The Return of Kurt Nimmo
Press Action
Saturday, January 22, 2005
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/nimmocounterpunch01222005/
It’s good to see a new column by Kurt Nimmo on Counterpunch after a long absence. I don’t remember the last piece of Kurt’s that Counterpunch published—could have been last summer—but I was beginning to think he was persona non grata in Petrolia and Oregon, as had seemingly been the fate of others on that site over the last couple of years.
Kurt has his own weblog and many other sites publish his material, which means his impressive research and analysis has had an outlet during the hiatus. Counterpunch, though, is where he gained his renown in anarchist/libertarian/lefty circles. So I certainly appreciate seeing his writings once again published together with so many other worthy writers. Kurt writes in an easy-to-follow and tell-it-like-it-is style, without the pretension and impenetrability that characterize the writings of some other lefty writers or the tiresome restating of the obvious that dominates so many anti-Bush publications.
In his return piece on Counterpunch, Kurt writes about Michael Ruppert advising his fans to prepare for the coming economic meltdown by spending whatever cash they have left on precious metals. Kurt explains:
“Instead of urging political action, he tells Americans to invest in gold, sounding oddly like an investment banker or somebody from the gold industry. Ruppert may call Dick Cheney ‘a murderer,’ again stating the obvious, but offers no concrete solution for getting rid of such multiple and repeat felons beyond slimming down the consumption habits of middle class Americans in preparation for the Grapes of Wrath, the sequel.
Kurt also criticizes Ruppert’s “peak oil” fear-mongering. I must admit that I’m not as skeptical as Kurt of the predictions of the rapidly approaching demise of our petroleum-based society. In the lower-48 United States, announcements of significant new onshore oil plays are very rare these days. Oil companies are forced into putting up larger sums of money to drill in the deepwater areas of the Gulf of Mexico. In Canada, the foreign nation on which we are most reliant for oil, exploration and production experts are discovering that major oil fields are running dry faster than they originally thought.
But Kurt has argued in the past that geologists, with the help of new technology, are routinely making impressive discoveries of oil and other types of energy resources. While the United States may be tapped out of oil within decades, there are virgin geological formations in other parts of the world that are ripe for the drillbit by the international oil companies and their American-Anglo military support staff.
Nonetheless, while it may be too early to publish an obituary for our oil-based economy, our insane reliance on fossil fuels and destruction of the natural world around us is not something we should take lightly, even if the economy goes into a death spiral, as predicted by Ruppert.
As for Kurt, it’s good to see him back in the Counterpunch fold, advancing the cause of peace, freedom, fun and understanding.