Baltic Dry Index. 1578 -06 Brent Crude 81.45
If all else fails, immortality can always
be assured by spectacular error.
John Kenneth
Galbraith.
In a blunder of epic
proportions, with likely epic repercussions to follow, President Trump
attempted yesterday to give Saudi Arabia and its de facto ruler Crown Prince
Mohammad bin Salman, a walk, just as details were emerging in the middle east
media of what’s on the Turkish tape recording. The Turkish secret service seem to be playing America and Saudi Arabia like a fiddle.
I suspect that
President Trump has just completely misplayed the Saudi oil card, putting at
risk the outcome of the midterm elections.
With about three weeks left, it’s hard to see a credible way back for either
President Trump or Crown Prince Mohammad. President Trump and his Washington team, seem
to be hopelessly uninformed or callously indifferent.
With US sanctions on
Iran set to start on November 4th, an oil price spike would now seem to
lie directly ahead.
Trump gives Saudi Arabia benefit of doubt in journalist's disappearance
October 16, 2018 / 3:21 AM / Updated an
hour ago
WASHINGTON/RIYADH
(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump gave Saudi Arabia the benefit of the
doubt in the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi even as U.S. lawmakers
pointed the finger at the Saudi leadership and Western pressure mounted on
Riyadh to provide answers.
“I think we have to find out what happened first,” Trump told the
Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday. “Here we go again with, you know,
you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t like that.”
Trump then referred directly to his nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the
U.S. Supreme Court, which ran into trouble in the Senate after several women
came forward to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, before Kavanaugh was
ultimately confirmed.
Earlier, in a Twitter post, Trump said that Saudi Arabian Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman denied knowing what happened in the Saudi consulate in
Istanbul where Khashoggi vanished two weeks ago after going there to collect
documents he needed for his planned marriage.
Turkish officials have said they believe the Saudi journalist was
murdered and his body removed, which the Saudis have strongly denied. Khashoggi
was a U.S. resident who wrote columns for the Washington Post and he was
critical of the Saudi government, calling for reforms.
More
Jamal Khashoggi's killing took seven minutes, Turkish source tells MEE
Middle East Eye publishes first details of audio tape acquired by Turkish investigators probing what happened to Saudi journalist
Tuesday 16 October 2018 19:07 UTC Last update: Tuesday 16 October
2018 23:33 UTC
It took seven minutes for Jamal Khashoggi to die, a Turkish source who
has listened in full to an audio recording of the Saudi journalist's last
moments told Middle East Eye.
Khashoggi was dragged from the Consul General’s office at the Saudi
consulate in Istanbul and onto the table of his study next door, the Turkish
source said.
Horrendous screams were then heard by a witness downstairs, the source
said.
"The consul himself was taken out of the room. There was no attempt
to interrogate him. They had come to kill him,” the source told MEE.
The screaming stopped when Khashoggi - who was last seen entering the
Saudi consulate on 2 October - was injected with an as yet unknown substance.
Salah Muhammad al-Tubaigy, who has been identified as the head of
forensic evidence in the Saudi general security department, was one of the
15-member squad who arrived in Ankara earlier that day on a private jet.
Tubaigy began to cut Khashoggi’s body up on a table in the study while
he was still alive, the Turkish source said.
The killing took seven minutes, the source said.
As he started to dismember the body, Tubaigy put on earphones and listened to music. He advised other members of the squad to do the same.
“When I do this job, I listen to music. You should do [that] too,” Tubaigy was recorded as saying, the source told MEE.
A three-minute version of the audio tape has been given to Turkish newspaper Sabah, but they have yet to release it.
A Turkish source told the New York Times that Tubaigy was equipped with a bone saw. He is listed as the president of the Saudi Fellowship of Forensic Pathology and a member of the Saudi Association for Forensic Pathology.
In 2014, London-based Saudi newspaper Asharaq al-Awsat interviewed Tubaigy about a mobile clinic that allows coroners to perform autopsies in seven minutes to determine the cause of death of Hajj pilgrims.
