Sham Elections in Myanmar properly known as Burma

(Zaheena Rasheed’s post from the ALJAZEERA NEWS on 27 December 2025.)

Yangon, Myanmar – Voters in parts of Myanmar are heading to the polls on Sunday for an election that critics view as a bid by the country’s generals to legitimise military rule, nearly five years after they overthrew the government of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The multi-phased election is unfolding amid a raging civil war, with ethnic armed groups and opposition militias fighting the military for control of vast stretches of territory, stretching from the borderlands with Bangladesh and India in the west, across the central plains, to the frontiers with China and Thailand in the north and east.

In central Sagaing, voting will take place in only a third of the region’s townships on Sunday. Another third will be covered during a second and third phase in January, while voting has been cancelled altogether in the remainder.

Deadly Pokies are Banned in Western Australia

(Josh Nicholas’s post from the GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA on 10 January 2023.)

Western Australia shows the harm poker machines are doing to the rest of the Australia: Pokies are banned in the state everywhere except casinos – and it has the lowest rates of gambling losses per capita (and suicide) in Australia to show for it.

While clubs in New South Wales and Victoria have been embroiled in acrimonious battles in recent months over their reliance on poker machine revenue, there is one state where they are banned – and where gambling losses are much lower.

Since 1985, pokies have been banned in WA's pubs and clubs, with their presence limited solely to the Crown Casino. This provides us with some geographic variation in Australia on gambling, if we consider WA to be a `pokie-less' equivalent of the eastern states.

In Western Australia poker machines are allowed only in the casino. It has the lowest rates of gambling losses per capita in the country, and reported symptoms of problematic gambling are higher in the other states, experts say.

Unholy Alliance: Islamists, Leftists, and LGBTQA+

       (AI overview from the GOOGLE SEARCH on 22 December 2025.)

Islamists will kill the Lefties.

The phrase "unholy alliance" has been used in various political and historical contexts to describe unexpected or seemingly contradictory partnerships, most notably the "alliance" of communists and Muslims, and also the shared anti-LGBTQA+ stance between certain extremist groups. There is no "unholy alliance" of these three groups together.

Alliances Between Communists and Muslims: The term "unholy alliance" was notably used by Mohammad Reza Shah to describe the fusion between the secular left (communists, the "red") and the Islamic clerical establishment (mullahs, the "black") during the lead-up to the Iranian Revolution. This alliance was one of convenience to overthrow the existing system.

Historically, alliances have formed between communists and Muslim movements at different times and in various countries (including Russia in the early 1920s, Syria, Iraq, and Indonesia). These were often strategic partnerships to oppose Western imperialism or colonialism. However, these alliances were temporary and often ended in conflict and eventual mass exterminations like in Iran.

Evil City: Sydney's Hell of Pokies (Slot Machines)?

                 (Repost of my blog post "Uncaring Society" from 30 August 2018.)

Aussies lost 12 billion dollars a year on evil pokies.

Believe it or not, the shocking twenty percent of all the so-called Pokies (known as Slot Machines in the US) in the whole world are in Australia. The tiny population of 24 million Australians carried the heavy burden of 200,000+ pokies out of the one million+ pokies legally operating in this world.

Last year alone the horribly pokies-addicted Australians wasted over 12 billion dollars on their pokies. Which was nearly a quarter of all pension payments for older Australians aged 65 and over (estimated 3.8 million Old Aussies received nearly 48 billion dollars a year as cash-pension alone).

Anyone who walk into any local RSL club anytime will find tens and tens of pensioners feeding their meagre pension payments (about 900 A$ a fortnight) into the pokies. The worse are young children (mostly Asian girls and boys) wasting their hard-earned money on pokies in the smoke-filled pubs commonly found at many street corners in Sydney!

Jihadi preacher Wissam Haddad breaks silence

(Paul Shapiro’s post from the DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA on 19 December 2025.)

Wissam Haddad's Bankstown Mosque.

Outspoken Islamic preacher Wissam Haddad has broken his silence, claiming there's 'no evidence' he had a relationship with the prime suspect in the Bondi terror attack. Haddad delivered antisemitic lectures at an Islamic centre frequented by alleged Bondi shooter Naveed Akram, who has been charged with 15 counts of murder.

