| \ | ||||||||||
This MonthPaul just returned from China where he visited Southwestern Resources' new gold project. Southwestern has been the big winner so far, moving quickly from C$2.20 to C$18. It's been a longtime resident on the monitored list so I hope that it was widely held by our subscribers. Is it going higher? That's crystal ball gazing for the moment; we'll have to wait for more drill results on this one. One thing bears continuing emphasis: The bull market in gold is underway in earnest. Mining stocks have been moving ahead nicely, but they actually are lagging the metal itself just the opposite of the case at the beginning of 2002. Mark my words. By the time this gold market climaxes, ten-to-one shots will be par for the course. But it's just begun. I've spent the last several months in Thailand, Australia and Indonesia, and
will have some observations on those parts of the world next month. n
Southwestern Resources (SWG.T:C$12.65)by Paul van Eeden Right from the outset let me emphasize that Southwestern Resources has made an important discovery. Their Boka project in China certainly has the potential to become a world-class gold mine. I have just spent a week visiting the project; this is a stock that I suggest you keep an eye on. Boka is located in the Yunnan Province about 150 km north of the capital, Kunming. Because of the mountainous terrain, the distance by road is roughly 280 km and takes more than 7 hours to drive. A new highway currently under construction will drastically reduce the driving time. Gold was discovered at Boka in 1999 |
as a result of regional geochemical surveys conducted by the Chinese Ministry of Geology, Mines and Resources (MGMR). A minor gold rush ensued with over 1,000 illegal miners flocking to the small mountain town perched high above the Yangtze River. The illegal mining activity was unpalatable to Chinese authorities but MGMR was unable to deal with the influx of miners. MGMR hence sold the mining rights to Team 209 of the Yunnan Province Nuclear Industry, which replaced the illegal miners with local mining contractors and built a crude metallurgical plant close to town. Team 209, like many government owned corporations left to fend for themselves, is undercapitalized and lacks the resources to properly develop what appears to be a very large mineralized structure. Southwestern Resources initiated a regional stream sediment survey in February 2001 designed to look for nickel and copper mineralization in the area around and south of Boka. Fortunately they also assayed the sediments for gold, which led them to Team 209's mining operations. The arrival of Southwestern Resources, with its ability to access capital markets in North America, was a natural fit for Team 209. Dr. Charlie Cheng, Southwestern's project manager in China, spent the next 18 months forging a relationship with Team 209, culminating in a joint venture that allows Southwestern to earn a 90% interest in the Boka project. Under the terms of the agreement Southwestern has to spend $4 million over 4 years and pay Team 209 $1.7 million by the end of year 4. In press releases up to and including one dated December 3, 2002, Southwestern describes the mineralization at Boka as stratabound within sedimentary host-rocks. These sedimentary rocks are associated | |||||||||
|
Prices as of: January 28, 2003
Gold: $368 Silver: $4.84 Oil: $32.38 DJIA: 8019 30-yr Bond: 4.88% Nikkei: 8609 Yen: US$0.0084 117.88/$ Canadian $: US$0.65 1.51/$ | ||||||||||
|
Volume XXIV, No. 1 www.dougcasey.com | |||||||
|
with a shear zone related to a thrust fault that prepared the rock for mineralizing fluids. The origin of the mineralizing fluids has not been determined but according to Southwestern could be derived from, or at least driven by, the abundant gabbroic intrusions in the area. What is known is that the gold is associated with quartz-pyrite alteration and it appears that there may have been several, up to three or four, mineralizing events. Most of the work thus far has been focused on the Boka 1 zone, described by the company on December 3 as extending for 1,400 meters along strike (north-south), exposed for 150 meters vertically along the west-facing cliffs and crisscrossed by 134 tunnels that delineate the mineralization for at least 200 meters down dip (northeasterly direction). In the same press release Southwestern announced assay results taken from channel samples within tunnel XG-15 that included 34.5 meters grading 75.2 grams (over 2 ounces) per tonne gold. These tunnels are being excavated by local entrepreneurs who mine ore with picks and shovels and sell it to Team 209. Gold had also been found 1 km to the northeast, 6 km to the south and 3 km to the east of Boka 1. All within what appeared to be the same stratigraphic horizon. Given the sheer size of the mineralized system, the fantastic grades recovered thus far and the fact that Southwestern described the high-grade gold as widely distributed, it is no surprise that some people, including myself, started doing volumetric calculations on the project. 