Russia Now: The financial crisis has had a profound impact on the Russian lifestyle – Telegraph

Posted by Matt in October 29th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Russia, Austerity, Businessmen, Consumer Spending, Financial Crisis, Foreseeable Future, Global Financial Crisis, Lifestyle, Luxuries, Profound Impact, Russia, Telegraph

The financial crisis has had a profound impact on the Russian lifestyle. Previously known as a high-spending hedonist, the average Russian consumer has slashed his spending on luxuries, even on basic items such as food. And, although businessmen are seeing green shoots of recovery, analysts warn that the new austerity is here to stay for [...]

The world’s 10 most dangerous countries | David Rothkopf

Posted by Matt in August 8th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Military, David Rothkopf, FARC, Foreseeable Future, Fragmentation, Hemisphere, Iran, Iranian Nukes, Iraq Saddam, Kurdistan, Latin-America, Levers, Middle East, Most Dangerous Countries, opec, Russia, Saudi-Arabia, Saudis, Succession, Ties, Venezuela

Here are my top 10:
10. Venezuela
Ok, Chávez won’t start any world wars. But think of his disruptive reach around the hemisphere, his support for the FARC, and his cultivation of ties to Russia, China and the Middle East and its clear this is the one guy who is most likely to disrupt lives in [...]

John Bolton: It’s Crunch Time for Israel on Iran – WSJ.com

Posted by Matt in July 30th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Israel, Air Defenses, American Officials, Barack Obama, Central Objective, Crunch Time, Defense Secretary, Foreseeable Future, Guise, jerusalem, John Bolton, Legions, Military Force, Military Option, Military Strikes, Military Weapons, Mr Gates, Nuclear Weapons Facilities, Robert Gates, Secretary Robert, Wsj

Legions of senior American officials have descended on Jerusalem recently, but the most important of them has been Defense Secretary Robert Gates. His central objective was to dissuade Israel from carrying out military strikes against Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities. Under the guise of counseling “patience,” Mr. Gates again conveyed President Barack Obama’s emphatic thumbs down [...]

‘Armageddon’ alarm bell rings – Washington Times

Posted by Matt in July 21st, 2009 | no comment

Published in Pakistan, Adviser, Al-Qaeda, Alarm Bell, Armageddon, Bell Rings, Blogged, Flock Browser, Foreseeable Future, Interagency, Islamabad, Nuclear Capability, Obama, South Asia, sunni, Takeover, Taliban, terrorists, U S Presidents, War On Terror, Washington Times

A senior adviser on South Asia to three U.S. presidents is now warning about “Armageddon in Islamabad.”
At the request of President Obama, Bruce Riedel, a former CIA expert on the region, also chaired an interagency policy review on Afghanistan and nuclear Pakistan. His latest assessment says, “A jihadist victory in Pakistan, meaning the takeover of [...]

Robert Gates changes the Pentagon’s priorities

Posted by Matt in April 14th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Military, U.S., Afghanistan, American Defence, China, Defence Budget, Downsizing, Fellow Republican, Foreseeable Future, iraq, James Inhofe, John Mccain, Leadership, Nuclear Warheads, Pentagon, Priorities, Proposals, Republican Senator, Robert Gates, Russia, Senator James Inhofe, Step In The Right Direction

I am in the horrified group. It is the big wars that we should be worried about. A war with Russia and/or China will destroy the entire nation. Do you really want to drop the ball in this area?
Between Obama’s downsizing of nuclear warheads and Gates’ new defense prioritizing, it’s clear that our leadership isn’t [...]

Geopolitical Consequences of the Credit Crunch

Posted by Matt in March 8th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Financial, Niall Ferguson, Brazil, British Pound, China China, Consequences, Credit Crunch, Financial Crisis, Foreseeable Future, Global Financial Crisis, Goldman Sachs, Gross Domestic Product, India, Inevitable Consequence, infrastructure, Niall-Ferguson, Planned Economy, Reserve Currencies, Reserve Currency, Russia, Sneeze, United States

Link to this video.
By Niall Ferguson Sunday, September 21, 2008
What are the geopolitical implications of all this? One possibility is that the “great reconvergence” between East and West is speeding up. If you go back to the very first report that Goldman Sachs produced about the “BRICs economies” (Brazil, Russia, India and China), China was [...]

Is this the last stand for globalisation?

Posted by Matt in July 20th, 2008 | no comment

Published in Trade, Appetite, China, Economic Turmoil, Financial Crisis, Foreseeable Future, Global Financial Crisis, Globalisation, Hq, Lake Geneva, Last Attempt, Last Stand, Leap, Poor Consumers, Raw Materials, Rich Countries, Trade Ministers, World Trade Organisation, Wto Deal, Wto Talks

Poor nations derailed the last WTO deal. Now economic turmoil means the rich countries could kill it off for the foreseeable future
With America reeling from the worst financial crisis for half a century, poor consumers struggling to afford food, and China’s appetite for raw materials forcing up the cost of oil, now may not seem [...]

India-Pakistan-Iran (IPI) gas pipeline “infeasible” for now: US expert

Posted by Matt in May 29th, 2008 | no comment

Published in India, Iran, Pakistan, American Expert, Baluchistan, Circumstances, Consortiums, Foreseeable Future, Gas Pipeline, India Pakistan, Ipi, Iran Pakistan, Pakistan India, Pipeline, Political Scientist, Rand Corporation, Security Concerns, Serious Security, Tank

The proposed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline is “absolutely infeasible” in the foreseeable future because financial, political, legal and security circumstances do not support it, a well-informed American expert says.
“None of the three countries involved in the talks has the resources to fund the pipeline. There are serious security concerns, especially because it passes through Baluchistan in Pakistan. [...]

The coming crisis

Posted by Matt in May 5th, 2008 | no comment

Published in Oil, Afflictions, Appetite, China, Consumption, Countries Around The World, Crisis, Crude Oil, Developing Countries, Developing World, food, Food Bank, Food Shortages, Foreseeable Future, Foretaste, Global Population, Global Shortage, India, Jeff Rubin, Oil Prices, petroleum, Related Products, Social Unrest

But at the same time, the economies of China and India have continued growing, which accelerates the consumption of petroleum-related products and increases the amount and quality of food each person eats. These three facts have conspired to produce a global shortage of crude oil which has exacerbated the world’s inability to feed itself. If [...]

The U.S. and China are over a barrel

Posted by Matt in April 28th, 2008 | no comment

Published in China, Oil, U.S., China Factor, Declining Oil, Foreseeable Future, Gasoline Prices, Global Oil, Inadequacies, Internal Violence, iraq, Mexico, Nigeria, Oil Brokers, Oil Output, Producers, Refinery, Russia, Venezuela, Violence In Iraq

The reality is that as far as the current run-up in gasoline prices is concerned, other factors are more to blame: shrinking oil output from such key producers as Mexico, Russia and Venezuela; internal violence in Iraq and Nigeria; refinery inadequacies in the U.S. and elsewhere; speculative stockpiling by global oil brokers, and so on. [...]