Akram, 24, is understood to have attended Al Madina Dawah Centre before allegedly carrying out Sunday's massacre with his father, Sajid Akram. Haddad, who is not suggested to have had any prior knowledge of the attacks or any involvement, denied claims that Naveed was one of his followers.

The Islamic preacher shared a statement via encrypted messaging app Telegram on Thursday evening. 'This claim is undefined and misleading,' Haddad wrote. 'The term "follower" is not explained and could refer to something as minimal as a social media follow, which does not establish endorsement, influence or a personal relationship. No evidence has been produced showing any personal, organisational, or instructional link between Naveed Akram and Wissam Haddad.'

Bondi Terrorist Naveed: Follower Of Wisam Haddad

         (Sean Dunlop’s post from ABC NEWS AUSTRALIA on 16 December 2025.)

Bondi Beach shooting gunman Naveed Akram was follower of pro-Islamic State preacher Wisam Haddad: At least one of the gunmen responsible for Sunday's terrorist attack at Bondi Beach had longstanding links to Australia's pro-Islamic State (IS) network, including to a notorious Sydney cleric, the ABC has found.

But in the lead-up to the attack, Naveed Akram, 24, was not on a terrorism watchlist, nor was his father Sajid Akram prevented from legally accessing firearms before they opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration, killing 15 people.

Naveed Akram remains in hospital under police guard after being wounded in a shootout with police in which his father was killed. Australia's domestic intelligence agency, ASIO, examined Naveed Akram in 2019 after uncovering his associations with a Sydney-based IS cell, the ABC reported on Monday.

Bondi (Paki) Gunmen: Mindanao-trained Terrorists?

        (Sean Dunlop’s post from ABC NEWS AUSTRALIA on 16 December 2025.)

Bondi terrorists travelled to Philippines for 'military-style training', security sources say: Father-son gunmen Sajid and Naveed Akram travelled to the Philippines to receive "military-style training" in the month before they killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach, security sources have   confirmed.

The revelation comes after the ABC reported Naveed Akram, 24, had longstanding links to members of Australia's pro-Islamic State (IS) network — including to notorious jihadist spiritual leader Wisam Haddad and convicted IS youth recruiter Youssef Uweinat. Through a lawyer, Mr Haddad has said he "vehemently denies any knowledge of or involvement in the shootings that took place at Bondi Beach".

Investigators are now examining the Akrams' ties to an international jihadist network, after discovering the pair travelled to Manila in early November, according to officials briefed on the investigation. Naveed and Sajid Akram then journeyed to the southern Philippines and underwent militant training, said a senior counter-terrorism official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The pair returned to Australia in late November, officials said, just weeks before Sunday's massacre at Bondi Beach.

The Big Short (Aus) is Coming: Mortgage-Bonds Vs CDS

(My disturbing thoughts on the soon-coming Australian Version of THE BIG SHORT.)

Any Australian wise enough to understand the movie “THE BIG SHORT” and then read Michael Lewis’s book “THE BIG SHORT” would certainly realise that the Australian version of “THE BIG SHORT” has been well overdue here in Sydney.

Last 35 years since late 1990s, when the Capital-Gain-Tax (CGT) was halved by John Howard’s Liberal Government, Sydney houses have been in an incredible floating bubble massively super-inflated by landlords’ favourite the Negative Gearings, for the median house price has risen into the upper-stratosphere. From well below A$ 100,000 in 1990 to well over A$ 1,000,000 now in 2025.

I still remember the day when I bought my first house in Sydney in 1990, I paid A$ 98,000 for that brick-veneer-three-bedders while I was earning A$ 48,000 a year as a production manager in an engineering company and my wife was on A$ 27,000 a year as a tutor in Sydney University.

Indian Student Owns 56 Sydney Homes in Just 20 Years!

       (Aidan Devine’s post from REALESTATE.com FACEBOOK on 13 November 2025.)

Sydney investor now owns 56 properties after buying 18 in last five months: Property investor Bharat Patel, 43, first came to Sydney as a student and now has 56 homes across the country.

An IT worker who arrived in Australia as a student 20 years ago has revealed he now owns 56 homes, 18 of which were bought in the last five months – but he claims he isn’t being greedy by buying so many.

Sydney resident Bharat Patel, 43, said his properties were worth a combined $20 million and the rents he pockets from his property empire totalled nearly $780,000 a year. He added that he only holds about $7.5 million in debt against his $20 million portfolio because the values have skyrocketed since he purchased many of his homes.

