The Short Good Friday

Age of Wisdom, Age of Foolishness (24)

Written by Adam Whitehead, KeySignals.com

“We are in an age of knowledge and information, which has led to new and often anonymous kinds of power.”   – Pope Francis

The Crusading Spirit, observed in Age of Wisdom, Age of Foolishness (21) “All the World’s a Stage”, took a major step towards the “Reconquest” more than a week ago as the Christian festival of Easter and the Jewish celebration of Passover approached.

For rational actors, who wish to use the emotional agency of faith, to achieve tactical and strategic geopolitical objectives, there is no time like the present. Having absolved President Obama of his sins and rewarding him with two medallions and a Knight’s Quest, Pope Francis recently elaborated on his own global-macro view in a decidedly temporal address^[i]. The Holy Father’s new dogma is against capitalism, wealth inequality and the triumph of technology over the individual. His latest address however fell well short of the call to arms of Pope Urban II on the eve of the First Crusade. It was therefore left to the temporal leaders of what remains of the Roman Empire to fill in for Urban II. Pope Francis is not looking for new territory in the Holy Land at this point in time; he is reclaiming territory lost by the Holy See in the Empire of the West. Political leaders in the Empire of the West therefore need to swiftly focus their populations on a perceived external enemy, rather than the enemy within called Capitalism at which the Holy Father rails against. Perhaps this is what Pope Francis really meant when he cryptically opined

“We are in an age of knowledge and information, which has led to new and often anonymous kinds of power.”

 David Cameron quickly gave his early Easter Sermon, in which he lamented the persecution of Christians worldwide^[ii]. His sermon was rather too swiftly followed up with news of an investigation into an alleged “Islamic Trojan Horse”, seeking to take over schools in the metropolitan areas of the Midlands and the North^[iii]. The original document that uncovered the plot has been acknowledged as a fabrication, which could aptly be described as the “Protocols of the Learned Elders of Islam”, however there is apparently no smoke without a fire. The question now being hotly debated, in the flames of the public domain, is whether Christians should continue to turn the other cheek or to fight back.

Olde England has a new Witchfinder General

The appointment of Peter Clarke, Scotland Yard’s former Counter-Terrorism Chief, to investigate the case suggests that something a little harder than the other cheek is being offered^[iv]. Wolfgang Schaeuble’s early Easter Sermon called for the forgiveness by the Teutonic Order of their American Templar brothers^[v], who have sinned by spying upon them; and preached that the Ukrainian crisis was a blessing which could bring the two brotherhoods together.

“Team Europe” is starting to act the way “Team America” wants it to. In Age of Wisdom, Age of Foolishness (23) “Painting by Numbers”, it was suggested that Europe would make a free trade deal with America, in order to gain access to American Shale Oil and Gas and to reduce reliance upon Russia. Schaeuble’s latest comments support this logic. Schaeuble’s Easter message however forewarned that the epiphany of a united Europe, with converged economic performance, was in fact a mirage that the markets have over-enthusiastically discounted in European risk asset prices^[vi]. Europe must therefore now endure the continued crisis, which has caused past leaders to use the foreign Infidel as a distraction and a unifying agent. Brother Osborne, of the English Templars, confirmed Brother Schaeuble’s view that the fallout from Ukraine and the American Templars’ “Taper” would lead to substantial volatility throughout the holy festival of Easter^[vii].

Temple Mount Under Siege Again

As the Crusaders prepared to march out, conditions at the Temple on the Dome of the Rock continued to worsen, after Prime Minister Netanyahu had effectively laid siege to the elected Palestinian citadel. Clashes between violent Palestinian youths and the police broke out, as Orthodox Jewish worshippers became more vociferous in their campaign to control this holy site^[viii].

Temple Mount is also a holy site for the Orthodox Christian faith, currently involved in a Crusade of a different (but inherently related) nature, “beyond the Pale” in Ukraine. There will no doubt also be an Orthodox Christian dimension to the unfolding “passion” in Jerusalem during the coming weeks. This Ukrainian “passion” has been guaranteed by the revelation from the Holy Land that all is not well with the domestic economic fundamentals.

