Monday, March 24, 2014

India

The section I am looking at in this clip is the second half, starting at 11 mins and 30 seconds.
http://www.vice.com/vice-on-hbo/vice-on-hbo-episode-2


For years, Muslims and Hindu have been clashing in India and Pakistan, as described in the book.  One of the most fought of areas is Kashmir, a disputed area between India And Pakistan.  Currently, most of Kashmir is under Indian occupation. There is much conflict over this area that only seems to be escalating.  Shane Smith believes that this border is the most dangerous on in the world.  The end result could turn into nuclear war.
Pakistan currently has state-sponsored terrorists that are raising havoc on India.  Both sides feel they are right, and there is no resolution in sight, especially with the terror attacks on India.  To top that off, these wars are involving religion, which takes an entirely more dangerous turn.

Monday, March 17, 2014

China's Possible Real-Estate burst



Shane Smith states that China will one day take over the US as the largest economy is 20 years or less, since they have been experiencing double digit economic growth in the past 3 decades.  The question is if the economy is as solid as it seems.
The problem at hand is that China is creating these massive towns that are vacant, and real-estate has been 13% of their GDP. China uses numbers from property construction to calculate GDP, not values from property sold. This is an issue because it may indicate that the economy is not as solid as it appears, and may lead to a burst in the real-estate bubble.
Smith says the economic slogan "supply and demand" is being replaced by "build now, sell later,"  which is seen as a dangerous form of voodoo economics.
It is currently having a ripple effect inside China's economy. When the Chinese economy takes a turn for the worst, it will also be felt in the US and around the world. These stories have not come much to light, for the government will try to suppress your word and come after you.

http://www.vice.com/vice-on-hbo/vice-on-hbo-episode-6

Monday, March 10, 2014

Russia and Ukraine: The Ukraine crisis timeline

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26248275

This article is very important to read.  For those of you who do not know much about the issue between Russia and Ukraine, would benefit from glancing this over.  Basically, Ukraine broke away from the USSR in 1991 and still has close ties to Russia.  Ukraine feels as if they are not truly free from Russia, since there are rumors of pro-russian officials rigging the presidential elections. Later, Russia tries to help out Ukraine buy paying off $15 billion of Ukraine's debt in exchange for cheaper gas prices.  After a lot of protest and political turmoil in Ukraine, the political system starts to slowly fall apart and Russia moves into get involved. Next thing you know Russia is talking about taking back the Crimean peninsula.  On top of that, Russia has troops there trying to take over.  Russia denies that the troops there are attempting to take anything over and are simply there for defensive purposes.  Now, there are planned talks to resolve this and plans to place sanctions on Russia if they do not comply.