Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Monday 02.18.2013
How gold will benefit from a currency war
By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Talk of a so-called currency war has been heating up, and it might finally light a fire under gold, too.
Efforts by countries such as Japan to boost growth with massive stimulus programs — which in turn have devalued their currencies, an aid to exports — can benefit prices for gold. These have started to alter the precious metal's relationship with the foreign-exchange market and expand its role as a safe-haven asset.
Gold Leaps Into Backwardation!
By Dr. Keith Weiner - ZeroHedge.com
Since late January, the February gold contract has been in backwardation. This means that one could make a profit by simultaneously selling a gold bar and buying a February contract. One would still have one's gold plus a little extra. I coined the term "temporary backwardation", to describe this curious and very recent phenomenon. In our "new normal", most gold and silver contracts go into backwardation as they get close to expiry.
…..Caveat Venditor: Tacit warning to the sellers that, unless they expressly disclaim any responsibility, they will be held liable if the sold items are found defective in any way or vary from the specifications. Latin for, let the seller beware.
How Cramer Is Playing Gold
By: Lee Brodie - CNBC.com
At these levels, should you buy any more gold?
That seems to be a driving question on Wall Street.
Gold finished down more than 1.6 percent at $1,609.50 on Friday, extending a week-long down trend when several bearish factors, including a rising dollar, pushed gold briefly below $1,600.
However, Cramer feels that every investor should own some gold.
He thinks the precious metal is an important hedge. That is, catalysts that typically send the stock market tumbling send gold higher.
Keiser Report: Sterlageddon (E407)
In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss ending the currency war with a gold standard. They also look at how, since going off the gold standard in 1971, productivity gains have all gone to the one percent who create and push the paper and credit. In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to Jan Skoyles of the Real Asset Company about gold monetisation, renminbi internationalisation and the very harsh laws against sterling devaluation.
Currency wars are fiat wars
By George Smith - GoldSeek.com
The financial press is tossing the term "currency war" around with more abandon than partiers circulating punch at a New Year's bash. Most commentators tell us we're having such a war right now, though at least one denies it. James Rickards has published a book on the subject that's become a hot seller. So what exactly is a currency war and why are nations engaging in it?
Wikipedia offers an explanation that reminds me of a man traversing a rickety bridge over a deep canyon. The first few planks feel secure, leading him onward to the middle, where the bridge sags and sways in the canyon's updrafts. We read that a… Currency war, also known as competitive devaluation, is a condition in international affairs where countries compete against each other to achieve a relatively low exchange rate for their own currency.
Greenspan: Ignore The Economy,
"Only The Stock Market Matters"
By Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Starting at around 1:50, Greenspan states the odds of sequester occurring are very high - in fact, the playdough-faced ex-Chair-head notes, "I find it very difficult to find a scenario in which [the sequester] doesn't happen" But when asked how this will affect the economy, Awkward Alan is unusually clearly spoken - "the issue is how does it affect the stock market."
While not so many of our leaders have taken the path to direct truthiness, Greenspan somewhat shocks a Botox'd and babbling Bartiromo when he admits"the stock market is the key player in the game of economic growth."
G-20 moving against 'competitive devaluation' Finance ministers strengthen earlier statement
to avoid currency war
By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch.com
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors on Saturday pledged to monitor negative currency spillovers to other countries caused by monetary policies implemented for domestic purposes.
"We will refrain from competitive devaluation," the G-20 said at its meeting in Moscow.
The G-20 fell short of any direct action related specifically to Japan, which has drawn criticism for policy moves that have caused the yen to lose 17.5% against the dollar in five months.
Yen Weakens as G-20 Refrains From Censuring Japan;
Silver Gains
By Adam Haigh and Candice Zachariahs - Businessweek.com
The yen weakened and Japanese stock futures rose after the Group of 20 refrained from censuring Japanese policies that have made it the worst-performing major currency in the past six months. Australian stocks and silver rose.
The yen fell to 93.86 per dollar at 8:01 a.m. in Tokyo. Japanese stock index futures rose 1.3 percent from the close in Osaka on Feb. 15. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index and New Zealand's NZX 50 Index gained 0.3 percent. Financial markets in China and Taiwan reopen today after lunar new year holidays. U.S. markets are closed for the Presidents's Day holiday. Silver gained 0.1 percent to $29.8275 an ounce.