1,400 meters by 150 meters by 200 meters comes to 42 million cubic meters of rock. Assuming a conservative 2.5 specific gravity for the rock gives us 105 million tonnes - on Boka 1 alone! The average grade for all the tunnel samples in Boka 1 released as of December 3 came to 13.2 grams per tonne. Assuming that this grade is representative for the volume of rock calculated above, it implied that Boka 1 alone appeared to contain 44 million ounces. And the mineralization is wide open to the north, south and east. Even assuming that the average grade of 13.2 grams per tonne is too good to be true, an average grade of only 3 grams per tonne equates to over 10 million ounces. Should the mineralized structure continue 1 km north to Boka 11 and 3 km east to Boka 8, it becomes immediately obvious that there is potential here for a humungous gold deposit. In fact, in its December 3 press release South |
western draws the analogy between Boka and the world famous Muruntau deposit in Uzbekistan (175 million ounces @ 2.5 g/t) and Sukhoi Log in Russia (38 million ounces). It's no surprise that the stock soared from C$2.70 to over C$7 a share after the company's December 3 press release. China or not, this project had enormous potential and the exploration market was ripe for a world-class discovery. It was on the basis of the foregoing that we put out an Investment Alert to our subscribers on December 16 to buy the stock at C$7. By the end of December the stock had touched C$15 a share. It reached C$18 a share when the company released additional tunnel sampling on January 7, including the first assays from Boka 1 South. The results from Boka 1 South were as impressive as those from Boka 1 North with an average grade of 15.24 grams per tonne for the 4 tunnels sampled. This confirmed that the 1,400 meters of strike at Boka 1 could indeed be one big mineralized structure. And it still had not been tested 1.2 km north to Boka 11 or 3 km east to Boka 8. The average grade of all tunnel samples released up to January 7 was 10.8 grams per tonne, which equates to 36 million ounces just at Boka 1. Note that the average grade declined with the inclusion of additional tunnel assays from Boka 1 North. Three brokerage firm analysts and I were invited to visit Boka early in January. We were all very excited and optimistic about the project's potential. 100 million ounce-plus discoveries are not made very often. Now maybe my imagination was working overtime but I suspect that I wasn't alone in teasing myself with what could be. On the ground however, reality started percolating through, reminding me of the risks associated with mineral exploration. Mineralization at Boka is relatively easy to spot with the naked | ||||||
|
It's no surprise that the stock soared from C$2.70 to over C$7 a share after the company's December 3 press release. China or not, this project had enormous potential and the exploration market was ripe for a world-class discovery. | |||||||
|
Volume XXIV, No. 1 www.dougcasey.com | ||||||
|
eye as it is associated for the most part with highly oxidized and altered rocks. Walking through the tunnels on the first day I realized that the high-grade mineralization is not as pervasive as I originally thought and there are significant zones that I expect are going to be very weakly mineralized. Make no mistake, there are extensive zones of high-grade mineralization at Boka, just less evenly distributed than what I expected. The tunnels were excavated by local mining contractors who sell the ore to Team 209 for processing. The contractors are paid per tonne, based on a visual estimate of the grade of the ore. Thus the local miners have a strong incentive to excavate only along high-grade structures and hence I do not believe that the tunnels in themselves represent a fair indication of the average grades one can expect throughout the shear zone. Southwestern released a cross section of Boka 1 during December that shows the tunnels intersecting the mineralized horizon over a vertical extent of approximately 200 meters. This, in conjunction with previous comments and tunnel assays, created the impression that the entire 150 to 200 meter vertical dimension of the host rock is mineralized, potentially at the average grades reported thus far. However, if you look at a longitudinal section of the tunnels across Boka 1 North, the same region as represented by the cross section, you see that the tunnels in fact cover a much smaller vertical dimension. Assuming that the tunnels follow high-grade gold values, it appears that the mineralization is relatively flat-lying and about 30 meters thick at the northern end of Boka 1. Then it dips steeply as one moves south. This implies that the volumetric calculation previously done could have grossly over-estimated the contained gold, if indeed the tunnels are exploiting the only high-grade zones. Of course, until Boka 1 is systematically drilled off, |
