Economics

Would A New ‘Bretton Woods’ Save The Global Economy or is it the Making of a New World Order

May 15, 2013

Source: NPR Britain’s chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, center right, at the start of the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting on Friday, May 10 in Aylesbury, England. The role of central banks in shoring up the global economic recovery is set to be a key point of discussion among top financial [...]

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Where is the world’s gold

May 1, 2013

Source: RK Mufti Mubashir History says Gold goes to where it is respected. 98 percent of Gold at Federal Reserve Bank of New York is owned by central bank of foreign nations and 2 percent is owned by United States of America. Germany holds more than 3,000 tons of gold bullion, which represents more than [...]

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BRICS:The Coming Challenge to U.S. Economic Dominance

April 22, 2013

Source: TFT Late last month, leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – the so-called BRICS – announced they were forming their own development bank to assist other emerging economies. The yet-to-be-named bank is expected to compete with the World Bank and the International Monetary fund, two institutions with power structures based firmly [...]

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By Way of Deception: Former Israeli Intelligence Operatives Now Working For Hedge Funds

April 18, 2013

Source: Forbes A company staffed with former operatives of Israel’s top intelligence agencies and founded with the help of the former head of the Mossad is being used by hedge funds looking for an edge in the financial markets. Kela Israeli Intelligence has increasingly become a popular service on Wall Street. The firm employs about [...]

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America needs a new war or capitalism dies

April 17, 2013

Editor’s Note: Are we not in a state of perpetual war / global military operations and expansion ? Source: Market Watch America needs a new war? For the economy to survive? Job market to revive? Capitalism thrive? Maybe. Here’s why: Forbes reported that GDP data “fell for the first time in three and a half years [...]

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Pentagon’s Pivot to Asia – 33% of global crude oil and over 50% of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) passes through the South China Sea each year.

April 13, 2013

Source: EIA Stretching from Singapore and the Strait of Malacca chokepoint in the southwest to the Strait of Taiwan in the northeast, the South China Sea is one of the most important energy trade routes in the world. Almost a third of global crude oil and over half of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) passes through the [...]

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Scientists calculate probability of World War IV

April 11, 2013

Source: VOR A pause between World War III and World War IV comes to an end, pundits from the Russian Academy of Military Sciences said on Thursday. The conclusion is based on a theory of cycles mapped out by Soviet economist Nikolai Kondratiev. According to the theory, the next world war may start in the upcoming [...]

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Cyprus to dive into its gold reserves

April 10, 2013

Source: FT Cyprus has agreed to sell gold worth €400m from its reserves as a contribution to an international bailout, roiling the precious metal markets as investors feared it could set a precedent for other troubled eurozone countries. Nicosia’s plan to dispose of most of its gold holdings would be the first such sale by a country [...]

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G4S Readies Guards as Cypriot Banks Prepare to Open

March 27, 2013

Source: CNBC/Reuters A British security firm that transports cash for Cypriot banks is working round the clock, sending teams out with police protection to stock bank machines and readying guards for when banks reopen on Thursday. The world’s largest security firm, G4S, moves cash and will provide guards for Cypriot lenders including Bank of Cyprus [...]

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How Much Russian Money Is in Cyprus?

March 21, 2013

Editor’s Note: Is the Cyprus crisis over Russian offshore bank accounts or physical gold. The gold reserves of Cyprus stand at 13.9 tons. StratRisks- Could Cyprus’s gold reserves play a part in the crisis? Source: WSJ How much Russian money is in Cyprus? Ever since the Mediterranean offshore haven shut its banks last weekend, many financial [...]

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The Russians Are Cooking With Gas In Cyprus

March 18, 2013

Source: Sky News The Russians have made Cyprus an offer it can refuse, but only if the EU throws more money at the problem. Gazprom, the world’s largest extractor of natural gas has offered to bail out the Bank of Cyprus in return for effective exclusive control of the gas reserves off the coast of [...]

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‘American Empire to fall by 2020’ ? – pioneer of revolutionary cliodynamic theory

March 18, 2013

Source: VOR History is cyclical and therefore predictable; so believes Professor Peter Turchin, a Russian-American scientist from the University of Connecticut and a pioneer of revolutionary cliodynamic theory. According to the expert, by studying demographic, economic, and violence cycles it is possible to foresee various forms of political instabilities including revolutions, crises, and wars. Applying [...]

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Is Asia Heading for a Debt Crisis?

February 25, 2013

Source: Time Of the many reasons why Asia (outside of Japan) weathered the Great Recession more ably than other parts of the world, one of the most important was the fact that the region never experienced a financial crisis. The banks of Asia generally avoided indulging in the toxic subprime securities that tanked some of Wall Street’s most [...]

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Currency wars: It’s starting to look a bit too much like 1931

February 19, 2013

Source: Globe and Mail History may not repeat itself, but the parallels between the world economy in the 1930s and the world economy today are becoming hard to ignore. Then, as now, the world was in the grip of a severe economic downturn and painfully high unemployment. Then, as now, governments tried to restore growth [...]

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Europe’s armsmakers scramble for Libya

February 18, 2013

Editors Notes: Scramble to destabilize countries followed by militarization. Related Articles: An All Out Race for Corporations to Raid Libya with “Fixers”, Heritage Oil wastes no time in snapping up Libyan assets, Ex-Special Forces Heritage Oil Chief Aim to Gain Energy Deals in Libya and How to win business in Libya Source: UPI European defense [...]

