• Italy bank crisis more dangerous to EU than Brexit
  
• EU Banking Union rules were a reaction to Greece's financial crisis
  

• A country's banking system is in trouble because of a large
  number of bad loans.
  
  
• The national government bails the banks out with taxpayer money,
  either by buying the bad debt (transferring it into a national "bad
  bank"), or else recapitalizing the banks by purchasing bank bonds or
  share.
  
  
• This essentially transfers the banks' bad debts to the national
  government, putting the government into greater debt.
  
  
• Investors are afraid to purchase government bonds, so their values
  go down and their yields (interest rates) go up. In Greece's crisis,
  in December 2011, yields on Greece's two-year bonds actually reached 142.3%.
  
  
  
• As bond yields rise, the banking system is in even worse trouble,
  requiring a larger government bailout, and so the cycle
  repeats.

• Crisis Prevention: Under ECB supervision, banks are far
  less likely to get into trouble in the first place. This will be
  accomplished in various ways, in particular by requiring banks to pass
  "stress tests" on a regular basis, such as the ones for MSP and other
  Italian banks that will be announced on July 29.
  
  
• Early Intervention. If an institution's situation begins to
  deteriorate (e.g. when a bank is in breach of, or is about to breach,
  regulatory capital requirements), the ECB can force the bank to adopt
  urgent reforms, because the crisis worsens.
  
  
• Crisis Management. If the financial situation of a bank
  deteriorates beyond repair, the ECB can provide a partial bailout from
  a fund to which all EU banks contribute.

• Attack on Islam's holy site in Medina caps end-of-Ramadan jihadist carnage
  
• Bond yields continue to plummet globally into negative territory after Brexit
  

• South China Sea tension set to escalate after July 12 arbitration ruling
  
• Obama flip-flops again on Afghanistan
  

• Hard issues prevent full reconciliation between Turkey and Russia
  
• Turkey's reconciliation with Egypt appears to be unlikely
  

• Japan's elections put constitution's pacifism clause into question
  
• Nato deploying a 'tripwire' of 4,000 soldiers along Russia's border
  

• Violence resurges in Central African Republic's crisis civil war
  
• In Darfur Sudan, genocidal violence continues after 13 years of civil war
  
• European Union will pay Sudan's militias to block migration to Europe
  

• Fears that renewed South Sudan tribal fighting could spiral into larger war
  
• Generational history of South Sudan and Dinka-Nuer clashes
  

• Increasingly angry China rams Vietnamese boat as tribunal ruling expected
  
• Japan's election opens the way to repeal 'pacifism' constitution clause
  
• US will send 560 more troops to Iraq
  

(07-12-2016, 10:43 AM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: Basically the Chinese are showing their true cards. They never really accepted at a deep level things we consider norms of International Law. They really don't even accept the notion of the UN / ICC / etc (accept when it is in their own favor). They still consider the round eyes to be pale savages and non-Han PoCs to be mere Apes.

(07-12-2016, 10:43 AM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: > Basically the Chinese are showing their true cards. They never
> really accepted at a deep level things we consider norms of
> International Law. They really don't even accept the notion of the
> UN / ICC / etc (accept when it is in their own favor). They still
> consider the round eyes to be pale savages and non-Han PoCs to be
> mere Apes.

(07-12-2016, 06:08 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: > So what? The US has forfeited any moral standing wrt
> international law. We do the same shit , so we just need to STFU
> when China flouts international law.

> https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/the-hidden-history-of-the-cias-prison-in-poland/2014/01/23/b77f6ea2-7c6f-11e3-95c6-0a7aa80874bc_story.html

(07-12-2016, 06:27 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote:

(07-12-2016, 10:43 AM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: >   Basically the Chinese are showing their true cards. They never
>   really accepted at a deep level things we consider norms of
>   International Law. They really don't even accept the notion of the
>   UN / ICC / etc (accept when it is in their own favor). They still
>   consider the round eyes to be pale savages and non-Han PoCs to be
>   mere Apes.  

(07-12-2016, 06:08 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: >   So what?  The US has forfeited any moral standing wrt
>   international law.  We do the same shit , so we just need to STFU
>   when China flouts international law.

>   https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/the-hidden-history-of-the-cias-prison-in-poland/2014/01/23/b77f6ea2-7c6f-11e3-95c6-0a7aa80874bc_story.html

The actions of a criminal are not excused because there exist other
criminals.  In this case, the U.S. isn't even involved in the South
China Sea decision, except as an observer.

(07-12-2016, 06:49 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote:

(07-12-2016, 06:27 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote:

(07-12-2016, 10:43 AM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: >   Basically the Chinese are showing their true cards. They never
>   really accepted at a deep level things we consider norms of
>   International Law. They really don't even accept the notion of the
>   UN / ICC / etc (accept when it is in their own favor). They still
>   consider the round eyes to be pale savages and non-Han PoCs to be
>   mere Apes.  