Pauline Hanson Suspended from Australian Senate

            (Staff posts from ABC NEWS & The AUSTRALIAN on 25 November 2025.)

One Nation Party leader Pauline Hanson has been censured by the Senate and suspended for seven sitting days, a day after she wore a burka in the chamber to push for the garment's ban.

The censure motion was moved by government Senate leader Penny Wong, who said the burka stunt "mocked and vilified" an entire faith, and was "disrespectful" to the Senate as an institution. The Auatralian Senate has also been suspended over Pauline Hanson‘s latest stunt – entering the chamber wearing a burqa.

After Foreign Minister Penny Wong moved to have the One Nation leader suspended from the Senate for the remainder of sitting, Senate President Sue Lines was forced to suspend the chamber after Senator Hanson refused to leave.

BYD: Build Your Dreams

(Staff post from ENGINEERING & SCIENCE's FACEBOOK on 20 November 2025.)

From a small farming village in China, Wang Chuanfu’s journey to building BYD, the world’s leading electric vehicle company, is nothing short of remarkable.

Orphaned at a young age and raised by his siblings, Wang began his career with limited resources and just 20 employees. Despite these challenges, his vision and determination drove him to create a company that would revolutionize the automotive and energy industries.

BYD started by focusing on battery technology, gradually expanding into electric cars, buses, and renewable energy solutions. Wang’s innovative mindset and relentless pursuit of excellence transformed BYD into a global powerhouse, attracting attention from investors worldwide, including Warren Buffett. The company didn’t just produce vehicles; it created an entire ecosystem for clean mobility and sustainable energy, setting new standards for the industry.

Myanmar Army Enables Chinese Cyber Scam Centers

     (Myo Yan Naung Thein’s post from HIS FACEBOOK PAGE on 15 November 2025.)

Scam Centers in Myanmar: Myanmar Army Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing and His Inner Circle.

This document provides a comprehensive overview of the individuals and networks associated with Myanmar’s scam centers, with a primary focus on the country’s military leadership under Min Aung Hlaing.

It examines his pivotal role in orchestrating the scam centers  network, details the involvement of his closest associates and influential families, and explores the scope of alleged criminal activities and international sanctions linked to his regime.

Min Aung Hlaing has been making billions of dollars personally for himself through his BGF lapdogs like Karen BGF Saw Chit Thu and the Kokang BGF before China brutally put them to death.

Dorothy Hodgkin’s 1964 Nobel Story (Mapping of Insulin)

         (Staff post from the THIS DAY IN HISTORY on 14 November 2025.)

She spent 30 years mapping a single molecule—insulin—atom by atom. Her hands were crippled by arthritis, but she gave medicine the blueprints to save millions. She was the only British woman to ever win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Oxford, 1934. A young chemist named Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin peered into an X-ray crystallography camera at a tiny crystal of insulin. She was trying to see something no human had ever seen: the exact arrangement of every atom in the molecule that keeps diabetics alive.

The technology was primitive. The calculations would take decades. And Dorothy's hands were already beginning to twist with rheumatoid arthritis that would eventually cripple them. She started working on insulin anyway. She would spend the next 35 years decoding it.

Organ Harvesting at Myanmar's Shwe Kokko Scam Hub

              (Staff post from the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST on 22 July 2023.)

Survivors of Myanmar’s Scam Mills Talk ‘Torture,’ Death, Organ Harvesting—and the Battle To Escape: Those in charge of Myanmar’s scam centres don’t want the world to see what’s going on inside. Phones are confiscated upon arrival and work devices are wiped before anyone leaves, as scam bosses go to great lengths to hide their crimes.

Jane and Max, two Filipinos forced to work for one of the criminal outfits along Myanmar’s border with Thailand, were made to wait an additional 10 days before their eventual release in early July to allow their wounds to heal. “They held us because of our bruises,” Jane said, showing scars on her back and shoulders. “They didn’t want anyone to see.”

Despite these cover-up efforts, evidence of widespread and severe abuse is mounting. Footage supplied to This Week in Asia by victims and anti-trafficking activists shows electrocutions, beatings and workers who are handcuffed, blindfolded and forced to sleep in overcrowded rooms.

Myanmar Cyber-Scam-King Sent Back to China

          (Staff post from the ABC Australia on 12November 2025.)

