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from Asia Times Online
News & Media Website
The World Bank has announced funding of up to $1 billion for Indonesia after it was rocked by a string of recent disasters, including a deadly earthquake-tsunami that killed thousands. CEO Kristalina Georgieva unveiled the funds on Sunday at the Indonesian holiday island Bali, where the Bank and the International Monetary Fund have been holding their annual meetings. A 7.5-magnitude quake and a resulting tsunami tore through Palu city on Sulawesi island on September 28, killing more than 2,000 people and leaving thousands more missing, presumed dead. Rescue teams scoured the wreckage for a fortnight before calling off the search for the dead, acknowledging as many as 5,000 missing people might never be found.
With all the multiple conflicts, large and small, raging throughout the world today — proliferating natural disasters; spreading ethnic, racial, religious, political and gender confrontations and hatreds; an unprecedented degree of concentration of wealth worldwide; the threats posed by new nuclear states and potential nuclear states; the mountains of unpayable debt accumulated by governments, institutions and individuals alike; with major powers such as Russia and China rampaging around the world with massive displays of military strength, and the increasing fascination of the horrible demonstrated in the US and elsewhere as exemplified in such circuses as the Kavanaugh supreme court confirmation process — is it any wonder that a fundamental financial paradigm shift is taking place with no great amount of attention being paid to it? Into this toxic brew a new element has recently been injected, fittingly by a shadowy figure whose identity is unknown, unlikely as that may seem. Governments minted coins and then issued printed paper they pretended was a more convenient alternative. The Roman/Byzantine solidus, was the rock-solid international currency for more than 700 years. There has been no paper currency which has held its value vis-à-vis goods for more than a few years at best. And now, as paper replaced precious metal, a virtual currency is replacing paper. Focus for a moment on the meaning of the word “virtual”. The dictionaries will tell you that it means that something that is “virtual” is not, in fact, real. Let that sink in for a moment. Real paper replaced real metal — that is, a representation of a fact replaced actual facts. Now a non-fact is in line to replace the representation of facts. Nuriel Roubini of NYU recently called crypto-currencies “the mother of all scams.”
It is likely that the US putting pressure on North Korea without considering efforts at reaching out would only alienate Pyongyang further and push it into the laps of Russia, China and Iran.
There are a lot of oddballs in US President Donald Trump’s entourage, but few are as odd – or as sinister – as Stephen Miller, Trump’s senior policy adviser. Miller resembles a type on the far right that is more common in Europe than in the US: young, slick, sharp-suited, even a trifle dandyish. He is a skilled rabble-rouser, whose inflammatory rhetoric against immigrants and refugees – “We’re going to build that wall high and we’re going to build it tall!” – drives the crowds at Trump rallies into a frenzy. One of his crowd-pleasing notions is that migrants will infect Americans with terrible diseases.
Saudi stocks plunged 7% in early trading on Sunday as the oil-rich kingdom comes under increasing international pressure over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI) quickly lost more than 400 points on the first trading day of the week, wiping out all the gains it had made since the start of the year. The index had already dropped 3% on Thursday, following a rout on world stock markets fuelled by worries about higher interest rates and US President Donald Trump’s attacks on the Federal Reserve. The drop comes a day after Turkey accused Saudi Arabia of failing to cooperate with a probe into the disappearance of a journalist inside its Istanbul consulate, as Trump threatened “severe punishment” if it turns out he was killed.
World leaders wrestle with a maelstrom of complex, burning issues as they prepare for November 30 summit.
China tightens its grip in Uighur-dominated region
The local government in the largely Muslim autonomous territory of Xinjiang in northwest China has stated it will crack down on “activities that blur the boundary between religion and secular life and encourage extremism,” Reuters reported on October 10. During a meeting on October 8, local leaders said they would also require government officials and Communist Party members to firmly believe in Marxism-Leninism and speak Mandarin Chinese rather than the local Turkic dialects in public. International human rights organizations have criticized China for detaining as many as one million mostly Muslim ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang, while Beijing claims it is only cracking down on extremists and separatism in the region.
The lasting legacy of Deng Xiaoping’s rise to power
Deng Xiaoping, who died in 1997, left a lasting legacy on China and the world by orchestrating China’s transition to a market economy. After becoming the leader of the Communist Party of China in 1978, following Mao Zedong’s death two years earlier, Deng launched a program of reform that ultimately saw China become the world’s largest economy in terms of its purchasing power in 2014. Last year it accounted for 18% of global purchasing power, compared with 15% for the United States.
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from The Daily Caller
RIGHT BIAS
NBC ISSUES CORRECTION OVER TRUMP’S ROBERT E LEE COMMENTS
NBC News has issued a correction over its reporting on President Donald Trump’s Civil War comments, acknowledging that the president did not actually describe Confederate General Robert E. Lee as “incredible.” NBC News did not include Trump’s comments in full when it claimed Trump was calling Lee “incredible.” When looking at his comments just a few seconds sooner, it’s clear that the president was calling Ulysses S. Grant, the general of the Union army, incredible — not Lee.
NBC ISSUES CORRECTION OVER TRUMP’S ROBERT E LEE COMMENTS
NBC News has issued a correction over its reporting on President Donald Trump’s Civil War comments, acknowledging that the president did not actually describe Confederate General Robert E. Lee as “incredible.” NBC News did not include Trump’s comments in full when it claimed Trump was calling Lee “incredible.” When looking at his comments just a few seconds sooner, it’s clear that the president was calling Ulysses S. Grant, the general of the Union army, incredible — not Lee.
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from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, non-profit organization
Americans Are Woefully Uneducated About Basic History
In America, we celebrate democracy and are justifiably proud that this nation was founded on the idea that the people should rule. That’s why it is so important that Americans be informed about their government. They are partakers in it. In fact, they control it. Under tyrannical systems, it matters little if the people are informed about political life. Autocrats make decisions for them whether they like it or not. But in our republic, we rely on the informed decision-making of citizens to judge policies and the leaders who will implement them. Unfortunately, we are not very well-informed. According to a recently released survey, Americans are woefully uneducated about the most basic facts of our history to the point that most couldn’t even pass a basic citizenship test.
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from LifeZette (& PoliZette)
Media/News Company in Washington, D. C.NBC Forced to Issue Correction on Trump’s ‘Robert E. Lee’ Comments
NBC News had to issue a correction over its reporting on President Donald Trump’s Civil War comments at his Make America Great Again (MAGA) rally in Lebanon, Ohio, on Friday, acknowledging that the president did not actually describe Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee as “incredible,” as The Daily Caller reported.
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from Orthodox Christianity
Organization in Moscow, Russia
Once again, the United States and its policies are creating chaos, setting up the murder of innocent people, and disrupting an ancient institution. Only this time, it is direct interference in the affairs not just of a nation state, Ukraine, but of a religious institution, the Orthodox Church. And the effect of this is not just on a local, but worldwide level.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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