we won't know where the mineralization begins or ends, but we do know that the cross section was not a true cross section. Instead it was a compressed longitudinal section viewed from the side. Southwestern has posted photographs of the drill core for hole 1 on their website. It is possible to see more than one zone of intense alteration in the core and that suggests that the mineralized zone is more extensive than what the tunnels indicate. As unlikely as it is that the local miners found all the high-grade zones, we have to get assay results back from drill holes to better understand what is going on. The next morning we visited Boka 11, just over 1 kilometer north of Boka 1, where there was evidence of alteration although it appeared that the host rock might be a gabbro instead of sedimentary rock. Nonetheless, Boka 11 did seem as if it was related to Boka 1. But the extent of mineralization we saw, and the lack of local mining, made me think that Boka 11 might not be as rich as Boka 1. In the afternoon we visited Boka 8, approximately 3 km east of Boka 1, and although we did not see all the tunnels it was quite unimpressive, with a distinctive lack of local workings and many abandoned exploration tunnels. This indicated that the local miners did give Boka 8 a shot; to no avail. Boka 1, 11 and 8 may all be part of the same system and the mineralization may extend throughout the whole mountain. But I would not want to risk any money that it does. At this time the stock was about C$17 or C$18 a share and with roughly 16 million shares outstanding the company's market capitalization implied a project value of around C$300 million. Given the fact that we don't yet have the assay results for hole number 1, and that it seems as if I over-estimated the size of the project and the extent of high-grade mineralization, I thought it prudent to suggest that our Alert subscribers, who received a very bullish report a month earlier when the stock was C$7 a share, take some profits. A sell recommendation was sent to Alert subscribers on January 15 when the shares were at C$16.30. It is important to put Southwestern's recent trading and the potential of the Boka project into context. Southwestern Resources has a competent management team and a great project. We should not lose sight of that. But the gold market is dying for a good exploration story. With the increase in the gold price and the optimism of speculators in the market, I believe that the stock got ahead of itself. One thing is for sure: you hen dou jin, "there | |||||
|
One thing is for sure: you hen dou jin, "there is a lot of gold" at Boka. | ||||||
|
Volume XXIV, No. 1 www.dougcasey.com | |||||||
|
unwise to overpay for speculative stocks. I always try to keep risk and reward in mind and this is when most speculations fail the acid test. In summary I like Southwestern a lot and I believe Boka has significant potential. But I would like to see more assay results before I decide what to do next. The results for drill hole number 1 should be released sometime in February. I anticipate that these could be good results but I would suggest that we see a few drill hole assays before jumping to any conclusions. This is a big system, and one hole will not tell the whole story. PvE
Radiological WeaponsI find it interesting that atomic, biological, and chemical weaponswhich have always been referred to as ABC weapons within the militaryare now being called Weapons of Mass Destruction by the Baby Bush Regime. Really bad things are usually played down by the government, whereas here a rather clinical term has been replaced with an emotive one. I wouldn't say this use of words is part of some conspiracy; rather I suspect it's part of the inchoate pattern of operation that's genetically programmed into governments. Their default mode is to lull their subjects into a state of bovine complacency, punctuated by convenient bouts of hysteria. The Nov. 2002 Scientific American contains a mildly informative article on radiological weapons. I generally read SA and Discover straight through every month, because their contents, unlike those of "news" papers and magazines, tend to contain reality-based data, something actually worth knowing. "News" publications are actually best viewed as entertainment, albeit of a degraded and perverse nature. "Entertainment" publications are really just | |||||||
|