(07-12-2016, 06:08 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: >   So what?  The US has forfeited any moral standing wrt
>   international law.  We do the same shit , so we just need to STFU
>   when China flouts international law.

>   https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/the-hidden-history-of-the-cias-prison-in-poland/2014/01/23/b77f6ea2-7c6f-11e3-95c6-0a7aa80874bc_story.html

The actions of a criminal are not excused because there exist other
criminals.  In this case, the U.S. isn't even involved in the South
China Sea decision, except as an observer.

That may be the case, but like I said, the US has to STFU because of war crimes we committed in Poland.
Since we have dark prisons where we do torture as per international law, then we have again, no moral authority to say a fucking thing to China. If we do , then it's hypocrisy of the highest order and of course :

Quote:> 67. On 23 November 2015, the Tribunal communicated to the Parties
> and the U.S. Embassy that it had decided that “only interested
> States parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the
> Sea will be admitted as observers” and thus could not accede to
> the U.S. request. The same day, the Tribunal received a Note
> Verbale from the United Kingdom’s Embassy in the Netherlands
> applying for “neutral observer status” at the Hearing on the
> Merits and explaining that “[a]s a State Party to the
> [Convention], and with a strong interest in the maintenance of
> peace and stability in the South China Sea, underpinned by respect
> for, and adherence to, international law, the United Kingdom has
> been closely following proceedings in the arbitration and has an
> ongoing interest in developments.” The request was forwarded to
> the Parties for their comment, and the Philippines stated it had
> no objection to it.

(07-12-2016, 08:02 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote: <snip>
So the U.S. did not judge, and was not even an observer.

(07-12-2016, 08:02 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote: > <snip> So the U.S. did not judge, and was not even an observer.
>

(07-12-2016, 08:14 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: > OK, good. It's high time the US realizes its shit stinks just as
> much as everyone else's.

• UN Court issues harsh ruling condemning China and affirming the Philippines
  
• Tribunal ruling eviscerates China's 'Nine-Dash Line' claims
  
• China reacts angrily to the Tribunal ruling
  

• The Spratly Islands are little more than rocks, uninhabited,
  and so do not "generate entitlements to an exclusive economic zone or
  continental shelf."
  
  
• China purposely and illegally permitted its own vessels to fish in
  the Philippines EEZ.
  
  
• China purposely and illegally prevented fishermen from the
  Philippines to fish around Scarborough Shoal, a traditional fishing
  ground for many nationalities. China put Philippines' fishermen's
  lives at risk.
  
  
• China has harvested endangered species "on a significant scale."
  China has been "severely destructive of the coral reef
  ecosystem."
  
  
• China's construction of artificial islands is almost totally
  illegal, because of environmental destruction and because they violate
  "Philippines’ sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone and
  continental shelf."

• Police clashes in India-governed Kashmir kill 36 and leaves thousands injured
  
• Jammu-Kashmir violence follows a typical generational timeline after civil war
  

• UK residential real estate market hit hard by Brexit
  
• The UK housing bubble may finally be collapsing
  
• UK commercial real estate market hard hit by 'Brexit clauses'
  

• New buyer enquiries "declined significantly" in June, with 36%
  more respondents reporting a fall in interest. This is the lowest
  reading since mid-2008 when the financial crisis was in full
  swing.
  
  
• The market saw a further decline in sales with a third successive
  monthly drop in activity. Respondents expect this trend to continue
  with 26% more respondents anticipating a further drop in sales across
  the UK over the next three months. This is the most negative reading
  for near term expectations since 1998.
  
  
• In London, 46% of those surveyed were seeing prices
  slashed.

• Implications of the attempted coup in Turkey
  
• Protests and violence continue across Indian-governed Kashmir
  
• Nice France terror attack provokes desperate search for solutions
  

• Gun control. On Friday, the morning after the Nice
  attack, Smith & Wesson stock went higher, as it always does after a
  terror attack, because gun owners know that President Obama is going
  to give another speech making the ridiculous call for gun control.
  Calls for gun control increase gun sales, as well as development of
  techniques for home-made guns, including 3D-printed guns. No proposed
  gun control law would have prevented any of the recent terror attacks.
  France has strong gun control laws, and yet the terrorist possessed
  guns and explosives. Also the attack in Nice was with a truck, and
  I'm waiting for someone to propose truck control.
  
  
• Ban all Muslims or interrogate all Muslims. This would
  create an enormous backlash domestically. It would be a farce, since
  it would entrap only ordinary Muslims, and real jihadists would learn
  to lie and evade any tests. The perpetrator in Nice was stopped by
  the police before the attack, and was asked why he was driving his
  truck in that area. He said that he was delivering ice cream for the
  celebrations, and the police left him alone. If he could so easily
  fool the French police, then any jihadist could learn to do the
  same.
  