Alleged Myanmar scam kingpin She Zhijiang extradited to China from Thailand: An alleged Chinese racketeer linked to a hugely lucrative scam hub in Myanmar has been extradited from Thailand to China.

She Zhijiang had been in Thai custody since 2022 after spending more than a decade on the run from Chinese authorities, accused of ties to the Myanmar gambling and fraud hub Shwe Kokko. A Thai appeals court upheld China's extradition request this week for the 43-year-old, who also held Cambodian nationality, after lengthy legal wrangling.

He was flown out of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport on Wednesday afternoon, local time, a Thai police official said. The businessman was escorted from the airport's police station with his hands braced behind his back by armed and masked Thai police, an uncommon practice for local officers.

An Interpol red notice published in May 2021 and obtained by AFP said Mr She faced criminal charges in China related to running online gambling and fraud operations. He and his company, Yatai, have already been hit with sanctions by Britain and the United States.

TELOMERASE: Carol Greider’s Nobel Winning Story

               (Staff post from the SOLO TRAVELLER on 11 November 2025.)

Christmas Day, 1984. A 23-year-old grad student went to the lab to check her experiment. What she found would win the Nobel Prize—and rewrite biology. Most people spend Christmas Day with family or friends, opening presents, eating too much, enjoying the one day when the world slows down. Carol Greider spent hers in a laboratory—chasing the smallest secret of life.

It was 1984 at the University of California, Berkeley. Carol was in her first year of graduate school, working under molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn, studying chromosomes—the threadlike structures made of DNA that carry our genetic information. Specifically, they were studying telomeres: the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes, like the plastic tips on shoelaces that keep them from fraying.

Scientists knew telomeres existed. They knew telomeres shortened every time a cell divided—DNA replication couldn't quite reach the very ends of chromosomes, so a little bit got lost each time. Eventually, after enough divisions, telomeres would become too short. The cell would stop dividing. It would age. It would die. This explained cellular aging. It explained why our cells don't divide forever.

China’s BYD and Cherry Dumping EVs in Australia

            (Caleb Bond’s post from the SKY NEWS AUSTRALIA on 10 November 2025.)

China's dumping ground: Labor actively encouraging foreign firms to flood Australian market in pursuit of ambitious 2035 EV targets. Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen’s net zero goal of multiplying new electric car sales many times over is punishing Australia and enriching China.

Australia has become a dumping ground for Chinese electric vehicles. And it’s a perfect business model for Chinese manufacturers because the federal government is effectively paying them to do it while they artificially squeeze everyone else out of the market.

As widely reported, a number of locations off the beaten track have been commandeered to store the swathes of cars China is sending our way. Jamberoo Action Park, about two hours down the road from Sydney, was turned into a storage facility for BYD until Kiama Council intervened and forced the cars to be moved this week.

Communist China Has Suddenly Become Cool?

(Kaihann’s REDDIT post + Shaoyu Yuan’spost from CONVERSATION in April 2025.)

TikTok is one very reason behind how China is suddenly becoming cool. The comparison TikTok videos in what middle class life looks like between the US and China to be the most influential. Of course, TikTok will not have that impact if China’s middle class was impoverished and downtrodden.

China is becoming cool because: it has a strong and improving middle class; world class infrastructure; cutting edge technology in many new fields; safe and clean cities at a scale unmatched by many Western peers; has a foreign policy which is benign and magnanimous relative to the US ( not without flaws but its relative); is not engaged in constant war.

China is becoming cool because: it is a major supporter for development in other emerging market countries; has a growing number of recognizable consumer brands; on the right side of the tariff dispute, standing up to a bully; has a 144 hour visa free policy for many countries encouraging tourism; many tourists documenting their visits over video refuting US narratives of a police state and genocide.

New York is Fucked: Defund Islamist-Leftist Mayor!

       (Josh Christenson’s post from the NEW YORKPOST on 07 November 2025.)

House GOP clashes over ‘ludicrous’ bill to defund NYC under Mamdani: The only Republican lawmaker representing one of New York City’s boroughs in Congress is lambasting members of her own party for seeking to defund the Big Apple after socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s win.

Staten Island Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told The Post Friday that she will “push back on any attempt” by fellow congressional Republicans to “punish” New York City. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) told Fox News on Thursday he was introducing a new bill, the Moving American Money Distant from Anti-National Interests Act, or MAMDANI Act, to block federal funding for the Big Apple.

