China in Midst of ‘Greatest Bubble in History,’ Rickards Says – Bloomberg.com

Posted by Matt in March 17th, 2010 | no comment

Published in China, Financial Crisis, Amp, Asset Allocation, Banks, Boom, China Economy, China S Economy, Crash, Doom, Economic Growth, Gloom, Harvard University Professor, Hong Kong, Jim Chanos, Kenneth Rogoff, Marc Faber, Midst, Misallocation, Professor Kenneth, Rickards, summit

“As I see it, it is the greatest bubble in history with the most massive misallocation of wealth,” Rickards said at the Asset Allocation Summit Asia 2010 organized by Terrapinn Pte in Hong Kong yesterday. China “is a bubble waiting to burst.”
Rickards joins hedge fund manager Jim Chanos, Gloom, Boom & Doom publisher Marc Faber [...]

Latvia’s Great Depression | Foreign Policy

Posted by Matt in February 27th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Economy, Europe, City Government, Collapse, Europe, Foreign Policy, Great Depression, Greece Economy, Latvia, Maintenance Budget, Metrics, Midst, Rainy Winters, Real Reason, Riga, Road Maintenance, Surprise, United States, Wintry Mess

Think Greece is bad? Look north.
Riga has had mild, rainy winters of late, and the snow caught the city by surprise. But the real reason for the wintry mess is that the city government has slashed its road maintenance budget by a third. Although the world is watching Greece, Latvia’s economy is the most imperiled [...]

The Doomsday Plane – TIME

Posted by Matt in February 4th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Military, Air Force Crew, Cold War Relic, Doomsday Plane, Fuel Nozzle, Handful, Launch, Midair, Midst, Missile Silos, Nuclear Attack, Nuclear War, Robert Gates, Secretary Of Defense, Secretary Of Defense Robert Gates, Space Creature, Survivor, Tankers, Time Secretary, War Zones, Windshield

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates flies around the world to war zones and allies, to China and Russia and Suriname, on a Cold War relic called the Doomsday Plane. Forged in the 1970s by Boeing, it was designed to stay aloft even in the midst of nuclear war. It’s an airborne Pentagon. The plane is [...]

The Bekaa Valley in Lebanon – The Hashish Connection

Posted by Matt in February 3rd, 2010 | no comment

Published in Crime, Middle East, 20 Million Dollars, Ammunition, Bekaa Valley, Hashish, Heroin, Hundred Years, Illegal Trade, Lebanon, Machine Guns, Midst, Militia, Opium, Pockets, Poison, Poor Man, Shoot Outs, Sifting Through, Valley In Lebanon, Violence In The Streets, World Of War, Young Man

The Bekaa Valley in Lebanon is at the centre of the illegal trade of hashish and heroin. Vast drug clans rule the land and everyone has a year round supply of ammunition. With unbelievable access, The Hashish Army goes where no police dare.
We have grown hashish for a hundred years. No government has ever been [...]

The Great Shrinking American Dollar – NYTimes.com

Posted by Matt in November 12th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Economy, Financial, American Dollar, Blog, Currencies, Currency, Decline, Definite Possibility, Depreciation, Financial Crisis, Global Financial Crisis, Lows, Midst, Nytimes

The American dollar is in the midst of a large fall in its value, or depreciation, as measured against other major currencies. The decline has been steady since 2002 and our currency is down about 35 percent from that peak. After strengthening slightly more than 10 percent during the global financial crisis of the past [...]

This Week at War: China Rules the Waves | Foreign Policy

Posted by Matt in October 16th, 2009 | no comment

Published in China, Acquisition, Adversaries, Alliance System, Assumptions, China Rules, diplomacy, Domination, Foreign Policy, Indian Navy, Indian Oceans, Kaplan, Liberation Army Navy, Major Component, Midst, Next Decade, Political Strategies, Rise Of China, Shipbuilding, U S Navy, Waves

Kaplan asserts, “China is in the midst of a shipbuilding and acquisition craze that will result in the People’s Liberation Army Navy having more ships than the U.S. Navy sometime in the next decade.” Since 1945, U.S. diplomatic and political strategies in Asia have been predicated on U.S. naval domination in the western Pacific and [...]

Iran to mass produce long-range missiles

Posted by Matt in May 18th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Iran, Missiles, Defense Establishment, Estimates, Israeli Defense, Midst, Missile Launchers, Missiles Iran, Range Ballistic Missiles, Range Missiles, Six Years

Iran is in the midst of a multi-year plan that it hopes will culminate in the production of several hundred missile launchers and over 1,000 long-range ballistic missiles within the next six years, according to estimates in the Israeli defense establishment.
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Mexico’s Instability Is a Real Problem

Posted by Matt in January 15th, 2009 | 1 comment

Published in Mexico, Assault Rifles, Civil Government, Collapse, Dance Clubs, Defense Planners, Drug Gangs, Drug Violence, Drug War, Extortion, Failed State, Fragmentation Grenades, Kidnappings, Locals, Mexican Vacation, Mexico, Mexico Vacation, Midst, Military Weaponry, Pakistan, Pentagon, Pentagon Study, Police Officers, Policeman, Risk, Rough And Tumble, Security Environment, Study Concludes That, Tijuana, Wholesale, Wsj

Don’t discount the possibility of a failed state next door.
Mexico is now in the midst of a vicious drug war. Police officers are being bribed and, especially near the United States border, gunned down. Kidnappings and extortion are common place. And, most alarming of all, a new Pentagon study concludes that Mexico is at risk [...]

Stratfor Fourth Quarter Forecast 2008

Posted by Matt in October 30th, 2008 | no comment

Published in general, Absorption, Asian Goods, Debacle, East Asia, Export Demand, Forecast, Fourth Quarter, Global Financial Crisis, Lame Duck, Legs, Liquidity Shortage, Lockdown, Meltdown, Midst, Presidential Election, Recession, Remediation, Rest Of The World, Resurgence, Roots, Second Quarter

Three issues will dominate the final quarter of 2008: the global financial crisis, U.S. self-absorption and the Russian resurgence.
The financial crisis has its roots in an American liquidity meltdown. But as the days flow by, it will become obvious that the crisis is evolving as it spreads to the rest of the world, and its [...]

Rising Ambitions, Sinking Population

Posted by Matt in October 25th, 2008 | no comment

Published in Demographics, Russia, Ambitions, Dangerous Period, Disaster, Doorstep, End Of Communism, Exit Strategy, Fortunes, Foundations, Immigration, kremlin, Lows, Midst, Nuclear Weapons, Oil And Gas, Parlous, Rulers, Russia Population, Russian Federation, Russian Nation, Windfall Profits

Russia is in the midst of a genuine demographic disaster from which its rulers have no obvious exit strategy. Although the Russia’s fortunes (and the Kremlin’s ambitions) have waxed on a decade of windfall profits from oil and gas, the human foundations of the Russian nation — the ultimate sources of the country’s wealth and [...]