The Peanut Gallery

Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.

1.Germany is not making any dramatic shifts in its relationships, but is searching for alternative relationships. The most important alternative is Russia, which supplies energy to Germany. Russia also needs German technology and can use German entrepreneurial energy. Germany, with a declining population and a growing aversion to immigration, is looking for low labor cost locations for factories. Russia’s population is also declining, but even so has surplus labor that is unemployed or more often underemployed. Theirs is not a potential relationship, but an existing and intensifying one. Its ties with Russia may not replace Germany’s bond with the European Union, but a cornerstone relationship could develop between Russia and Berlin.


2. Saudi Arabia appears to be caught between a rock and a hard place. In the eastern provinces of this monarchy, the shiites continue their protests, supported by covert Iranian influences . But now in the Sunni south (forgive the pun) unrelated demonstrations are taking place  by forces tiring of Salafist Islamic extremism. Women's groups demanding more privileges and younger generation students pushing for more political influence have taken to the streets.  Add to that, the monarchists visible discomfort created by the continued political emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood as a political force. PG: Its raining. Lets see how the gulf monarchies avoid getting wet.


3.Russia and India will begin trading in domestic currencies in three years, Vladimir Dimitriev, the chairman of Russia's VEB bank, said March 29, Reuters reported. Dimitriev said Russia is considering trading in domestic currencies with BRIC partners. PG: this is an economic development of revolutionary proportions. What they are doing is taking the US Dollar out of the equation. Today all International transactions are transacted in USD and this is where dollar strength is centred. The party will begin when the debt comes due.


4.In the next five years, a total of $5.9 trillion in US debt will come due. The average rate of interest on the US debt is 2.2%. The average maturity on the Treasury's marketable debt is 62.8 months. The interest expense on US publicly held debt is $454 billion. The US is compounding themselves into eternity. What happens if or when interest rates rise, which they will? PG: And all Obama cares about, is his re-election. Anybody who deludes themselves otherwise, deserves what they get if he is re-elected.


5.The Indian Ocean is the world's energy interstate, across which passes crude oil and natural gas from the Arabian Peninsula and Iranian Plateau to the burgeoning, middle-class urban networks of East Asia. Though we live in a jet and information age, 90 percent of all commercial goods that travel from one continent to another do so by container ship, and half of those goods in terms of global tonnage -- and one-third in terms of monetary value -- traverse the South China Sea, which connects the Indian Ocean with the Western Pacific. Moreover, the supposedly energy-rich South China Sea is the economic hub of world commerce, where international sea routes coalesce. And it is the U.S. Navy and Air Force, more than any other institutions, that have kept those sea lines of communication secure, thus allowing for post-Cold War globalization in the first place. This is the real public good that the United States provides the world. PG: This is what makes the world go round. Not Trayvon Martin or whether contraception is paid for by government.


6.Today, for a Jewish person to buy a home or property in Judea, Samaria or Jerusalem, from an Arab, is a very complicated procedure. Under the Palestinian Authority, capital punishment is the accepted policy for those who sell property to Jews. Before the deal can become public, the Arab seller needs to relocate to another country, where he will be safe from assassins from his own community. PG: In any other non-arab country this would be a normal, unnoticed deal. The left wing media are outraged...that a Jew would have the audacity of buying from an Arab....


7. New York City police were Sunday investigating an "Occupy Wall Street" protester who made threats on Twitter about killing police as hundreds clashed the previous day with cops at Zuccotti Park. "We won't make a difference if we don't kill a cop or 2," Twitter user "Smackema1" posted about 11:40pm. PG: The truth is that these occupiers don't represent 99% or anybody else. 


People who are resting on their laurels are wearing them on the wrong end - Malcolm Kushner