STRATFOR 4/24/04

Train Blast Offers an Opening to North Korea
4/24

As more details emerge about the deadly rail accident in North Korea, it is becoming clear the damage goes far beyond the human casualties and immediate humanitarian crisis. Ryongchon is an industrial hub that sits along the trunk line between the North Korean capital Pyongyang and the Chinese border -- the source of much of North Korea's fuel supply. Reconstruction is likely to take some time, but if Pyongyang can play its cards right, it could gain valuable foreign investment and aid to rebuild its aging rail infrastructure and modernize its light and medium industries.
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The Final Days of a Russian Oil Giant
Apr 23, 2004

U.S. credit-rating firm Standard & Poor's has slashed Russian oil company Yukos's rating. That turn of affairs, coupled with the government's relentless hammering of the company, means the days of Yukos are numbered. The biggest loser -- aside from the firm's shareholders -- will be the Chinese government.
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Strategic Markets Net Assessment:
Cheap Credit and Expansion
Apr 23, 2004

Tax cuts, infrastructure programs and new hiring are all boosting U.S. economic growth, but none of these developments is responsible for the deep power currently driving the overall global growth. That honor lies fully with the seemingly endless supply of cheap money sloshing around the international system. So long as credit remains cheap, the expansion will continue -- and that will last at least through the end of 2004.