  
• Solve the "core problems." People who make this proposal
  usually blame the U.S. for Muslim hostility, and claim that if we were
  nicer to Muslims, the attacks would stop. This farcical proposal is
  contradicted by almost eight years of President Obama's apology tours
  to Muslim countries. Another analyst made the equally idiotic claim
  blaming the terror attacks on the rise of the far-right in Europe.
  Last year, I explained in detail in "12-Sep-15 World View -- Saudi Arabia's Grand Mosque, site of huge construction accident, has links to 9/11"
  that the modern
  rise of al-Qaeda, the 9/11 attacks, and the increasing jihadist
  attacks since then were traced back to three major events that took
  place in 1979: the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Iran's Great
  Islamic Revolution, and a huge Salafist attack on Mecca's Grand
  Mosque. The United States had absolutely nothing to do with the rise
  of jihadism, and it's extreme nationalist arrogance to even believe
  so. It would be nice if some of these self-styled "experts" who blame
  the US for everything would learn a little about what's going on in
  the world.
  
  
• Bomb Raqqa. I heard one military analyst say that we should
  "get serious" and wipe out ISIS by bombing and flattening Raqqa, their
  headquarters, even though hundreds of thousands of civilians would be
  killed. This is laughable beyond belief. ISIS would move its
  headquarters out of Raqqa. The huge civilian massacre would create an
  enormous international backlash. And it wouldn't even do any good.
  There are thousands of people killed in terrorist attacks every month
  -- in Syria, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in India, in
  Bangladesh, and other countries, and none of that would be even
  touched by bombing Raqqa. There's a huge war being waged by Muslims
  against Muslims, with the number of Westerners killed being minuscule
  by comparison. This war is growing, and so the spillover with terror
  attacks in the West is going to grow as well, and flattening Raqqa
  would only make things worse.
  
  
• Dissolve the EU or civil war in the EU. I heard a couple of
  analysts say that the Nice attack should encourage other countries to
  leave the EU, suggesting that this would prevent jihadists from
  crossing borders. That doesn't make sense. If anything, the Nice
  attack will unify the EU, since they need each other to fight
  terrorism. The most that would happen is some additional border
  closings, or modification of the Schengen zone. But even so, that
  would not have prevented the Nice attack, where the perpetrators was a
  permanent resident and a "lone wolf" who didn't cross any
  borders.

• Attempted army coup in Turkey collapses within hours
  
• Extradition of Fethullah Gulen may be linked to reopening Incirlik air base
  

• Erdogan has become increasingly autocratic, and many accuse
  him of destroying Turkey's democracy. In recent times, he's shut down
  an opposition newspaper and jailed reporters for printing news that he
  didn't like. ( "6-Mar-16 World View -- Turkey's 'shameful day for free press' as government seizes Zaman media"
  ) Each time there's a terror attack or other
  crisis, Erdogan finds a way to amass more power to himself. Some
  people fear that he will turn the coup crisis into an opportunity to
  become a dictator.
  
  
• Erdogan has been changing Turkey's character from a secular state
  to a conservative Islamist state, making him a hero to millions of
  pious Turks who felt ignored by the old secular elites. This all came
  to a head in 2007 over the issue of women wearing headscarves. ( "(May 2007) More than a million of secularists rally in Turkey"
  ) However, Ataturk, the revered
  founder of Turkey after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, declared
  that Turkey would be a secular state, with freedom of worship for
  people of all religions, including Jews and Christians. Ataturk asked
  the army to be the preserver of the secular state, and many in the
  army today see it as their job to stop Erdogan's changes.
  
  
• In 2010, 30 army officers were arrested after evidence has been
  found that in 2003 they had attempted a coup called "Operation
  Sledgehammer." ( "26-Feb-2010 News - Turkey debates Islam versus secularism"
  ) This caused a
  major confrontation between Erdogan's Islamist AKP party and the army
  that is far from being healed.

• The EU-Turkey refugee deal has slowed the tsunami of Syrian
  refugees flooding into Europe down to a trickle.
  
  
• Turkey is the lynchpin of the Obama administration's strategy in
  Syria and Iraq.
  
  
• Turkey's control of its border with Syria is needed to slow the
  flow of trade between the so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL
  or Daesh) and the rest of the world.
  
  
• The US military depends on Turkey's Incirlik airbase. The US
  military and 1,500 US troops and personnel stationed there, and the US
  air force uses it as a base from which to launch air strikes against
  ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

• Turkey's Erdogan gives four-finger 'R4BIA' salute, in signal to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood
  
• Bahrain tensions rise as Sunni government cracks down on Shias
  
• Bahrain accuses another top Shia cleric for money laundering