The OECD recently reported that Israel is its worst member nation in terms of poverty and wealth inequality^[ix]. This economic scenario therefore puts pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu to take more free land from the indigenous Palestinian community.

Former Defence Secretary Cohen was swift to opine that NATO’s failure to guarantee Ukrainian territorial integrity, in exchange for the decommissioning of its nuclear arsenal, ostensibly gave Iran the green light to continue with its own nuclear programme. Clearly if Iran follows this green light it will cross an Israeli red line^[x]. The real question is now whether this is also the “Red Line” for President Obama. This question represents the ultimate objective of all the positioning of events thus far. It should be remembered from Age of Wisdom, Age of Foolishness (18) “Beyond the Pale” that the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme is still open to interpretation^[xi]. It was said that:

More importantly, the IAEA’s Yukiya Amano, who is acting as the UN watchdog in Iran, reported on March 3^rd that “[I’m] not in a position … to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities^[xii].” The “Pivot” is being circumscribed by events on the ground in Central/Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

We suggest that the interpretation of the uses of Iran’s nuclear materials will become very strictly defined as both military and civilian in due course. At this point, President Obama’s “Red Line” will have been crossed; and he will be at the point of no return. It will then be interesting to see if he will feel forced to defend his reputation by ordering a military strike on Iranian targets. Such a momentous decision may be left to the next President however, or may be subcontracted out to the IAF.

Vindicating the absurd

The connection between Ukraine and Israel, which some readers found so absurd in Age of Wisdom, Age of Foolishness (18) “Beyond the Pale”^[xiii], is clearly not so tenuous in the eyes of a former US Defence Secretary. Our thanks go to Secretary Cohen, for his vindication of the absurd, along with best wishes for his comeback as Defence Secretary in the next administration. Prescient calls, like the one he has just made, often signal hidden career ambitions. It is now a certainty that Netanyahu will turn up the rhetoric, against the perceived existential threats to Israel from within and also from Iran, in order to unify his divided nation.

Israel on its present economic and political course is headed for a major conflict. When faced with economic collapse from within and existential threat from without, what choice does Israel have other than to fight? President Obama’s “Pivot” away from the Middle East was therefore always going to hit a brick wall at the Wailing Wall. Needless to say, as soon as the status quo was clear, armed with more sophisticated Russian ordnance^[xiv], the Assad regime went back on the offensive^[xv]. The Assad regime’s upgraded combat value will now face off against a Rebel combat value that has been similarly upgraded with US ordnance^[xvi]; so the net result is a stalemate with more deaths on both sides.

An emerging strand of Israeli foreign policy concerns a second Diaspora, in search of the promised land of economic opportunity^[xvii]. Clearly the old homeland, “beyond the Pale” in Ukraine, would be an obvious destination; and is attractive because it will soon receive the economic support of the EU in one half of the country and Russia in the other half. A wave of Oligarchs buying up distressed Ukrainian debt and converting it to equity would be advance notice of this wave of migration. It will be interesting to observe how the immigration debate unfolds in Europe, once the Far Right becomes aware of the second Jewish Diaspora. No doubt the readership of “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion” will increase.

A new face at Yalta

In light of this emerging controversy, the Yalta Conference allegory has been amended to be more representative of the key players. Something akin to this controversy is already in progress in the breakaway region of Donetsk. Crowds leaving Synagogues were shown “writing on the wall” of a different kind from the traditional story of the Passover; informing them that they had to register their ethnicity with the regional Russian speaking authorities^[xviii].

The first Diaspora brought the light of Oriental wisdom and learning to the Dark Ages in Europe. It is however unlikely that the second Diaspora will be viewed as the coming of a second Renaissance to Europe’s current Dark Age. It will no doubt be viewed by some as something Apocalyptic.