“I’m going to fight Mamdani’s radical socialist policies — but I’ll also push back on any attempt by my own party to ‘punish’ our city,” Malliotakis said. “I love New York and will always fight for it.” “The mayor-elect did not receive a mandate on Tuesday; nearly 50% of voters opposed his election,” she added. “I’ll never stop fighting for hardworking New Yorkers who believe in the American Dream and the uniformed services that protect them.”

New York Has Fallen: Muslim-Indian-Socialist NYC Mayor

                    (Staff post from the NEWS WEEK on 05 November 2025.)

MAGA Reacts to Zohran Mamdani’s Victory in New York: Zohran Mamdani has defeated former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa to be elected the next Mayor of New York City, something which has come at the dismay of MAGA and conservatives, who have quickly flocked online to share their reactions to Mamdani’s historic win.

Why It Matters: Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist, has become the first Muslim and Indian American mayor. "Today we have spoken in a clear voice: Hope is alive," Mamdani said during his victory speech.

Democrats saw wins across the country, flipping governorships in Virginia and New Jersey and sweeping judicial races in Pennsylvania. The results could signal a shift in where the country is politically, acting as a litmus test ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Many Republicans expressed feelings of doom, and a sense that New York had crossed a line.

UN expert calls Myanmar election 'sham'

                (Staff post from the NHK JAPAN on 30October 2025.)

The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar has described the elections the military plans for December as a 'sham,' noting opposition parties are excluded.

In a Wednesday press conference, Tom Andrews said, "I made it as clear as I possibly could that these elections are a sham. They're a fraud." He added "you cannot have a free and fair election when you arrest, detain, imprison, and torture the leaders of the political opposition."

He also noted that the humanitarian conditions in the war-torn country are worsening, with nearly 22 million people requiring aid.

The military says the voting will take place in phases starting December 28. Campaigning kicked off on Tuesday with 57 political parties registered. But pro-democracy groups including the National League for Democracy, or NLD, which won the 2020 election, have been disbanded after refusing to take part in the process.

English Convicts' Bloods Dominant in Modern Australia!

             (John Harland’s post from the QUORA on 17 February 2020.)

The now-celebrated First Fleet of eleven English convict ships brought convicts, marines, and their families from Britain to Australia, arriving in January 1788. The primary purpose was to establish a penal colony to relieve overcrowded prisons in Britain. The fleet carried between 750 and 780 convicts, and their arrival in Sydney Cove marked the beginning of European colonization and the transportation of convicts to Australia, which lasted until 1868. 

“Has the gene pool in Australia truly been affected by the fact that a certain number of convicts were sent there as settlers?” It had a strongly positive effect. The people who were sent represented a far broader genetic range than the relatively inbred gentry of Britain. They were also people whose ancestors had faced more-rigorous selection pressure than those living in relative luxury.

Their designation as “convicts” resulted from circumstances. Many were refugees in their own country, having been thrown off the land of their ancestors through the Enclosure of Lands, where the local lord decided that broad-acre agriculture earned him more than having smallholders each farming part of the land.

Trade War: The Victims are the US Soybean Farmers

              (Stuff post from the FOX NEWS on 25 September 2025.)

Minnesota soybean farmers can usually count on big paychecks about this season, but this year, they’re deep in the red because they’ve lost their biggest buyer due to trade war triggered by the idiot Trump’s crazy tariffs. China usually buys $12-$13 billion in American soybeans each year, but it’s now buying from Argentina and Brazil instead.

In the short term, most Minnesota soybean farmers will harvest their crops and either sell them at a loss or pay to store them, or a little of both. But they can only last so long with income at or near zero.

China is a large country with a serious lack of cultivated land. After nearly 5,000 years of development, China has only about 100 million hectares of cultivated land. Therefore, grain crops must be given priority, such as wheat and rice. Therefore, the food imported into China is mainly soybean and corn, and their purpose is mainly for animal feed.

De-dollarization: Collapse of US$ as Reserve Currency?

             (Natasha Kaneva’s post from The JPMORGAN USA on 01 July 2025.)

De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? Top dollar no more? Learn more about the factors threatening the dominance of the world’s reserve currency. While the U.S.’s share in global exports and output has declined, the dollar’s transactional dominance is still evident in areas including FX volumes and trade invoicing.