Soros Said to Make $1B Since November on Yen Bet
By Katherine Burton - Businessweek.com
George Soros made almost $1 billion since November from bets that the yen would tumble, according to a person close to the billionaire's $24 billion family office.
The Japanese wager helped the firm return about 10 percent last year and 5 percent so far this year, said the person, who asked not to be named because the firm is private. The yen has weakened 17 percent versus the dollar since about the start of the fourth quarter, the worst performance over a similar period since 1985.
Retail Apocalypse: Why Are Major Retail Chains
All Over America Collapsing?
By Michael Snyder - TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
If the economy is improving, then why are many of the largest retail chains in America closing hundreds of stores? When I was growing up, Sears, J.C. Penney, Best Buy and RadioShack were all considered to be unstoppable retail powerhouses. But now it is being projected that all of them will close hundreds of stores before the end of 2013. Even Wal-Mart is running into problems. A recent internal Wal-Mart memo that was leaked to Bloombergdescribed February sales as a "total disaster". So why is this happening? Why are major retail chains all over America collapsing? Is the "retail apocalypse" upon us? Well, the truth is that this is just another sign that the U.S. economy is falling apart right in front of our eyes. Incomes are declining, taxes are going up, government dependence is at an all-time high, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the percentage of the U.S. labor force that is employed has been steadily falling since 2006. The top 10% of all income earners in the U.S. are still doing very well, but most U.S. consumers are either flat broke or are drowning in debt. The large disposable incomes that the big retail chains have depended upon in the past simply are not there anymore. So retail chains all over the United States are now closing up unprofitable stores. This is especially true in low income areas.
Fed's Pianalto floats reducing asset buying this year
By Jonathan Spicer
NEW YORK | Fri Feb 15, 2013 11:14am EST
(Reuters) - It would be wise to reduce the Federal Reserve's level of asset purchases before year end if the economy continues to improve, a top U.S. central bank policymaker said on Friday.
Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto said she does in fact expect the world's biggest economy to improve in 2013, with economic growth of better than 2.5 percent and a drop in the unemployment rate to 7.5 percent.
Central bankers take on activist role to quell global economies
By Cheryl K. Chumley-The Washington Times
Central bankers have taken a decided step toward activism, moving away from a role to tamper inflation and toward one that takes into consideration the fiscal soundness of the wider, global economy.
A Bloomberg report dubs them the "whatever-it-takes" bankers who aren't afraid to take aggressive steps to promote economic sustainability.
TPG-Backed Saxo Bank Says Euro Doomed
as Currency Woes Resurface
By Mahmoud Kassem - Bloombeg.com
Lars Seier Christensen, co-chief executive officer of Danish bank Saxo Bank A/S, said the euro's recent rally is illusory and the shared currency is set to fail because the continent hasn't supported it with a fiscal union.
"The whole thing is doomed," Christensen said yesterday in an interview at the bank's Dubai office. "Right now we're in one of those fake solutions where people think that the problem is contained or being addressed, which it isn't at all."
Stan Fischer saved Israel's economy. Can he save America's?
Posted by Dylan Matthews - WashingtonPost.com
Every August, central bankers from across the globe, who collectively pull the levers of the world economy, descend on Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. They enjoy a symposium of big economic ideas and strenuous afternoon hikes. At one of their dinners a few years ago, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke looked around at some fellow titans of finance.
"Do you know what everyone at this table has in common?" he mused. "They all had Stan Fischer as their thesis adviser."
Keiser Report: Horsemeat Burger vs Dutch Sandwich (E406)
In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss the honkey infestation causing an inflationary vortex and the Dutch sandwich being the financial equivalent of a horsemeat burger. And how the FSAs - the Financial Services Authority and the Food Standards Agency - operate with a similar cover up mentality. In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to anthropologist, David Graeber, author of Debt: The First 5000 Years, about the dollar, a war backed currency, being displaced by gold and about who killed Aaron Swartz and why.
Online sales tax proposal rears head in Congress —
for third time
By Cheryl K. Chumley-The Washington Times
Congressional legislators are pushing — once again — a federal online sales tax. The House brought forth on Thursday the Marketplace Fairness Act, a bill that supposedly reconciles the differences among the three introduced — and that failed — in Congress in 2012.
