True power
What is the relationship between this (caution: NYT, may cause nausea) and this?
The Rise of the New Global Elite
U.S. Strategy to Prevent Leaks is Leaked
Is Lockheed Martin shadowing you?
China Will Face Crisis Within 5 Years, Investors Say
In Japan, Young Face Generational Roadblocks, An Innovator Leaving Japan
What Lady Gaga and hedge fund managers have in common
Eliot Spitzer's Favorite Prostitute Is Now A Commodities Trader. Some clients pay more!
What is your state the worst at?, How bad is your state budget?
The Geography of Gun Deaths
"Nothing like this will be built again"
General Assembly Aims to Gather New York Techies
You're so vain, you probably think these protests are about you. Don't forget this. It's their fight, not ours.
Yay! Emmie's back! Excellent link fest !
ReplyDeleteA picutre is worth thousand words!
ReplyDeleteSums up very well!
ICan
Mubarak has lost his "head"!
ReplyDelete"Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman has been sworn in as new Egyptian Vice President". Former spy?
As if people will cheer this development. Carry on dumbo!
ICan
Thanks emmy for the fabulous link fest. Great weekend reading.
ReplyDeleteHave been watching Al Jazeera mostly on the coverage of Egypt. It's actually better than CNN coverage. Al Jazeera just reports on what's happening, unlike CNN and MSNBC who are basically a bunch of "experts" all tripping over themselves to make predictions about what's going to happen in Egypt, what it means for the other Arab countries, what it means for the US, what Obama's speech "really" meant.
ReplyDeleteHorrible, has our news really degenerated to this? It's mostly opinion, with a smattering of current events thrown in.
Ugh, looters got into the Egyptian Museum
ReplyDeleteBest tweets:
ReplyDelete"Egyptian Christians said they will guard the Muslims from the police while they on Friday Pray." Amazing solidarity. #Egypt #Jan25
Heliopolis: police dressed as civilians r shooting to scare ppl. We're going out with sticks to ambush the thugs. #Jan25
Muslim Brotherhood chanting Allah Akbar. Crowd stopped them chanting louder: Muslim, Christian, we're all Egyptian #Egypt
Human Wall protecting the Cairo Museum:
ReplyDeleteCairo Museum
RT @weddady VIA SOURCES ON THE GROUND RT @alaa several citizen arrests reveal they aren't even thugs hired by police they are police #Jan25
ReplyDeleteEyewitness accounts: People capturing looters on motorbikes & finding Central Security IDs on them (Mubarak LOOTERS) #Egypt #Jan25
ReplyDeleteIn middle of Egypt crisis, CNN runs banner reading: "Kucinich settles dispute over olive pit." #CNN #Egypt (Puts it in perspective.)
ReplyDeleteOur media at work, from wall to wall coverage of Charlie Sheen's hernia and rehab to Kurcinch's olive pit.
Al Jazeera: Egyptian authorities trying to stop Al Jazeera from broadcasting from it's bureau in Cairo
ReplyDelete@robinoula: The global elite eat lobster in @davos. The disempowered young eat tear gas in #egypt.
ReplyDeleteThor,
ReplyDeleteOur media is so compromised that they don't have to be told to spin this from an American standpoint, rather than actually report the news.
Good Link fest Emmanuel.
ReplyDeleteI strongly encourage you all to read the ENTIRE article on the Global Elite. It's actually a good and balanced essay on the phenomenon of today's "Elite" and what it all means in terms of US Economics and Global Economics.
@dss,
ReplyDeleteBy naming a former spy chief, Mubarak is buying time so he can collect his loot and leave with impunity! Both of their heads are on line.
One person can loot a country. It's the system.
Upper echelon of society are in it - I would say most "Elites".
ICan
Stratfor: Red Alert: Mubarak Names Former Air Force Chief as New Egyptian PM. The military sends in its "votes".
ReplyDeleteThe Lede: "CNN's Cairo correspondent, Ben Wedeman, reports that some Egyptians have suggested President Hosni Mubarak's regime has withdrawn the police from the streets and ordered the military not to enforce law and order as an intentional ploy to sow chaos and create a situation in which the people will turn to the strongman to restore security.
