Ran Jak Diary

Deutsche Bank spy scandal

Germany's media continues to bore with incessantly repetitive tales of spies in the former DDR. But it is becoming apparent that one real spy story, set in the present, features Germany's largest bank in the starring role. Deutsche Bank reportedly faces possible criminal charges for spying on two of the bank's board of directors. 

Previously, phone company Deutsche Telekom and rail giant Deutsche Bahn reportedly engaged in spying.

Kindle? No thanks.

I wished for an Amazon Kindle e-book reader for the past year. No more. I no longer want a Kindle. No way. Amazon has given in to the whims of a publisher and deleted, by remote control, all copies of Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm, although the e-books had been legitimately purchased. Thousands of copies have been zapped. The publisher reportedly changed it policy, deciding it does not want electronic versions of Orwell's books sold. Amazon removed the titles from its store, setting off signals that deleted the previously purchased books.

Start of the end

Europe, the US, Canada: the party is over. Our dominance in the world is finito. We want too much in wages for too little productivity, compared to all the competition, so we won't get the good jobs. We offer less innovation than we used to, so the new mega players will rely on their own very bright entrepreneurs and product innovators.
India and China are in a torrid race to become the most important nation on earth. Forecasters from the World Bank, the IMF and even from the US government see the world's biggest economic powers within 10 years, as China, India, Brazil, Russia and the Philippines.
When Americans and Europeans find out that our empire is crumbling like a cookie, millions upon millions of citizens are going to stand up and make it very clear that they are totally pissed off. Why weren't they told? Worse, they're going to tell everyone that they aren't going to accept this new situation. First they will unseat governments.