Yearly Archives: 2013

Some Datapoints on Global Political Risk

By lambert strether of Corrente.

Here’s another quote dump of protests* by country; and yes, there are still rather a lot of them. I’ve got more blogs on my list now, but most of this material comes from official media, and I’m not making any representations as to accuracy of the report of the justification of the protest. There’s no method behind the selection, beyond crowd size, interesting tactics, concrete revealing detail, and thoughtfulness. As always, more sources and protests welcome in comments.

Bahrain

Shia leader’s death stirs Bahrain protest Gulf Times

A radical Shia group in Bahrain said yesterday its supporters blocked roads with burning tyres after police alleged one of its leaders died in an explosion while making a bomb. … Bahrain was shaken in February 2011 by a protest movement led by Shias. The security forces crushed the month of protests, but demonstrations still continue to take place regularly in Shia villages around the capital.

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Congrats Digg for Rescuing Me From Feedly! Gets Google Reader Replacement in Just Under the Wire and It WORKS!

I know it probably sounds really really REALLY silly to be happy that Digg’s replacement for Google Reader is up and was a total snap to get running and have import my feeds from Google Reader (which officially dies as of July 1).

To understand why I am so pleased, you need to appreciate several things:

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Advocates Oppose Senate Immigration Bill Over Escalation of Border Militarization

This segment focuses on some elements of the Senate bill that appear to be under the radar as far as media coverage is concerned. First is that the bill does not provide a path to citizenship for a significant portion of the current illegal immigrant population (frankly that’s been a feature of past immigrant “reform” bills too; the Hispanic community may have been promised more than it was ever going to have delivered on this front). Second is that is includes a large budget to militarize the border with Mexico.

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US Mortgage Rates Skyrocket

Yves here. So what is the Fed going to do, now that it has delivered a big blow to the nascent housing recovery? Risk its credibility by beating a serious retreat on taper talk, or keep whistling in the dark and wait and see what happens to July and August home sales (and remember, most housing market data is reported with a nearly two month lag…)?

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Gaius Publius: Obama’s New Climate Plan: Less Coal, More Fracking

There’s speculation on whether we are being prepped for a Yes to Keystone.

Me? I think we’re being set up for a Yes, but I’ve thought that since the subject came up. If the baby keeps grabbing for the candy, you have to conclude s/he wants it. Same with this.

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South Africans Plan to Protest Obama’s Crimes Against Africa During Presidential Visit

An Obama tour of Africa is likely to provide a marker of he is perceived in the rest of the world, although any negative reports are unlikely to get much play in our lapdog media. But since Obama was shunned in the recent G-8 conference, it’s going to be interesting to see how his African hosts muster up the appearance of enthusiasm during his visit.

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US: Desperately Seeking Income

By Leith van Onselen, Chief Economist of Macro Investor, Australia’s independent investment newsletter covering trades, stocks, property and yield. You can follow him on Twitter at @leithvo. Cross posted from MacroBusiness

Westpac Institutional Bank yesterday released a sobering note (below) on the ongoing income squeeze taking place in the US.

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