレビの特別番組（we were warned:
　the coming oil crisis）について、注意を喚起して居る。

◯日本で、このＣＮＮ特別番組が注目されて居るかどうかは
　筆者は知らない。

◯Ｍ・Ｃ・ルパートは、
　最近、日本が、イランからの石油輸入を減らして、その分をサウジ
　アラビアに振り替える決定をした。
　
　と言う日経（英文）の記事を問題とした。

◯この日経（英文）記事の原文は筆者は見て居ない。

◯ルパートは、
　日本のこの決定は、非常に危険な結果をもたらすであろう、
　と警告した。

◯日本は、
　石油の全輸入量のうち十五パーセント前後をイランに頼って居る。

◯米国＝イスラエル＝英国は、イランに対する侵略戦争を準備して居る。

◯日本は、米英イスラエルに迎合して、イランからの石油輸入を
　サウジアラビアに変更したい、と言うことか。

◯しかし、Ｍ・Ｃ・ルパートは、
　サウジアラビアの石油も、ピークに達したか、または、ピークに
　近付きつつある。とりわけ、その主力であるガワール油田の状況
　は危機的である、と言う。

◯日本政府、そして日本の全マスコミ、全財界、全政界などなどは、
　依然として石油ピーク問題を、

◯問答無用で、黙殺しつつある。

◯つまり、日本人にとっては、
　石油問題は全く存在しない、こととされて居るのである。

◯ＣＮＮテレビの特別番組の内容については、今後検証して行く。

　（了）

【参考資料】

ftw subscriber alert 　
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/

cnn to air special on peak oil six times this weekend - we were warned: the coming oil crisis

i sent the following email to my good friend harry blazer in kalispell, montana last night. on reflecting i asked why i shouldn't share it with everyone.

watch this program!
-----
harry, stop whatever you are doing. do it now. go to the cnn website. look at the schedule.
"we were warned: the coming oil crisis" a new 1hr special that will air:
three times on saturday at 5pm 8pm and 11pm,
and three times on sunday (same times).
the show is being blazoned in ads like you can't believe.
ask yourself why this is happening now?

it's here man. it's here. whatever we have done to prepare ourselves: good bad or indifferent is the skill and resource set we start the big game with.

mike

■cnn special "we were warned" falls way short, even as a limited hangout
　timing suggests serious problems ahead this year
　by michael c. ruppert-march 21, 2006 0900 pst (ftw)

■japan to slash iranian oil imports
　game of iranian roulette escalates through japan more pressure on ghawar
　by michael c. ruppert-march 17, 2006 0800 pst (ftw)

＊05:05 - nippon oil, others to slash iran oil imports on embargo concerns - march 16
http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/cf/fr/tnks/nikkeinews.cfm?genreid=1&pageset=2&beforedate=6

＊this news item is from nikkei, march 16. http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/sangyo/20060316at1d1508e15032006.html

■日本経済新聞社

【石油元売り各社、イラン原油への依存度下げ】
　イランの核問題を巡る経済制裁論議を受け、石油元売り各社の間でイランからの原油輸入比率を引き下げる動きが出始めた。新日本石油は15日、2006年のイラン産原油輸入量を昨年より約16％減らす方針を明らかにした。昭和シェル石油もサウジアラビアなどからの調達拡大を準備。日本は昨年の原油輸入量の約14％をイランに頼っており、各社はイランに対し石油禁輸措置が発動される場合に備える。

　新日石によるイラン原油の輸入抑制は、渡文明会長が同日、石油連盟会長としての定例記者会見で明らかにした。 (ニュース2006/03/16　07:00)

■a review of cnn: "we were warned: tomorrow's oil crisis"
　submitted by tfugate on sun, 2006-03-19 11:21.
　
　tom fugate
　mad river post carbon　http://www.postcarbon.org/node/2553

this cnn documentary was shown three times on march 18 and again on march 19. apparently the mainstream media has decided it's time to alert the american public that there's a serious problem coming with energy supplies. i suppose that those of us who have been talking about this looming crisis for years should appreciate the fact that it's finally getting some traction with the media. as a serious discussion of the issue, however, this film leaves much to be desired.

to begin with there was not one mention of the words "peak oil" by anyone. surely matthew simmons at least must have spoken about peak oil with frank sesno. did they edit it out? if so, for what reason? instead of a serious discussion about the geological realities we are facing what we got was a confusing mishmash of a future oil crisis in 2009 caused by a category 5 hurricane striking houston followed by a terrorist attack on saudi arabia oil infrastructure. juxtaposed with this we had cnn's frank sesno investigating various possibilities of meeting america's petroleum "needs". osama bin laden received prominent mention several times as a likely cause of the oil crisis. indeed the entire film could be seen as one big advertisement for the "war on terror".

sesno looks at various possibilities for meeting america's oil demands: deep water drilling in the gulf of mexico, canadian tar sands, and most prominently, george bush's current favorite techno-fix: ethanol. there was no discussion of the likely impact of future hurricanes on deep water drilling (25% of gom oil production is still off line from last fall's hurricane season), no discussion of the need for increasingly scarce natural gas to process the tar sands, and no mention of the concept of net energy with respect to ethanol or the impact the widespread production of ethanol would have on soil depletion and food production. the net effect was probably to leave the uninformed viewer confused.

the biggest shortcoming of the film was the fact that it completely focused on possible supply solutions while ignoring the demand side. there was no mention of the urgent need for americans to give up their energy-intensive lifestyles. indeed it seems to be a given that those must continue. there was a brief mention of the fact that population growth is increasing oil demand (the baby carriages on the freeway was my favorite clip in the film) but no mention of the urgent need to reduce population.

perhaps i expect too much from us. perhaps this is the best we can do when faced with the greatest crisis in human history. indeed it may be too late to save this oil-dependent civilization. a transition away from fossil fuels would need to have begun 50 years ago. there isn't enough energy or materials left on the planet to re-build all our cities now with peak oil upon us. it just may be that overshoot and collapse is hard wired in our reptilian brains. hopefully the survivors will learn something from our mistakes.