WORLD-TYRANT WORLD 08 15 14 1

WORLD-TYRANT WORLD 08 15 14  1

Aug 14, 4:25 PM EDT 

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OF_MUTUAL_INTEREST_BOND_LIQUIDITY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-08-14-16-25-15

WHAT HAPPENS TO BONDS WHEN EVERYONE AIMS TO SELL?  [Excerpts] 

If bonds start to tumble, should I sell my bond mutual fund? 

It's a question investors are asking as expectations rise for a more volatile bond market.  But a better question may be: How difficult will it be for my fund manager to sell? 

Worries are increasing that some managers will have a tough time finding buyers for their bonds if a flood of investors tries to pull out of their funds at the same time.  It's a concept called liquidity, and a lack of it can accelerate losses for bonds when prices are falling, at least in the short term. 

It would likely have less effect on fund investors willing to hold on through the volatility than those who sell amid a storm. 

But it's another risk that all bond fund investors need to consider.

. . . 

It's impossible to know when the next liquidity scare could hit the bond market --the trigger is likely to be an unexpected event that shocks investors. 

But if everyone is exiting bonds, and a lack of liquidity is sending prices down even further, it may make for a good buying opportunity for those who were already interested in buying. Similarly, for those looking to sell, it may pay to do so before there's a run on the exits. 

The Ukraine, Corrupted Journalism, and the Atlanticist Faith 

By Karel Van Wolferen

http://www.karelvanwolferen.com

9Aug 2014 

http://www.karelvanwolferen.com/44-ukraine-corrupted-journalism-atlanticist-faith-9aug-2014

The European Union is not (anymore) guided by politicians with a grasp of history, a sober assesment of global reality, or simple common sense connected with the longterm interests of what they are guiding.  If any more evidence was needed, it has certainly been supplied by the sanctions they have agreed on last week aimed at punishing Russia. 

One way to fathom their foolishness is to start with the media, since whatever understanding or concern these politicians may have personally they must be seen to be doing the right thing, which is taken care of by TV and newspapers.  

     In much of the European Union the general understanding of global reality since the horrible fate of the people on board the Malaysian Airliner comes from mainstream newspapers and TV which have copied the approach of Anglo-American mainstream media, and have presented ‘news’ in which insinuation and villification substitute for proper reporting. Respected publications, like the Financial Times or the once respected NRC Handelsblad of The Netherlands for which I worked sixteen years as East Asia Correspondent, not only joined in with this corrupted journalism but helped guide it to mad conclusions.  The punditry and editorials that have grown out of this have gone further than anything among earlier examples of sustained media hysteria stoked for political purposes that I can remember.  The most flagrant example I have come across, an anti-Putin leader in the (July 26) Economist Magazine, had the tone of Shakespeare’s Henry V exhorting his troops before the battle of Agincourt as he invaded France. 

     One should keep in mind that there are no European-wide newspapers or publications to sustain a European public sphere, in the sense of a means for politically interested Europeans to ponder and debate with each other big international developments.  Because those interested in world affairs usually read the international edition of the New York Times or the Financial Times, questions and answers on geopolitical matters are routinely shaped or strongly influenced by what editors in New York and London have determined as being important.  Thinking that may deviate significantly as can now be found in Der Spiegel, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Zeit and Handelsblatt, does not travel across German borders.  Hence we do not see anything like a European opinion evolving on global affairs, even when these have a direct impact on the interests of the European Union itself. 

     The Dutch population was rudely shaken out of a general complacency with respect to world events that could affect it, through the death of 193 fellow nationals (along with a 105 people of other nationalities) in the downed plane, and its media were hasty in following the American-initiated fingerpointing at Moscow.  Explanations that did not in some way involve culpability of the Russian president seemed to be out of bounds.  This was at odds right away with statements of a sober Dutch prime minister, who was under considerable pressure to join the fingerpointing but who insisted on waiting for a thorough examination of what precisely had happened. 

. . . 

History is being made, once again.  What may well determine Europe’s fate is that also outside the defenders of the Atlanticist faith, decent Europeans cannot bring themselves to believe in the dysfunction and utter irresponsibility of the American state.