Japanese Yen devalued.

 
For the first time since 1990, the Japanese Yen weakens to 160 against the US Dollar. This comes as the Bank of Japan kept interest rates near 0% even as their currency is sliding. Last month, the Bank of Japan raised interest rates for the first time since 2007.Still, their currency has lost nearly 20% of its purchasing power against the US Dollar over the last year. Exports jumped 7% and imports fell by 7%. Japan registered a positive balance of payment.

Resistance

 
Students in the West are taught the supreme value of resistance. It is Foucault who said that the enemy - the oppressor- cannot be identified, therefore it must be fought through resistance. In the last decade, there have been many resistance movements and protests, all without concrete demands: against climate change, against the extinction of animals, Wall Street, etc. It was inevitable that ultimately it would focus on the Jews. 

I am not afraid of antisemitism. We Jews lived in Europe for centuries as tolerated foreigners, without civil rights. We were not accepted in universities, we were beaten on the streets. Those drunken, stupid peasants were pestering us, but we were steady and prospered. 

The current anti-Jewish encampments at American universities will turn us inside and make us stronger. I am not worried.

 

Nazi Romantics in Europe

 

Reading Hungarian racist literature, and then similar European publications, it becomes clear that Putin's analysis of the West is based. The Azov regiment was  Nazi (it was destroyed by the Russians). Hungarian racism (pic.) is most bizarre since there is no Hungarian race and there is nothing genetically particular or related to the conquering Central Asian tribesmen. It is impossible to classify European racist literature as "right-wing" - it is empty of social or economic content. It appears to me a pointless and hopeless revival of Nazism, directed against hapless immigrants. And Russia. The paradox is that Russia is not communist, it has no Jews, but it is a White-majority and officially Christian State. European racism is a confusion and the war in Ukraine is senseless. Maybe Europeans, as a "people", cannot tolerate peace and thirst for blood. 

The Chinese should be afraid. Very afraid.

Colluli Potash sold to the Chinese

 
Thirteen years ago I discovered the  Danakali company established to develop the fantastic potash resources of Colluli in the Erythrean depression. I did not invest in it because its shares were available only in Perth, Australia, and to buy it would have been complicated, and needed an Australian broker in the Perth stock exchange. Pity.

 I thought that the Israeli firm ICL had invested in the firm, but now discovered that Danakali had sold it to the Chinese company Sichuan Road and Bridge Group. The share is valued at 0.42 Australian dollars and it is paying back 100% of it to the stockholders as DIVIDEND while continuing to actively look for other projects. It may have been a good investment. 

Ted (a commenter on Danakali's site), writes:The reason Denkali sold its interest to Chinese is they can’t raise the necessary capital because of the west make it hard to do business in Eritrea. Ask the executives they will tell you the reasons. Eritrea was consistent in its interest to work with mining companies from Canada and Australia but the business environment purposely made hard by the west to do business in Eritrea. The gap is filled by Chinese only because they come with the necessary cash, technology and human capital. 

"My dog gives me no advice."

Javier Milei, Argentina's President. He is very effective. 

Alberto Fernández

@alferdez

Si el presidente se refirió a mí llamándome “títere” quiero decirle que no lo soy, no lo fui ni lo seré. También debe saber que mi perro no me aconseja (y está vivo), que las “fuerzas del cielo” no me mandan señales y que mis acciones y reacciones son el resultado de la reflexión y no de alteraciones psicológicas .

Translation of the above dialogue of Argentina's presidents:

If the president referred to me as a "puppet" I want to tell him that I am not, I was not and I will not be. You should also know that my dog does not advise me (and is alive), that the "forces of heaven" do not send me signals, and that my actions and reactions are the result of reflection and not psychological disturbances.

Background:

Javier Milei's dogs are named after famous economists. He has five dogs, Conan the mastiff and four clones of the now-dead dog, who are named Murray, Milton, Robert and Lucas after economists Murray Rothbard, Milton Friedman and Robert Lucas. After winning one round of polls, Mr Milei thanked his dogs in his victory speech.

Israeli babies per UNICEF

 

174,648

Cats and cats

 

The Malaysian Wild Cat is a beautifully colored hunting cat.  Its look could be used as a camouflage pattern for jungle warfare uniforms. Nature is more creative than human imagination.

Who gets the bigger chipotle?

 

Somebody made a statistical analysis of the weight of chipotles bought online (blue) vs. those who bought them in person (red).  There is a 30% difference. If you want to get Chipotle for your money, you better buy it personally.  

Nothing works without personal presence. 

Chatarra

 

Scrap metal (chatarra) in an Air Force installation in the South. These are the rests of an Iranian ballistic missile that fell in the Dead Sea. On my basis, we too had a collection of Iraqi missiles sent to us free of charge by Saddam Hussein.  They have grown impressively since then...

BTW, there were no such girls in our place. Everybody had to wear military hide boots. Some things have improved. 

