Martin World News

 

Looking around the world for what we might have missed... a little more serious that usual.

Moscow Times

 

 Russia's capital Moscow on Saturday registered 9,120 new coronavirus infections in 24 hours, a second consecutive high, according to government figures.

Saturday's record topped the previous day's total of 9,056 new infections, according to the government's coronavirus tally, ballooning from 3,000 daily just two weeks ago.

 

Apparently, this third wave in Moscow has a 2-headed monster cause.  Head one: the Indian variant has arrived.  Head two:  Much like the stupidest of Americans, Muscovites believe that mandatory Vaccinations infringe their rights, and despite developing their own vaccine early, only 20% of them have gotten the shot.  And it is the older, more vulnerable, citizens who are refusing.

Generally, the young and educated residents of Russia’s largest cities — the so-called “new middle class” — have been most willing to get the vaccine. They consider themselves world citizens, vacation in Berlin and Paris and watch Netflix and HBO. They don’t need to be convinced that vaccination is a good idea: they volunteer for it and talk their friends and co-workers into it as well.

The irony is that the segment of the population that stands most in opposition to Putin was the one that most eagerly sought out “Putin’s vaccine.” These educated, economically independent and globally minded youth are also the least enamored with authoritarianism.

 

The fight against vaccination continues to make no logical sense- worldwide.

 

Xinhua

The Chinese news agency has an interesting article on what will be needed of the new Iranian president, one Ebrahim Raisi.  

 The next president should have a precise understanding of inflation and its dynamics, negative investment growth, and the complex system of sanctions among a host of other issues, Masoud Khansari, head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, told the Persian daily Donya-e-Eqtesad.

So what do they actually end up with in this guy?  He sounds a lot like a typical American politician in my mind.  Shadowy background, career as a prosecuting attorney.  Claimed to be an Ayatollah, until it was proven he didn't have the religious credentials.  Then proclaimed himself hojat-ol-eslam, or "expert on Islam"- apparently one step back from Ayatollah. Also apparently, there is an excuse in Islam to lie under duress, called Taqiya, that he no doubt invoked, because once he decided to run for president this time (he lost once before), he became an Ayatollah once again.  So, where is he on economics?

In 2017 Raisi reported “I see the activation of a resistance economy as the only way to end poverty and deprivation in the country.”He supports development of the agricultural sector over commercial retail, which “will eventually benefit foreign brands.”

In 2017 he promised to triple the monthly state benefits, currently 450,000 rials ($10.69 USD) per citizen, in order to tackle corruption and create six million jobs.

 

So summing up, he wants to take them back to a pre-industrial economy,  increase the welfare state, and expect that to be a job creator.  Because it's working so well here.

 

Japan News

The first story that caught my eye here was a story that would help not only businesses there, but also in UEB-sated workforces in the USA (and Iran, I guess):

Meng Tao had long been leading his team in the research and development of gearboxes and other highly precise industrial machine tools at Kofon Motion Group, a company based in Huanggang, Hubei Province.

That was until three years ago, when he started to eye the development of crawfish-processing machines, driven by the growing appetite of crustacean-crazy Chinese diners.

With the aid of artificial intelligence, the machine, developed by Kofon Motion Group, can send the angles and locations of crawfish to robots, and achieve automatic catching. It can remove the heads of about 1,000 crawfish in a minute and keep the tails, and the daily workload of the machine equals that of 40 to 50 workers.

Kofon said it is at the final stage of testing its self-innovated smart processing machine, and the first such machine nationwide is expected to be put into use in a few months.

 

 While the idea of using AI on crawdads brought me here, the thought process by which we eliminate 50 menial jobs so we can collect free money from Uncle Joe just seemed to go with today's flow....

(BTW:  According to what I found, China eats 90% of the 1.7 million tons produced a year.  My math says that's 2 and a quarter pounds for each man, woman, and child.)

Deutsche Welle

Here, I found an all-American example of 'politicians just don't get it'- but from the weekend's French elections:

Marine Le Pen, the former head of France's far-right National Rally, on Sunday blamed poor turnout for her party's worse-than-expected performance in the first round of the regional vote.

Initials projections by three polling agencies showed the center-right Republicans would top the weekend's vote. The final outcome would decide the assemblies for mainland France's 13 regions and 96 departments. The first round of the vote, however, was hit by a record-low turnout of less than 34%.

"Our voters didn't turn out," said Le Pen from her northern industrial stronghold of Henin-Beaufort.

So the low turnout caused your defeat.  Don't you think the low turnout MIGHT be because nobody wanted what you were selling?  But, please, don't blame yourself, blame us.