The Thailand - Cambodia Dispute

This is fairly significant, because it is happening at a time when Asia is trying to integrate politically, and 'go EU'. Little progress will occur if two ASEAN-bloc countries are not talking with each other.

Thaksin is the former prime minister of Thailand, who was booted out by the mostly middle-class opposition parties. His support is in rural areas, and additionally he is regarded as a cats-paw of China. This is a key element of missing undertext - to what degree is China pushing things ?

1"Thaksin extradition demand denied " - BBC News

China to Ruthlessly Exploit Africa

What Africa really needs is more help from Europe, the U.S. and Bill Gates - people who have their best interests at heart.

Oh, and I forgot Bono.

1"China pledges $10 billion in low-cost loans to Africa" - Wa Post; Jopson, Anderlini

We Are Probably Past Peak Oil

The Guardian reports that the IEA has been lying about their numbers. And windmills are not going to replace oil, nor is solar power in its current or projected form into the near future. But space based solar power is one of a number of long-term solutions. In the meantime, resource tensions and shocks to the world economy based on the end of cheap energy, will continue to surface and slowly intensify.

1"Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure, says whistleblower" - UK Guardian; Macalister

Obama and Netanyahu Meet Privately

Apparently , this was a one-to-one conversation mostly without advisers present. I suppose this was one of those candid talks that leaders engage in as they wrestle with the full implications of war - in this case, against Iran.

I don't usually link to Debka, but this report seems mostly straightforward.

1"Obama asks Netanyahu for more time for dialogue with Iran" - Debka

The EU Pushes Forward

The European elite knows it has integrate or be left in the dust of world geo-politics. Traveling through Europe however, there is not much enthusiasm for this project of a banker's democracy amongst the general population.

1"Leaders build Franco-German ties" - BBC; Kirby

Murdoch Takes on Google

The evil 'genius' of the right, Murdoch was one of the first to recognize the destructiveness of the internet when it comes to profit. Many more jobs will be destroyed by the internet than created, which will inevitably put pressure on profit rates unless productivity increases are distributed to 'the masses'. Which they haven't been.

1"Murdoch could block Google searches entirely" - UK Guardian; Johnson

Will Football Go the Way of Boxing ?

Who wants to watch a sport that renders its participants vegetables ? Ali is a walking testament to the destructiveness of boxing. No such icon exists yet in football. But what parents are going to sanction brain damage for their kids when sports like soccer, baseball, and basketball exist ? This issue is quickly hitting critical mass.

1"Is It Time to Retire the Football Helmet?" - WSJ; Wang and Albergotti

California Bonds Downgraded

More cuts in social spending coming...the Golden State is toast for the next decade, apart from a few wealthy enclaves. And given the coming expansion of the Panama canal, the import-export aspect of the economy may never fully recover.

1"Moody's becomes latest to downgrade California bonds"
2"California forced to pay 4% yield in bond sale" - LA Times; Petruno

Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri

What ever happened to this guy ? The King of Clubs, and only surviving member of the 1968 coup that brought the Baathist party to power.

1 Bio

About Those Green Jobs

Yes, those high paying , high tech, green jobs can be done in other lands for a much cheaper price. There are plenty of smart people in the world, and quite a number of them are rather poor and willing to work for less.

H1N1 Goes Postal in the Ukraine ?

Eighty-six people have died in Ukraine from flu and respiratory infections, the health ministry said Wednesday, in an epidemic the World Health Organisation said could be largely due to the A(H1N1) virus.

The ministry said that almost half a million cases of flu and acute respiratory infections had been recorded since mid-October in the country of 46 million, while 24,000 people have been hospitalised.1

The WHO is on the look out for mutations that could make the virus more deadly. And the Ukraine is a country in deep economic crisis, with a strained health care and social system to begin with. As an example:

"Mr Spijkers describes the situation in the children’s hospitals his foundation supports as appalling. There is a lack of basic medical supplies. There are barely any Flu tests, vaccines or anti-viral drugs such as Tamiflu. The children’s hospital in Lviv, 130 kilometres from the Polish border, has 100 Tamiflu tablets for 160 patients. “If children get ill, we can’t even establish whether they have the A(H1N1) virus. We just have to go by the symptoms,”2

Likewise, the H1N1 vaccine shortages in the U.S. are inexcusable. I know a medical care professional, in daily contact with H1N1 patients, who has not had access to the vaccine.

The End of the Population Boom - Japan

Japan may well become an incubator for what a world of declining population levels will look like. It's doubtful capitalism is sustainable in such a world. Absolute declines in surplus labor means profit must almost entirely come from technological innovation and the resulting productivity gains. This is a very stiff task.

"The savings rate has crashed from 15pc in 1990 to near 2pc today, half America's rate. Japan's $1.5 trillion state pension fund (the world's biggest) has become a net seller of government bonds this year, as it must to meet pay-out obligations. The demographic crunch has hit. The workforce been contracting since 2005."(1)

1"It is Japan we should be worrying about, not America" UK Telegraph; Evans-Pritchard