Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil

Educate Yourself - Take the Time to Read

Whether you agree or disagree a must read.

Informative

I found it very engaging.

A look into dark possibilities... you have been warned

Michael C. Ruppert is an intelligent man. He has studied and looked into the concepts of Peak Oil and how that fits into the geopolitical landscape in which we live. He is not happy with what he has found.

From the 9/11 tragedy to the wars that book-end that event, Mr. Ruppert sees the hand of the Executive Branch of the United States Government, the CIA, and various other forces at work, controlling the big picture. This is not to say that the United States Government planned 9/11, this is to say that the United States Government knew it was going to happen, wanted it to happen, and ensured that it was successful... all in a bid to offer up the excuse to invade some areas of the world that had the last remaining major oil reserves in the world.

If you believe that Peak Oil is real, and you believe that the Government is capable of such deeds... then this book is one that has the potential to scare the living bejesus out of you while making you so angry you could eat nails.

if you believe that Mr. Ruppert is a conspiracy theorist with delusional ideas and the ability to connect dots that were never realted to one another... then this book is one that will allow you to see the inner workings of the rational that creates such delusion.

Personally, I think that Mr. Ruppert saw a few glimses of truth back in his early career... and from there started filling in gaps that did not exist anywhere but in his mind. This is akin to the film 'A Beautiful Mind' where the ideas seem so perfectly rational to the individual to whom the ideas are coming... but seem to be just so much disconnected and jumbled mess to the rest of us.

Still, it is a good read. I recommend it.

A Lifechanging Experience

Reading this book has really made a deep difference in my life. Ruppert exposes the U.S. Democracy as a soon to be, if not already, fascist state. As Ruppert quotes Mussolini on page 15: 'Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of the state and corporate power'. I realized after reading this book that U.S. Patriotism is sorely misguided and most of us are misinformed. The media spews B.S. and we are all 'good customers' here in the U.S.A. For me, this book truly changed my view of the world. There is no turning back on it now.

The most important book I read

By odd ways I came across this book. It was sent to me by mail, but by whom I dont know. I didnt read it right away, but I could not forget this friendly gesture, so one day I opened it, and I am sad to say, suddenly it all made sense.... So, I bought another copy, and I do hope the person who recieved it, one day also finds his time to read it. A miracle of a book. Thanks who ever you are, for this wonderful present!

A must read for EVERY American.

The value of this book far surpasses any asking price you will ever come across, and I can't recommend highly enough this book, or it's littany of facts and references.

A must read for everyone!!!

How can you call yourself an American if you do not read this book and others like it. I can almost chuckle every time I see an American flag or a Bush/Cheny sticker on the bumper of the car ahead of me, except when it almost makes me cry, or want to scream! How we as a people have been corrupted... Ben Franklin said it best when he predicted - '...I agree to this Constitution with all its faults¿if they are such¿because I think a general government necessary for us, and there is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered and I believe, further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other.'

Fascinating study of US politics

This thought-provoking book by an independent American investigator gives us some useful snapshots of the US economy in the era of capitalism¿s decline. Capitalism now depends on the $1.5 trillion a year profits from organised crime, laundered via big business complicity and political laissez faire. The drug trade alone generates $700 billion a year in cash, largely from heroin (70% from Afghanistan, after US forces let the opium warlords out of Taliban prisons in November 2001). Drug traffickers were pioneers of globalization. Capitalists are looting everything: industry, jobs, pensions, education, health, Iraq and Russia - from 1997 to the end of 1998 Russia¿s GDP fell by two-thirds while $500 billion was looted out of Russia, cutting its population from 160 million in 1991 to 145 million in 2001. Ruppert then turns to look at the US ruling class¿s efforts to save itself by seizing the world¿s oil. In 1997 ex-Secretary of State Zbigniew Brzezinski said that the USA needed `a new Pearl Harbor¿ so that it could secure oil across the world. Ruppert shows how Bush permitted, if not connived at, the 9/11 crime. This is not new: in 1962, the US Chiefs of Staff drew up Operation Northwoods, a plot to stage a terrorist attack in the USA and blame it on Cuba. Also, the US state, through the CIA, has trained and used thugs like Noriega, Saddam Hussein, the Kosovo Liberation Army, the Chechen rebels and Osama bin Laden to start wars or provide pretexts for them. In June 2001, Bush put Vice-President Dick Cheney in charge of all planning for a terrorist attack. Then the French, German and Russian intelligence agencies all warned Bush that Al Qaeda intended to crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center in the week of 9 September 2001. Ruppert shows how the US government managed to fail to arrest the hijackers, and how its actions before and during 9/11 enabled the crimes to be accomplished.