The measure gives states the power to mandate that out-of-state retailers that sell products online collect a sales tax.
Facebook Gets a Multibillion-Dollar Tax Break
By Peter Coy - Businessweek.com
It hasn't drawn much attention, but Facebook's first annual earnings report contains an accounting gem: a multibillion-dollar tax deduction for the cost of executive stock options and share awards.
Even though Facebook (FB) reported $1.1 billion in pre-tax profits from U.S. operations in 2012, it will probably pay zero federal and state taxes—and even receive a federal tax refund of about $429 million—according to a Feb. 14 statement from Citizens for Tax Justice.
Facebook Paid No Income Taxes in 2012
By: Cadie Thompson - CNBC.com
Facebook didn't pay any federal or state income taxes last year and will receive a hefty tax refund, according to a recent report.
How did the social network manage to swing such a nice tax break?
Well, according to the Citizen for Tax Justice report the company benefited from the tax deductability of executive stock options, which reduced all of its income taxes by $1.03 billion in 2012.
Obama's EEOC: We'll Sue You If You Don't Hire Criminals
By Jim Meyers - NewsMax.com
The Obama administration's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says it should be a federal crime to refuse to hire ex-convicts — and threatens to sue businesses that don't employ criminals.
In April the EEOC unveiled its "Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records," which declares that "criminal record exclusions have a disparate impact based on race and national origin."
Turning Rust Belt Into 'Tech Belt' in the Name of Jobs Youngstown's Story:
Rust Belt Turns to 'Tech Belt' in the Name of Jobs
By: Heesun Wee - CNBC.com
Michael Garvey was working as a clerk at the New York Stock Exchange more than 25 years ago, when he got a call from his parents back in Ohio.
Globalization was hammering the Rust Belt including their family business, then called Trumbull Bronze. Garvey's grandfather founded the company in 1918 to produce bronze castings for the U.S. steel industry. Unable to turn his back on his family legacy, he returned to Ohio, as the company's customer base of steel mills deteriorated. Faced with a fork in the road, the company reshaped their business strategy to focus on the measurement and validation of parts. That meant a wider customer base beyond heavy industry.
Fiscal trouble ahead for most future retirees
By Michael A. Fletcher - WashingtonPost.com
For the first time since the New Deal, a majority of Americans are headed toward a retirement in which they will be financially worse off than their parents, jeopardizing a long era of improved living standards for the nation's elderly, according to a growing consensus of new research.
The Great Recession and the weak recovery darkened the retirement picture for significant numbers of Americans. And the full extent of the damage is only now being grasped by experts and policymakers.
Thousands rally in Washington to protest Keystone pipeline
By TALIA BUFORD | Politico.com
Tens of thousands of people converged on the National Mall on Sunday to urge President Barack Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline, a project they say will cause irreparable damage to the climate.
The rally, which was organized by the Sierra Club, 350.org and the Hip Hop Caucus, was billed as the largest climate rally in American history. Organizers estimated that about 35,000 people participated in the rally. The U.S. Park Police does not give crowd estimates.
Canadian ambassador slams press coverage
of Keystone XL pipeline battle
By Ben Geman - TheHill.com
Gary Doer, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., believes the press is doing a lousy job covering the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline that Canadian officials are urging the Obama administration to approve.
"Twenty people protesting do get more attention in the media than the 65 percent of Americans that prefer to get their oil from Canada rather than Venezuela or the Middle East," Doer said in an interview broadcast Sunday on Platts Energy Week TV.
McCain: Hagel confirmation imminent
By MANU RAJU - Politico.com
Arizona Sen. John McCain says it's time to let Chuck Hagel take the top job at the Pentagon, even though he called the defense secretary nominee "the most unimpressive that I've ever seen."
"No, I don't believe he's qualified, but I don't believe we should hold up his confirmation any further," the Republican senator said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I think it's a reasonable amount of time to have questions answered — not two days' worth."
Sen. Graham: Hagel disavowed remark
on Israel controlling State department
By Erik Wasson - TheHill.com
Sen Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told "Fox News Sunday" that he has accepted a new denial from Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) regarding offensive statements the nominee for Defense secretary allegedly made about Israel.
Hagel was said to have told a Rutgers University audience in 2007 that the State Department was controlled by Israel.
