In the news:

The search for a new global monetary system

Columbia University’s Robert Mundell, whose thinking contributed to the intellectual foundation of the euro zone, is in high demand here at the Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences for obvious reasons. He’s taking advantage of the attention to propose a new international monetary system.

Big financial crises are a prewar and a contemporary phenomenon: they were relatively common before the Second World War, and they are a regular feature of the global economy of the last few decades.

However, Prof. Mundell is equating the treasury secretary’s intellectual curiosity with a willingness to upend U.S. currency policy. The G20 will discuss reform of the monetary system at its summit in Cannes, France in November

Wall Street, September 17: 'Beginning of the Global Revolution?

The “Anonymous” anarchists are joining the planned occupation of Wall Street, beginning September 17.
It says, “flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months … Once there, we shall incessantly repeat one simple demand in a plurality of voices.”

The September 17 protest is not confined to Wall Street. It is part of an international coordinated attack on the planet’s major financial centers. These people, if they can, want to shut down all major Western financial trading.

Double-dip fears across the West as confidence crumbles

The Western world is at mounting risk of a double-dip recession after key measures of confidence collapsed in both the United States and Europe, with Germany suffering the steepest one-month fall since records began in the 1970s.

The US Conference Board's index of consumer sentiment in August plunged to the lowest level since the depths of the slump in 2009, falling to 44.5 from 59.2 in July. Future expectations fell even harder.
The drop was far steeper than expected and follows grim warnings over the weekend from Christine Lagarde, new chief of the International Monetary Fund, that the global crisis is entering "a dangerous new phase" .

Stephen Jen from SLJ Macro Partners said the next phases of the eurozone crisis is likely to come when the debtor states conclude that it is no longer worth putting up with the pain of EU-imposed austerity. "I think this will happen in weeks rather than months."

25 Signs That The Financial World Is About To Hit The Big Red Panic Button

Most of the worst financial panics in history have happened in the fall. Just recall what happened in 1929, 1987 and 2008. Well, September 2011 is about to begin and there are all kinds of signs that the financial world is about to hit the big red panic button. Wave after wave of bad economic news has come out of the United States recently, and Europe is embroiled in an absolutely unprecedented debt crisis.

Will Katia Be A Threat for the East Coast?

Katia (pronounced KAH-tyah according to the National Hurricane Center) became a tropical storm early Tuesday morning after first forming as a tropical depression south of the Cape Verde Islands Monday morning.
The storm is moving over very warm sea surface temperatures and into an area with weaker winds aloft. These factors have allowed Katia to strengthen into a strong tropical storm as of early this morning.

Fukushima Is Continually Blasting...High Levels of Cesium, Strontium And Plutonium

Fukushima is now far and away the worst nuclear disaster in all of human history. Chernobyl was a Sunday picnic compared to Fukushima and the amount of cesium-137 released at Fukushima this year so far is equivalent to 168 Hiroshima bombs. The crisis at Fukushima is far, far worse than you have been told. We are talking about multiple self-sustaining nuclear meltdowns that will not be fully contained for years. In an attempt to keep people calm, authorities in Japan (and around the rest of the world as well) have lied and lied and lied.

Iran Inches Closer to Nuclear Weapons

Iran has acknowledged that it possesses new technologies that could bring it closer to developing nuclear weapons and more advanced missiles. The international community is finding it more and more difficult to restrain Tehran, and increasing the country's political and technological isolation could have dire consequences.

Iran is now capable of producing carbon-plastic composite materials in violation of UN sanctions. Iran's Defense Minister Ahmad Wahidi said his country is among ten nations in the world that can manufacture them. Associated Press quoted Wahidi as saying that this new capability will eliminate a bottleneck in Iran's production of modern military systems.

Earthquake aftershocks roll on

August is ending. Hurricane Irene has left the Washington area. The big earthquake was eight days ago. But its aftershocks linger on.

So far, it appears, there have been 19 of them. The most recent, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, came at 9:27 a.m. Tuesday. Its magnitude was 2.1, far less than the 5.8 quake on Aug. 23 that has set off the repeated shaking.

Comet Elenin Breaking Apart?

A new report is in at TheWeatherSpace.com and the report states that Comet Elenin is dimming and falling apart.

"I can confirm with many other astronomers that Elenin will not make perihelion this Fall," Art Powell from Florida says. "Elenin's coma is becoming elongated and this means it is falling apart."

Comets are fragile ice rocks that can; and do break apart.

Did Massive Explosion Disintegrate Comet Elenin?

This video is fascinating. I have no idea what it means.

IDF beefing up defenses in south after intelligence warnings of terror attack

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz ordered the reinforcement of forces all along the border, from the Gaza Strip to the Gulf of Eilat, on Sunday night, following concrete intelligence that a number of cells of militants had entered Sinai through tunnels in Rafah, aiming to carry out attacks on Israeli territory.

PA UN state bid more dangerous than threats from Hamas

Finance minister says Israel is unquestionably opposed to Palestinian move, no one can stop Abbas from petitioning the UN; Steinitz: Palestinians want to get state without giving anything to Israel.

New fighting in Libya as Gaddafi loyalists refuse to surrender

Loyal followers of Muammar Gaddafi are refusing to surrender to those who have forced him into hiding, raising the prospect of new fighting in Libya when an ultimatum expires after this week's Eid holiday.

Nato warplanes have been bombing Gaddafi forces near Sirte, and the alliance has assured its Libyan allies that it will keep up its military drive from the air for an end to the conflict - something the council leadership says will only be secured once Gaddafi is found, "dead or alive".

Council chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil, who as Gaddafi's justice minister until turning against him this year has had ample opportunity to observe the survival instincts of one of the world's longest ruling autocrats, warned again on Tuesday:

"Muammar Gaddafi is not finished yet."

"He still poses a threat to Libyans and the revolution. He still has pockets of support in Libya and supporters outside Libya, both individuals and countries," Abdel Jalil said in the council's eastern stronghold of Benghazi.