The network's reporter in Alexandria, Nic Robertson, added that "the criminal element" in that city is apparently now free to loot and set fire to police stations. In an attempt to fill that void, he reported, some citizens have banded together to defend their homes from looters."
I have a hunch the best long-term scenario we're going to get out of this is a Turkey-like situation where you have a secular dictatorship backed by the establishment army on one side and an Islamist opposition with the back of the poor on the other side.
ReplyDeleteThe worst-case is that Mubarak wins and Prince Gamal walks to the throne over the bodies of the protesters (while the US ambassador nods in the second row).
@Emmy.
ReplyDeleteFrom "The Lede"- Al Jazeera reports that members of Hosni Mubarak's family may be going to London".
Why not Riyadh or Dubai -
I would say most rich people from Pakistan have some sort of residence in London. I know former Prime Minister Bhutto, and Niwaz Shriff both rivals have homes there. Any person of importance in Pakistan has some sort of overseas place to hide.
The U.K. or any other country has no problem taking loot money until they media shines a spotlight as in Canadian/Tunisian case.
Money talks!
ICan
Emmy - I would agree with that hunch. I got the impression when we were in Egypt, that people there are very religious, many men there have callouses or creases on their forehead, when I asked our tour guide about this he said "that is the mark of the devout" I didn't get the impression though, that people there were politically religious though.
ReplyDeleteI was actually shocked at how open Egypt seemed to be, there are churches everywhere, large ones too, we saw them all over Cairo, Aswan, Luxor, Alexandria. There are about 10 million Copts there and they are very integrated into the general Egyptian society. Our guide told us that you can sometimes tell what someone is by their name - Mohamed (our guides name) would of course be obvious, as would Yousef. Moist Egyptians, so we were told, see the Copts as an older society, having predated Islam.
We saw Christmas decorations everywhere, not just in the hotels either, on billboards, the sides of buildings, apartment buildings, malls.
But there is obviously a far right religious element (not unlike our own when you think about it) who does not like the Copts or anything to do with liberal ideas, especially when it comes to women. I think this might be the demographic that the Muslim Brotherhood appeals to. That's certainly not the majority of Egypt, not by a long shot - we went all over the place, from Alexandria on the far north, to Abu Simbl, right on the Southern border of Sudan. Egyptians, although they're poor, are a very modern people. Everyone has a cell phone - talk about a strange sight, imagine cruising the Nile at sunset, and a beautiful Egyptian felucca pass by with a couple of kids in abaya's texting on their cell phones :)
Plus, most of the people in Egypt live in parts of the country (Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Aswan, etc) that are filled with international tourists. They have close exposure to the outside world. They are also extremely proud people, they see themselves as the descendants who built the ruins that they live among and that the entire world comes to see - and they're right! They know that Zahi Hawass is on TV here in the states and is popular, and we were asked by many people if we watched chasing mummies. They take great pride in their history, not only as it pertains to their own past, but as it relates to the rest of the world. We were CONSTANTLY thanked for coming to Egypt "thank you for coming to my country", by everyone, anywhere we went.
I guess what I'm trying to say there, is that I don't really see Egypt being cut off from us in the long run. No way, Egypt, has always been the heart and soul of the Arab world, and that's what I think they want back, they want MORE engagement with the world, not less.
Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but wouldn't it be totally cool if this turns out for the better? If a moderate, like ElBaradei came into a transition government? What if this ended peacefully, and had a calming effect on the rest of the middle East. Egypt could go back to being a leader in the Arab world, and a moderate one. A place where a revolution happened, and didn't end up like Iran, or Lebanon.
And yes, I know you can't really know a place in just 14 days, but I think if you've traveled a bit, you can get a good feel for a place pretty quick, absolutely with the people.
I'm sure you're all watching the news on Egypt - pay attention to their foreheads! You'll see the guys with the creases and callouses pretty fast.
ReplyDeleteEmmie - Do you mind if I put up a couple pics from my Egypt trip?
ReplyDeleteI should add, this is exactly why I travel - I not only value the experiences for themselves, but I value the insight it sometimes gives me to what's going on in the world.
