Is the “Melt-up” Back?

 

Nothing remains of February’s correction but a quaint memory.

The stars are back in their courses… the angels are back on duty… and the Perfections are back within sight.

Both the S&P and Nasdaq have returned to record highs, while the Dow Jones is within an ace of its own.

More good cheer came by way of the Commerce Department yesterday…

Its bean counters inform us that second-quarter growth exceeded its own original 4.1% reading.

Trump To Unveil “Passive-Aggressive” Currency War With China

Call it passive-aggressive currency war.

While one of Trump’s most sincere desires, both during his campaign, and ideologically from his life prior to politics, has been to publicly declare China a currency manipulator – something he promised he would do on day one of his administration – and crack down on the “undervalued” Yuan (even though over the past 18 months, China has been scrambling to prevent further devaluation of the Yuan in light of over $1 trillion in capital outflows in recent years), lately Trump appears to have gotten second thoughts, and after backing off on his intent to negotiate the “One China” policy, now Trump is looking for a way out of engaging China directly in currency war.

China Could Control the Global Internet After Oct. 1

ICANN Chairman Steve Crocker speaks during the opening of the ICANN meeting in Singapore on Feb. 9, 2015. The U.S. plan to relinquish control of ICANN opens the door for China to have greater influence over the global internet. (Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images)

 

The handover of ICANN, the body that governs domain name registration, fits into a strategy by the Chinese regime to determine how the Internet is run

In November 2014, Li Yuxiao, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace, stated, according to the state-run China Daily, “Now is the time for China to realize its responsibilities. If the United States is willing to give up its running of the internet sphere, the question comes as to who will take the baton and how it would be run?”

“We have to first set our goal in cyberspace, and then think about the strategy to take, before moving on to refining our laws,” he said.

Li’s comments were in response to news, also in 2014, that the United States would relinquish its remaining federal government control of the internet by ending its contract between the Commerce Department and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is scheduled for Oct. 1.

U.S. to relinquish remaining control over the Internet

The U.S. is trying harder to suicide itself, now by giving up control of the internet, likely exposing itself even more so to cyber warfare. If it’s available out in the open, even to America’s enemies, a lot can happen and it’s foolish to think it won’t be taken advantage of. The possibilities are limited to one’s imagination now that Pandora’s Box has just been opened.

U.S. officials announced plans Friday to relinquish federal government control over the administration of the Internet, a move that pleased international critics but alarmed some business leaders and others who rely on the smooth functioning of the Web.

Pressure to let go of the final vestiges of U.S. authority over the system of Web addresses and domain names that organize the Internet has been building for more than a decade and was supercharged by the backlash last year to revelations about National Security Agency surveillance.

China Eclipses U.S. as Biggest Trading Nation Measured in Goods

China surpassed the U.S. to become the world’s biggest trading nation last year as measured by the sum of exports and imports of goods, official figures from both countries show.

U.S. exports and imports of goods last year totaled $3.82 trillion, the U.S. Commerce Department said last week. China’s customs administration reported last month that the country’s trade in goods in 2012 amounted to $3.87 trillion.

Military Secrets Leak From U.S. Universities With Rules Flouted

For 15 days in late 2009, Internet users in 36 countries, including China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan, viewed sensitive information about U.S. weapons technology that was supposed to be for American eyes only.

The disclosure, which prompted a rebuke from a U.S. State Department official, came from a Georgia Institute of Technology course for federal employees and contractors on infrared technology used in weapons-aiming systems for aircraft, ships and tanks. Asked by instructor David Schmieder to copy the course onto a DVD, Georgia Tech’s media staff instead uploaded it to servers.

The lapse by Atlanta-based Georgia Tech illustrates how colleges and federal arms-control regulators are often lax in enforcing Americans-only limits intended to prevent theft of military technology from U.S. campuses. Even as they enroll more graduate students from countries such as China and Iran, universities are conducting more research that is restricted to American citizens and permanent residents because of its national-security implications. Foreign governments are targeting universities to “obtain restricted information or products,” the FBI said in a 2011 report.

Culture of Openness

Eager to preserve their culture of openness and global collaboration, campuses are skirting — and even flouting — export-control laws that require foreigners to hold government licenses to work on sensitive projects.

Using unlicensed foreign students on export-controlled projects “happens all the time,” said Michael Deal, an international trade lawyer in Arlington, Virginia, and a former official at the U.S. Commerce Department, which regulates technology that has both civilian and military applications. “The academic world is completely undisciplined about it. Its casual approach has undoubtedly led to the erosion of the U.S. competitive advantage.”

Full article: Military Secrets Leak From U.S. Universities With Rules Flouted (Bloomberg Businessweek)