On the other hand, de-dollarization is unfolding in central bank FX reserves, where the share of USD has slid to a two-decade low. In fixed income, the share of foreign ownership in the U.S. Treasury market has fallen over the last 15 years, pointing to reduced reliance on the dollar. De-dollarization is most visible in commodity markets, where a large and growing proportion of energy is being priced in non-dollar-denominated contracts.

The U.S. dollar is the world’s primary reserve currency, and it is also the most widely used currency for trade and other international transactions. However, its hegemony has come into question in recent times due to geopolitical and geostrategic shifts.

Myanmar Dictator Banned from The ASEAN Summit

       (Karishmar Vyas’s post from The ABC NEWS Australia on 26 October 2025.)

Myanmar too low on agenda as regional leaders meet Trump for summit: Sitting inside an open-air shack along Thailand's porous border with Myanmar, Koko Chit couldn't believe that he was still alive.

Desperate for money, he had left his wife and three children in July and travelled back to northern Myanmar to scavenge for jade at Hpakant's notorious mines. The work was deadly, but it was the civil war that almost killed him.

"There's no security there. When you go to work, there's fighting," says Chit, 31, who didn't give his real name because he feared for his life. "The State Administration Council (Myanmar's military) conscripts workers. They fire their guns to threaten people for no reason. And the resistance forces fire back."

What Happened in 1971? Ending the Gold Standard

        (John Zadeh’s post from THE DISCOVERY ALERT USA on 13 April 2025.)

The Nixon Shock Explained: On August 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon unilaterally ended dollar convertibility to gold, a decision that would fundamentally transform the global economic landscape.

This dramatic move came as US gold reserves had declined precipitously from approximately 20,000 tons to just 8,333 tons. The depletion occurred because foreign nations, particularly France under President Charles de Gaulle, were increasingly redeeming dollars for physical gold as the US ran persistent trade and budget deficits.

Nixon's decision, made during a secret meeting at Camp David with key economic advisors, was essentially a choice to preserve America's remaining gold reserves rather than face an inevitable default on gold-for-dollar obligations. Treasury Secretary John Connally famously remarked during this period that "the dollar is our currency, but it's your problem," highlighting the unilateral nature of this momentous economic shift.

Su Bin The Chinese Spy Who Stole F-35 & C-17 Secrets

                       (Jim Sciutto’s post from The CNN USA on 14 May 2019.)

‘The Shadow War’: How a Chinese spy stole some of the Pentagon’s most sensitive secrets. To his American friends and contacts, Stephen Su was an affable businessman and gregarious guy. “People liked him,” Bob Anderson, the FBI’s former head of counterintelligence, told me. “They didn’t think he was an asshole and I know that sounds stupid, but people are people and that’s how it started.”

Stephen Su, who also went by his Chinese name Su Bin, lived in his native China but traveled frequently to the United States and Canada, to build a business in the aviation and aerospace sectors. His company, Lode-Tech, was a small player in a field of giants. However, from 2009 to 2014, Su steadily and deliberately built a network of close business contacts inside far bigger US and Canadian defense contractors who held some of most sensitive US military contracts.

“So, he cultivates you over time,” Anderson recalled. The information Su was most interested in related to three of the most advanced US military aircraft ever built, the Lockheed Martin F-35 and F-22 stealth fighters and the Boeing C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft.

China Backing The Yuan with Real Gold!

            (Staff post from The SILVER ACADEMY on 19 September 2025.)

China Unlocks Gold-Backed Yuan: The Dawn of a New Global Reserve Era. Yuan’s gold convertibility lets global trade bypass the dollar, accelerating a shift to a gold-anchored, multipolar financial order.

Hong Kong’s push to become a global gold trading and reserve hub highlights a sharp contrast between real assets and endlessly printed fiat money. While the United States continues expanding its money supply — diluting purchasing power through debt-driven policies — China and now Hong Kong are moving in the opposite direction, stacking tangible wealth in the form of gold.

By targeting storage capacity of over 2,000 tonnes within three years and rolling out tokenized gold investment tools, Hong Kong is positioning itself at the center of a new gold-based financial system. Unlike dollars that can be created with a keystroke, gold holds centuries of trust as a store of value and hedge against inflation.

Idiot Trump’s Crazy Tariffs Bankrupting US Farmers

       (Lindsay Chutel’s post from The NEW YORKTIMES USA on 24 October 2025.)