ReplyDeleteGood to have your impresions about Egypt Thor.
ReplyDelete@Thor
ReplyDeleteGo ahead.
@Thor
ReplyDeleteAlso, be sure to put the pictures below the list of links. I like the top pictures how they are.
Tor Project
ReplyDeleteNow that's how you can help the Egyptians.
Another thing that really hit home for me - is just how quickly things can change. A month ago all seemed well there. But look what was simmering right below the surface .
ReplyDeleteEmmie - nevermind, will do a separate post.
I left my twitter account open with #Egypt and came back and there were 6,615 tweets since I last checked it eight hours ago.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama - Here is your game changer
ReplyDeleteFor all the president's talk of "game changers," he and his foreign policy team seem unable to recognize a real one, even when it stares them in the face. As tens (perhaps hundreds) of thousands of Egyptians take to the streets to call for the end of Husni Mubarak's 30 years of misrule, the president and his team seem intent on upholding the old order instead of helping usher in a new one. When the history of the Middle East's winter revolutions is written, and scholars try to explain why those remarkable events ushered in an era of region-wide hostility toward and non-cooperation with the United States, they will point to Vice President Biden's refusal to call Mubarak a dictator, or Hilary Clinton's urging Egypt's brave pro-democracy activists to calm down, or President Obama's blithe announcement that the protests indicated that "now would be a good time to start some reform."
Thor,
ReplyDeleteGreat observations. It takes talking with the people to find out what they are like rather than listening to our right wing owned and filtered media.
Someone has a fake Mubarak twitter account and is making some pretty funny tweets.
ReplyDelete@emmy,
ReplyDeleteTor Project, I had no idea such a thing existed! Everyone should at least go take a look at the website to see the work they are doing.
Just saw the Zuck make an appearance on SNL. That'll be an extra beer tonight...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous Internet Team Up To Provide Communication Tools for the Egyptian people
ReplyDeleteThe Egyptian government's efforts to limit communications within the country has triggered a wave of activism from an international group of free speech activists on the Internet called Telecomix.
Organizing using chat rooms, wikis, and collaborative writing tools, this largely anonymous group has worked to inform Egyptians about their communications options while receiving incoming messages from them. Telecomix has previously worked on free speech efforts in Tunisia, Iran, China and other countries who have tried to censor or block parts of the Internet.
Egypt has been identified as a "top priority" for Telecomix on one of its network sites, We Re-Build. It has a wiki set up as a one-stop shop with the latest chat rooms and resources for the ongoing efforts.
Emmy,
ReplyDeleteThat must have been very uncomfortable as the guy always seems like he has such poor communication skills.
Denise - what do you think of Twitter? So many of my friends say they couldn't live without it. I haven't taken the plunge yet. I waited until a year and a half ago to join Facebook, and I couldn't live without it now. I'm on the fence with Twitter, but everyone seems to be using it. Am I missing anything?
ReplyDeleteHow's about a little propaganda with our dinners tonight
ReplyDeleteWhat the fuck has Obama done so far?
Manny - I think I found an old pic of Michelle Bachmann
ReplyDeletehttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yk99Q7JFPz8/S8Jjr_Dh9CI/AAAAAAAAAAU/kIh4ROUzyW8/s1600/veruca_salt.jpg
Thor,
ReplyDeleteI don't comment on Twitter but I do use it to follow people or things like CNN. Lots of good stock guys use it to post observations or if they post to their blog. Also if a favorite like Taibbi publishes something it comes up on twitter. It is more immediate than facebook which is much more a social gathering place where twitter is commentary or information.
I use Facebook to spy on my children or communicate with them, see their latest photos, (with their knowledge and approval) and that is about it. We older folks don't seem to use it in the same way or as much as the younger generation. I use email to communicate with friends. It's a generational thing.
From the "The Geography of gun Deaths" article. The conclusions the author draw fit with my views on the roots of violence:
ReplyDelete"our analysis shows fatal gun violence is less likely to occur in richer states with more post-industrial knowledge economies, higher levels of college graduates, and tighter gun laws"
Put the other way:poor living conditions favor criminality.
