Mike Norman Economics

Politics is playing a bigger role in influencing the markets than is typical, and I (and others) am still trying to figure out where Donald Trump is taking us, especially as it regards trade and other wars. Besides prompting me to think hard and dig deep into what’s now happening, it is leading me to delve deeper into past trade and military wars to see their effects on economies and markets. I will pass along my findings when I complete the examination. In the meantime, I will share some...

Trouble in Trumpville? When you lose Ann Coulter.…AlterNetIs the Radical Right Finally Turning on Trump?Matthew Sheffield, Salon

President Putin’s massive election victory and the fallout from the Skripal case have provided Global Times – an English language newspaper published under the auspices of the People’s Daily, the official organ of China’s Communist Party, and therefore reflecting the views of China’s leadership – with the opportunity to give Russia strong backing as it comes under renewed Western pressure. The first editorial, published on 16th March 2018 under the title “West hopes to hurt, intimidate...

Between now and John Bolton taking up his post as Trump's new national security adviser, set to happen April 9, there will no doubt continue to be an avalanche of testimony coming out of US and foreign officials highlighting the crazed and hawkish actions he's taken in the past. And Bolton seems fully aware of this, as he told Fox News last week in an attempt to perhaps soften his image as the preeminent beltway hawk on Iran, North Korea, Russia and Syria: “Look, I have my views, I'm sure...

Frankly, I am awed, amazed and even embarrassed. I was born in Switzerland, lived most of my life there, I also visited most of Europe, and I lived in the USA for over 20 years. Yet in my worst nightmares I could not have imagined the West sinking as low as it does now. I mean, yes, I know about the false flags, the corruption, the colonial wars, the NATO lies, the abject subservience of East Europeans, etc. I wrote about all that many times. But imperfect as they were, and that is...

A strong legacy of U.S. leadership and engagement in global politics has been reduced today to what I call kinetic diplomacy – diplomacy by armed force. The ConversationFewer diplomats, more armed force defines US leadership today Monica Duffy Toft | Professor of International Politics and Director, Center for Strategic Studies, Fletcher School, Tufts UniversitySee also Higinio Polo has for a long time predicted the current tension in international relations. He spoke about this, in...

The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 led to the outbreak of World War I. The Gulf of Tonkin incidents on August 2 and August 4, 1964 enabled what we call the Vietnam War This carefully research article by Professor Graeme McQueen presents a timely historical viewpoint which is  routinely “censored” by the mainstream media as well by the search engines. The danger of World War III is not front-page news. Kindly consider forwarding Professor McQueen’s article to your...

If you can stomach anymore of it, there's a whole load here.Professor of Sociology Edward Curtin discusses the attempts by the US, Britain, NATO and Israel to create false pretexts for an invasion of Syria and war with Russia. He discusses how the Deep State has concocted RussiaGate and how media and propaganda make it difficult to tell fact from fiction.Edward Curtin: False Flag Operations Will Start New War [embedded content]

It's gets scarier, even Iceland is in on this nonsense. How can Washington have so much influence when it is so evil? Surely most people are sensible and can smell a rat? Surely the Europeans want to live?RT - Iceland to diplomatically boycott 2018 World Cup in Russia

In a fast-changing world, governance systems must support rapid decision-making under conditions of radical uncertainty, while maintaining accountability. That – not the Western expectation of what a governance system should look like – is the standard by which we should be assessing political developments in China.… Exactly so. Same for other countries like Russia. American objections to the type of government in China, Russia, Iran, etc. are disingenuous when compared with widespread...