What We Read Today 05 March 2014

Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary “reading list” which will include very brief summaries of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for “reading list” items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included.

• The Zen Of Policy Evolution Is Right In Front Of Us, Being Vigorously And Actively Ignored. Just Listen To All, And Then Select The Resulting Obvious. (Roger Erickson, Mike Norman Economics) Roger contributes to Global Economic Intersection. A review of the basic contradictions within the U.S. policies for the middle east.

• Ukraine: Three Views (John Mauldin, Outside the Box) John Mauldin has contributed to Global Economic Intersection. The view points John has collected feel Putin has over-committed, the U.S. appears weak and this could be the most transformative event in a political sense since 9/11.

• Niagara Falls comes to a halt AGAIN: Millions of gallons of cascading water is frozen in bitter temperatures (Daily Mail) For the second time this winter we have “Niagara No Falls”. See great pictures at Mail Online.

• First Americans lived on land bridge for thousands of years, genetics study suggests (Scott Armstrong Elias, The Conversation) Ancient DNA samples suggest that early Asians split into two distinct groups more than 25,000 years ago. One group remained in Asia south of the “glacial frontier” and the other survived on the North American plate in a now submerged land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. From The article:

A comparison of DNA from 600 modern Native Americans with ancient DNA recovered from a late Stone Age human skeleton from Mal’ta near Lake Baikal in southern Siberia shows that Native Americans diverged genetically from their Asian ancestors around 25,000 years ago, just as the last ice age was reaching its peak.

Based on archaeological evidence, humans did not survive the last ice age’s peak in northeastern Siberia, and yet there is no evidence they had reached Alaska or the rest of the New World either. While there is evidence to suggest northeast Siberia was inhabited during a warm period about 30,000 years ago before the last ice age peaked, after this the archaeological record goes silent, and only returns 15,000 years ago, after the last ice age ended.

Today we have 14 more articles discussed ‘behind the wall’, including 4 more about Ukraine and 3 on the Obama 2015 budget proposal.