Sounds obvious? well, not that obvious for some of my French fellows at least:unlike US (the article shows that's not the case), violence here correlates with immigration rate: a bigger percentage of criminals are immigrants compared to "natives".
ReplyDeleteInterdependent factors like Education/Poverty/Unemployement/Dysfunctional melting pot/Inequalities are the key here, not some genetical/cultural disposition as some people think..
(note: overrepresentation of criminals among immigrants is mostly observation, not backed by studies, since ethnical statistics aren't legal in France)
@Dastro
ReplyDeleteJust curious, do you play chess?
Well?
@ Blogger "Stalker" Guy
ReplyDeleteThere will always be neuveau riche.
It does not make them "global elite".
The global elite aren't (usually) in the newspapers. They don't need to be. Money is not power. But power commands money.
@ Blogger "Stalker" Guy
ReplyDeleteOhy, by the way, I'd certainly settle for being one of the neuveau riche.
@Emmy: thks for the fest. Classy illustration also. I too believe people like Thich Quang Duc and Bouazizi deserve respect. Not to discuss whether such an act really helps a cause or not.
ReplyDeleteBut these people help keep faith in human nature. Such courageous act as giving your life for peaceful protestation is a far greater achievement than coward brutality displayed by their enemies.
More generally, in our wicked world, what we admire is money, power, strength.. while gentle people are regarded as weak dumbasses who keep getting crushed by others. Well, some of these gentle people may just be simple-minded lads indeed.
ReplyDeleteHowever, among them are also people who see their own integrity as being worth more than money or power. Those ones are more likely to get trampled on, at every step of the social ladder, by the numerous morons with no consciousness.
Nevertheless, in the end, missing on opportunities to enrich yourself because you have values, THAT is true strength. Making it to the top regardless of any ethics, that's just pathetic (though human) mental weakness.
http://english.aljazeera.net/
ReplyDelete"Egupt protesters in Cairo standoff". Caption under a picture.
Who said muslim women are weak?
ICan
Fron NYT -
ReplyDelete"Obama Presses for change but not a new face at the top". Fear of potential power vaccum at the top is the reason. But is ElBaradei not know that. He's also the one asking for Mubarak's resignation.
From the story,"Mubarak struggles to maintain power and U.S. offers evacuation for Americans in Egypt".
About 90,000 Americans live and work in Egypt.
ElBaradei told Al-Jazeera - Mubarak should immediately step down so that a new "national unity" govt. could take over.
But, more affluent Egyptians said country needs stability than unheaval. ( LOL)!
Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch said,"Egypt has been a police state for 30 years ..and for them to suddenly disappear from the streets is a shocking experience".
ICan
Even Hilary Clinton is now talking about the need for an orderly transition.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, I'm starting to wonder how far this is going to go. Syria next? Or Jordan? Is Saudi Arabia safe?
From the Globe and Mail:
ReplyDelete"Tunisian billionaire wants refugee status in Canada". Ha!
"More than 99 percent South Sudense voted for secession:election officer".
"Opposition leader El Baradei heads to Cairo protests".
ICan
Al Jazeera banned in Egypt.
ReplyDelete6:59pm ElBaradei is addressing the protesters with bold remarks:
ReplyDeleteYou have taken back your rights and what we have begun cannot go back...We have one main demand -- the end of the regime and the beginning of a new stage, a new Egypt...I bow to the people of Egypt in respect. I ask of you patience, change is coming in the next few days...
Well this should make for an interesting week in the markets.
ReplyDeleteThe destabilization of the entire Middle East could be devastating to the world economies. Oil, trade routes, disruptions.
ReplyDeleteBut the good news is that the people are trying to get rid of dictatorships and replace them with more democratic rule.
Travels in hinterlands of India.
ReplyDeleteAlso, area through which Rock will be travelling in April. " A place where Peter Cook, Kate Moss and Rory Bremner have stayed...".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/jan/06/india.heritage
ICan
these old countries, civilizations eventually devolve into dictatorships. the new boss will be the same as the old boss. a democratic rule in Egypt will be the Muslim Brotherhood.