On the subject of controversies, investigative journalists from Germany have found that the “Heavenly Hundred”^[xix] in Maidan Square were in fact murdered by snipers from the Ukrainian Svoboda Party^[xx]. This explains why members of this party are now being silenced with extreme prejudice^[xxi]. Dead men can tell no lies ….. or truths. How this latest news scoop-of the-year has been suppressed in the Anglo-Saxon press only George Orwell knows. Presumably by the same suppressors of the phone call between Estonian Foreign Minister Paet and the EU’s Foreign Affairs Representative Catherine Ashton, confirming that the Maidan snipers were from the “new coalition”^[xxii]. The sanitised official urban legend, of the “Heavenly Hundred” in the Anglo-Saxon press, remains intact for now.

American urban legend seems to portray Jimmy Carter’s home State of Georgia as a “holy place” where arcane prophecies and guides are located. As his own Presidency edged towards its “surprise” ending with the hostage taking at the American Embassy in Iran, a monolithic “call to action”, known as the Georgia Guidestones, was erected in Carter’s backyard at Elbert County, Georgia on March 22^nd 1980 by supreme beings unknown.

The Original Georgia Guide for the Perplexed

This monolith instructed world leaders, in many languages, on how to sustainably manage the planet going forward. Its own version of the “Ten Commandments” makes interesting reading:

The headstone reads “Let these be guidestones to an Age of Reason”.

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
10. Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.

Some have been followed and some have been ignored. The Abrahamic Faiths regard this list as apostate heresy; not least because the Apocalypse is portended by Satan’s ability to make all of Mankind speak in the same kind of language suggested by the “Third Commandment”. The proliferation of the internet and its ability to synthesize a universal language, through translation software, is regarded with similar aversion by certain ascetic religious groups.

Jimmy Carter clearly didn’t read the Georgia Guidestones’ “Ten Commandments” …. or did he? It didn’t stop him from walking straight into a political minefield that involved Iran. It is interesting to see President Obama currently walking into a similar minefield; and to see a former American Embassy hostage taker nominated to represent Iran at an organization remarkably similar to the “Sixth Commandment” on the Georgia Guidestones^[xxiii].

“These (Commandments) Go to Eleven!!!”

It would seem that the “Age of Wisdom, Age of Foolishness” in this series title, is in actual fact the “Age of Reason” proclaimed at “America’s Stonehenge”. Or maybe we have just been watching too much Spinal Tap and writing something (beginning with c and ending with p) that rhymes with it!!! What is for certain however, is that President Clinton also met with a something resembling the Georgia Guidestones, just before he was unceremoniously dumped from office. This “something” was a document, which parodied the Constitution, entitled the “Project for a New American Century: Rebuilding America’s Defences”^[xxiv]. It had a twin scripture which originated in the Holy Land and was entitled “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm”; coincidentally co-authored by Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The Mark Twain Playbook, based on rhyming rather than repeating history, suggests that some monolithic declaration of intentions and capabilities in the New Republic and the Holy Land will soon materialize like an angel to herald the end of Obama. If there are also any “little black dresses” lying around, so much the better. This new declaration may even be written by someone who has suffered the same fate.

Jimmy Carter’s Georgia Guide for the Perplexed

Jimmy Carter, a President who had an “October Surprise”, not too dissimilar to President Obama’s currently unfolding “April Surprise”, has been able to provide an insightful perspective and context on current world events in his latest book “A Call to Action”^[xxv]; which seems to be as apocryphal as the Georgia Guidestones. The subtitle, “Women, Religion, Violence and Power,” provides a clear taxonomy to this second “Georgia Guide for the Perplexed”; which illuminates contemporary history with a clarity that can only be gained by a savant who has been there and done it (or rather been done in by it). Everything that one needs to know, about where things are now and where they are headed is contained in its pages; which can be succinctly summed up in Carter’s own words when he sees “America as the No. 1 warmonger”^[xxvi].

As was suggested in Age of Wisdom, Age of Foolishness (23) “Painting by Numbers”, the “warmongers” are back; and this is confirmed by President Carter’s timely missive. It is underlined by the funding now flooding into the coffers of Karl Rove’s Super-PAC^[xxvii]. Rove should be remembered as the author of the “Texas Guide for the Perplexed”, which George W Bush was able to articulate proficiently enough to get elected as US President Number 43. A Superpower after all is defined by its enemies. What can be called political momentum is building for a “change” in American foreign policy.

