On the Silk Road, near the 25 century old city of Samarkand, capital of Tamerlane, home of Omar Kayaam, meet Medvedev and Hu Jintao.

And if that ain’t enough, Gustav the Hurricane is starting to look like Katrina looked at the same time & location. And Hannah is forming right behind. Get yer fight face on.

Re comment on cities, and Denver, Fannie & Freddie, Democrat lending and patronage citadels since FDR, now have about a one in ten chance, depending on September & October and several threads coming together in those two months, of delivering what the unions want, that is, the end of the dollar-denominated global trade system that by rewarding low-cost producers thru opening them to the globe, has built so much better life for so many people. The Dollar goes with it, too, as does the appeal of western liberal democratic government –or at least its universal suffrage ideal.

Military implications, unknown.

Of the bad loans in F&F, a small HUD program, the ‘Down-Payment Assistance Program’, is a tiny fraction of F&F’s book but count for nearly half of all their bad paper.

Back to Samarkand and the hurricane, could Man & Nature be trying to discipline the Thing in Denver?