Trauma Society

 

I read that 50 survivors of the Nova massacre - killed themselves. That others are in closed mental hospitals. This surprised me as I grew up among Auschwitz survivors, most of them having lost their families and husbands and children, and they had remade their lives quite normally. My uncle Joshka remarried, moved to Buenos Aires, and had no more children because of his luxury-loving wife Etha. Why does a simple massacre - a seven-hour event - cause them such mental harm? I am really astonished that the day after having been targeted by 300 missiles, everything here continues as always, and the children go to school and people continue working like nothing. Today, the war cabinet is deciding how and when to attack Iran. The streets are full and I am going to the Rami Levi supermarket because today is Tuesday - יום שוק

I may be depressed or what

 

In the last three days, I have been unable to do any work on my projects. Why? Possibly, the Iranian attack and today, the preparations for the counterattack. Wifey is also at home, and we talk a little. Nothing is happening in Kfar Saba, children are in school, and no queues at the supermarket. Yet it does affect me. 

Hope that tomorrow my working spirit will be back. I want to help my youngest daughter to buy an apartment. Could be in Harish. I shall need money. 

Israel is part of the West

 

Yesternight we were in danger and the West came to our assistance. It really is an ironclad alliance. We love the generous Anglo-Saxon people and their friends. 

Last Night's Victory

 

Pic of one of the ballistic missiles that fell near the Dead Sea. Of the 300-something missiles fired last night at Israel, all were neutralized and caused no damage. It is a fantastic achievement, a large victory. 

Mala tempora currunt, sed peiora parantur

Craig says we own nothing and that regulatory changes can erase even the illusion of owning financial goods.  True, there is no safety in financial property. In fact, there is no safety in any kind of property, not even your knowledge or prestige. 

Prestige used to be safe, but now the most famous scientists are being disinvited from meetings because they are Israelis or Jews or politically incorrect. The Haaretz supplement brings a psychologist who wrote a professional article on his treatment of Jewish refugees from the Gazan border and was refused because he had been treating people who were a potential danger to the Palestinians. 

I always knew that nothing is safe and money is nothing since Hungarian Jews - my grandparents - had to give up first their jewelry, then their businesses, and in the end their very lives. This is the unstable, unsafe environment we have to carry out our lives. 

More on Thames Water

Financial Times:  At the end of 2022, a group of large pension plans, including funds from Canada, Japan and the UK, discovered that they had lost a large part of the £5bn investment in Thames Water that they had recorded on their books. This Easter, they learnt that they had probably lost all of it. There is only one way for a water utility serving the capital of a G7 country to lose so much value so fast: it was never worth £5bn to begin with.  Yet its owners denied this reality for years. The signs that Thames Water and its parent Kemble Water Finance constituted a high-risk, low-profit business were there all along. The cost of capital in this investment should have been considered quite high (and increasing over the years) and its value much lower. 

For twenty years it was generally supposed that infrastructure investment was low-risk and producing steady, reliable cash flow. An ideal investment vehicle for a pension fund that has to pay out regular benefits. Thames Water is simply not that. Nothing that relies on regulation and political situation can be ever low risk. Nobody can know what the all-powerful regulators will dream up and impose on businesses. In the public mind and for left-wing regulators, business is intrinsically dirty and businessmen are all pigs. Profits are stealing from people, so there must be no pity for them. 

The Unfolding of WW3

 Noah Smith writes a very comprehensive analysis of the world political-military situation. I capture two points: (1) he mentions the danger of civil war in the USA, and (2) China's preparations for a war, with increased food production, big navy & weapons industry, etc. 

American decline may explain Bibi's defiance of American dictates in Gaza. He knows America intimately and if he defies America, he must be sure that Biden is weak.  I want a strong America. We just killed Ismail Haniyeh's three sons (3 of 13). Haniyeh is the elected leader of the Palestinians. 

All these make me feel uneasy. 

Preparing for the battle of Rafah

 The Defense Ministry has purchased 40,000 tents to better enable evacuation and operation in Rafah in the near future. 

PIC. Typical tent. 

En Guardia

It appears to me that Israel is readying itself for a ballistic exchange with Iran. What can I do? Hope for the best. 

Minister of Defense Yoav Galant at Tel Nof Air Base: "I can't promise you that you'll go on leave tomorrow, but I can tell you it will be interesting, you'll have something to tell your children, and then your grandchildren after that".

Today is 清明節 the Tomb-Sweeping Day

Qingming Festival, or Tomb-Sweeping Day, one of China's traditional festivals, is dedicated to remembering and celebrating one's honorable ancestors.

 https://youtu.be/amJjeM8omS4?si=aIZ1rhPQB7r_MgkK

Food is always a central part of Chinese festivals. Qingtuan is the traditional food eaten during this festival. It is made from glutinous rice mixed with mugwort filled with sweet bean paste. Eating Qingming cake brings good luck and health. Mugwort was brought to North America as a garden medicinal and has since become a weed.

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) is a massively aggressive spreader. The plant has a strong, resinous smell and spreads by the most aggressive lateral underground runners ever. These mostly remain near the soil surface, but they are so numerous that one has to dig extensively to remove the whole underground plant.