Premise has faults

This is a wonderful book that helps you take a step back and think about events in a more constructive, strategic manner. None of the events taking place these days seem to make sense. If Bin Laden bombed the United States, and he's in Afghanistan and Pakistan, what in the world are we doing in Iraq? The connection is threadbare. There is no sound reason. So questions need to be asked in a very fundemental way. Who are the leaders of the United States in Community with? That is to say who do they view as a neighbor and a friend? The Bin Laden family bailed out George W. Bush's business failures in Texas. George senior was head of the CIA. The CIA sponsored what Reagan called 'freedom fighters' in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation and one of those freedome fighters was Bin Laden. In fact the Bin Laden family are tight with the Bush family on multiple levels. Nearly 3000 people died at the world trade center on 911, but none of those thousands had a close relationship with the Bush family. Meanwhile Bin Laden is still free and at large. Who is the Bush Family in community with - the Americans who worked at the World Trade Center, or the Bin Laden's that invest in the Carlyle group? Its a fair question. But the book is not without its faults. The premise of the book is that 911 was motivated by the coming of 'peak oil' production. While some argue with this assesment it is a reasonable premise. But even if we are converging on peak oil production in the face of growing demand, that is not the end all be all of the modern global economic and financial system. Recently the Gov. of Mountana wrote an article in the New York times saying that for $35 a barrel Montana can produce all the liquifide coal we need to produce energy to run our cars and power our economy. This is an important point that is overlooked in the book. Prior to 911, The price of oil is normally held at $30 a barrel. Throughout the 90s the number of gas guzzling SUVs exploded, China's economy mushroomed and India's began to boom. Those three events radically increased the demand for oil through out the decade, but the barrel price and the price for gas at the pump remained reletively static at around $30 a barrel. The reason is oil producers want to make maximum revenues on the one hand, but on the other want the price to stay below that necessary to make liquified coal economically possible. We have enough coal to last a thousand years, even at amplified demand rates. The problem with liquified coal is that it takes an enormous investment to produce the factories necessary to manufacture the stuff. The price has to stay above $34 a barrel. Thus the oil oligopoly has managed to keep the price of oil at about $30 a barrel - the sweet spot that maximizes rents but just below the threshold that makes competing energy forms viable. A second point is that technology for nuclear energy has made it vastly more safer on every concievable level. France and Japan get most of their electricity from nuclear power. The concern is the environmental impact of nuclear waste byproduct. Its all in how you use it. The method used in the U.S. has a radio active half life of 45,000 years. The method used in France has a half life of 300 years. Vastly different. Currently we have energy spikes that have taken oil up to the $60+ a barrel range. I can assure you this is temporary profit taking from the oil production oligarchy. I see conspiratorial action, as Rupert describes it hear, yet the motive is not so clear as Rupert makes it. Peak oil is not a problem for the world's economy, just a problem for the oil oligarchy. The United States, and perhaps the world would be better served by setting a minimum price for oil at $36 a barrel and then subsidizing the production of coal processing plants and forcing quottas upon energy distributors to ensure that the bulk of our energy comes from domestic sources. We have tons of coal

Alarm clock substitute......Wake up!

Undoubtabley the most important book of my lifetime. Would challenge all truth seekers to not only read, but pass this book to the clueless. Finally a comprehensive compilation of facts covering the fatal day of 9/11 is here. If you Cross this Rubicon of truth and will be forced to change forever.

Profound and shocking

Author Michael Ruppert lays out in painstaking detail, using primary sources (e.g. declassified government documents), the facts every American needs to know to understand 9-11. His exposé on the criminal actions of the current White House administration is absolutely credible and utterly shocking.

911 explained

Finally, a compelling explanation of 911. Ruppert ties it all together. This book is a powerful tool for understanding what is happening in the world today.

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