is a lot of gold" at Boka. We were able to pan gold from many samples taken in the tunnels and Team 209 is processing rock, purchased from local miners, with an average grade of better than 9 grams per tonne. Much of the gold is free and can be recovered by gravity separation. The rest seems amenable to cyanide extraction as demonstrated by Team 209. The mineralization at Boka 1 North is associated with intense clay alteration but interestingly, at the southern end of Boka 1 North where the mineralization appears to be dipping more steeply, there is very high-grade, primary, massive sulphide mineralization containing electrum (an alloy of gold and silver). Southwestern describes several mineralizing events with this massive sulphide deposition as one of the later events. According to John Paterson, the president of Southwestern Resources, there is no doubt that Boka is a stratigraphically controlled system like Muruntau. 1.2 km north of Boka 1, at Boka 11, we saw mineralization in what appeared to be a gabbro. This is interpreted by the company as the hanging wall of the system. Another tunnel at Boka 11 apparently goes right into the same mineralized carbonaceous shale as we see at Boka 1. In the drill core one can distinguish between the carbonaceous shale, which contains quart-carbonate veining and the footwall to the mineralization, which contains no veining. Even if the mineralization at Boka is less pervasive than what I originally thought, it still seems possible that Southwestern could find enough high-grade zones, with high enough grades, to put together 10 million ounces or more. However, as investors we have to guard against over-optimism. Boka may well contain 30 or 50 or even over 100 million ounces. But I wouldn't bet on it at this stage. As compelling as the case may be for an enormous, disseminated, stratigraphically controlled ore body at Boka, it is perhaps too soon to rule out the possibility that the mineralization is derived from a north-south running high-angle fault. The implication of that would be that the mineralization is more localized along the fault and that the local miners have already exposed some, or most of the best ore zones. It is for this reason that I suggest we wait for more drill results before deciding whether or not to buy the stock again. Alert subscribers should have made a handsome profit already, and there may be a lot of upside left, but I have learned that it is | |||||||
|
In summary | |||||||
|
Volume XXIV, No. 1 www.dougcasey.com | ||||||
|
trivia infusion vehiclesalthough, truth be told, a detailed knowledge of what Jennifer Lopez is wearing and doing will get you a lot further in dealing with most people than knowing a new order of insect (there are now 31 known) has just been discovered in Namibia. In any event, an article entitled Weapons of Mass Disruption offers a timely, but slanted, precis of what are more commonly known as "dirty bombs." I say slanted because the two physicists that wrote it run a "public policy" institute in Washington, DC, and that is an infallible tipoff to be on the alert for a political agenda. Which, predictably, was just what you might expect from a couple of technocrats living within the beltway. I won't bother discussing their solutions. Summary: more regulations, bureaucrats and tax dollars directed at their area of interest. A real nuclear device will ignite when enough fissionable material comes together, under the proper conditions, to create a critical mass. A radiological device, however, relies on conventional explosives to disperse radioactive material over as broad an area as possible. As a military weapon it's of little use, since it would result in few casualties, and those would only evidence themselves over a long time. But it does make a lot of sense as an economic, or terror, weapon. Radioactive material (isotopes like cobalt 60, cesium 137, iridium 192 or plutonium 238, among others) are much more readily available from reactors, or medical facilities, than fissionable materials like plutonium 239 or uranium 235. And, as a terror weapon, they have real merit, in that they exponentially magnify stupidity (which is already, after hydrogen, the most common thing in the universe). Stupidity is an essential component in the manufacture of mass hysteria. And mass hysteria is what terror is intended to create. A well-constructed radiological bomb set off in Manhattan could contaminate a fair portion of the is |
land. The result would be the temporary, or even permanent, abandonment of lots of buildings. How many, and for how long, is a matter of the degree of hysteria as much as the degree of contamination. Cleaning up the mess made by radiological weapons is mainly a matter of mechanics: You get a bunch of people to wash down exposed surfaces. It's not a big deal. Few of the scientifically illiterate public are aware that radiation is measured in rems, and that they receive at least a quarter of a rem annually just by being alive from cosmic rays, or the granite in buildings, or the radon that percolates out of the earth's crust in many places. They get a lot more if they live in a high place, like Denver, or fly a lot. While getting more radiation statistically leads to more cancer, it also creates an effect known as hormesis. Hormesis is a phenomenon whereby a little