More
Turkish Media Floats Claim Saudis ‘Evaporated’ Khashoggi’s Body with Acid
15 Oct 2018
The much-discussed and often-delayed joint inspection of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by Turkish and Saudi officials formally began on Monday.
Turkish media claimed one of the leads Turkish police investigated claimed Saudi forces inside the consulate killed missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi and “evaporated” his remains with acid.Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News details the claim:
More
Suspects in Khashoggi Case Had Ties to Saudi Crown Prince
By
DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, MALACHY BROWNE, BEN HUBBARD and DAVID BOTTI
ISTANBUL — One of the suspects identified by Turkey in the disappearance
of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi was a frequent companion of Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman — seen disembarking from airplanes with him in Paris and
Madrid and photographed standing guard during his visits this year to Houston,
Boston and the United Nations.
Three others are linked by witnesses and other records to the Saudi
crown prince’s security detail.
More
Trump calls Federal Reserve his 'biggest threat'
AFP•
Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump reignited his controversial
criticism of the central bank Tuesday, calling the Federal Reserve his
"biggest threat."
Trump followed up previous strong attacks on the Fed by complaining
again that interest rates are rising too quickly.
"My biggest threat is the Fed, because the Fed is raising rates too
fast," he told Fox Business television.
Trump acknowledged that the central bank is independent, "so I
don't speak to them," but then leveled direct criticism at Fed Chairman
Jerome Powell, who he said should be slower on interest rate rises.
"It's going too fast, because you look at the last inflation
numbers -- they're very low," he said.
Trump appointed Powell but told Fox, "maybe it's right, maybe it's
wrong."
"There are a lot of other people there I'm not so happy with,"
he said.
The Fed has raised interest rates three times this year as it seeks to
prevent a vibrant economy from overheating.
US presidents usually remain silent on such issues in respect toward the
Fed's independence. Trump has previously called Fed policies "crazy."
Trump tells AP he won’t accept blame if GOP loses House
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing the prospect of bruising electoral defeat in
congressional elections, President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he won’t
accept the blame if his party loses control of the House in November, arguing
his campaigning and endorsements have helped Republican candidates.
In a wide-ranging interview three weeks before Election Day, Trump told
The Associated Press he senses voter enthusiasm rivaling 2016 and he expressed
cautious optimism that his most loyal supporters will vote even when he is not
on the ballot. He dismissed suggestions that he might take responsibility, as
his predecessor did, for midterm losses or view the outcome as a referendum on
his presidency.
“No, I think I’m helping people,” Trump said. “I don’t believe anybody’s
ever had this kind of an impact.”
Trump spoke on a range of subjects, defending Saudi Arabia from growing
condemnation over the case of a missing journalist, accusing his longtime
attorney Michael Cohen of lying under oath and flashing defiance when asked
about the insult — “Horseface” — he hurled at Stormy Daniels, the porn actress
who accuses him of lying about an affair.
Asked if it was appropriate to insult a woman’s appearance, Trump
responded, “You can take it any way you want.”
More
Finally, it’s been an up, down,
up, down year in aluminium, largely thanks to President Trump and his trade
war on aluminium. Will it all be back up again come December 12th?
Commentary: Alumina wake-up call for the aluminium supply chain
October 15, 2018 / 1:54 PM
LONDON (Reuters) -
The alumina market is experiencing a year of unprecedented turbulence.
Alumina, which sits in the aluminium production process between bauxite
and refined metal, has historically been a highly efficient link in the supply
chain.
It hasn’t generated many headlines over the years because it has largely
avoided any newsworthy disruption.
It is, to quote Greg Wittbecker, analyst at the CRU research house, one
of those markets “people have taken for granted”.
Not any more.
A series of supply hits have sent the alumina price on a rollercoaster
ride this year, at one stage threatening the closure of several European
aluminium smelters.
