Both my  kids want to do a Joint Honours degree in International Relations at university (one w/History, other w/'Development Geography') and I'm a  proud dad. I mean int. rel. is the most exciting thing to study on the  planet right now - particularly for Generation Z who seemed to be hooked on 24x7 social media and reality TV. Example: tomorrow's #Ukraine  Parliamentary Vote on #Russia transit sanctions. What excitement! See  this chart of the countries likely affected as winter comes. Still as  I've said before, this is a battle of pain between Europe and Russia -  who can suffer the most wins!

Yesterday's Ballsy Short was about Eurozone deflationary expectations and my perennial whinge about Quantitative Expansion. Next month, it looks like ECB President Draghi will ramp up Euroland’s QE. Question is: will this liquidity reach smaller businesses in Europe. This chart from an article in today’s International New York Times entitled “Little guys still face a euro credit crunch” shows the high cost of SME loans in Euroland when the ECB base rate is currently a negligible ¼%! How can SMEs grow with rates like this? With the coming deflation and no growth how can periphery Euroland ever repay debt?