What We Read Today 11 September 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 (and sometimes longer ones) 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.

• BOJ Adviser Kawai Urges Abe to Raise Sales Tax Again (Toru Fujioka, Bloomberg) A University of Tokyo professor who advises the Bank of Japan said in a interview that the planned increase in the consumption tax from 8% (just up from 5% in April) to 10% in 2015 should proceed. Astounding! Keep easing money into the financial system and siphon it out of the real economy. See GEI News (July 2013): Japan: Conflicted Policy.

• China Disputes Vietnam Claims Its Vessels Rammed Fishing Boats (David Tweed, Bloomberg) Vietnam has asked for compensation for ramming and robbing three fishing vessels off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands in Chinese). China claims that explosives were confiscated from Vietnamese vessels illegally in Chinese waters. See also China, Vietnam trade accusations over boats in disputed waters (Reuters); and China’s Expanding Border Causing Alarm (GEI News) for map.

• Obama’s Islamic State Speech in Under Two Minutes (Bloomberg)

  Click to view video.
  

• Recent articles about Ferguson:

New witnesses to Ferguson shooting describe scene (Associated Press, USA Today)

• Articles about wars elsewhere in the world:

Libyan parliament takes refuge in Greek car ferry (Chris Stephan, The Guardian)

Obama prepared to order airstrikes in Syria against ISIL (David Jackson, USA Today)

Islamic State Demands a New Obama (Clive Crook, Bloomberg)

Islamic State Talked of Entering U.S. Through Mexico (Nicole Gaouette, Bloomberg)

Obama’s new strategy still misses Islamic State’s weakest link (Denis Dragovic, The Conversation)

Christians Flee ISIS Rule in Northern Iraq Amid Persecution (Carlo Angerer, NBC News)

Most Russian Forces Now Out of Ukraine, Kiev Says (Neil MacFarquhar, The New York Times)

Azov fighters are Ukraine’s greatest weapon and may be its greatest threat (Shaun Walker, The Guardian)

Putin isn’t the next Hitler – he’s the soulmate of George W Bush (Matthew Crandall, The Conversation)

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