bit of something that's poisonous actually has a beneficial effect; it appears true of almost everythingmercury, lead, arsenic, dioxin, radiation, you-name-it. The mechanism for this effect is debated, but it seems likely that it's a result of the stimulation of the immune system in a way peculiar to each poison. It's likely why, for instance, kids that fearlessly play in dirt tend to be healthier than those whose parents try to insulate them in sterile bubbles. The question is mainly one of "how much, for how long," rather than whether hormesis itself exists. There are limits, of course. At 100 rems most people show symptoms of radiation sickness. At 450 rems, half of the exposed will die within 60 days. But radiation, in itself, isn't a bad thing. It probably won't become an accepted medical process in the foreseeable future because the results can differ so radically with the constitution of each individual. That and, of course, the fear engendered by ignorance and hysteria. I bring this up because it's my nature to always look on the bright side. Not to discount the case I've made in the past that ABC weapons will definitely be used in the US as the Forever War drags on, it's even more likely that radiological weapons will be used. They're cheap, easy, and wonderful generators of hysteria. The bright side is that radiological weapons aren't likely to do serious damage in the real, as opposed to psychological worldnot that one can't argue that what people believe is often even more important than the reality. n
| |||||
|
Few of the scientifically illiterate public are aware that radiation is measured in rems, and that they receive at least a quarter of a rem annually just by being alive from cosmic rays, or the granite in buildings, or the radon that percolates out of the earth's crust in many places. | ||||||
|
Volume XXIV, No. 1 www.dougcasey.com | |||||||
StupidityThere's a lot of controversy over just how smart, or stupid, George W. Bush actually is. Although not in this publication. I'm convinced he's actually a person of marginal raw intelligence, fortified by little experience, and very little general knowledge. My friend Victor Niederhoffer, who actually has a genius level IQ, disagrees. He thinks that because Bush has a Harvard MBA, and graduated in the top half of his class, that is de facto evidence of an IQ north of 130. I would counter that Harvard is notorious for graduating people once they gain admission, and admission can be a highly political process. Entirely apart from the possibilities presented by cheating, grades in school don't necessarily indicate either high or low IQ. Look at Teddy Kennedy, another Harvard man. The Baby Bush would have taken batteries of intelligence tests throughout his school career, and the results are still in existenceunless his father, exercising foresight, arranged for them all to be "misplaced." He should release them, and clear up the controversy. Then the argument could be productively refocused on more important things, like his lack of wisdom, or shallowness of character, or phony moral veneer. Recently a high-ranking Canadian federal official characterized Bush as "a moron" for his hard-line stance on Iraq at the NATO meeting in Prague. Canadian stupidity experts now say that may be a correct assessment. "Technically, a moron is someone who is stupid but looks normal," said Albert Nerenberg, the film director who is completing a documentary titled Stupidity. "Much has been said recently about Bush arriving at a point where he looks presidential. What's intriguing about morons is that they can pass as just about anyone, but inside they're still morons." The film is being commissioned by the Documentary Channel and the CBC, and features interviews with Noam Chomsky, John Cleese, Bill Maher and former Bush speechwriter David Frum. A trailer for Stupidity can be found at www.trailervision.com. I certainly plan on seeing it, and expect the President to play a prominent role. Some, of course, might say Bush is characterized as being stupid by those who don't like his politics. When in doubt, there's nothing like referring to a dictionary. Mine says "stupid" means "slow of mind, given to unintelligent decisions or acts; acting in an unintel |
ligent or careless manner; lacking intelligence or reason." By that definition, almost anyone would have to allow that Bush is stupid. But, you may be interested to know, there are actually three main flavors of stupid: the moron, the imbecile, and the idiot. I'm a great believer in using words accurately. After all, if you don't know what a word means, than it's impossible to know what one is talking about. I've always tended to refer to Bush as a "moron," and I hold (like film producer Nerenberg) that it is technically correct. The dictionary says a moron is "a mentally retarded person who has a potential mental age of between 8 and 12 years and is capable of doing routine work under supervision." Bush is clearly capable of doing work under the supervision of his Axis of Evil Advisors. I think it's going too far, at the present time, to refer to him as an "imbecile," which is "a feebleminded person having a mental age of three to seven years and requiring supervision in the performance of routine daily tasks of self-care." But, by the time The Forever War is truly underway, I have no