On the subject of calls to arms, Mario Draghi continues to talk a lot and do very little. Over the weekend, he opined that further Euro strength would force the ECB to act^[xxviii]. This comment and the “Plunge Protection Team” on the European market open and close, were good for a short-squeeze during the following Monday’s trading session. Had Draghi not said anything, the week would have started with another bloodbath of red on the screens. As it happened, the blood on the screens began to flow when news of the real bloodbath in Eastern Ukraine began to flow out of the news agencies. The news-flow began with denied and then confirmed sightings of CIA Director John Brennan in Kiev, over the weekend before the bloodshed began in Eastern Ukraine^[xxix].

The “Plunge Protection Teams” then went into High Frequency Trading overdrive; creating and then buying the upticks that they had created in order to try and get the markets back to unchanged (and then some) on the day/week. The High Frequency Traders took it all to the bank. The algorithm, that they have discovered how to mine, involves reverting back to the mean price which conveniently happens to be the daily opening and closing price. The square root of the standard deviation from this mean i.e. the Market Volatility therefore declines, even though it has been going crazy during the price discovery process. The central banks therefore get Volatility (defined by the accepted measurement that the capital markets use) moving lower; and in the process paint a thin veneer of calm over risk positions. Presumably, when interest rates are so low the only thing to do is to reduce the Risk Premium by driving Volatility lower.

With Jeremy Stein out of the way in Harvard, we question who at the Fed is capable of pulling this stunt off successfully. Central Banks are now trying to use the “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, which they once said undermined the integrity of the global financial system, to control markets in an amazing U-Turn which is another classic act of intellectual hubris. Asset Backed Securities (ABS) are about to be monetised and now High Frequency Traders are being rewarded for doing the central bankers’ “bidding”.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Fundamentally however, geopolitical and economic risk is rising. What is more alarming is that the complacent agents in the capital markets are willing to play along with this “Qualitative Capital Asset Pricing Model”; and to drive the disparity between the price of risk and the perception of risk even wider. Central banks are now underwriting credit risk and writing free put options on pure market price risk also. The more interesting thing is that market participants are doing the same thing, rather than offsetting their risk positions with the central banks.

We have therefore entered the territory in which everyone (including the central banks) is the same way round. The central banks therefore can’t exit QE, for fear of triggering the “Big One”; however the longer they remain in QE the bigger the “Big One” gets. The conventional wisdom, which explains this current situation, is that the worse the geopolitical situation gets the more likely the central banks are to do more QE. Thus the worse the situation gets the higher markets squeeze. Confirming that there is one born every minute, Emerging Market investors, fleeing volatility related to the “Taper”, now think that the Euro and European Peripheral Bonds are a safe haven. The Euro therefore gets stronger, fulfilling the belief in Draghi’s prophecy that he will have to ease further^[xxx].

The stronger Euro acts as a major deflationary force and economic headwind; however this is discounted as the trigger for Draghi’s equivalent of monetary Shock and Awe. Everyone, including Draghi is talking themselves into a scenario that has already been discounted in the prices on the way there. As always it is better to travel than to arrive, however one never knows when the ride is over until one has lost a great deal on money betting on its continuation.

Clearly in the recent sell-off, the view is that not enough money has yet been lost to signal that the ride is over. Forensic evidence to question the Longs’ conviction, such as the fact that Italy gets a third of its oil and gas from Russia, was conveniently overlooked last week. Peripheral governments, now given global safe haven status, have even less of an incentive to reform their economies; and more of an incentive to roll over their debts with the hot money folks fleeing Emerging Markets. This is also a fact that has been overlooked.

It remains unclear what Draghi can actually do, short of take on moral hazard in the ABS market. This would have the desired effect on the Euro, in a similar way that the Yen weakened during 2013 when the BOJ delivered on its own promise “to do whatever it takes”. Japan is however finding that the benefits are short-lived. The inflation created is running way ahead of salaries; so the net effect is an economic headwind and further political discontent^[xxxi].

