Time Magazine’s List of 100 Most Powerful People for 2008

Posted by Matt in February 28th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Global Elite, Baitullah Mehsud, Ben Bernanke, Jacob Zuma, Jamie Dimon, Jeffrey Immelt, Khaled Hosseini, Michelle Bachelet, Miley Cyrus, Mohammed Al Maktoum, Most Powerful People, Muqtada Al Sadr, Neelie Kroes, Oscar Pistorius, Prince Alwaleed, Randy Pausch, Ratan Tata, Rem Koolhaas, Richard Cizik, Robert Downey Jr, Sheik Mohammed Al Maktoum, Shinya Yamanaka

Leaders & Revolutionaries

Dalai Lama
Vladimir Putin
Barack Obama
Hillary Clinton
John McCain
Hu Jintao
George W. Bush
Jacob Zuma
Anwar Ibrahim
Kevin Rudd
Bartholomew I
Ben Bernanke
Muqtada al-Sadr
Robert Gates
Michelle Bachelet
Sonia Gandhi
Baitullah Mehsud
Evo Morales
Ma Ying-jeou
Ashfaq Kayani

Heroes & Pioneers

Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
Oprah Winfrey
Oscar Pistorius
Mia Farrow
Andre Agassi
Lance Armstrong
Bob and Suzanne Wright
Peter Gabriel
Kaká
Sheik Mohammed al-Maktoum
Yoani Sánchez
Madeeha Hasan Odhaib
Randy Pausch
Lorena Ochoa
Tony Blair
Alexis Sinduhije
Aung San Suu Kyi
George Mitchell

Scientists & Thinkers

Michael Bloomberg
Craig [...]

Global Financial Crisis Fuels Pakistan Instability

Posted by Matt in February 27th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Economy, Financial, Pakistan, Economic Pressures, Financial Crisis, Global Financial Crisis, Globe, Governments, Insurgency, Pakistan, Political Uncertainty, Social Unrest

The financial crisis that has spanned the globe has had an especially strong impact in countries beset by political uncertainty. Analysts say weak governments saddled with poorly performing economies are more vulnerable to social unrest and armed insurgency.
According to analysts, Pakistan is one of the most prominent examples of a nation where economic pressures [...]

Three market developments keeping me up at night

Posted by Matt in February 27th, 2009 | 1 comment

Published in Economy, Financial, Auto Loans, Buying Insurance, Commercial Real Estate, Credit Default Swap, Credit Markets, Credit Quality, Debt Default, Default Rates, Delinquency, Disarray, Financial Crisis, Front Page News, Global Financial Crisis, Government Debt, Home Mortgages, Interest Rate Cuts, Largesse, Market Developments, Mike Larson, Rapid Deterioration, Swap Cd, Worrier

Three troubling developments:
1. SOVEREIGN credit quality is coming into question.
2. Eastern Europe is starting to meltdown.
3. Rapid deterioration in commercial real estate continues apace.
The article below is by Mike Larson (02-27-09).
I’m a worrier by nature. I can’t help it. My job is to peer around the corner, figure out what’s next, and most importantly, discern what [...]

Iran threatened with economic meltdown

Posted by Matt in February 27th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Economy, Iran, American Citizens, Downward Spiral, Economic Meltdown, Economists, Financial Crisis, Financial Hardship, Global Financial Crisis, Hostage, Iran, Oil And Gas, Oil And Gas Companies, Oil Prices, sanctions, tehran, United Nations, United States

The sharp downward spiral of oil prices has prompted economists to predict that Tehran is facing severe financial hardship within the space of a few months.
Iran also has to grapple with sanctions imposed by the United States and the United Nations.
The US sanctions imposed in 1980, after the hostage-taking by students in Tehran, [...]

