Wednesday, 20 June 2012

Today's stories



Global Ponzi meltdown/House of Cards 









Airline Death Spiral 



"The FedEx founder, who pioneered the modern airfreight business and has built the world's largest cargo airline by revenue, cautioned that the traditional airport-to-airport business 'is not growing.'"


Fault lines/flashpoints/powder kegs/military/war drums 

"Egypt's political upheaval is by no means over, but its uneasy neighbor Israel is not waiting for the outcome. Desert defenses are being strengthened and strategy revised as a once stable relationship splinters."


"The United States is planning a significant military presence of 13,500 troops in Kuwait to give it the flexibility to respond to sudden conflicts in the region as Iraq adjusts to the withdrawal of American combat forces and the world nervously eyes Iran, according to a congressional report."


"The Indian government said it issued a tax exemption for Iranian crude oil imports paid for in part with the national currency, the rupee.

"A notification from the Indian Finance Ministry to a tax board exempts crude oil paid for in rupees from local taxes, meaning New Delhi has cleared the way for oil refineries to take on more Iranian oil."


"Saudi Arabia is reported to be seeking 600-800 Leopard 2A7+ main battle tanks made by Germany's Krauss-Maffei Wegmann worth around $12.6 billion."


"The Dutch Parliament voted last week to spend $16.5 million to provide extra personnel, two Cougar helicopters and an unmanned aerial vehicle to join Operation Ocean Shield, in which NATO warships and aircraft have been patrolling the waters off the Horn of Africa."


"The Russian Defense Ministry Tuesday denied Iranian reports of planned war games with Iran, China and Syria off the Syrian coast."

"A Russian ship thought to be carrying attack helicopters to Syria now appears to be returning home, British officials said today."



Global unrest/mob rule/angry people/torches and pitchforks 

"A group of 30 to 40 teenagers ransacked an Albertson’s grocery store Saturday night, stealing merchandise and trashing parts of the store, according to police."

"South Korean taxi drivers are going on their first nationwide strike today, protesting rising fuel costs and demanding higher fares."






"At least three people are dead as rioting and vandalism escalated in Pakistan's Punjab province over energy shortages, officials said."

"Behind a large banner from the international peasant movement Via Campesina proclaiming 'the peoples are against the mercantilization of nature', they marched several miles to the Flamengo park, the venue for the 'People's Summit' organized by civil society groups on the sidelines of the Rio+20 event."

Occupy Will Be Back (Chris Hedges)

Energy/resources

"In this article, the changing landscape experienced by European refiners will be explored to help understand how a business that was profitable a few short years ago became much less so."

"Advocacy group Global Witness said competition over forest and natural resources in Africa and Latin America has turned deadly…

"'This trend points to the increasingly fierce global battle for resources, and represents the sharpest of wake-up calls for delegates in Rio,' Global Witness campaigner Billy Kyte said in a statement. 'Over one person a week is being murdered for defending rights to forests and land.'"




 Infrastructure scavenging 


Got food?

"Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the U.S. venture capital firm that provided startup financing to Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. (GOOG), is investing in a seed company as it forecasts food will become a 'global problem of huge dimensions' over the next decade."


Environment/health

"East Asia's status as the world's main 'extinction hotspot' is confirmed in the new Red List of Threatened Species."

s
Intelligence/security/internet





Systemic breakdown 




Japan

"Chinese businesspeople are now considered a major threat to Japan's national security through purchasing property in the country, reports Duowei News, an outlet operated by overseas Chinese."

"Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) will continue reducing its domestic production capacity, bringing the figure to 3.1 million units as early as 2014, a more than 10% drop from the level projected for this year, The Nikkei reported early Wednesday."





China 

UK 


US 



"Ohio is trying to become the first state to sell road and bridge naming rights and commercialize rest stops, as Republican Governor John Kasich addresses a $1.6 billion transportation funding shortfall."
Desperate times call for desperate measures. -- RF



"Companies are starting to delay hiring and spending out of concern that Congress won’t reach a compromise in time to avoid automatic tax increases and budget cuts that would pull billions of dollars of purchasing power out of the economy."










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