Re: SC69

Regarding the developing worldwide meltdown:


http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

"Are Western governments preparing for the effects of this?"

Yes.

In January 2006, the Department of Homeland Security gave Halliiburton subsidiary Kellog, Brown, & Root a $400 million dollar contract to build vast new domestic detention camps within the United States. The camps are ostensibly being built to house and process an "emergency influx of immigrants", which is exactly what the U.S. will be facing between 2008 and 2012 as Mexico's oil production collapses.

This "emergency influx of immigrants" will almost certainly inflame domestic groups, leading to vigilantism and balkanization within the U.S. The expectation of this unraveling may be at least partially responsible for the Bush administration's drive to pass draconian police-state style legislation.

In June 2007, the UK Register reported that the Pentagon has been running "war games on the grandest scale" to simulate how billions of people will react to food and fuel shortages, including shortages on the US homeland:

. . . the US Department of Defense may already be creating a copy of you in an alternate reality to see how long you can go without food or water, or how you will respond to televised propaganda.

Called the Sentient World Simulation (SWS), the program replicates financial institutions, utilities, media outlets, and street corner shops. By applying theories of economics and human psychology, its developers believe they can predict how individuals and mobs will respond to various stressors.

Yank a country's water supply. Stage a military coup. SWS will tell you what happens next. Homeland Security is already using SWS to simulate crises on the US mainland.

According to a May 2008 investigation by Radar Magazine, the Department of Homeland Security has used artificial-intelligence powered "social networking analysis" tools similar to SWS to compile a list of 8 million Americans who may be detained during a national emergency:
According to a senior government official . . . "There exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated. The database can identify and locate perceived ‘enemies of the state’ almost instantaneously." … One knowledgeable source claims that 8 million Americans are now listed in Main Core as potentially suspect. In the event of a national emergency, these people could be subject to everything from heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and possibly even detention.

The Pentagon has also developed an "energy islanding" strategy in which the armed services and/or private contractors will seize large-scale domestic renewable energy installations once the crisis hits. Journalist Michael Kane explains:
The DoD plans to act in consort with utilities to implement "islanding strategies" for their domestic installations to deal with emergencies and fuel shortages. Think of this as an "energy island" that the military is on and you are not. When big wind and solar farms come online they are placed on the Pentagon’s map, and when that energy is eventually neede for one of their installations or industrial producers they will simply take it through a well-orchestrated alliance with gigantic private energy firms. Source
The British government appears to be making similar preparations. According to a military report leaked to the press in April 2007, the British government is preparing to control middle class citizen "flash mobs" as the economy collapses under the combined pressures of resource shortages and climate change..............