An ad, bought by the province of Ontario, sent an anti-tariff message using sound bites from an address President Ronald Reagan made decades ago. President Trump claimed the ad was “fraud” and terminated trade talks with Canada.

In calling a halt to trade talks with Canada, President Trump pointed to an ad paid for by the province of Ontario that used a speech President Ronald Reagan made decades ago. In it, Mr. Reagan speaks against tariffs, a tool Mr. Trump has widely deployed, including against Canada, and warns against protectionism.

Mr. Trump claimed that the ad was fake and that it had been aired “to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court,” which is considering a legal challenge to many of his tariffs. But the advertisement, which Ontario’s provincial government purchased to air in the United States, uses sound bites from a radio address Mr. Reagan made in April 1987 that was critical of tariffs. It reproduces Mr. Reagan’s quotes accurately, but changes the order he said them.

Singapore’s Minibond Saga (2008)

               (Staff post from The SINGAPORE INFOPEDIA in August 2023.)

Lehman Brothers Minibond saga: The Lehman Brothers Minibond saga refers to the chain of events resulting from the Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy filing in September 2008.

Following the collapse of the Lehman Brothers, about 10,000 retail investors in Singapore lost their investments totalling over S$500 million in structured investment products linked to the American investment bank. The financial institutions that distributed the products were accused of having mis-sold these relatively high-risk products to investors, many of whom were elderly and less educated.

This prompted government investigations, which led to penalties being imposed on 10 financial institutions, and tighter supervision of the industry.

Hidden Risk Growing in Australia’s Mortgages

             (Aidan Devine’s post from The DAILY TELEGRAPH on 17 October 2025.)

Hidden risk in Australia’s home loans as high risk lending grows: More homeowners are buying with smaller deposits amid rising competition for properties and relaxed lending.

Australia’s housing market is being increasingly propped up by risky lending as interest rate cuts encourage banks to take on higher leveraged loans – and it could leave homeowners paying more.

Analysis of APRA figures revealed loans to home buyers with fractional deposits of less than 5 per cent surged to record levels over the 12 months to August. Lending to those with small deposits under 5 per cent hit $14.2 billion over the period, according to the analysis by Primara Research and investment property group Our Top 10.

The Movie "Margin Call" Is For Real!

                         (Jake Zamansky’s post from The FORBES on 25 Oct 2011.)

The movie “Margin Call,” which opened this past weekend, advertises that it was inspired by a true story.

The fictional head of a Wall Street firm “John Tuld” (a composite character resembling Merrill Lynch’s John Thain and Lehman Brothers’ Dick Fuld and played by the wonderfully villainous Jeremy Irons) is told that the firm is drowning in toxic mortgage-backed securities.

Tuld orders his traders to rid the firm’s balance sheet of the junk by dumping it on unsuspecting counterparties and customers. Tuld is told: “You’re selling something you know has no value.” He replies: “Be first, be smarter or cheat.”

CDO Man "Wing Chau" wasn’t Defamed by The Big Short

          (Mark Wilson’s post from The FINDLAW on 21 March 2019.)

Michael Lewis Didn't Defame Wing Chau in 'The Big Short': Michael Lewis' nonfiction book The Big Short, published in 2011, chronicled the 2008 financial crisis as seen through the eyes of some of the people involved in it, including the hedge fund managers who "shorted" (bet against) the market.

In one chapter of the book, Steven Eisman, one of Lewis' sources, meets Wing Chau, the owner of an investment firm that managed collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). CDOs were investments comprised of portions of thousands of subprime mortgages; they were a key vector for the financial collapse.

Chau sued for defamation based on 26 discrete statements in Lewis' book. The statements range from Eisman's opinion that Chau was a "sucker" for buying CDOs, to statements that Chau was knowingly selling junk investments, to representations that he was making huge sums of money betting against the market.

Rear Earth Minerals Supply: US-China Trade War

             (Charlotte Martin’s post from The IDTechEx UK on 15 October 2025.)

US-China Trade War Drives Investment in Domestic Rare Earth Supply: Rare earth elements and critical minerals are now frequently featured in global news cycles due to the national security and economic impacts of increasing supply disruption.

Growing export restrictions placed on defense-related rare earth materials from China at a time of multiple international conflicts underscores growing demand in the US and Europe to develop alternative supply.