It is becoming abundantly clear that the central banks have lost the ability to meaningfully stimulate economic growth any further. The baton is now being passed to the politicians. American politicians have two potential courses of action. The best that the central banks can do is to squeeze out the short positions in risk and long positions in volatility, until a point in time occurs at which fiscal policy can start the growth engine that vindicates the central banks’ positions.

Over in the C-Suite on “Main Street” however, CEO’s view the situation in the obverse. Low interest rates allow them to gear up their balance sheets and deliver double digit returns on equity (ROE’s) to shareholders (and themselves by way of share options). When the per share ROE slips, low interest rates can be used to borrow to fund share buybacks. When CEO’s see geopolitical risk, they don’t invest in plant and machinery. Instead they hunker down, sweat assets and try and widen operating margins.

There is therefore no incentive or environmental signal to invest for growth. In fact it is more rewarding to go investing on “Wall Street”; in one’s own shares or those of another company via M&A, which can then be turned into greater shareholder value by “synergies” and cost savings that create even more unemployment. In Age of Wisdom, Age of Foolishness (21) “All the World’s a Stage” Robert Shiller was observed to be lamenting the lack of “Animal Spirits” on “Main Street”^[xxxii]. He suggested that policy makers should stimulate these spirits by creating a positive halo effect. The current halo created by central bankers effectively castrates any vestiges of animal spirits; and replaces them with a tendency to a subsistence corporate culture that subsists as a parasite on the welfare provided by the central banks. The Armageddon scenario being created by global politicians just makes whatever stub of animal spirits that is left retreat further into the body of the putative CEO.

If the Treasury redirects purchasing power to the Middle Class, American companies will then raise prices rather than increase production. Why would a company increase output, which would drive prices lower, when the Treasury is serving up more purchasing power at the current level of output? Why would a company expand its business and intensify dangerous competition (and hence the risk of price wars) with its competitors? When the Fed and the Treasury can be relied upon to drive profit margins, there is no incentive for companies to actually do anything except raise prices. GE’s latest earnings report suggests that companies are availing themselves of this pricing power with greater enthusiasm^[xxxiii].

Janet Yellen continued to do her best to claw back the Jeremy Stein inspired collapse in risk asset prices, with another speech that paid lip-service to the Inflation Hawks, whilst giving them an egregiously low probability of accuracy^[xxxiv]. Her critics, especially Martin Feldstein, are starting to pick up on this inflation theme however. In her latest Q&A, she seemed to struggle to keep the mantra, that inflation is not a problem, alive in the face of her hostile interrogators^[xxxv]. Richard Fisher is very uncomfortable with an overt policy that is intended to move inflation north of 2 per cent^[xxxvi]. Jeremy Stein’s parting shot, on the subject, signalled that he believes that there will be an inflation problem if the Fed does not start raising interest rates sooner than the current wisdom holds that it should^[xxxvii]. Stein also stated that the bubble in risk assets, if left unchecked by higher interest rates, will bake in this inflation. The seeds of inflation are to be found in the policies that are creating the bubble in risk assets. Yellen is going to find herself in the same camp as Mark Carney, fighting a market that wishes to drive interest rates higher in the face of growth signals. She is therefore betting that the “Taper” to date has done enough to spook the housing market, into a contraction which will then play on the consumers’ minds.

The American situation resembles the “Eurosclerosis” created by the ECB on the other side of the Pond. The latest American CPI data suggests however that companies are already waking up to the stickiness of headline inflation and starting to raise their prices^[xxxviii]. Investing in shares which have this pricing power is much more rewarding than investing in business expansion. The declining float of equity, after buybacks and mergers, reduces the supply and thus drives valuations even higher. Central bankers have therefore created the kind of financial wizardry that delivers shareholder returns but no real economic growth. At least the Dot.com and Housing Bubbles created jobs; this current Asset Bubble is not even creating more jobs on “Wall Street”. Narayana Kocherlakota signalled that the Fed was aware of this conundrum, but powerless to stop it, when he opined that fiscal policy should reward companies that invest in capital^[xxxix]. The Fed is now turning to the role of fiscal policy advocate to bail out the bubble that it has created in the equity market.

