apologies to readers but my posts these days are less personal, more academic. For those not in the know I am on a brief sabbatical from recent messes and debacles. The problems aren't past though, merely frozen. I'll deal with them later.
I've given myself till end of this year to finish reading and understanding at least a third of Harold Bloom's The Westen Canon. Despite this generous extended deadline something tells me I might still blow past it. My learning's been awfully slow. Perhaps after I've finished with Driving lessons I can pick up the pace (can I say "Crash NUS?").
Meanwhile, for the world-watching pedants, if there are any out there reading this, the following is part of an an internal Stratfor (aka Strategic Forecast, the world's leading private intelligence firm) document produced to provide high-level guidance to analysts. I found a couple of points in the long doc particularly interesing:
4. The Chinese are returning from a week-long holiday. They did some pretty weird things with their banking system just before the holidays, as well as slapping Hong Kong around. We need to see what they have planned for the coming weeks. In particular, we need to see whether they are going to give any more jolts to the banking system. We also have to keep an eye on foreign investment and whether it is drying up, and whether dollars continue to flee China. And keep an eye out for evidence that the Chinese are selling their currency at home -- a growing spread between official and black market exchange could indicate a decline in domestic confidence.
5. Oil is at about $40 a barrel. With reports that the Saudis are holding back supplies in anticipation of $45-a-barrel oil and the Iraqi situation coming down to a dull roar, logic would have it that oil prices will decline in the coming weeks. Logic would have had it that prices would not rise as much as they have. So much for logic.
Let's try and find out whether indeed the Saudi Government has promised to Bush Administration to help reduce oil price prior to the US elections and if yes, whether the Saudis will live up to that promise.
It'd be interesting to be an analyst when I grow up. I'll save that thought for later.
I've given myself till end of this year to finish reading and understanding at least a third of Harold Bloom's The Westen Canon. Despite this generous extended deadline something tells me I might still blow past it. My learning's been awfully slow. Perhaps after I've finished with Driving lessons I can pick up the pace (can I say "Crash NUS?").
Meanwhile, for the world-watching pedants, if there are any out there reading this, the following is part of an an internal Stratfor (aka Strategic Forecast, the world's leading private intelligence firm) document produced to provide high-level guidance to analysts. I found a couple of points in the long doc particularly interesing:
4. The Chinese are returning from a week-long holiday. They did some pretty weird things with their banking system just before the holidays, as well as slapping Hong Kong around. We need to see what they have planned for the coming weeks. In particular, we need to see whether they are going to give any more jolts to the banking system. We also have to keep an eye on foreign investment and whether it is drying up, and whether dollars continue to flee China. And keep an eye out for evidence that the Chinese are selling their currency at home -- a growing spread between official and black market exchange could indicate a decline in domestic confidence.
5. Oil is at about $40 a barrel. With reports that the Saudis are holding back supplies in anticipation of $45-a-barrel oil and the Iraqi situation coming down to a dull roar, logic would have it that oil prices will decline in the coming weeks. Logic would have had it that prices would not rise as much as they have. So much for logic.
Let's try and find out whether indeed the Saudi Government has promised to Bush Administration to help reduce oil price prior to the US elections and if yes, whether the Saudis will live up to that promise.
It'd be interesting to be an analyst when I grow up. I'll save that thought for later.
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