Headline News 07/02/2018

Headlines

• • New Nuke Posture

  • Cryptocurrency bubble finally bursts

• Details
• New Nuke Posture

The Trump administration published the Nuclear Posture Review, which is an assessment on the state of the country’s arsenal. The report came in the context of Trump recently announcing the developing of tactical nukes, for use in the battlefield. North Korea has also been in the headlines for most of 2017, especially after testing a nuclear weapon that can reach the US continent.

US military doctrine has always been focused on the US having more capability than everyone else. Funding has always been found when countries such as Russia or China produce platforms that can counter US military capability. But buried in the report was a Russian weapon called “Status-6” a type of doomsday device that is a new intercontinental, nuclear-armed, nuclear-powered, undersea autonomous torpedo. Under Trump the lack of political solutions to the world's problems has seen the US shift to potential military options. The fact that Iraq and Afghanistan are in a mess after US military adventures has not led to a major change in US views about the world.

Cryptocurrency Bubble Finally Bursts

Last year saw crypto currencies such as Bitcoin reach astronomical proportions. But much like the internet in the mid-1990s this new asset lacks much regulation and much like the internet has seen its value dramatically increase. The scale of the impending crisis is starting to become clear as digital tokens have slid more than 50% in value from their peaks in early January 2018. The value of all outstanding virtual currencies has been cut by more than half, down over $400 billion as of Monday Feb 6th. Hackers draining funds from online exchanges.

Ponzi schemes. Government regulators unable to keep up with the rise of so called cryptocurrencies. Signs of trouble have appeared at nearly every level of the industry, from the biggest exchanges to the news sites and chat rooms where the investment frenzy has been discussed. As bitcoin begins to lose its air, frauds and other scams are beginning to come to the surface. Many schemes have been able to expand quickly because they did not use bank accounts and therefore did not have to win approval from established institutions. Instead, they are able to use virtual currency "wallets" without any approvals. And virtual currency transactions cannot be reversed like normal bank or even PayPal transfers.