Archive - Feb 22, 2014

880 grams at a time...

Current events are frequently viewed through the prism of analogies. Words become shorthand for a particular type of situation. “Munich” equals the danger of appeasing bloodthirsty dictators, “Vietnam,” and now “Iraq/Afghanistan” means the folly of getting involved in (or, in the case of Iraq, starting) civil wars in countries whose societies the outsiders neither understand nor can effectively influence. In some cases, acting on these parallels turns out to be wise. The analogy that is currently in vogue in Asia is “1914.”

While social unrest has been a thing that occurs "over there", the increasing visualization of people taking to the streets in the face of desperate economic situations amid an elite class of politicians, dictators, and tyrants is becoming clearer by the day. As the following chart shows, across 500 billion words in over 5.2 million books, the words "unemployment, "taxes", and "inequality" tend to correlate highly with "war". The 18th century saw these terms the most correlated and as the following chronology suggests, that is not a time to reflect gladly upon...

Listening to the media gleefully hype the numerous construction flaws and rumors of corruption at the Sochi Olympics, we couldn't help thinking that Americans in general have no clue about Russia.  Here are some of the similarities and differences... "Russia is rising.  Maybe we can give her a high five on our way down.  Instead of criticizing others, look in the mirror America."

It is hardly surprising, given the drastically divided nation, that when Vitali Klitschko's pro-European political party ventured to Kerch - a city of the eastern edge of Ukraine in the Crimea region - things did not go entirely according to plan... This is the region that Russia has stated it is willing to go to war over and is deep in the pro-Russia territory... headlines galore are coming out of Ukraine but all that matters now is the Russian response... Especially after Tymoshenko's earlier comments:

TYMOSHENKO: UKRAINE MAY BRING CHANGES IN OTHER EX-SOVIET STATES; WILL HELP OTHER COUNTRIES UNDER `DICTATORS'

Though it seems pretty clear who they blame...

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— WhatsApp Status (@wa_status) February 22, 2014

We've seen first hand the tremendous opportunity that exists in the world, and the incredible way that human beings innovate to overcome challenges. But the reality is that the world is on fire right now. In some places, like Ukraine or Thailand, quite literally. In many others (like Japan, China, and much of southern Europe), there are heaps of smoldering embers beneath a continent-wide funeral pyre. And in the Land of the Free, it’s as if politicians and central bankers are smoking their back-room cigars at the foot of a mountain of napalm and thermite that grows ever-higher by the day. If you step back and look at the big picture, there is cause for concern.

The world’s most notorious and powerful drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, has reportedly been captured in Mexico. The head of the Sinoloa Cartel - nicknamed Chapo or "shorty" - was caught last night, according to the AP, at a hotel resort in Mazatlan in a joint US-Mexico operation. Forbes ranked Guzman 67 out of 72 on their list of the World’s Most Powerful People. With revenues believed to exceed $3bn, his Sinaloa cartel is easily the most powerful in Mexico, responsible for an estimated 25% of all illegal drugs that enter the U.S. via Mexico. While this may appear good news (catching a big bad guy), Stratfor warns "this could spark a wave of violence throughout northwestern Mexico if internal shifts evolve into intra-cartel conflict."

Having already fled Kiev and his compound for the more hospitable eastern are of Ukraine, perhaps it was Tymoshenko's comment that...

• *UKRAINIANS OBLIGED TO BRING YANUKOVYCH BACK TO KIEV: TYMOSHENKO

...that was the final straw. Interfax is reporting that, for now, Customs have lost rack of the deposed leader...

• *UKRAINE CUSTOMS SVC STOPPED DEPARTURE OF PRESIDENT'S PLANE: IFX
• *UKRAINE CUSTOMS SVC SAYS YANUKOVYCH LEFT AIRPORT IN CAR: IFX
• *YANUKOVYCH HASN'T SHOWN UP AT OTHER CHECKPOINT: CUSTOMS TO IFX

Cue - webcams at Moscow International...

What are we going to do about those little monsters called children? They won’t be quiet, won’t sit still and won’t pay attention. They aren’t succeeding in school, and no matter how many drugs we pump into them, they don’t seem to get any better. To the surprise of no one, a new study has just been released showing that the staggeringly popular prescription drug Adderall is not having any positive effects on children’s grades, and in fact may be causing more kids to drop out of school. The finding should have been obvious, but don’t expect inattentive parents to stop buying the drug, and don’t expect greedy psychiatrists to stop handing them out like candy – for a hefty price. The problem is partially a cultural one, but it is also exacerbated by government attempts to meddle in education.

*TYMOSHENKO URGES PROTESTERS TO STAY IN INDEPENDENCE SQUARE "NOW UKRAINE IS A FREE UKRAINE:"

Yulia Tymoshenko was the heroine of the 2004 pro-Western Orange Revolution in Ukraine. But, as DPA notes, the two-time former prime minister was convicted in 2011 of abuse of power in connection with a gas deal with Russia (detailed below). This morning she was freed from prison in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine Saturday after parliament voted for her release...

*TYMOSHENKO LEAVES HOSPITAL WHERE SHE WAS UNDER GUARD;: WEBSITE
*UKRAINE'S TYMOSHENKO SAYS SHE WILL RUN FOR PRESIDENT: ITAR TASS

and is set to address the protesters in Independence Square... (full chronology below) The US welcomed her freedom and is "closely monitoring"; Russia is displeased blaming opposition for violence. Meanwhile,

• *UKRAINE EX-INT MIN ZAKHARCHENKO CAUGHT TRYING TO FLEE BY BORDER SERVICE: IFX
  

Sometimes you just have to sit back, look at some charts, and say WTF...

Among the items plundered from Yanukovych's compound (after he fled to Kharkov)...

Fresh on the heels of the administration's decision to embed "government researchers" in the mainstream media to make sure they are doing their job properly (just as Maduro has decreed in Venezuela and punished CNN for?), we find out that the Department of Homeland Security planned to outsource the creation of a gigantic, comprehensive nationwide license plate database to a private corporation enabling license plate recognition "to catch illegal immigrants." However, after extreme pushback by privacy advocates, WaPo reports the DHS has cancelled the plan amid "a serious management problem within this DHS component that currently does not have a director nominated by the president."

Faster, Higher, Stronger...