Graham said he received a new letter from the embattled nominee in which Hagel said he "did not recall" the statement and disavowed those remarks.
America Shamed Again: A colonized people
By Paul Craig Roberts
Americans have been shamed many times by their elected representatives who cravenly bow to vested interests and betray the American people. But no previous disgraceful behavior can match the public shame brought to Americans by the behavior of the Senate Republicans in the confirmation hearing of Senator Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense.
Forty Senate Republicans made it clear that not only do they refuse to put their service to America ahead of their service to Israel, but also that they will not even put their service to America on a par with their service to Israel. To every American's shame, the Republicans demonstrated for all the world to see that they are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Israel Lobby. (The Israel Lobby is not their only master. They are also owned by other powerful interest groups, such as Wall Street and the Military/Security Complex.)
Warning To America - Lt. Gen. W.G. (Jerry) Boykin
[Obamacare lays groundwork for commissioning of officers in times of national crisis, to work directly for the President as an armed constabulary force (citizen army) that will control the population in America (every wonder why DHS bought all those bullets?)]
DHS Purchases 21.6 Million More Rounds of Ammunition
Paul Joseph Watson - Infowars.com
February 7, 2013
The Department of Homeland Security is set to purchase a further 21.6 million rounds of ammunition to add to the 1.6 billion bullets it has already obtained over the course of the last 10 months alone, figures which have stoked concerns that the federal agency is preparing for civil unrest.
A solicitation posted yesterday on the Fed Bid website details how the bullets are required for the DHS Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, New Mexico.
As 'Obamacare' health exchange deadline passes,
26 states opt in with feds
By Tom Howell Jr.-The Washington Times
The backbone of President Obama's health care law is taking shape, with 26 states choosing to let the federal government run the online insurance markets mandated by his signature reforms instead of keeping the job in-house or partnering with the feds.
The Department of Health and Human Services had encouraged states to run their own markets, or "exchanges," that help the uninsured find coverage. Only 17 states and the District of Columbia took on the task, while seven states decided to split the duty with the Obama administration, according to a breakdown by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Proof RFID Microchip Is In Obama Health Care
If you take the RFID Microchip they can TRACK your every move, Control your MONEY, Control your FOOD and possible even KILL you if you don't obey!
The HR 3962 Bill is an exact copy of the HR 3200 bill in the acceptance of just a few word removed concerning the RFID Microchip but the ability to Chip Every Citizen of the United States is still in the bill.
HR 3962 Bill - Goes into effect March 23, 2013
Read Pages 1501 thru 1510
RFID Chip Implant Found In The Health Care Bill Article
SEE FOR YOURSELF, IT'S IN THE HBC.
Posted March 29, 2010 from friends at RESISTNET
There is an old adage that seeing is believing, the only alternative is to convince yourself that your lying eyes are wrong. Would you upon seeing something for yourself by way of documented proof believe your own eyes and accept it as the truth, even if it was hard for you to accept?
There will always be those who will remain in denial even though they know better, they will not accept it because they can not bring themselves to admit it to themselves. For those described here this will be a wasted effort.
Playing 'chicken' on Capitol Hill Administration leaks details of budget cuts
to pressure lawmakers on sequester It's Washington's biggest game of chicken, as federal agencies show cards on stark budget cuts in hopes of persuading Congress to forestall them
BY JOHN SOLOMON - WashingtonGuardian.com
The Blue Angels flight acrobats grounded. Fewer Navy patrols in the Middle East. A thousand fewer Secret Service agents and investigators. Widespread furloughs.
In painstaking and relentless detail, the Obama administration is leaking out stark plans for government cutbacks if the automatic spending cuts known as the budget sequester takes effect March 1, hoping to pressure Republicans to reach a compromise by showing the consequences in their home districts.
It's a giant game of political chicken, and the administration makes no apologies.
Gun Rights: Are There Any Peaceful Solutions Left?