2025 is set to be an inflection point, as a year of tariffs and trade wars drive record investment into strategic Western rare earth supply chains. IDTechEx’s latest research, ‘Rare Earth Magnets 2026-2036: Technologies, Supply, Markets, Forecasts’ explores rare earth investment and supply chain partnership trends driven by increasingly restrictive global rare earth supply.

China’s 15th Five-Year Plan?

             (Staff post from The CHINA BRIEFNG on 02 June 2025.)

2025 is a pivotal year in China’s policy cycle, marking the close of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the lead-up to the 15th, which will chart the country’s course from 2026 to 2030. President Xi Jinping is already steering discussions with senior officials on key priorities, while state media mobilize public input ahead of the CPC Central Committee’s expected approval this fall.  

2025 is a pivotal year in China’s policy landscape, marking the final year of the 14th Five–Year Plan and setting the stage for the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee to put forward proposals for the 15th Five-Year Plan in the fall.

China’s political leadership is currently laying the groundwork for the release of this pivotal document, which will shape the country’s social and economic development over the next five years. President Xi Jinping has held meetings with senior officials to discuss key priorities for the new plan, while state media have launched a national campaign to gather public input and feedback.

How US Destroyed Toshiba in 1987?

              (Huang Lanlan’s post from The GLOBAL TIMES on 28 September 2020.)

Lessons from Toshiba, Alstom: how US suppresses foreign rival companies to maintain tech hegemony. The continual suppression by the US of Chinese tech companies including Huawei and TikTok has been a farce the world has watched ever since Washington started regarding these fast growing and expanding Chinese tech giants as threats to its domestic counterparts.

People in the know are no longer surprised by the aggressive treatment of foreign tech companies by the US. In past decades, companies around the world such as Japan's Toshiba and France's Alstom were targeted, sanctioned and seriously hurt by the US government that used excuses like security, anti-dumping and anti-bribery.

There is no essential difference between the suppression of Huawei or TikTok today and Washington's past crackdowns on Toshiba or Alstom, said Zhang Monan, a chief research fellow of US studies with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges. "Washington continues its technological hegemony, placing its laws and administrative instructions above market order," Zhang told the Global Times.

The GrandMothers Hypothesis Explained!

               (Mwenza Blell’s post from The WILEY FREE ONLINE LIBRARY.)

The grandmother hypothesis is a hypothesis to explain the existence of menopause in human life history by identifying the adaptive value of extended kin networking. It builds on the previously postulated "mother hypothesis" which states that as mothers age, the costs of reproducing become greater, and energy devoted to those activities would be better spent helping her offspring in their reproductive efforts.

It suggests that by redirecting their energy onto those of their offspring, grandmothers can better ensure the survival of their genes through younger generations. By providing sustenance and support to their kin, grandmothers not only ensure that their genetic interests are met, but they also enhance their social networks which could translate into better immediate resource acquisition. This could extend past kin into larger community networks and benefit wider group fitness.

The grandmother hypothesis is an adaptationist explanation for the fact that the human female life span extends beyond the period of fertility. Human female reproductive life spans are variable in length but reproductive senescence occurs much faster than somatic aging.

Massive Memorial Service for Charlie Kirk!

             (David Smith’s post from The GUARDIAN UK 23September 2025.)

Democrats silent as Republicans galvanised after Charlie Kirk memorial: Democrats trod carefully in responding to event attended by nearly 100,000 that blended politics with religion.

Democrats maintained a wary silence on Monday as Donald Trump’s Republican party appeared galvanised by a memorial service for the late rightwing activist Charlie Kirk that was part religious revival, part political rally.

Nearly 100,000 people filled an American football stadium and overflow arena in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday to pay tribute to Kirk, according to his his organisation Turning Point USA. The 31-year-old staunch Trump ally was shot dead on 10 September.

KIA Disrupts Myanmar Rare Earth Flow To China

           (Devjyot Ghoshal’s post from the REUTERS NEWS on 17 September 2025.)

BANGKOK, March 28 (Reuters) - When armed rebels seized northern Myanmar's rare-earths mining belt in October, they dealt a blow to the country's embattled military junta - and wrested control of a key global resource.

By capturing sites that produce roughly half of the world's heavy rare earths, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) rebels have been able to throttle the supply of minerals used in wind turbines and electric vehicles, sending prices of one key element skyward.

The KIA is seeking leverage against neighbouring China, which supports the junta and has invested heavily in rare earths mining in Myanmar's Kachin state, according to two people familiar with the matter.