Europe

Authored by George Friedman via MauldinEconomics.com,

For centuries, Europe has fought wars over borders. In the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, Europe’s borders shifted wildly. As empires fragmented, new nations arose and wars were waged.

After 1945 and the beginning of the Cold War, a new principle emerged on the Continent. The borders that existed at the end of World War II were deemed sacrosanct—not to be changed.

Authored by Wayne Madsen via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

The Spanish government decided to reach back into its history and borrow from the playbook of longtime Spanish fascist dictator Francisco Franco in dealing with Catalonia’s decision to declare independence from the Spanish Kingdom as the Republic of Catalonia. The Catalan government’s decision to declare independence followed an October 1 referendum in the region that resulted in a “yes” for independence.

Is It Insanity, Evil, or Both that Has the Western World in Its Grip

Paul Craig Roberts

As the presstitute media has no allegiance to truth, one has to wonder if we can even believe obituaries.

For what it is worth, perhaps nothing, the presstitutes report that three US aircraft carrier battle groups are off North Korea or on the way there.

International equity markets seem to effortlessly surge to brand new record highs with each passing day.  As we note fairly frequently, declines have grown shallower over the past two years and the S&P 500 has now gone 246 trading days without trading more than 3% below its record high, the longest streak ever for the index, according to LPL Financial. Meanwhile, the S&P hasn’t had a decline of 10% or more from a recent peak since February 2016.

 It’s not received much attention, but global butter prices have roughly tripled since Summer 2016 as production cuts have hit supply...