Mike Norman Economics

A couple of years ago I attended seminars with Chinese and Israeli counterterrorism experts in Beijing, in my capacity as a board member of a foundation that promotes Sino-Israel relations. A senior Chinese official complained that the Saudi royal family funds every radical madrassa in Xinjiang province, where Muslim Uyghurs of Turkish ethnicity form the majority. With a long and porous border stretching through sparsely-populated lands, Chinese security couldn’t prevent the funds from...

All in all, a bibi scam that is working well Sic Semper Tyrannis Israel is trying to blow up the ME again. Col. W. Patrick Lang, US Army (ret.) At the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lang was the Defense Intelligence Officer (DIO) for the Middle East, South Asia and counter-terrorism, and later, the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. At the DIA, he was a member of the Defense Senior Executive Service. He participated in the drafting of National Intelligence Estimates. From 1992 to...

American capitalism at its "best." The United States supplies fuel to the liquefied gas terminal in Belgium's Antwerp, which is purchased in Russia. This story was initially reported by TASS, the journalists of which were investigating activities of offshore companies.It turned out that the liquefied gas arriving in Antwerp is delivered by four tankers, which belong to the Navigator Holdings company registered in the Marshall Islands.Almost one third (31%) of Navigator Holdings shares...

The title is snark. The post is actually about modeling behavior and its pitfalls and shortcomings. Short and worthwhile.TruthdigVladimir Putin: Computer Genius? Andrew Cockburn

Even Harvard waking up and smelling the coffee?Project SyndicateThe Moral Identity of Homo EconomicusRicardo Hausmann | Director of the Center for International Development at Harvard University and professor of economics at the Harvard Kennedy School, formerly minister of planning of Venezuela and former Chief Economist of the Inter-American Development Bank.

Bank for International SettlementsZhou Xiaochuan: Prospects of the Chinese economy - broad-based growth Speech and Q&A by Mr Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of the People's Bank of China, at the 32rd G30 Annual International Banking Seminar, Washington DC, 15 October 2017. Jerome H Powell: Introductory remarks Speech by Mr Jerome H Powell, Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, at the Roundtable of the Alternative Reference Rates Committee, The Federal Reserve Bank of...

War breaks out within the House of Saud, as Asia Times had anticipated back in July. Rumors have been swirling for months about a coup against MBS in the making. Instead, what just happened is yet another MBS pre-emptive coup.... Meanwhile, a pile-up of purges, coups and countercoups shall be the norm.... In a nutshell: a state that happens to be the private property of a royal family inimical to all principles of freedom of expression and religion, as well as the ideological matrix of...

No longer any question of whether there is a purge. Just hours after the death of Prince Mansour bin Muqrin in a helicopter “crash” in the Saudi province of Asir, the Saudi Royal Court announced the death of Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd. The second prince was reportedly killed during a firefight with security forces, which were attempting to arrest him. 44-year-old Prince Aziz was the youngest son of King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Fahd He died in 2005.... SouthFront Second Saudi...

Not just the US. This is about Italy.GeopolitikaA matter of freedom, of speech Constantino Ceoldo, contributor at Pravda and Sputnik Italia interviews Marcello Foa, Italian journalist

China’s shadow banking activity stopped growing during the first six months of this year, according to Moody’s Investors Service, growing slower than the country’s nominal GDP for the first time since 2012. Shadow banking assets’ share of GDP fell to 82.6% of GDP as of June 30 this year, compared with its peak of 86.5% in 2016, according to an announcement posted on Moody’s website. The statement cited the effectiveness of recent regulatory measures aimed at reducing the financial...