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North Korea Asks Mongolia for Food Aid.

As North Korea heads into the time of year when its food supplies run low, it appears to be looking for new donors.

At a courtesy call on the Mongolian president last week, Pyongyang’s new ambassador made a request for food aid, according to the official websitefor the head of state.

“North Korea may face (a) severe food shortage,” Ambassador Hong Gyu told President Elbegdorj, according to the account. Mr. Hong then asked [...]

Asian economies turn to yuan – now seven out of 10 economies in the region — including South Korea, Indonesia,Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand — track the renminbi more closely than they do the USdollar.

A “renminbi bloc” has been formed in East Asia, as nations in the region abandon the US dollarand peg their currency to the Chinese yuan — a major signal of China’s successful bid tointernationalize its currency, a research report has said.

The Peterson Institute for International Economics, or PIIE, said in its latest research that Chinahas moved closer to its long-term goal for the renminbi to become a global reserve currency.

Since [...]

Average IQ of Countries

 

Rank
Country
IQ estimate

1
 Hong Kong
107

2
 South Korea
106

3 ^
 Japan
105

4
 Taiwan
104

5
 Singapore
103

6 *
 Austria
102

6 ^
 Germany
102

6 **
 Italy
102

6 *
 Netherlands
102

10
 Sweden
101

10
 Switzerland
101

12
 Belgium
100

12 **
 China
100

12
 New Zealand
100

12 **
 United Kingdom
100

16
 Hungary
99

16
 Poland
99

16 **
 Spain
99

19
 Australia
98

19
 Denmark
98

19 *
 France
98

19
 Mongolia
98

19
 Norway
98

19 *
 United States
98

25
 Canada
97

25
 Czech Republic
97

25
 Finland
97

28
 Argentina
96

28 ^
 Russia
96

28
 Slovakia
96

28
 Uruguay
96

32 ^
 Portugal
95

32
 Slovenia
95

34
 Israel
94

34
 Romania
94

36
 Bulgaria
93

36
 Ireland
93

36 *
 Greece
93

39
 Malaysia
92

40
 Thailand
91

41
 Croatia
90

41 ^
 Peru
90

41 * *
 Turkey
90

the full list : http://sq.4mg.com/NationIQ.htm

SURPRISE! The US is has more wealth concentrated among the smallest number of people than any other modern industrial country

According to the CIA:

The US is has more wealth concentrated among the smallest number of people than any other modern industrial country.

This based on the GINI index which measures the concentration of wealth in the upper income bracket compared to the number of people in those brackets. The GINI scale runs from 0 to 100. High numbers have all the wealth concentrated among a small, elite portion of the population. Low [...]

Read these insider reports from one of the next resource “super boom” countries

From Economic Policy Journal:

There are huge mineral deposits inside Mongolia and limited government (for now), which could result in the area being a huge opportunity for the super-adventurous. David Pilling, Asia Editor for FT, recently spent some time in the country and sent out these tweets about Mongolia (and one tweet about Japan):

My Mongolian fact of the day. 20 years ago, Ulan Bator had 300 cars. Now: 300K (and traffic [...]

‘Stolen’ dinosaur skeleton auctioned off

NBC New York

 

An almost completely intact dinosaur skeleton of a close relative to the T-Rex, was auctioned off in New York on Sunday for $1.05 million, but a phone call from Mongolia’s president during the bidding nearly put a stop to the sale.

Citing increased looting of dinosaur fossils from his country, which in Mongolia has been a criminal offense for 50 years, a lawyer for Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia persuaded a judge to issue [...]

Rumours of power struggle in China, as the current generation of leaders is passing power to the new… Some may end up on house arrest, sent to a labor camp, or sent to administer some small town in Tibet or near Mongolia. Probably no executions this time around, though.

The Epoch Times has a section: ”Chinese Regime In Crisis” with several articles:
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/t/chinese-regime-in-crisis

One such article:
The Ouster of Bo Xilai Is Only the Beginning
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/opinion/the-ouster-of-bo-xilai-is-only-the-beginning-208344.html

Other News

Chinese Coup Rumors Run Wild Online, Then Disappear
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-21/chinese-coup-rumors-run-wild-online-then-disappear-adam-minter.html

CNN: Why Chinese Succession Matters
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/14/why-chinese-succession-matters/

Poet

Power Struggle In China

Here’s the most interesting news of today:

Rumours of power struggle in China, as the current generation of leaders is passing power to the new… Some may end up on house arrest, sent to a labor camp, or sent to administer some small town in Tibet or near Mongolia. Probably no executions this time around, though.

The Epoch Times has a section: ”Chinese Regime In Crisis” with several articles:
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/t/chinese-regime-in-crisis

One such article:

The Ouster of Bo Xilai [...]

Arsenal rifle… to buy or not to buy

Spotted this Arsenal SG21 (7.62×39) advertised at a local gun shop here in Alaska…. in your guys’ expert opinion, is $850 for “Like New In Box” a good deal?

http://gunrunners.com/index.php?a=2&b=52…

One little nagging doubt I have is that I’m not sure how useful it would be for hunting.  My brother-in-law is telling me that most hunting in Mongolia involves shots at more than 100 meters, and sometimes well beyond that.  I’m not [...]

You might find this of interest regarding the ‘party in stocks’…..

I was talking with my sister-in-law last weekend and she told me that the Mongolian Stock Exchange has been skyrocketing for the last year or so, and especially since the start of 2011.  It’s a very small exchange, and as this article describes it’s located in an amusing little pink building next to Sukhbaatar Square.

http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2011/01/27/mongolia-the-pink-house-of-rising-equities/

This is the Mongolian Stock Exchange, where share prices climbed 121 per cent in local [...]