From Jenna Orkin:
Headlines
British Foreign Office says China has carried out execution
North Korea to ban all foreign currencies
The Baltic Dry Index Is Collapsing (from Rice Farmer)
Fallout from Foiled "Terror Attack"
Wherein we learn its true raison d'etre.
Yemen is the true home of Al-Qaeda
So that means we should go in there and smoke 'em out - Right, Brain?
Lieberman: The United States Must Pre-Emptively Act In Yemen (from Rice Farmer)
Airlines: New Rules Keep Passengers in Seats
Nigerians armed with spears, arrows kill 35
Plane Attack Adds Pressure on Sick Nigeria Leader
Plane Attack Adds Pressure on US Leader
Muslim Cleric Linked to Fort Hood, Air Terror Attacks
Naked Scanners
Britain's student visa system is a security breach in itself
Economy
Morgan Stanley Predicts 5.5% 10-Year Treasuries, 30 Year Mortgages at 7.5%; I'll Take the Under
Don't look to Beijing to save the world economy (from Rice Farmer)
"Look for the Chinese to engage in increasingly confrontational behavior on the high seas in 2010."
Krugman: 'Reasonably High Chance' of Slump
For First Time, Plurality Believes Stimulus Has Hurt Economy
States' Jobless Funds Being Drained in Recession
Shenzhen Nanshan Refuses Goldman Demand for Payment
Russia Warns EU of Winter Oil Cut-Off
Risk appetite shows no signs of slowing
After the bailouts, Washington’s the boss
Poor selling organs to make ends meet in Egypt
Busted Ponzi Schemes Quadrupled in 2009
TARP: The bailout that refuses to die
Newsweek: Local budget crises may slow recovery
House prices set to fall in 2010
Energy/Environment/Science
US Loans to Boost Nuclear Industry Seen Soon
Why California Is Running Dry
U.S. nuclear industry poised for boost
American dreams of striking oil in France
Trouble is, it's under the Eiffel Tower. Good thing we have horizontal drilling.
Vaccines for hospital superbugs MRSA and Clostridium difficile in pipeline
Drug-resistant infections lurk in meat we eat
World
North Korea Detains American
Mauritania: Al Qaeda Claims Captives
‘Dangerous base’ sours U.S.-Japan ties
Energy crisis growing rapidly in Pakistan
Will 2010 Be the Year the World Ends -- for Mexico?
UK mounts warfare exercise in Falklands
Only MSM outlet to carry this seems to be UPI.
Intelligence
Interpol Gets Immunity From US Law
Ex-CIA Officer Masterminded Downfall of Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan
When all the while they were in Yemen.
Torrent Search Engines Unlawful, U.S. Judge Says
We need watah, we need watah, we need watah!
ReplyDeleteWill 2010 Food Crisis Bring Financial Armageddon?:
ReplyDelete"There is overwhelming, undeniable evidence that the world will run out of food next year. When this happens, the resulting triple digit food inflation will lead panicking central banks around the world to dump their foreign reserves to appreciate their currencies and lower the cost of food imports, causing the collapse of the dollar, the treasury market, derivative markets, and the global financial system. The US will experience economic disintegration."
LeoBro, Totally totally excellent find re impending Food Crisis. Thankyou!
ReplyDeleteHotspringswizard, Re your 4:32 PM comments post to/on FTW's Mon., Dec. 28, 2009 - "Australia Leads in Race...; ...Elevenfold" - post. I'd say you and we are on the same page :-) Wonderful! :-)
ReplyDeleteand businessman, Thanks for sharing your up-to-date on the mv=GNP scene. Excellent!
and LeoBro, One caveat re Eric deCarbonnet's otherwise totally totally excellent piece of reporting on global-wide Food Crisis: Eric's advice is to invest in gold!!! ??? (Which is why RanD is here talkin' to ya!!! :-)
I would like to invite and suggest everyone check out Tom Brown Jr.'s books and the tracker school. His field guides to wilderness survival and city and suburban survival, and the skills taught will be priceless resources to have around during infrastructure collapse. Great community and philosophy. You should take the standard class mike! the prerequisite for the whole school. If money is the root of all evil, the earth is the source of good. Thanks!
ReplyDeletewww.trackerschool.com
80 grams of PETN, the same failed explosive supposedly chosen by the imfamous "shoe bomber" in 2001. Go to Wikipedia to find that virtually the only successful terroristic use of the material involved 24 KILOS of PETN. It is notoriously difficult to detonate. My, what a wonderful way to scare people without losing any airplanes.
ReplyDeleteThe new focus on Yemen makes me wonder if its radicals are considered a threat to the Saudi regime, and if that could be a reason for the multi-angled attack on this otherwise inconsequential country.
The masters of public entertainment have certainly outdone themselves in distracting us from the economy. I still see Michael Jackson on the TV. Tiger Woods certainly helped out. I think it's almost time for some accidental nudity on TV, and maybe another wave of anti-Mexican propaganda.