“We’ll be having some of that!!!”
Updated Budget Projections: 2014 to 2024

The political gridlock in America has had great rejuvenating-powers on the budget deficit^[xl]. There are those who wish to redistribute this wealth via the tax code to the Middle Class. In Age of Wisdom, Age of Foolishness (23) “Painting by Numbers” it was also becoming clear that there are some Republicans who would prefer to spend it on another military adventure; as they have done each time a Democratic President has left them with a healthier fiscal picture. The latest CBO projections however signal that this potential fiscal treasure has already been plundered^[xli]. The existing debt legacy from previous credit binges has just been reduced in terms of interest rate carry cost and then kicked out to the 2020’s. If a new administration gambles on foreign adventure, there will be no financial return to meet the liability out in the 2020’s. There will however have been some nice capital gains and dividends for those who are exposed to the sectors that benefit from foreign adventures. A growth and consumption strategy, based on redistributing the tax revenue to those who consume rather than to the parasites that live off the debt interest would seem to make more sense right now. Sense however is not something that one associates with political leaders and their policies. As the geopolitical picture continues to deteriorate and the fiscal picture improves, one can therefore expect the clamour for military spending to get louder.

Beware of “PIIGS” bearing primary surplus gifts
“Bulls Make Money, Bears Make Money and ‘PIIGS’ Get Slaughtered”

Europe has an alleged improving fiscal picture, but this is only because countries are laying off workers to meet the fiscal austerity targets imposed upon them. Europe therefore in actual fact does not have any room for a fiscal stimulus, unless Germany decides to allow its own healthy fiscal position to be transferred to its weaker neighbours.

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Age of Wisdom, Age of Foolishness (23) “Painting by Numbers” chronicled the emergence of the Jeb Bush 2016 campaign. Over the weekend, he took a pasting from the Conservatives in his party, by claiming that illegal immigrants come to the United States out of “love”^[xlii]. What the Conservatives failed to note was the “love” for Bush coming from the Hispanic and Asian voters, who are the key demographic that he aims to bring into the GOP’s broad church. His Conservative critics will no doubt opine that this was an act of genius at some later stage in the Presidential campaign, once his ticket includes one of their number.

“Oh Brother!”

For now they do him a great service, by painting him as an attractive candidate to the Hispanic and Asian voting demographic, in a way that his brother’s abstract daubes could never hope to artfully portray.

Not your average “Hockey Moms”

Bush’s predicted opponent in 2016, is coordinating her campaign with alacrity and precision. Just in time to bolster her leadership credentials (and explain away her failure in Benghazi), she will soon launch her book aptly named “Hard Choices”. The mendacity of Obama’s “Audacity of Hope” bestseller, clearly reminded Clinton that she may have done better last time if she had a book on the shelves^[xliii]. In the past, she did her best effort at self-sugar coating with the titles “It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us”, published while her husband was president, and the 2003 memoir, “Living History”. As first lady, she was the amanuensis of an anthology of childrens’ letters to her family’s pets, which certainly laid the sugar coating on nice and extra thick. Unfortunately none of the sugar coating has lasted the political test of time, or Samantha Power’s cruel remark. The sugar coating swiftly evaporated when she said “We came, we saw, he died” in her Libyan triumph on CBS^[xliv]. It could have been “We came, we saw, they died”, in relation to Ambassador Christopher Stevens, State Information Officer Sean Smith, or Navy Seals Glen Doherty and Tyrone S. Woods; who also lost their lives in Benghazi when the covert channelling of the deceased Gadhafi’s seized arms to Syrian rebels was blown^[xlv]. Her “Veni, Vidi, Vici” speech will play well with those who are itching for war again however; so versions of her ugly sound-bite will no doubt be seen on American prime time, when the appropriate demographic is taking its daily dose of TV therapy.

