Europe

The Catalan stand-off has been extended until Thursday as both sides hold their ground.

Authored by Robert Parry via ConsortiumNews.com,

When the Reagan administration launched peacetime “psyops” in the mid-1980s, it pulled in civilian agencies to help spread these still-ongoing techniques of deception and manipulation...

Chris Hedges and David North via TruthDig.com,

On Monday, WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North interviewed Chris Hedges, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author, lecturer and former New York Times correspondent. Among Hedges’ best-known books are War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, The Death of the Liberal Class, Empire of Illusion: the End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, which he co-wrote with the cartoonist Joe Sacco, and Wages of Rebellion: the Moral Imperative of Revolt.

European politics returns with a bang this week, when not only will attention be focused on Austria to see if the right wing Freedom Party joins the People's Party in a historic governing coalition, in an embarrassing blow to Europe's establishment, but also whether Catalan President Puidgemont will (again) fomally - and this time clearly - announce whether he has declared independence as Spain's PM Rajoy demanded last week. Elsewhere, EU leaders meet on Thursday to discuss the progress of the Brexit talks and whether transition and trade negotiations can begin.

Returning to the world of investing and market commentary one week after surgery, One River's CIO Eric Peters touches on some of the most topical issues, including his latest take on bitcoin and money in particular, and the definition of value (which is increasingly more weightless) in general, the deflationary impact of tech on prices and wages and what the Fed's inflation target should be in this "new normal", recent trends in R&D spending, and, of course volatility.

Below we present select highlights from Peters' latest letter:

Overall