Crisis

Washington could only safely use a fraction of its arsenal without killing Americans with an unintended adverse series of cascading environmental effects, writes Joshua M. Pearce.

A case can be made that the current financial panic will only subside when the ultimate black swan – Covid-19 – is contained.
Pepe ESCOBAR
Is the planet under the spell of a pair of black swans – a Wall Street meltdown, caused by an alleged oil war between Russia and the House of Saud, plus the uncontrolled spread of Covid-19 – leading to an all-out “cross-asset pandemonium” as billed by Nomura?

Peter Van BUREN
Nothing is more viral than fear. Fear—fight or flight–is a terrible way to make decisions that call for time, science, and rational thinking. Want to screw up a public health crisis? Let fear drive.

The Age of Enlightenment had a pretty good run from the 17th to 19th centuries. It led to the Industrial Age and, in concurrence, the Space and Information Ages. These historical epochs advanced humanity to crowning breakthroughs in science, medicine, information exchange, and quality of life. Today, all of humankind’s advancements are being threatened by those who would have society return to an age marked by superstition, belief in magic and miracles, ignorance, racial and religious intolerance, and abject sexism.

Weak growth data and global economy outlook point towards a recession
Umesh DESAI
Oil prices have cratered and that should be good news for net importer Asia, right? Not really, if one were to look at the weak growth data and outlook for the global economy with a strong rally in bonds pointing towards a recession.

This Thursday, the markets took a 1000 point hit which was more than a little startling for many investors since the last 1000 point fall only happened three days prior… all in all bringing the financial markets to lows not seen since April 2011, and veering dangerously close to a precipice which has 1929 written all over it.

Rod DREHER
You will have heard that the Italian government is planning to put the entire region of Lombardy, as well as the area around Venice, under a one-month quarantine, probably starting tomorrow. Someone irresponsibly leaked the plan to the Italian media, which irresponsibly reported it, and now people are fleeing Lombardy before the borders close.

Elections are supposed to solve problems by reordering government, adopting new policies, and putting new people in control. But how many elections must Israel have before it realizes it can do none of those things because it’s caught in an intractable constitutional bind?


It now looks like Europe may be moving towards Migrant Crisis 2.0 as footage from the Greek border is pouring in over the Mainstream Media. However the key player to pay attention to is Turkey, they may have started the new migration problem and thus they may be the ones who can end it.

Turkey is threatening Europe with an influx of millions of refugees from Syria’s conflict, while the United States this week announced over $100 million in “humanitarian aid” for Syria. The Europeans are wringing their hands over further problems from unwanted migration, yet Brussels continues to pile economic sanctions on war-torn Syria, thus impeding the nation’s recovery and exacerbating suffering.
The guilty parties to Syria’s suffering and misery have the rank audacity to profess seeming compassion.