Mike Norman Economics

Intended consequences of "spreading freedom and democracy" with bombs. Not that slavery isn't endemic in some parts of the world. But not in Gaddafi's Libya. That was then.CNNPeople for sale [in Libya] Nima Elbagir, Raja Razek, Alex Platt and Bryony Jones

The Russian Justice Ministry has sent letters to nine media outlets on their possible registration as foreign agents. Voice of America and Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty are among those that could be recognized as foreign agents, the ministry said.The ministry also sent letters to the administration of the Kavkaz.Realii, Krym Realii and Sibir Realii websites, as well as Radio Azatliq – all of which are Radio Liberty branches based in Russia. The Current Time TV channel, a joint project...

So how close, or how far from Machiavelli’s model ruler, is Putin the frontrunner, and what does the president himself think of Machiavelli?.... Good backgrounder on Russia and refresher on Machiavelli.Dances with BearsMachiavelli’s Thirteen Rules For The Successful Ruler – Two Vladimir Putin Did Learn; Eleven He Didn’t, Not YetJohn Helmer

A little wonkish for general reading, but a good backgrounder if you are following this, or if you just want to get up to speed on it. It shows just how endemic cyber hacking, cyber espionage and cyber warfare is, and how difficult it is to determine who is doing what to whom in the cyberworld, since "everyone is doing it." Even Mossad is involved in this one. Kaspersky has the reputation of being the best in providing security, but Mossad hacked them.Ars TechnicaKaspersky: Yes, we obtained...

The financial crisis has led many to question the legitimacy of capitalism. The verdict, 10 years on, has not been favourable. In an opinion poll by YouGov, three-quarters of German adults, two-thirds of Britons and over half of Americans believe that, “the poor get poorer and the rich get richer in capitalist economies”. Their sense of injustice is not only a reaction to bank bailouts, years of austerity and corporate scandals. The challenge is fundamental. There is a growing awareness in...

Masha Gessen? (rolls eyes)I can't wait to see the reactions to this.Masha Gessen is the epitome of the liberal Russian russophobe.QuartzA longtime critic of Vladimir Putin just won the US National Book Award Thu-Huong Ha

“It said that the mercantilist, Confucianist, authoritative system of China is the victor over the Judeo-Christian, liberal democratic free-market West; that their system is better, and they go over how it is better and how they’ve beaten us,” [Steve Bannon] argued.He warned that there are five things that China is going to achieve in the next few years, and if America does not thwart them, “China will in fact be a hegemonic power.” They are:The rollout of fifth generation mobile technology...

The Chinese elite has recognized and acknowledged that the CCP has a corruption problem. Western elites, not so much. There is another interesting point made in the article. During the 19th Party Congress last month, Yang was asked about the anti-corruption drive and how to achieve a balance between human rights and party discipline. Yang replied that, having worked in the Tibet Autonomous Region for many years, human rights was an “interesting question”. He recounted a conversation...

As an outsider, one can only revise down one's opinion of the academic standards of mainstream economists. We have an intellectual debate in which one side refuses to admit the existence of the debate in the first place. I am not an expert on the scientific method, but it seems to me that is not how it is supposed to work. Bond Economics  How Not To Defend DSGE Macro Brian Romanchuk

On Wednesday, the Hungarian Foreign Ministry summoned US envoy David Kostelancik to formally complain about Washington’s new $700,000 initiative to fund rural media outlets in the country. The program provides technical and financial assistance to these media outlets, granting them increased exposure as well as small grants.… Of course, there is some irony in the United States — a country that itself has experienced a precipitous drop in press freedom, from 20th in 2010 to 43rd in 2017...