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

It's a frightening amazing look at US and world politics, the dwindling of oil supplies (at least those feasible to access) and the impact it's having on us all.

The current administration in the US was in charge on that fateful day back in September 2001 (9/11) and this book points the finger directly at Dick Cheney for "pulling the lever" and being at the helm.

Did you know that on 9/11 there were war games and other internal government training exercises being conducted? They included crashing planes into the WTC and Pentagon.

The frightening thing is, Dick Cheney was given complete oversight over these war games and exercises in May 2001. WHY? Why would the vice president be given control of these exercises?? This is a military issue, not an executive branch issue.

There is so much uncovering in this book's 600 + pages yet fortunately the author writes in language that nearly everyone at any age or education level could understand.

He uses nearly 1000 footnotes to substantiate the conclusions and all his data is gleened from media reports, government employee interviews and press releases, congressional and senatorial hearings, investigations and other sources deemed 100% reliable.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE US READER REVIEWS?


Pragmatic, well-intentioned, terrifying and hyper-relevant   October 18, 2005
Mr. A. Zomerplaag (England)
21 out of 21 found this review helpful

The first five years of this particularly horrible decade have been marked by a rise in the popularity of political writing. Accordingly, I have for a number of years assumed the role of left-leaning book-buying enthusiast and before coming across the information in Crossing the Rubicon, considered myself a pretty well-informed member of society.
Soon after 9/11 I had encountered websites which proposed alternative theories about the culprits of those attacks and didn't give them very much thought. Then earlier this year I attended a public meeting in Manchester which had been organised by survivors and witnesses of the New York attacks and my opinion was forever changed about the likely culprits. A fellow-attendee recommended Crossing the Rubicon.
Having been familiar with From the Wilderness for many years, I had also come across material about Peak Oil but admittedly, I'd ignored it. One day at work, I took the time to read about it in detail and like so many others, my world was altered forever.
Making sense of an era which seems to be dominated by hallucinatory levels of delusion, violence and quite obvious campaigns of disinformation isn't easy. In my opinion, by far the most plausible backdrop to the events we have seen is not esoteric conspiracies or secret societies, but an energy crisis.
Crossing the Rubicon's implications are profound and terrifying and before buying the book, you need to be aware that it will challenge not just your beliefs and assumptions but also your aspirations and ambitions to.
The world is full of ideologues who want to tell us what is right and what is wrong. Ruppert seems only to want to tell us what is; and he let's us decide what to do with this information.
Pragmatic and not paranoid; level-headed and not sensationalist, I have never come across a reason to doubt the author's credibility or his intentions and for this reason, the book has to be recommended.


War is the most profitable business   November 27, 2005
Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium)
20 out of 20 found this review helpful

In this book, Michael C. Ruppert attempts to find the masterminds behind the 9/11 attacks. For him, the prime suspects are a group of people operating within certain government agencies, including the White House, for the benefit of major financial US and foreign interests. The only possible thread is the intelligence community.

This book is more or less a compilation of the author's contributions to the internet site 'From the Wilderness'. It lacks the solid structure of the works of N.M. Ahmed and M. Chossudovsky, on which it heavily draws. The style is rather egocentric (a lot of 'I's).

Nevertheless, it throws a shrill light on some major aspects of the framework wherein the 9/11 attacks took place.
Clearly exposed are the links between the CIA, Wall Street and 9/11, through the heavy buying of put options on airline shares before the attacks (2.5 M$ profits on one bet were not claimed!).
He shows also clearly that there was sabotage within the US intelligence services and that those services had infiltrated Al-Qaeda. More, US government services shielded the hijackers from being arrested. Still more baffling is the fact that a third tower in New York collapsed without being hit!
A very murky affair is the organization of 'wargames' on 9/11 apparently in order to paralyse information channels. There is also the Cleveland mystery: the landing of two unidentified planes. Still more outlandish are the claims that some of the alleged hijackers are still alive or that the planes flew under remote ground control.

The paramount question is: cui bono? After the 9/11 attacks the US defense budget was raised by 48.1 billion $. Indeed, war is the most profitable business.

For the author, the US government crossed the Rubicon after 9/11. From a republic, the US became an empire, a hegemon.
In order to defend its national security, the empire now can make preemptive strikes (war is peace) and create artificial terrorist activities in order to stimulate reactions which could serve as a pretext to invade other countries.
The Total Information Awareness asks the whole population to become spies (Big Brother in the nth degree), while the Patriot Act undermines general civil liberties.

On the economic front, the author stresses the importance of oil and 1.3 billion Chinese consumers.

However, he sometimes formulates extremely important issues without developping them. One example: the policy that 'the world population must be reduced by as much as 4 billion people is secretly accepted and is being acted upon by world leaders.'
Nevertheless, this book is a goldmine for those who want to understand the 9/11 massacre. Michael C. Ruppert poses at the end the right questions: who are we really? And why are we here?

A must read.


A masterwork   December 19, 2004
P. Andrews (United Kingdom)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

This book is a masterwork. Its a pity it isn't in hardback as it deserves to last and to be read for generations. The author is an ex-detective turned journalist and he combines the methodology and thoroughness of a criminal investigation with the readability of a seasoned journalist. He actually invites us the readers to examine his sources for ourselves and challenge his conclusions.

His conclusions are overwhelmingly significant for this century, this millenium that will see the end of the 'Age of Oil' and the beginning of what...? to replace it. And he makes a tight and evidence-rich case for pointing the finger at the present US administration as being criminally involved in 9/11 and the subsequent military adventurism to secure the oil. He shows how the oft used quote 'The American way of life is not negotiable' is used as justification for invasions and covert operations abroad and similar illegal activities within the US, by its government and its agencies, to try to put off the day when the end of oil will signal the end of 'the American Empire' and 'the American Dream'.

He has done a superb job and whether you agree with all his conclusions or not, at the end of the day this work will stand as a masterwork for this time in the history of humanity in general and of 'Petroleum Man' in particular.

Thank you Michael C.Ruppert for your efforts.


Powerful and empowering.   February 8, 2005
Russell J. Weston (U.K.)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

This is not another book out to bash Bush. Neither is it a conspiracy yarn about secret societies. Rather it is a comprehensive expose of the reasons behind the tragedy of 911 and the "war on terror", by a seasoned ex-LAPD investigator.

Michael Ruppert gathers a well-balanced set of intelligence data from a variety of resources and sets out in a clear and considered manner, the case agains the American Government: namely that they had prior knowledge of 911. He also engages the reader in interpreting the "war on terror" against the backdrop of diminishing oil reserves.

A truely blistering book, free from party-political motivations, that seeks to empower you and I - the public - with information and an overall perspective of the world we live in.