The money from blockbuster sales also comes in handy at election time. Samantha Power’s eponymous “Monster” quote^[xlvi], in relation to Clinton’s deficiency in the soft skills generally attributed to the female gender, has also clearly resonated with “Team Clinton”. Hillary “ain’t no Hockey Mom” for sure, but she can be the next best thing. Nothing has been left to chance; so that even Chelsea has skilfully coordinated her cycle with the Presidential Cycle, in order to deliver a little bundle of joy for Grandma to bounce on her knees for the cameras during the campaign. Who knows, the young innocent may one day even become a President; after Chelsea has had her time in the Oval Office in due course. What are the odds on the infant being called William Jefferson, if it’s a boy? Unfortunately it will be a Mezvinsky, which doesn’t quite have a presidential connotation. Chelsea however, is still nominally referred to as Clinton; so there is still hope for something hyphenated or conjugated in that singularly American way like “Branjolina” or “Kimye”. “Clinsky” would be good, but it’s probably too close to Lewinsky for comfort!!!

References

1. Pope Francis ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ Calls For Renewal Of Roman Catholic Church, Attacks ‘Idolatry Of Money’
2. David Cameron says Christianity is the most persecuted religion but fails to act
3. Did Muslim hardliners try to infiltrate and takeover TWENTY FIVE Birmingham schools? Probe into ‘Trojan horse’ plot expands
4. Top anti-terror chief who led investigation into 7/7 bombings to take charge of probe into claims Muslim hardliners tried to infiltrate 25 Birmingham schools in ‘Trojan Horse’ plot
5. Ukraine crisis could unite US, EU: Schäuble
6. Germany Warns European Markets Not to Celebrate Prematurely
7. George Osborne warns City to prepare for turmoil over Russia sanctions and interest rate rises
8. Israeli police, Palestinians clash at al-Aqsa
9. Startup Israel Suffering Most OECD Poverty as Poor Surge
10. Iran May Keep Nuclear Program After Ukraine, Cohen Says
11. Beyond the Pale
12. IAEA questions Iran’s nuclear activity
13. Age of Wisdom, Age of Foolishness (18) “Beyond the Pale” March 17^th 2014
14. Putin Defies Obama in Syria as Arms Fuel Assad Resurgence
15. Syria negotiator says Homs once again a ‘theater of death’
16. Rebel videos show first U.S.-made rockets in Syria
17. Spain invites descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled 500 years ago to return
18. Ukrainian Jews Stirred by Anti-Semitic Pamphlet in East Region
19. Who Killed Ukraine’s Heavenly Hundred?
20. Investigation Finds Former Ukraine President Not Responsible For Sniper Attack on Protestors
21. British foreign secretary calls for renewed focus on energy security
22. Intercepted phone call between Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and Catherine Ashton: Snipers were hired by insurgents!
23. Iran Complains About U.S. Visa Refusal for Envoy
24. Project for the New American Century
25. A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power
26. “America as the No. 1 warmonger”: President Jimmy Carter talks to Salon about race, cable news, “slut-shaming” and more
27. Rove’s Super-PAC Reports Raising $5 Million in One Month
28. Draghi’s Patience Snaps on Euro as ECB Threatens Response
29. Obama Warns Putin on Ukraine After Deadly Clashes in East
30. Euro Periphery Emerges as Haven as Bonds Rise Amid Ukraine Feud
31. Japan Risks Public Souring on Abenomics as Prices Surge
32. Age of Wisdom, Age of Foolishness (22) “Jeux Sans Frontieres” April 21^st 2014
33. GE Profit Tops Estimates as Industrial Margins Expand
34. Speech
35. Yellen Sees Muted Inflation as Unemployment Curbs Wages
36. Fed’s Fisher unworried by current low inflation
37. Fed Stein: Reserves Not Inflation Threat If Hike Rates Enough
38. Rising food, housing costs push up U.S. inflation
39. Kocherlakota: Tax Cuts on Business Investments Could Boost Economy
40. Obama’s Shrinking Budget Deficits Silence Foreign Critics
41. Updated Budget Projections: 2014 to 2024
42. Jeb Bush Was Public Enemy No. 1 At One Of The Year’s Biggest Conservative Gatherings
43. Hillary Clinton’s soon-to-be-published memoir now has a title
44. Hillary Clinton on Gaddafi: We came, we saw, he died
45. The Red Line and the Rat Line
46. ‘Hillary Clinton’s a monster’: Obama aide blurts out attack in Scotsman interview