Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 23 February 2018
Econintersect: Here are some of the headlines we found to help you start your day. For more headlines see our afternoon feature for GEI members, What We Read Today, published Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which has many more headlines and a number of article discussions to keep you abreast of what we have found interesting.
Please share this article – Go to very top of page, right hand side for social media buttons.
​Global
- Markets in Asia advance as dollar firms; South Korea’s Kospi rises 1.5% (CNBC) Asian stocks closed higher on Friday as the dollar edged higher after slipping in the last session. Gains in the region were led by South Korea’s Kospi, which bounced back to rise more than 1.5 percent after slipping in the last session. The dollar index stood was steady at 89.910 at 2:45 p.m. HK/SIN. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures traded higher by 0.06% at $62.81 per barrel. Brent crude futures edged down by 0.06% to trade at $66.35. Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,328.90 an ounce as of 0338 GMT.
- Will There Be a New Oil Alliance? (Twitter) It is possible that the 60s could be the home for oil prices for some time to come.
U.S.
- Mueller files new charges against Manafort, Gates (The Hill) Special counsel Robert Mueller has filed new charges against former Trump campaign staffers Paul Manafort and Richard Gates. A federal court in Virginia on Thursday returned a 32-count superseding indictment charging Manafort and Gates with committing tax fraud, failing to file reports on foreign bank and financial accounts and bank fraud conspiracy. The indictment says:
“Manafort and Gates generated tens of millions of dollars in income as a result of their Ukraine work. From approximately 2006 through the present, Manafort and Gates engaged in a scheme to hide income from United States authorities, while enjoying the use of the money.”
- Trump’s proposal to arm teachers panned by experts as a ‘colossally stupid idea’ (NBC News) President Donald Trump has proposed a solution to end classroom massacres once and for all: Arm some of America’s teachers with concealed weapons, and train them to “immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions,” he said Thursday. But gun violence experts, educators, and school safety advocates immediately panned the idea. See also Trump signals shift on guns (The Hill)
- Gun activists go on offensive at major conservative conference (The Hill) The National Rifle Association (NRA) and many Second Amendment advocates mostly stayed silent in the week following the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Fla. Not anymore.
Kicking off CPAC with Loesch and LaPierre sent an undeniable message. Conservatives are raring for a fight over gun rights, and the backlash to the Parkland shooting has only hardened their resolve.
- America’s Complex Relationship With Guns (Pew Research Center) As a nation, the U.S. has a deep and enduring connection to guns. Integrated into the fabric of American society since the country’s earliest days, guns remain a point of pride for many Americans. Whether for hunting, sport shooting or personal protection, most gun owners count the right to bear arms as central to their freedom. At the same time, the results of gun-related violence have shaken the nation, and debates over gun policy remain sharply polarized. Although there are almost as many guns in the U.S. as there are peole, less than 1/3 of Americans own a gun.
UK
- Trade with China and Britain’s Commercial Death Wish (Startegic Culture Foundation) When PM Theresa May delayed approval of Chinese construction of a nuclear power plant in Britain, citing “security concerns” she created a further burden on the UK trade prospects which have been sunk to a new low level by Brexit:
Having made the disastrous decision to leave the European Union, Britain is searching frantically for trade partners around the world, but if it is thought in London that there will be open-armed global welcome on that score, its legislators are showing themselves to be even duller than usual. The Economist observed that “to call Britain’s referendum on Brexit a great act of democracy is both to describe it and to debase the word ‘democracy’. Campaigners traded not hard facts last June, but insults to the electorate’s intelligence.” And the hard-headed journal made it clear that there would be no easy way to maintain the UK’s current levels of global trade. In other words, Britain is in a dire economic pickle.
Latvia
- Bond Villain in the World Economy: Latvia’s Offshore Banking Sector (CounterPunch) Latvia has been an offshore economy from the start. This largely is a function of history and location. The Soviet occupied republic of Latvia contained the USSR’s largest sea port for oil exports. As the Soviet Union unraveled, Latvian ports became magnets for corruption, theft and windfall profits that made overnight oligarchs of Soviet professors and hustlers. Then the Great Financial Crisis produced austerity that further entrenched the corruption and enrichment of the financial sector and drove a large percentage of the country’s youth abroad for any hope of survival. This story is the ultimate one for how a country cn be sucked dry by financial parasitism. See next article.
