Friday 3 October 2014

Headlines

## Global Ponzi meltdown/House of Cards ##
"In general, we are trying to avoid extending dollar loans in order to de-dollarize the economy."
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday shrugged off the negative impact of Western sanctions, saying they will only encourage Russia to build closer ties with China, India and Latin America.

## Airline Death Spiral ##
The first radio links with pilots were lost just as the pre-dawn crush of flights into Chicago began. Air-traffic controllers in a nondescript Federal Aviation Administration building about 40 miles from the city switched to backup channels. Then those failed. They tried emergency connections, which also went dead.
The display units provide crucial flight information including airspeed, altitude and navigation information, and cost thousands of dollars each. Replacing all the units is expected to cost airlines nearly $14 million, according to the FAA document.

## Fault lines/flashpoints/powder kegs/military/war drums ##
The sanctions against Russia are backfiring on the US. We at Casey Research were the first to state that the sanctions were not going to play out the way Obama had intended. As I’ve stated in these missives, the Russians are playing a complex game of chess; Obama is at the table, but he thinks he’s playing Connect Four.

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

## Energy/resources ##
All these schemes for turning organic materials into vehicle fuel suffer from the same delusion: that they could be scaled up enough to run industrial civilization. What's more, they're dependent on fossil fuels. -- RF
But now that wind turbines stand tall across many parts of the nation's windy heartland, some leaders in Oklahoma and other states fear their efforts succeeded too well, attracting an industry that gobbles up huge subsidies, draws frequent complaints and uses its powerful lobby to resist any reforms. The tension could have broad implications for the expansion of wind power in other parts of the country.

## Environment/health ##

## Intelligence/propaganda/security/internet/cyberwar ##
Despite overwhelming evidence linking the CIA to drug traffickers, that sordid reality remains one of the great taboos of the mainstream U.S. media, which rallies to destroy anyone who points out the facts, a fate that befell journalist Gary Webb.
Newly disclosed government documents show that U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger drew up plans to "smash Cuba" with air strikes nearly 40 years ago, in response to Cuban President Fidel Castro's 1976 military intervention in Angola and the small country's pursuit of its own foreign policy in Africa.

## Systemic breakdown/collapse/unsustainability ##
Infrastructure: I Hear America Rotting

## Japan ##
Four regional utilities stopped signing contracts to buy renewable energy from big solar power plants and other suppliers starting Wednesday, limiting an influx that is testing the nation’s electricity grid.
In this way, new offices and organizations spring up in every country to deal with the plethora of emerging problems, thereby hastening the collapse of governments under their own weight. -- RF

## China ##
China will ban localities from taking on additional off-the-books debt while allowing them to issue bonds to meet their funding needs, according to risk management plans the central government announced Thursday.

## UK ##
Loss will take £500m a year off collective profits, but consumers will suffer as dual fuel bills will be 20% higher, experts say
Up to 600 GP surgeries in Britain could close over the next year because family doctors are due to retire and a recruitment crisis may mean there is no one to replace them, according to the leader of Britain’s GPs.

## US ##
Corporate power beefs up its White House rolodex as Comcast executive re-joins President Barack Obama's inner circle
George W Bush has declared his younger brother Jeb "wants to be president", fuelling speculation that the Bush dynasty may soon launch a fresh bid to retake the White House.

And finally...

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