ReplyDeleteDemocratic Lebanon is mostly controlled by Hezbollah. The government collapsed this month after Hezbollah and its allies resigned from the cabinet. http://yhoo.it/dYfsqM Hezbollah maintains an arsenal that far outweighs that of the national army.
The US always have backed dictators, Mubarak, Saddam Hussein (before he got out of line and invaded Kuwait) the royal Saudis etc. for stability. that is why Hillary has our finger in the wind and not picking a side, saying we favor the Egyptian people.
China and Russia are not democracies. Eventually, the US will head in the same direction. We're ruled now by financial oligarchs ... the founding fathers set up a republic, not a democracy, they never trusted the masses, hence the Electoral College and the Senate.
GREAT link fest, Emmy!
ReplyDeletesmall picture - very true! I hope that Egypt doesn't devolve into another dictatorship, or worse, into another theocracy. But I know the chances of that happening are fairly high. Even if a democratic moderate government comes to power when Mubarak leaves, nothing is going to get any better for the average Egyptian anytime soon, not with commodity prices going up like they are. We haven't even started QE2 yet.
ReplyDeleteIt's like the "a butterfly flaps it's wings in Brazil . . " theory (chaos?) You lower interest rates and monetize debt in the USA . . .
So things won't get any better for most Egyptians, and we maybe have another government fall not too long after this one?
Hah, agree on your other point as well. Democracy more often than not gives you Sara Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Christine O'Donnell, and Sharon Angle!
ReplyDeleteRock
ReplyDeleteYeah, this looks like playing chest standing upside down with one hand and sipping a margarita with the other.
Will see if my window of Jan 29-Feb 3 produce a decent correction that last more than theese 5 days.
The bull side for the economy will be that oil will try to catch up for all the decades that was obtained very cheap and maybe jump substantially.With the spurring effect on world economies scrambling to find...fucking...something to replace it, at least partially.
Avoiding a the facto embargo that will be the countermove for the increase in food prices for them (if the revolts spread throughout the region).
Dan
The Small Picture
ReplyDeleteVery true.Anyway the population as a whole in a nation is not too picky, they just expect food shelter maybe send kids to college and (like me today) and they let the more involved and active groups to get the rest.
Dan
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/01/30/update-following-egy.html
ReplyDeleteGood link. Amazing what technology has helped create. Not only the ability of these protests to start out of nothing, but for the speed at which it allows information to flow between points. From our knowing from live blogs what's going on in Cairo minute by minute. But for the protestors themselves to know when to meet, which areas are being patrolled, etc - assuming their government doesn't throw the kill switch on cell phones. They're apparently already getting around the internet being down.
So bizarre that there are still people claiming that social media is a fad, or not being able to comprehend why Facebook could be worth so much.
Comment is free:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree
"Three lessons Arab leaders cann't ignore".
"where are the leaders who will reform the world's economy?" Re Davos.
ICan
This is encouraging
ReplyDelete2032 Egyptian opposition politician Ayman Nour - an opponent of Hosni Mubarak who spent over three years in jail - tells al-Jazeera TV he and his allies have agreed to co-operate with Mohamed ElBaradei and the movement against Hosni Mubarak.
8:53pm The Muslim Brotherhood continues to call for all opposition groups to unite and has said that they'll support Mohamed ElBaradei as the lead opposition negotiator. The Brotherhood has also said that Hosni Mubarak is responsible for the current Egyptian political mess.
But here we are witnessing something that we talk months ago about food inflation.
ReplyDeleteI-Can was absolutely right food increased in price.
I should have been more elocuent in my view as a way to not get put on the side of "foods can not increased in price"
Yes food inflation exist no doubt about it.We are seeing it right now.
And I was more focused on the end game.
My point is that it can not increase in price because the masses can not afford it.
There's a gap that is the one being filled right now. Meaning that more and more of "disposable income" is assigned to get food.This amount of "extra" money is limited which makes the chance of inflation very inelastic.
Inflation at a point hits a wall because people (sheers amounts of people) can not pay for it.
And the result is Tunisia and Egypt, particularly in the last one.Resentment and bitterness was mounting for over 30 years but nothing too explosive really happened but some food riot in the past.
