Waging Financial War

The United States is no stranger to waging financial warfare, observes David Katz. What’s different now, however, is its unique position within global financial markets. It’s enabling Washington to project power in cutting edge ways.

Imagine warfare waged in financial cyberspace: electronic, remote, fought in hypervelocity with millions of engagements per second, and with nations forced to construct redundant systems, sacrificing billions in economic efficiency for survival capacity. Financial warfare strikes can blockade vital industries; delink countries from the global marketplace; bankrupt sovereign economies in the space of a few days, and cause mass exoduses, starvation, riots, and regime change.

Army: Only two brigades ready to fight

Systematically destroyed from within, under the guise of budget cuts. America is now at the peak of the process in degredation, whereas both China and Russia are on par with capability, combat readiness and deployment, or are soon to be.

Budget cuts mean only two Army brigades are combat-ready, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said Monday.

Odierno made the admission at an Army conference, where he said thousands of soldiers might not be properly trained for deployment.

“Right now, we have in the Army two brigades that are trained. That’s it. Two,” Odierno said at the annual Association of the United States Army (AUSA) conference.

Hot money exodus ends currency wars

Turkey’s efforts to pull the lira off record lows on Monday are likely to be emulated across emerging markets as central banks fight to avert an exodus of foreign capital driven by the impending turn in US policy.

It’s all a far cry from a year or so ago, when emerging market exporters were battling rising exchange rates and Brazil was accusing Western policymakers of waging currency wars by flooding the world with cheap money.