This volatility poses some hard questions for aluminium producers, not
least as to how alumina is priced.
A YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY - PART 1
Alumina’s year of turmoil began in February, when a Brazilian court
ordered the part suspension of Hydro’s Alunorte refinery after heavy rains raised
concerns about leakage from the plant’s tailings ponds.
Alunorte, with capacity of 6.3 million tonnes a year, is the world’s
largest single alumina production site and has been operating at half capacity
ever since.
Hydro threatened full closure of the plant on Oct. 3 as the existing
tailings area reached capacity, but it reversed the decision on Oct. 8 after
the authorities granted permission to use a new residues facility.
Alunorte has reverted to half-capacity operation, as have the bauxite
mines that feed it and the Albras aluminium smelter that takes some of its
product.
The CME alumina price has whipsawed on the latest Alunorte developments,
surging from $425 a tonne to $620 on the full-closure news before retreating
back to $515 on confirmation it would resume 50 percent production.
----- A YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY - PART 2
The market’s Alunorte woes were compounded in April, when the United
States slapped sanctions on Oleg Deripaska and his Rusal aluminium empire.
That blew a hole in alumina’s complex supply chain, threatening the
closure of Rusal’s Aughinish refinery, which in turn placed at risk the
European smelters that rely on the Irish plant’s output.
The sanctions deadline has been extended again to Dec. 12 and the
market’s assumption is that it is only a matter of time before they are lifted
fully.
However, the fragility of the alumina supply chain has been brutally
exposed, serving as wake-up call for the aluminium sector and the U.S. and
European governments, who received a short, sharp lesson in the multiple
interdependencies of this previously uncontroversial commodity.
A six-week walkout by workers at Alcoa’s Western Australia bauxite mines
and alumina refineries simply added to the pricing turbulence before a peace
deal was struck at the end of last month.
More
John Kenneth Galbraith.
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally doubled over.
No crooks and scoundrels today, they’re a dime a
dozen and around all day and every day, they’ll be back tomorrow. Today the Royal Navy finally gets some jets
for HMS Big Lizzie. Worryingly, America’s just grounded all its F-35s following
a crash.
Royal Navy makes first ever F-35B rolling landing
David Szondy 16/10/2018
The Royal Navy made history again over the weekend
as an F-35B Lightning II VSTOL fighter conducted the first ever Shipborne
Rolling Vertical Landing (SRVL) aboard the supercarrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Under the control of BAE test pilot Peter "Wizzer" Wilson, the
aircraft executed the highly skilled maneuver designed to allow the F-35B to
land on the deck of a carrier while carrying a heavy load of fuel and weapons,
without the need for arrestor cables.
Under normal circumstances, when the F-35B returns from a mission, it
lands by activating its lift fan and vectoring its tail thruster downward. It
then hovers alongside the carrier deck before sliding sideways and then
dropping to the flight deck.
It's a maneuver that works, but the fighter can only manage vertical
flight when it is carrying a minimal payload of fuel and munitions. This means
that if the aircraft has to return to base early and with a full weapons load,
it requires the pilot to make a very expensive jettisoning before he can land.
To avoid this, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force have developed
SRVL, where the F-35B lands by approaching the carrier like a conventional
aircraft but, as it comes in, uses its thruster and fan to blow air over the
wings to create additional lift. This enables it to touch down gently and stop
in a very short distance, even with a full load.
According to the Navy, Britain is the only country that uses SRVL and it
has already been tested thousands of times in a simulator.
"I'm excited and thrilled to have achieved this," says Wilson.
"I've worked on this for the past 17 years and it's fantastic to know that
it's matched the modeling and simulation we have done over the years. I've
flown more than 2,000 SRVLs in the simulator, and am honored to have been able
to do the first one on board HMS Queen Elizabeth."