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South China Sea – critical world trade route and a potential source of hydrocarbons

February 11, 2013

Source: U.S. EIA Gov The South China Sea is a critical world trade route and a potential source of hydrocarbons, particularly natural gas, with competing claims of ownership over the sea and its resources. Stretching from Singapore and the Strait of Malacca in the southwest to the Strait of Taiwan in the northeast, the South [...]

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Putin’s Strategy: Gold, Oil and Resource Nationalism

February 11, 2013

Source: Bloomberg/SF Gate When Vladimir Putin says the U.S. is endangering the global economy by abusing its dollar monopoly, he’s not just talking. He’s betting on it. Not only has Putin made Russia the world’s largest oil producer, he’s also made it the biggest gold buyer. His central bank has added 570 metric tons of the [...]

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Gwadar, a pearl in the Chinese string, has long-term security implications

February 8, 2013

Source: FC The Chinese takeover of operational control of the Gwadar port in Pakistan’s Balochistan province has set off a lot of chatter within the Indian strategic community with commentators envisioning an “encirclement of India” by China. At the very least, the Gwadar port could act as a Chinese listening post for watching over Indian [...]

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Turkey will not halt Iran gold exports despite sanctions pressure

February 7, 2013

Source: Mineweb Turkey will not be swayed by U.S. sanctions pressure to halt gold exports to Iran but Tehran’s demand for the metal may fall this year, Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said on Thursday. U.S. officials are concerned that Turkey’s gold sales, which allow Iran to export natural gas, provides a financial lifeline to Tehran, which is largely [...]

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EU and US plan world’s biggest trade bloc

February 7, 2013

Source: DW The world’s two largest economic powers would like to join forces via a free-trade agreement. Yet the hurdles are large. The EU and US are aiming not just for a small trade solution, but for the largest proposal of all. Economists, politicians and entrepreneurs are practically foaming at the mouth. The planned all-encompassing [...]

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Investors start a new scramble for Africa

February 7, 2013

Source: FT t is the ultimate in risk versus return. Hunters of investment exotica are heading to Africa, where some of the world’s riskiest markets are enjoying big gains. After trailing behind more mainstream markets for the better part of a decade, so-called frontier markets as defined by index provider MSCI have climbed more than [...]

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Pak inducts China into Balochistan to counter India

February 1, 2013

Source: Northlines Despite its continuing concerns over the freedom struggle of the Balochs which shows no signs of letting up, China, which originally constructed the languishing commercial port of Gwadar on the Mekran Coast of Balochistan, is reported to have agreed in principle to take over the responsibility for the operation of the port. The 40-year-old [...]

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Australia ‘critical’ for US Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean pivot

February 1, 2013

Editor Notes: Pentagon’s strategic calculus is to concentrate military operations(lily pads)/naval fleets/equipment in the Asia-Pacific region to maintain control over major shipping/trade lanes, strategic chokepoints (Strait of Malacca), protect national security interests i.e. hydrocarbons- major oil and LNG reserves. The competing interest: China , Russia and India . Control the supply and demand of natural resources: Resource [...]

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Mali and AFRICOM’s Africa Agenda: Target China – F. William Engdahl

January 31, 2013

Editors Notes: An additional piece worth reading straight from AFRICOM covering future military affairs/influence/operations and strategy for Africa-Role and Mission of AFRICOM: Africa’s Oil, Vital Resources, Countering China, Strategic Chokepoints, Maritime Security, Narcotics Source: Voltaire Part I: Africa’s New Thirty Years’ War? Mali at first glance seems a most unlikely place for the NATO powers, [...]

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Ya Think …Terrorism may be just excuse for Western powers in Africa

January 30, 2013

Source: Global Times Mali may continue to be the epicenter of combat, death and French preoccupation for a foreseeable future. This means risks to multinational businesses and foreigners, which could play out across North and West Africa. Perhaps it could spread southward to Central and East Africa, the core of Al Shabaab, an Al Qaeda-linked [...]

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Role and Mission of AFRICOM: Africa’s Oil, Vital Resources, Countering China, Strategic Chokepoints, Maritime Security, Narcotics

January 28, 2013

Source: AFRICOM.MIL Gen. Carter F. Ham, commanding officer, U.S. Africa Command speaks at Howard Univerity The mission of the command actually is quite simple. It is to protect the national interests of the United States. We are a United States military organization. That’s what the United States military does. But what’s interesting to us is [...]

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World ‘Plunges Into Currency War’

January 25, 2013

Source: Money News Many government officials around the world are concerned that massive monetary easing in numerous nations is sparking a global currency war. Governments from Germany, to Russia, to Brazil, to Thailand have expressed worry that the world is plunging into a currency war, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. The current focus is on Japan, where [...]

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SPECIAL REPORT – China’s military hawks take the offensive

January 16, 2013

Source: Reuters At issue these days are the disputed islands known as the Diaoyu (in China) or Senkaku (in Japan) and a string of islets in the South China that China is contesting with various Southeast Asian nations. But the combative streak speaks to profound shifts in Chinese politics and foreign policy that transcend the [...]

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Zbigniew Brzezinski: U.S. military strikes against Iran a hazardous strategy

January 3, 2013

Source: Washington Post t is to be hoped that the forthcoming Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings regarding the president’s nominations for secretary of state and secretary of defense produce a wide-ranging debate regarding this country’s role in today’s very unsettled world. The hearings almost certainly will provoke searching questions regarding the strategic wisdom of potential [...]

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