Europe

One might think that after 92 years, some wisdom may have leaked into the brain of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe. But no. As the world's oldest head of state, he has overseen the demise from a post-colonial success to a pariah state wrecked by hyperinflation. However, having apparently learned no lesson from his prior experiences, The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has decided to print a new national currency for the first time since 2009.

As Simon Black pointed out a month ago, some people just don’t learn.

Submitted by Peter Korzun via Strategic-Culture.org,

Fifteen European states have supported Germany’s initiative to launch discussions with Russia on a new arms control agreement.

«Europe's security is in danger», German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Die Welt newspaper in an interview published on November 25. «As difficult as ties to Russia may currently be, we need more dialogue, not less».

Submitted by Justin Raimondo via AntiWar.com,

No one outside of a few obsessed cranks would’ve noticed it if the Washington Post hadn’t given it front page prominence last week: a formerly obscure web site, propornot.com, which purports to identify a “Russian active measures” campaign with some very specific goals in mind As Post “reporter” Craig Timberg put it:

In these volatile times, gold is more important than ever. Bonner & Partners' Bill Bonner explains in this two-part series (Part 1 here), the importance of 'real money' and why you need it now...

Why You Will Need Gold

What troubles my sleep is what is not in the textbooks.

Ever since "Trumpflation" emerged as a driver of risk-assets, a tension has emerged in capital markets: how much higher can rates rise (and by implication the US Dollar) before financial conditions become so tight that the equity rally reverses under the weight of the very reflation it is pricing in. Ten days ago, SocGen became the first to attempt an answer, by providing the following table, according to which the answer was roughly 2.6% on the 10Y Treasury: a level at which equities become rich relative to bond yields.