THE GOOD NEWS!

Unemployment unexpectedly fell down to 10%. Shouldn’t that be a happy sign celebrated by all? Well, it was… for an hour.

As an afterthought, market movers realized that the drug they enjoyed for the last few years – FREE MONEY – can be taken away. If recession is over and unemployment is improving, there is no reason to keep low interest rates. This means that the dollar will strengthen and eventually Wall Street gamblers would have to pay back a more valuable green bucks.

The current Ponzi Scheme orchestrated by Bernanke and abused by anyone who has access to  liquid assets is very simple – get as much cheap money as you are allowed, pump it into the stock market, wait to make fat profits, sell the stocks and repay back the dollars that by this time might compete in value with the toilet paper.

This scheme should keep everybody happy (at least for a while) – retirees, municipalities, hedge-funds and mutual-funds whose current gains would erase all the previous losses, big players who make killing and little players who find a new hope. After all, what lamb has been sacrificed – dollar, future and morality? Not a biggie for today’s enjoyment.

Weak dollar also helps to expand export and narrow US trade deficit – let’s do it at cost to other nations. Sorry for the repetition, but wouldn’t it be beneficial for everybody to pay China’s 2 trillion dollars reserves back with the toilet paper money? It should be enough to cover the needs of 1.4 billion Chinese people. Who would say that Fed’s Chairman is not a genius?

And only a few people ask the right question – is Bernanke an idiot or a prostitute? There is no free lunch on Wall Street. Someone would have to pay. Just think of it like a swing – if you want to stop it, don’t push it in the opposite direction – try to slow it down. Obvious? Nope.

When market collapsed, did Bernanke thought of you and me, homeowners, employees, taxpayers? NO! All the money were given to the banks, so they can keep it, make easy profits and pay bonuses. This funding was not for Main street people. Fed Funds discount rate went down from 6.25% in June of 2006 to 0.5% in December of 2008. Did you get a 5.75% break on you mortgage? … Me neither.

“There is a Chinese saying that one could quench the thirst by drinking poison,” said [Andy] Xie (former Morgan Stanley chief Asian economist), who predicted in September 2006 that the U.S. economy would fall into a recession in 2008. “Bernanke seems to be prescribing exactly this to the U.S. economy. The slower Bernanke raises interest rates, the bigger the next crisis.” Read the whole article from Bloomberg News.

Are we all getting poisoned by Fed chairman and Wall Street Co.?

Dear Frederic,

Here is an open letter I’d like you to publish on ChessBase.com:

To the whole chess community:

Right now is a time of an awful injustice happening in front of everyone’s eyes, yet it looks like everyone is asleep or indifferent. 2008 Women’s World Chess Championship is boycotted by 9 players due to the proximity of the tournament venue to the war zone. Of course, I am also sympathetic to the organizers of the tournament, who prepared a wonderful opening ceremony and to the players who had this tournament in their schedule long before the start of Georgia – Russia war.

Still, I don’t understand that quietness of the chess players, arbiters, organizers and fans of the game.  Does everyone act according to the famous Russian saying: “One’s shirt is closer to one’s body” or Ukrainian saying “My house is the last one in the row, so I have no knowledge of what’s going on”. Of course, all former Soviets will know exactly what I am talking about, for all others, the translation is – “I better be quiet, so I don’t get poisoned by polonium”.

Come-on, Guys and Gals, it is time to wake up! There was a legitimate reason for the 9 players not to show up in the war zone and it makes no sense to say “Heck with it”.

Here is my challenge to the world chess community – Wouldn’t it be fair to organize a separate chess tournament with the 9 players who have qualified to participate, yet didn’t come to the 2008 Women World Chess Championship for safety reasons? The winner of that tournament will play against the winner of the tournament in Nalchik for the title of 2008 Women World Chess Champion.

Can anyone step-in on a short notice and run this tournament? It’s enough that the whole chess history was disrupted by substituting historical qualifying cycles and matches with “Ilyumzhinovka” tournaments. Let’s not diminish the title any further.

Sincerely,

Woman Chess Grandmaster Anjelina Belakovskaia.

I was hoping that Frederic will publish the text, or at least the idea, as I do believe it is unfair to dismiss Georgian (and not only) players & the whole Georgian chess culture & history and run “World Championship” without top guns.

However, I am not surprised to see that my e-mail wasn’t published – it is an easy and comfortable solution in this situation. As such, I am publishing it here.

As a kid, growing up in USSR and playing chess – one of the most popular sports – I had an awesome time traveling to the Caucasian region. All three capitals – Tbilisi (Georgia), Yerevan (Armenia) and Baku (Azerbaijan) remain in my memory as sunny places with friendly and hospitable people.

When I was about 15, I participated in the National Team competition in Nakhichevan City (another area of recent ethnic conflicts) – a wonderful and perfectly safe place back then. Even though most of the local women wore “paranja” (Russian for hijab), the traditional attire of the local Muslim women, I felt perfectly fine wearing sleeveless tops and short skirts, the fashionable attire of Russian and Ukrainian girls. No one came to me with any words of objection or hostility, rather I and other girls were treated with grace and admiration, as real “Sport Stars”. Locals stopped us in the city just to say “hello,” to ask for an autograph, to wish us a good luck in the next round and even to give us flowers.

I have the same pleasant memories about the USSR Young Masters Championship in Tbilisi – with great Georgian food and awesome hospitality – which I happened to win. I can talk more about my past experiences, but unfortunately it is time to talk about the present.

The war between Georgia and Russia began on Friday, August 8, 2008. This is the war of a small country, fighting for its territory, freedom and independence against an enormous one, overfed on oil dollars, run by former KGB operatives and determined to reestablish itself as a world super-power. Knowing the hot Georgian temperament, I can easily believe that Georgians were provoked by the Russians, to the point they started the offensive on South Ossetia on the day of the opening of Olympic Games.

Each side has reasons for this war. Georgia wants to get back its territory once and forever. After all, if one assumes that every region has the right to declare its autonomy, then “China Town” in New York City can claim autonomy as a satellite province of China. Likewise for “Little Italy” as an Italian territory and Brighton Beach a.k.a. “Little Odessa” as a Ukrainian (or Great Russian) territory.

Sadly, the joke about Great Russia is not a joke. For Russia this war is not only to gain control over the important geopolitical territory near the Caspian Sea and seize control over the oil delivery route, it’s also the way, to once again, oppose United States and show its muscle. Russian pride got humiliated with the fall of USSR and most of the Russians support the strong government. With Russian history school books being re-written countless times, many young Russians have very little understanding of the tragedy of Stalin times.

This is a “must read” book for anyone who wants to understand Putin and its regime.

Scary, but the U.S. seems to be blind to the current developments. They never seem to understand Russians (and other Slavic nations) politically, nor economically. To many “Soviets” living in the US it is obvious that “friend Putin” is not a friend. He is an enemy. An aggressive, smart and cruel enemy. He has jailed Mikhail Khodorkovsky (the wealthiest man in Russia and 16th wealthiest man in the world in 2004), he pretty much confiscated BP’s interest in TNK-BP, he killed Alexander Litvinenko (former officer of Russian Federal Security Service, who escaped to UK), he is currently bombing Georgia. If nobody stops him now, the next victims will be Ukraine and Estonia, after that it won’t take long to establish Great Russia.

While George Bush is playing beach volleyball and posing for photos with the US Women’s Olympic Team in China and the U.N. Security Council can’t come up with anything to stop the Russians, thousands of people are losing their life in this crazy and inhumane war.