Nov 28th, 2010: Eursula, and STL indictmento Debt burden, Wikileaks, Korea Penin

4 major geopolitical and macro-economical news items to be aware of

1 - Euro Debt Burden

ZeroHedge: Eurozone Cheat Sheet

There is a million things to say about the above statistics but I will limited my comments to the graph on the bottom right.  It shows the maturity due dates as a % of total debt for each country in the Euro Zone.
Coupled with the overall Debt to GDP ratios a stalk future awaits us.  Yes we will be able to push off this Ireland situation off for a few more years, but what happens in 3-5 years? Portugal, Italy, and even Belgium doesn't look in very good shape.  I think a lot of people are short sighted on global debt situation.

2 - WikiLeaks ~2.8 million leaked documents

WikiLeaks threat sparks massive review of diplomatic documents

Wikileaks: US warns allies on potential diplomatic leak

"Reports say Turkey, Israel, Denmark and Norway have also been warned to expect potential embarrassment from the leaks."
"State department spokesman PJ Crowley warned on Wednesday that the release could weaken trust in the US as a diplomatic partner."

It is rumored that the leak will be coming 4:30 pm Sunday 11/28/2010, but having seen mainstream acceptance of that time frame.

3 - Korea situation heating up, US and South Korea continue with joint exercises

Artillery Heard in North Korea; U.S. Carrier Enters Yellow Sea

"The echo of shots rang out this morning, said a South Korean Defense Ministry official who declined to be named, citing military policy. While residents were later allowed out of shelters, the aircraft carrier USS George Washington joined South Korean vessels for four days of drills.

U.S. Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. is trying to prevent the tensions over North Korea’s Nov. 23 attack on the South Korean island on the disputed maritime border from escalating into a more significant confrontation."

US, South Korea Begin Military Exercises

"Earlier Saturday, China launched a flurry of diplomatic activity to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula after North Korea's shelling of the island.
China has warned it opposes any "unilateral military act" in the area without its permission, referring to the U.S.-South Korean drills.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN (in an interview due to air Sunday) that, as North Korea's closest ally, China has as much at stake as anyone if the region is destabilized."

4 - CBC leak and upcoming indictment

This situation will cause an escalation in the region.  It will be interesting to see how the UN approaches this announcement which apparently will come Thursday Dec 2, 2010.

CBC Investigation: Who killed Lebanon's Rafik Hariri?
Phone Chart

 
STL: Saudi envoy expects a major breakthrough soon

"Ad-Diyar reported that the Lebanese Foreign Affairs Ministry received a notification from Lebanon’s Embassy in the Netherlands that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) will issue its indictment on December 2. Lebanese Ambassador to Netherlands Zaidan as-Saghir has reportedly also confirmed that the indictment will be issued on December 2"