80 grams of PETN, the same failed explosive supposedly chosen by the imfamous "shoe bomber" in 2001. Go to Wikipedia to find that virtually the only successful terroristic use of the material involved 24 KILOS of PETN. It is notoriously difficult to detonate. My, what a wonderful way to scare people without losing any airplanes.
ReplyDeleteThe new focus on Yemen makes me wonder if its radicals are considered a threat to the Saudi regime, and if that could be a reason for the multi-angled attack on this otherwise inconsequential country.
The masters of public entertainment have certainly outdone themselves in distracting us from the economy. I still see Michael Jackson on the TV. Tiger Woods certainly helped out. I think it's almost time for some accidental nudity on TV, and maybe another wave of anti-Mexican propaganda.
"2010 Food Crisis" is a scary read. SonOfAFarmer, if you are still there, your thoughts? Anyone else familiar with the writings from MarketSkeptics?
ReplyDeleteI've seen lots of Ag articles speaking to this subject. This is the first article I've seen tying it in with accelerating collapse. My first response is denial, so it obviously scares me. There are a lot of components to how it would play out. If the shortages aren't massive, I would think the poor countries would be the ones getting hit hardest.
I think I'll go look up SonofaFarmers blog if its still up. He was warning us about food shortages a year ago if I recall correctly.
Happy New Year Everyone!!
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/02/22/business/20090222-total-slideshow_index.html
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/opinion/28iht-edharrison.html?_r=2
ReplyDeleteHotspringswizard - thanks for the compliment - but I still feel very much an amateur here. I too appreciate the comments of all who post here.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your perspective of the benefits of this blog - RanD’s too.
I see three main benefits...
Sharing information (expertly led by Jenna) - in this world of disinformation and corrupted MSM, this is a treasure trove of just what the hell is going on out there. Where else could we get this stuff?
Learning/evolving - humankind must evolve if it is to survive the transition into the post-oil era. As individuals we need the arguments and disagreements to set us on the right track. My eyes have been opened to all sorts of knowledge (as opposed to information) that you cannot get except through interaction with other human beings. My view about AGW was pretty much fixed until I listened to the arguments of people like gamedog and businessman. Now my mind is much more open. Again, where else could we get that interaction?
And lastly community - it is quite lonely having a “coLLapse” world view! The only person I know who shares my world view is my wonderful wife. My other family and friends just look at me blankly! My son works for the UK government and is a million miles away from being receptive to this stuff (and of course I have tried to enlighten him). Where else could I go to feel at home with like minded people?
There are of course other blogs/websites, but the ones I’ve seen tend to be unmoderated, and the comments descend into schoolboy slanging matches. Jenna does a superb job of keeping us civilised and on track. I used to do a similar job professionally and know how difficult and thankless a job it is (so thanks Jenna!). I notice that Dmitry Orlov has stopped comments on his site now for exactly that reason.
Namaste
Good points you make there Paul :-)
ReplyDeleteSo we both have wonderful wives! I tell mine about much of this stuff, but I try not to overload her to much with it since I can see that it gets her down, especially since she is feeling extra stress these days from the degrading situation in the trucking company ( YRCW ) she works for.
Apart from her I do talk regularly with my one and only brother. He and I are very much on the same page regarding all the various collapse info. My mom and stepdad are Faux News clones. I can't talk about any of this with my stepdad or he gets very easily agitated and it just turns into an endless argument that goes round and round. My mom will listen politely but she just doesn't buy much of what I try and tell her about. She does give creedence to the Peak Oil issue which is a start.
Most other people just look at you like you got two heads if you try to broach these subjects with them. I don't waste my time with people who clearly have set views, with no ability or interest in considering what I may try to get them to understand on these issues . Their minds are full of MSM BS to the extent that they are trapped in the closed boxes of their own misconceptions.
So much is changing quickly now that I try and devote what time I can to keeping up to speed on the new developments. List of subject matter on these issue like what Jenna ( and others who help her )put together are certainly helpful. If we all are spending some time researching, between the efforts of everyone the more important info usually gets considered ( brought up ) either through Jenna's list or other posters who make their own contributions.
I normally get quite a bit of time to peruse the internet sites where I seek the info I consider important, so generally I have already come acrosss most of the headlines on Jenna's list. But there are always things there I haven't seen too.
I appreciate that there is a communication space like this FTW2 Blog to share ideas and to consider the other contributors perceptions on the implications of the many on-going events regarding our degrading world situation.
Looks like 2010 holds the potential to get real ugly. We shall see if worldwide economic collapse gets into high gear creating great turmoil, or if things just muddle along for another year somehow.
I've seen the movie Avatar now twice in the last week. In this awesome film a planet called Pandora is getting pillaged by a big corportation using the military to do its dirty work, all because of an " important " resource that the Sky People need on their own wrecked and dying world. Yeah we sure know about that kind of stuff here on this world don't we. I think given all the crazy things going on here on this planet we should re-name Earth and call it instead, Insania!