question Boobus Americanus will be referring to Bush as an "idiot," which
is defined as "a feebleminded person having a mental age not
exceeding three years and requiring complete custodial care." n
The Islamic DinarI commented previously on the creation of an active gold exchange in China. Potentially even more important is the creation of the Islamic dinar. It's generally forgotten in the West that the dollar (like the pound, the mark, the franc, etc.) was just a convenient name for a specific amount of gold (.05 of an ounce). Later, people confused the name with the thing itself, and then forgot there was any relationship at all. | ||||||
|
There's a lot of controversy over just how smart, or stupid, George W. Bush actually is. Although not in this publication. I'm convinced he's actually a person of marginal raw intelligence, fortified by little experience, and very little general knowledge. | |||||||
|
Volume XXIV, No. 1 www.dougcasey.com | ||||||
Islamic Monetary TheoryThe same thing happened in the Muslim world, as well. In the beginning, the dinar and the dirham were simply names for specific amounts of gold and silver, respectively. Although Allah doesn't dictate this in the Qur'an itself, Islamic Law, or shariah, has a consensus opinion (called an ijma) dating from the days of the Prophet's (peace be upon Him) Followers and Companions that a dinar is a weight of 72 grains of barley, and a dirham is 7/10 that weight in silver. That translates into 4.25 grams and 3.0 grams, for the benefit of those without barley grains at hand. Of course, like religious dictates everywhere, these things
are just the expressions of what seemed like a good idea at the time to
a dogmatic or megalomaniacal leader who gained popularity. As
you might expect, there's the occasional useful innovation, but most
range somewhere between plain common sense and bizarre fantasy.
But people take them seriously. The difference between nominal
believers and fundamentalists is that the former, sensibly, mostly pay just
lip service to their religion, while the latter actually take it seriously. |
going to lose the Forever War, the dollar may approach its intrinsic value even more quickly than anyone expects. Interestingly, the Qur'an does have a few words that have been interpreted to prohibit paper money, where Allah says (3,75): "And amongst the People of the Book there are those who, if you were to entrust them with a treasure, he would return it to you. And amongst them is he who, if you were to entrust him with a dinar would not return it to you, unless you kept standing over him." This is interpreted to mean that one shouldn't leave one's gold with a non-Muslim. Christians and Jews are People of the Bookbut can't be trusted. Further, Islamic Law supposedly prohibits using a promise of payment (like a bond, or even currency) as the payment itself. So there's some question, apparently, whether believers are breaking sharia by using the dollar, or other infidel currencies entirely apart from the dictates of prudence. In any event, the gold dinar is being pushed by Malaysia, and that government plans to have the unit available for trading by mid-2003. I don't know how quickly it will catch on. Clearly, there are some real advantages to all concerned. On the other hand, it seems unlikely that any government will want to give up the advantage of printing currency at will. I think it's an important straw in the wind, however. And it remains my opinion that most of the world's governments will as unlikely as it seems at the moment wind up using gold as money after the upcoming monetary crisis brings the US dollar to its intrinsic value. n
NotesHere's something you won't likely read in Money Magazine, or the like, because their staff, universal cheerleaders for the late great bull market, are too embarrassed to report it. The UBS Strategy Fund, with $2.1 billion raised by Paine Webber in Dec 1999, was the largest new open-end fund in history. It proceeded to lose 31% in 2000, and it's been all down hill from there. The fund now has $417 million left under management, an 80%+ decline, and is being merged into another fund. That's not because a fund can't make money for the managers with $400 million under management; a management company can make money with as little as $50 million. It's | |||||
|
I think it's an important straw in
the wind, however. And it remains my opinion that most of
the world's governments will as unlikely as it seems at
the moment wind up using gold as money after the