- Pressure Mounts on ECB Member in Latvian Corruption Probe (Bloomberg) ECB Governing Council member Ilmars Rimsevics was due to be released on bail from detention by Latvia’s anti-graft authorities as the country’s prime minister heaped pressure on him to step aside. Premier Maris Kucinskis called on Rimsevics, 52, to recuse himself from his duties while a bribery investigation proceeds against him. See also Once a Poster Child for Austerity, Latvia Becomes a Hotbed of Corruption (The Real News Network).
Turkey
- Turkey Will Be Ground Zero in the Next Global Debt Crisis (James Rickards, Daily Reckoning) JR has contributed to GEI. Turkey has been a magnet for direct foreign investment from abroad and dollar-denominated loans by international banks to local enterprises. This investment enthusiasm is understandable given Turkey’s well-educated population of 83 million and its rank as the 17th-largest economy in the world, with a GDP of just under $1 trillion. If U.S. interest rates rise as many are forecasting, the dollar loans will bite Tutrkey very hard. The 56% gain in Turkey’s stock market over the last 22 months could be reversed.
Russia
- The world is ‘less stable and predictable than during the Cold War,’ EIU experts warn.
- Moscow’s increasing assertiveness and provocative military actions in recent years have alarmed its neighbors in Europe and the wider West.
- Russia is accused of interfering in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. election. Last week, 13 Russian individuals and several business entities were charged, although Moscow has denied involvement.
- Meet the Corrupt Billionaire Who Has Brought About a New Cold War (Startegic Culture Foundation) Hat tip to Roger Erickson. One has to ask why there is a crisis in US-Russia relations since Washington and Moscow have much more in common than not, to include confronting international terrorism, stabilizing Syria and other parts of the world that are in turmoil, and preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. In spite of all that, the US and Russia are currently locked in a tit-for-tat unfriendly relationship somewhat reminiscent of the Cold War. Apart from search for a scapegoat to explain the Hillary Clinton defeat, how did it happen? Israel Shamir, a keen observer of the American-Russian relationship, and celebrated American journalist Robert Parry both think that one man deserves much of the credit for the new Cold War and that man is William Browder, a hedge fund operator who made his fortune in the corrupt 1990s world of Russian commodities trading.
Browder is also symptomatic of why the United States government is so poorly informed about international developments as he is the source of much of the Congressional “expert testimony” contributing to the current impasse. He has somehow emerged as a trusted source in spite of the fact that he has self-interest in cultivating a certain outcome. Also ignored is his renunciation of American citizenship in 1998, reportedly to avoid taxes. He is now a British citizen.
India
- Nine pacts deepen Iran ties further (The Times of India) Hat tip to Sanjeev Kulkarni.
- The two nations signed a lease contract which will allow an Indian company to take over for 18 months operational control of facilities at Shahid Beheshti Port in Chabahar.
- Modi said India will support construction of the Chabahar-Zahedan rail link in Iran to allow Chabahar gateway’s potential to be fully utilised.
- India debars, suspends and restricts defense firms in new corruption rule (Defense News) India’s Ministry of Defence has created a categorization for defense companies caught up or alleged to be involved in corrupt practices. Under the new organization approach, defense companies caught using corrupt practices to influence contracts are now put under debarred, suspended and restricted-procurement categories.
Debarred companies – those who have previously been found corrupt – will be unable to do business in India. Suspended firms include those caught up in is an ongoing inquiry. And restricted-procurement firms are those whose credentials have suffered due to allegations of corruption, but the systems and equipment provided is essential to sustain combat readiness of the armed forces.
China
- China Regulator Seizes Anbang, Chairman Faces Fraud Prosecution (Bloomberg) See also Kushner, Anbang end Manhattan tower talks, other talks emerge (Reuters). China’s government will take over Anbang Insurance Group Co. and prosecute founder Wu Xiaohui, cementing the downfall of a politically-connected dealmaker whose aggressive global expansion came to symbolize the financial overreach of China’s debt-laden conglomerates.
Under Wu, Anbang came to epitomize the voracious Chinese appetite for overseas acquisitions that saw trophy assets snapped up around the world — sometimes at prices that left observers scratching their heads. The full cost of that headlong spree started becoming clear last year as Chinese authorities, alarmed by mounting financial risks, slammed the brakes on Anbang and peers like HNA Group.
Canada
- Taxi to Canada: Drivers Shuttle Migrants Out of Trump’s America (NBC Left Field, YouTube) A steady stream of thousands of asylum seekers have been arriving at illegal border crossings between the U.S. and Canada since President Trump won the election. Taxi drivers in Plattsburgh, New York, know this journey well, as they compete for fares for those fleeing America and shuttle riders north to an uncertain future in the hands of the Canadian authorities.
