New at the Belmont Club. Who will understand, then lead the new world as it has actually become?
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Auditor missed Evergrande signals
When Evergrande’s auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong, signed off on the company’s 2020 financial statements, it didn’t include a so-called going concern warning. These red flags from an auditor show that it has doubts about the company’s ability to stay afloat for at least 12 months. WSJ
Borders of preferred belief
President Biden earned the ire of Border Patrol agents on Friday after endorsing the false claim that they were recorded “whipping” migrants who were attempting to cross the Rio Grande into Del Rio, Texas, earlier this week. At a press briefing Friday, Biden said the agents would “pay” for allegedly lashing the Haitian migrants — …
America the multithreaded
Ron DeSantis has been doing a lot as governor of Florida. But there’s one job that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves: In many ways, DeSantis is serving as America’s shadow president. In the Westminster parliamentary system of government, used in Britain and elsewhere, the opposition forms a shadow cabinet: A group of senior opposition-party …
China: hand Uighurs over if you want money
For years, Chinese officials have issued calls for leaders in Afghanistan to crack down on and deport Uyghur militants they claimed were sheltering in Afghanistan. The officials said the fighters belonged to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a separatist organization that Beijing has held responsible for a series of terrorist attacks in China since the …
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Paid up front
Of Hui’s current estimated $11.5 billion fortune, Forbes calculated that $8 billion is from cash dividends paid to Hui since Evergrande’s 2009 IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The real estate developer’s total liabilities have increased every year since it went public, according to its annual reports, but it has paid out a dividend …
The only way out of a market crisis is to fix the market
“We do not expect the government to provide any direct support to Evergrande,” said the S&P credit analysts in a Monday report. “We believe Beijing would only be compelled to step in if there is a far-reaching contagion causing multiple major developers to fail and posing systemic risks to the economy.” NBC
Suspended virus origins probe should continue
Congress should require a new investigation by the State Department’s arms compliance office into the possible role of China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology in the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, a report by two former State Department officials says. The Biden administration earlier this year canceled a probe begun under President Trump into the virus’s …
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Xi cashes out on capitalism
The Chinese President is not just trying to rein in a few big tech and other companies and show who is boss in China. He is trying to roll back China’s decadeslong evolution toward Western-style capitalism and put the country on a different path entirely, a close examination of Mr. Xi’s writings and his discussions …
It might not really be Green but it has the Look
The planned city of Telosa. No, it’s not a mirage in the desert haze. Nor is it Elon Musk’s latest plan to colonise Mars. These are the designs for the city of Telosa, the latest project from billionaire investor Marc Lore and celebrated architect Bjarke Ingels’s firm BIG. Lore and Ingels’s ambitious plan would see …
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China waiting to see if Evergrande cracks spread
“We believe Beijing would only be compelled to step in if there is a far-reaching contagion causing multiple major developers to fail and posing systemic risks to the economy.” On Thursday, Evergrande has an $83.5 million interest payment it is likely to miss, which would cause more market turmoil. NYT
They’re learning ’em good
Let them work at Taco Bell. Maspeth High School created fake classes, awarded bogus credits, and fixed grades to push students to graduate — “even if the diploma was not worth the paper on which it was printed,” an explosive investigative report charges. Principal Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir demanded that teachers pass students no matter how little …
The NATO glue has gone
In responding to the secretive U.S.-British move to sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, a decision that the Australians used to nix the prior French deal, Mr. Macron could choose to escalate. One idea doing the rounds in France is for the country to withdraw from NATO’s integrated military command structure, which it rejoined in 2009 …
Not all vaccines are equal; study says some fade
Data collected from 18 states between March and August suggest the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine reduces the risk of being hospitalized with COVID-19 by 91% in the first four months after receiving the second dose. Beyond 120 days, however, that vaccine efficacy drops to 77%. Meanwhile, Moderna’s vaccine was 93% effective at reducing the short-term risk of …
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Time capsule
New at the Belmont Club. How well did my thinking on Australian naval strategy hold up to the test of time?
How Israel assassinated Iran’s top nuclear scientist
Preparations for the assassination began after a series of meetings toward the end of 2019 and in early 2020 between Israeli officials, led by the Mossad director, Yossi Cohen, and high-ranking American officials, including President Donald J. Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the C.I.A. director, Gina Haspel. NYT
US ramps up plan to expel Haitian migrants stranded at Texas bridge
DHS said that in response to the more than 10,000 migrants sheltering under the Del Rio International Bridge that connects the city with Ciudad Acuna in Mexico, it was accelerating flights to Haiti and other destinations within the next 72 hours. It said it was working with nations where the migrants began their journeys – …
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A generic drug is the same, right?
Whereas name-brand drugs can be so expensive that people can’t afford them, generics are often so cheap that companies stop making them or cut corners to turn a profit. Competition for market share at rock-bottom price points has led to chronic shortages, unpredictable price-spikes, allegations of illegal price-fixing, and substandard and even dangerous practices. Production …
Biden’s over-the-horizon scheme annihilates innocent family
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A survivor of an errant U.S. drone strike that killed 10 members of his family demanded Saturday that those responsible be punished and said Washington’s apology was not enough. The family also seeks financial compensation and relocation to the United States or another country deemed safe, said Emal Ahmadi, whose 3-year-old …
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The global reshuffle against China
There are 2 alliances against China. The Quad, consisting of Japan, India, Australia and the US. This is an immensely regional powerful coalition with multiples of China’s population, land area and GNP. Two coalition members, India and Japan, are in current territorial conflict with China. AUKUS consists of a coalition not directly in conflict with …