By Brandon Smith - Alt-Market.com
Throughout history, citizen disarmament generally leads to one of two inevitable outcomes: Government tyranny and genocide, or, revolution and civil war. Anti-gun statists would, of course, argue that countries like the UK and Australia have not suffered such a result. My response would be – just give them time. You may believe that gun control efforts are part and parcel of a totalitarian agenda (as they usually are), or, you may believe that gun registration and confiscation are a natural extension of the government's concern for our "safety and well-being". Either way, the temptation of power that comes after a populous is made defenseless is almost always too great for any political entity to dismiss. One way or another, for one reason or another, they WILL take advantage of the fact that the people have no leverage to determine their own cultural future beyond a twisted system of law and governance which is, in the end, easily corrupted.
Pope will have security,
immunity by remaining in the Vatican
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY | Fri Feb 15, 2013 1:59pm EST
(Reuters) - Pope Benedict's decision to live in the Vatican after he resigns will provide him with security and privacy. It will also offer legal protection from any attempt to prosecute him in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world, Church sources and legal experts say.
"His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, otherwise he might be defenseless. He wouldn't have his immunity, his prerogatives, his security, if he is anywhere else," said one Vatican official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Leaked papers reveal a broken Vatican Pope Benedict XVI's leaked documents
show fractured Vatican full of rivalries
By Jason Horowitz - WashingtonPost.com
VATICAN CITY — Guests at the going-away party for Carlo Maria Viganò couldn't understand why the archbishop looked so forlorn. Pope Benedict XVI had appointed Viganò ambassador to the United States, a plum post where he would settle into a stately mansion on Massachusetts Avenue, across the street from the vice president's residence.
"He went through the ordeal making it very clear he was unhappy with it," said one former ambassador to the Vatican, who attended the Vatican Gardens ceremony in the late summer of 2011. "And we just couldn't figure out, us outsiders and non-Italians, what was going on."
The pope's ex-butler, still a mystery
By Jason Horowitz - WashingtonPost.com
VATICAN CITY — In the early 1990s, college friends of Carlo Fusco, a law student in Rome, introduced him to Paolo Gabriele, an amiable Roman with dark hair and chubby cheeks. The two young men recognized one another as kindred Catholic spirits and chatted in pizzerias and coffee bars. After college, Fusco lost track of Gabriele but happily ran into him years later at a night mass at Santa Maria in Via Lata, a 17th-century church built atop the warren of rooms where tradition holds the apostle Paul lived under house arrest. ("Verbum Dei non est alligatum — The word of God is not chained" is etched on a column in the crypt.)
Hardcore Chinese Hacker Sells Facebook 'Likes' on the Side
BY RYAN TATE - Wired
An intriguing story surfaced this week about a mysterious hacker named Zhang Changhe, who is apparently working for the Chinese army coordinating a botnet of zombie computers infested with malware, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
But that's only part of the story. Zhang, according to Bloomberg and other accounts, seems to also have been running a service through which unscrupulous businesses could pay to increase the number of "likes" on their Facebook pages, as well as their number of followers on Twitter and votes on other social networks. The site was promoted on the forum BlackHatWorld.
SEC developing new fraud detection technology
By Dina ElBoghdady - WashingtonPost.com
The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to launch computer software this year to spot accounting anomalies, including potential fraud, in the financial statements that companies file with the agency.
The software would scan a firm's financial disclosures, assess risk factors and generate a score based on a model developed by the agency, Craig Lewis, the SEC's chief economist, said in a recent speech. The score would be used to identify outliers within a peer group.
Congress Starts to Take the Internet Seriously
By Brendan Greeley - Businessweek.com
One day last October, more than 100 congressional staffers crammed into a room on the second floor of the Rayburn House Office Building to listen to four lawyers discuss smartphone and tablet patent litigation. The chief of staff for the House Judiciary Committee came a few minutes late and couldn't get a seat. This is a typical scene these days at the periodic lunchtime lectures put on by the Congressional Internet Caucus, a bipartisan collection of 125 House and Senate members who are, in the words of their mission statement, "working to promote the promise and potential of the Internet." Third on the list of the caucus's goals: "Promoting the education of Members of Congress and their staff."
Creepy Side of Search Emerges on Facebook
BY RYAN TATE - Wired.com
Facebook highlighted special privacy restrictions on its new Graph Search social discovery engine that filter young teens from some search results delivered to adults. The restrictions, pointed to after concerns about pedophiles, differ from other aspects of Graph Search, which generally has no special privacy controls beyond those already in place for the rest of Facebook.