upcoming monetary crisis brings the US dollar to its intrinsic
value. | ||||||
|
Volume XXIV, No. 1 www.dougcasey.com | |||||||
|
because by merging the fund into another, you acquire the track record of the surviving entity, and that looks better than one that has something like a -25% compound loss when you're trying to round up new investors. It's also one reason why the mutual fund industry as a whole looks, on paper, a lot better than it is in reality, because the real losers are merged, and their records disappear. About 350 funds have disappeared in the last year alone. Before the bear market ends there will be not just hundreds, but thousands, more that will disappear. The disappearance of UBS Strategy Fund is worth noting for a number of other reasons. First, the fact it was the largest open-end fund equity raising in history was, at least in retrospect, a tip-off to the top of the bull market. Second, Paine Webber was acquired by UBS shortly thereafter, which resulted in a name change of the fund. The wholesale purchase of brokerage firms by big banks at the time was another tip-off to the top. I'd say the brokerage business is, after the airline business, about the worst in the world labor-intensive, regulation-intensive, capital-intensive, highly procyclical with the economy, and worst one giant litigation risk. Only a bank would be stupid enough to buy a broker. And, of course, they feel obligated to do it at the top. A third funny thing is that the fund owned exclusively stocks from Paine Webber's "highlighted list" developed by Paine Webber's Ed Kerschner, who was named Wall Street's top strategist by Institutional Investor in 2000.
When I was last in Vancouver I met Kurt Russell, a neighbor in Colorado. I complimented him on two things: His announcement that he was a libertarian, and his portrayal of Snake Pliskin in Escape from New York and Escape from LA. Rent the videos. If there's a next lifetime, I've decided I'm going to come back either as a 10-goal polo player from a rich Argentine family who, although best known as an astrophysicist, works as a runway model in his spare time to meet girls. Or as Snake Pliskin.
EndquotesIt's been far too long since the words of Bakunin, one of history's most astute moral and political philosophers, have graced these pages. His thoughts are particularly appropriate as the Baby Bush and his Axis of Evil Advisors plump for the next phase of The Forever War. Does this sound familiar and accurate?
" lying. Diplomacy has no other mission. Every time a State wants to declare war upon another State, it starts off by launching a manifesto addressed not only to its own subjects but to the whole world. In this manifesto it declares that right and justice are on its side, and it endeavors to prove that it is actuated only by love |
of peace and humanity and that, imbued with generous and peaceful sentiments, it suffered for a long time in silence until the mounting iniquity of its enemy forced it to bare its sword. At the same time it vows that, disdainful of all material conquest and not seeking any increase in territory, it will put an end to this war as soon as justice is reestablished. And its antagonist answers with a similar manifesto, in which naturally right, justice, humanity, and all the generous sentiments are to be found respectively on its side. Those mutually opposed manifestos are written with the same eloquence, they breathe the same virtuous indignation, and one is just as sincere as the other; that is to say both of them are equally brazen in their lies, and it is only fools who are deceived by them. Sensible persons, all those who have had some political experience, do not even take the trouble of reading such manifestos." Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876), The Immorality of the State
"The argument that capital punishment degrades the state is moonshine, for if that were true then it would degrade the state to send men to war... The state, in truth, is degraded in its very nature: a few butcheries cannot do it any further damage. " HL Mencken, The American Mercury | ||||||
|
Doug Casey's International Speculator is published monthly by Douglas Casey. Information contained herein is obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Publisher, editors and officers, including Douglas Casey may from time to time have positions in securities or commodities recommended by or referred to in this newsletter. No more than 250 words of this newsletter may be extracted or reproduced in context without permission of the publisher. ©2003 by Douglas Casey. Editor/Publisher: Douglas R. Casey Please address subscription, customer service and editorial inquiries to: Doug Casey's International Speculator, Box 84911, Phoenix, AZ 85071, 800-528-0559, 602-252-4477. Subscriptions: 12 issues, $199, 24 issues, $299; back issues $25 each. All prices in US dollars unless otherwise noted. | |||||||