The landing was carried out under the supervision of Lieutenant Christopher
Mould, the Queen Elizabeth's Landing Safety Officer and was observed by test
pilot Major Michael Lippert of the US Marine Corps. Just as The Navy and the
RAF have sent pilots to America to hone their carrier skills and learn how to
fly the F-35, the US military has personnel like Major Lippert aboard Queen
Elizabeth to learn about British innovations.
HMS Queen Elizabeth is currently off the Atlantic coast of the United
States, where it is carrying out flight training as well as sea trials with other
warships. Last month, it conducted the first F-35B landing on the giant carrier
and the first night landings shortly thereafter.
The video below shows the historic F-35B SRVL landing.
Technology Update.
With events happening fast in the
development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section. Updates as
they get reported. Is converting sunlight to usable cheap AC or DC energy
mankind’s future from the 21st century onwards?
Perovskites: Materials of the future in optical communication
Date:
October 15, 2018
Source:
Linköping University
Summary:
Researchers have shown how an inorganic perovskite can be made into a cheap and
efficient photodetector that transfers both text and music.
Researchers at the universities in Linköping and Shenzhen have shown how
an inorganic perovskite can be made into a cheap and efficient photodetector
that transfers both text and music. "It's a promising material for future
rapid optical communication," says Feng Gao, researcher at Linköping
University.
"Perovskites of inorganic materials have a huge potential to
influence the development of optical communication. These materials have rapid
response times, are simple to manufacture, and are extremely stable." So
says Feng Gao, senior lecturer at LiU who, together with colleagues who include
Chunxiong Bao, postdoc at LiU, and scientists at Shenzhen University, has
published the results in the journal Advanced Materials.
All optical communication requires rapid and reliable photodetectors --
materials that capture a light signal and convert it into an electrical signal.
Current optical communication systems use photodetectors made from materials
such as silicon and indium gallium arsenide. But these are expensive, partly
because they are complicated to manufacture. Moreover, these materials cannot
to be used in some new devices, such as mechanically flexible, light-weight or
large-area devices.
Researcher have been seeking cheap replacement, or at least
supplementary, materials for many years, and have looked at, for example,
organic semi-conductors. However, the charge transport of these has proved to
be too slow. A photodetector must be rapid.
The new perovskite materials have been extremely interesting in research
since 2009, but the focus has been on their use in solar cells and efficient
light-emitting diodes. Feng Gao, researcher in Biomolecular and Organic Electronics
at LiU, was awarded a Starting Grant of EUR 1.5 million from the European
Research Council (ERC) in the autumn of 2016, intended for research into using
perovskites in light-emitting diodes.
Perovskites form a completely new family of semi-conducting materials
that are defined by their crystal structures. They can consist of both organic
and inorganic substances. They have good light-emitting properties and are easy
to manufacture. For applications such as light-emitting diodes and efficient solar
cells, most interest has been placed on perovskites that consist of an organic
substance (containing carbon and hydrogen), metal, and halogen (fluorine,
chlorine, bromine or iodine) ions.
However, when this composition was used in
photodetectors, it proved to be too unstable.
The results changed, however, when Chunxiong Bao used the right
materials, and managed to optimise the manufacturing process and the structure
of the film. The film in the new perovskite, which contains only inorganic
elements (caesium, lead, iodine and bromine), has been tested in a system for
optical communication, which confirmed its ability to transfer both text and
images, rapidly and reliably. The quality didn't deteriorate, even after 2,000
hours at room temperature.
"It's very gratifying that we have already achieved results that
are very close to application," says Feng Gao, who leads the research,
together with Professor Wenjing Zhang at Shenzhen University.
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished September.
DJIA: 26,458 +199 Down. NASDAQ:
8,046 +261 Down. SP500: 2,914 +166 Down.
All
three slow indicators moved down in March, but the S&P and NASDAQ turned up in August. September will be critical for confirmation
of this change. All 3 slow indicators failed to confirm August’s positive
change making October very vulnerable to a sell-off.
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