Hadn't a massive problem with unemployment and food prices aroused like now they would have benn leaving in that conditions another 30 years. So food could be seen (and employment) as the last straw but is more important than that is the cause even though appears at the very last moment in the whole ecuation.
Humans do not even think of mortgaging the house to buy food.Prices rise up to a point then you don't see people playing by the known rules (a mortgage or sell the car) to get feed.
Right there inflation is being informed that can not keep going up in that country, because it just has hit the wall.
People snap and a revolt or even a revolution occurs that "solves" that problem for the masses no matter how, but it solves it.
So in Tunisia and Egypt we see what happen to inflation after the tipping point. It can not take from people what they don't have.
Dan
Dan - Totally agree. I've often thought that there would be no way that we could have serious inflation here, simply because 1. wage inflation is extinct, and 2. people are barely getting by now - food prices couldn't go up because people are tapped out. Only what we're seeing is that we can have inflation in food, whether or not people can afford it. Energy is going to go up now too, which is going to drive food inflation even further. Not an encouraging scenario with the debt purchases of QE2 about to begin.
ReplyDeleteThor@4.40
ReplyDeleteYou were actually saying something lucid there, then the wheels came off with last sentence.
Do you remember when Yahoo and AOL were the most valuable internet companies? There will be some "new thing" that replaces Facebook within the next few years. There always is.
Your other comments on the role of technology in organizing revolutions was spot on.
@Dan, Thor
ReplyDeleteRe Inflation in EMs:
Here is poem, losely translated:
"Friend, my husband earns good money,
but inflation, that witch eats it all away.
Every month petrol leaps,
diesel is on a roll,
sugar forever soars,
rice flies out of reach too".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/18/witch-inflation-food-prices-austerity-policies/
Every evening I read Indian newspapers, regional, and everday there is a story about major corruption scandal and inflation. People are fed up. Last night I was talking to a relative in India and he was saying we need a revolution similar to Egypt's. LOL! But, I told him to use his power of vote!. Indians are the most free people in South East Asia. But Apathy and Ignorance are two devils they have to eliminate.
ICan
Stratfor: Egyptian Police Redeploying
ReplyDeleteDamn it.
Andy - Give it a rest stalker.
ReplyDeleteActually - that 5:53 comment was made from a Blackberry. You are obsessed with this blog to the point that you not only check it, but type your nasty comments on it? How long did that take? ;-) What are you doing? Are you out with your family?
ReplyDeleteEmmie - This is the busiest weekend edition we've had in months! Welcome back!
ReplyDelete@anon,
ReplyDeleteStrawman alert! Insult alert!
Thor never said that there wouldn't be something to replace Facebook.
He was talking about people not comprehending Facebook being worth billions, not that Facebook would never go the way of AOL. And last time I checked that internet failure Yahoo is still being used by citizens on Planet Earth every day.
Thor's words: "So bizarre that there are still people claiming that social media is a fad, or not being able to comprehend why Facebook could be worth so much."
Geez Louise. Pathetic stalker.
@Thor,
ReplyDeleteHow the mighty have fallen! From respected blogger to internet stalker whom half the people here don't respect and the other half don't even know who he is.
o answer your question though. Your statement is absurd. The revolution that is social media has nothing to do with the value of the companies at the forefront of said revolution. Why would you confuse the two? Do you look at everything only in terms of monetary value? That's a little one dimensional don't you think?
ReplyDeleteJust saw that too, emmy. Am now signed up for the STRATFOR email alerts.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was good.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-cia-egypts-economy-financial-deregulation-and-protest
Emmy, Manny,
ReplyDeleteThanks - I signed up for STRATFOR alerts as well. Didn't know a free option was available. STRATFOR is good stuff.
Kayem
Egypt's Economic Tragedy In 3 Simple Charts
ReplyDeleteVideo - a good look at Egypt under Mubarak from Al Jazeera. 48 minutes long. Corruption!
ReplyDelete"A Nation in Waiting". http;//english.aljazeera.net/programmes/genral/2008/12/200812319221110170.html
ICan
Futures market seems not too concerned about Middle East.
ReplyDeleteICan
Ican - just barely down. Might we get a bounce tomorrow?
ReplyDelete