Iran is planning a huge increase in nuclear enrichment capability

Posted by Matt in February 27th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Iran, Nuclear, Ali, Bushehr Iran, Capability, Central Desert, centrifuges, Coastal City, Iran, Iran Nuclear, Msnbc, Nbc, Nbc News, News Iran, Next Five Years, Nuclear Enrichment, Nuclear Power, Nuke, Uranium

Aghazadeh said Iran would over the next five years install 50,000 centrifuges used to enrich uranium at its Natanz plant in the central desert, up from the 6,000 he said were now running.
“We will increase our activities to install more by the end of next (Iranian) year (to March 2010),” he said.
Read More…

A look inside [...]

The whiff of contagion

Posted by Matt in February 26th, 2009 | 1 comment

Published in Economy, Europe, Financial, Account Deficits, Almunia, Berlin Wall, Boris Groendahl, Catastrophe, Christian Science Monitor, Chuck Missler, Confidence, Contagion, Currencies, Currency Woes, Depositors, Eastern Europe, Emerging Europe, Eurozone, Financial Crisis, Foreign Currency, Global Financial Crisis, Globe And Mail, International Herald Tribune, New Train, Paymaster, Recessions, Robert Marquand, Shareholders, Stress Tests, Weak Point, Western Banks, Whiff, Woes

Eastern Europe’s woes are not unmanageable. But they are not being managed. The result could be catastrophe
Contagion could happen in many ways. One is if depositors lose confidence that their savings are safe.
Another weak point is where shareholders take fright.
For now, the most likely source of contagion is collapsing currencies.
Read More…

The bill that could break [...]

IS PUTIN PUSHING RUSSIA OFF A FINANCIAL CLIFF?

Posted by Matt in February 26th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Economy, Russia, Big Spender, Dependence, Economic Burdens, Energy Exports, Eurasia Insight, Finance Minister, Financial Crisis, Financial Crunch, Global Financial Crisis, Insight Archive, kremlin, moscow, Oil Price, Outlays, Russia, Russian Government Officials, Russian Oil, State Budget, State Expenditures, State Planners, State Revenue, Time Finance

The Kremlin has been behaving like a big spender, even though Russia is among the countries hardest hit by the global financial crunch. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. And the news just keeps getting grimmer for Moscow. Indeed, Russian government officials recently reported that the state budget is starting to groan under the [...]

The proliferation chain that links North Korea and Iran

Posted by Matt in February 26th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Iran, Koreas, Missiles, Civilian Space, Communications Satellite, Final Frontier, Japan China, Korea Japan, Korean Officials, North Korean, North-Korea, Nuclear Ambitions, Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Work, Outsiders, Pioneers, Proliferation, Prowess, Regimes, Snook, South-Korea, Space Efforts, Technological Feats

THE final frontier is being assaulted by a couple of troubling pioneers. North Korean officials are boasting that they will soon launch a rocket that will lift a communications satellite into space. With this defiant spectacular, they seem to be cocking a snook at America, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia, who have been trying [...]

Could Islam really take over the world?

Posted by Matt in February 26th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Islam, Prophecy, general, 666, Arabic Script, Bismallah, Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse, Guest Lecturer, Horsemen Of The Apocalypse, Iranian President Mahmoud, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, mahdi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mark Of The Beast, Mystery Babylon, Nafs, Name Of Allah, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Prophecy Conference, Pure Soul, Radical Islam, Red Death, Saudi-Arabia, Scary Stuff, Southern California, Walid Shoebat, White Death, Yamani

If you believe the videos I’m about to show you, then you will learn that Islam does in fact take over most of the known world at some point in the future. It’s not any Islam either. It’s radical Islam.
The Mahdi that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad talks about does in fact return.
You will be made [...]

Power Plays in the Indian Ocean

Posted by Matt in February 25th, 2009 | no comment

Published in China, India, Military, China, Great Power, India, Indian Ocean, Navy, Ocean World, Plays, Preeminent, rivalry

Already the world’s preeminent energy and trade interstate seaway, the Indian Ocean will matter even more as India and China enter into a dynamic great-power rivalry in these waters.
Read More…