The social network's safety team talked about the restrictions in a Facebook post, which said, "for certain searches that could help to identify a young person by age or by their location, results will only show to that person's Friends, or Friends of Friends who are also between the age of 13-17."
Drones are taking to the skies in the U.S. Federal authorities step up efforts to license surveillance aircraft for law enforcement and other uses, amid growing privacy concerns.
By Brian Bennett and Joel Rubin, Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — While a national debate has erupted over the Obama administration's lethal drone strikes overseas, federal authorities have stepped up efforts to license surveillance drones for law enforcement and other uses in U.S. airspace, spurring growing concern about violations of privacy.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday it had issued 1,428 permits to domestic drone operators since 2007, far more than were previously known. Some 327 permits are still listed as active.
FAA to create 6 drone test sites in US
Major step toward opening American skies to unmanned aerial vehicles
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major step toward opening U.S. skies to thousands of unmanned drones, federal officials Thursday solicited proposals to create six drone test sites around the country.
The Federal Aviation Administration also posted online a draft plan for protecting people's privacy from the eyes in the sky. The plan would require each test site to follow federal and state laws and make a privacy policy publicly available.
States join battle over drone flights
By Megan R. Wilson - TheHill.com
The nascent drone industry is coming under threat from lawmakers on Capitol Hill and in state legislatures who are weighing restrictions on their use in the United States.
Eighteen states have considered bills that would limit the use of unmanned aerial systems, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and more are likely to follow suit.
In Washington, meanwhile, lawmakers are pushing for new civil liberties and privacy protections to ease fears about invasive surveillance from the skies.
Darpa Wants Teeny-Tiny Fluids
to Cool Down Next-Gen Microchips
BY ROBERT BECKHUSEN - Wired.com
The Pentagon's mad scientists have concocted a plan to keep the miniature, stacked brains of tomorrow's advanced computers cool enough to power next-gen technological advances. It involves the world's smallest bath.
Advanced new microchips are now stacking up like pancakes. This new turn toward stacked chips promises huge improvements in computing power for everything from advanced cameras to new smartphones. But the Pentagon is concerned about these new stacks of chips being too powerful — that is, they risk melting down because they get too hot.
Welcome To The New Cold War
By James Gruber - ZeroHedge.com
Make no mistake: America and China are on a collision course and the battleground is Asia. The China-Japan dispute has little to do with a small group of islands in the South China Sea. It's about a new world power, China, wanting to assert its authority in Asia. And it's about the U.S being threatened by China's increasing power and wanting to contain it. That's what makes the current dispute so dangerous. Even if the fight dies down, the battle for dominance in Asia between the U.S. and China will continue.
For investors, the implications from this are not only the potential for increased trade disputes between the U.S and China. But also, the likelihood of rising friction between Asian countries themselves. In fact, we're already seeing it as these countries are being forced to side with either America or China. Intra-Asian trade will be impacted too. Welcome to the new Cold War.
Building a Chinese Rechtsstaat
By Andrew Sheng - Project-Syndicate.org
HONG KONG – A consensus is rapidly emerging within China that the rule of law is the single most important precondition for inclusive, sustainable, and long-term peace and prosperity. So it is worth considering how the rule of law differs from China's current institutional arrangements.
The rule of law has been defined in a variety of ways, but most authorities agree on certain key characteristics. As Kenneth W. Dam of the University of Chicago formulates it in his book The Law-Growth Nexus, the rule of law excludes secret law and legal impunity, while protecting individuals from legal discrimination and enforcing rules that favor them to their benefit.
China without North Korea
By Steve Tsang - Project-Syndicate.org
NOTTINGHAM – North Korea's third nuclear test is a game changer not only for the United States and Japan, but also for the regime's last ally, China. The official Chinese reaction to North Korea's latest provocation was stern: China is "strongly dissatisfied and resolutely opposed" to the test, and it is calling for the resumption of international talks. But China's stance lacks meaningful bite, because its leaders fail to recognize that they no longer need to succumb to their unruly neighbor's blackmail.
In carrying out the test, the North Koreans have once again compromised China's national interests. The international community is again firmly focused on China's relationship with its rogue ally, and expects that, as an emerging superpower seeking to reassure the world of its peaceful rise, China will play a constructive role. However limited China's influence may be, the North Korean regime can sustain itself only with Chinese backing.
