Do you dream of buying a warship? If so, you can get a corvette, equip it with Katiusha missiles, and protect it in the harbor with 122-millimeter artillery pieces. If you want your own airborne operation, buy an An-140 aircraft with a capacity for 52 soldiers, although vulnerable if faced with T-72 tanks or AD-120 anti-aircraft missiles, which can shoot down anything flying up to 27 kilometers high. All of this is just a fraction of what the Iranian Ministry of Defense sells on its website, which is a kind of Amazon but for weaponry. To evade the economic war (which seems to soon be followed by a real war) from the US, Tehran accepts payment in cryptocurrencies, paradoxically a type of financial asset promoted by the Trump Government (which has huge economic interests in them). Where the dollar does not reach, bitcoin does.
'Weapons of financial mass destruction' migrate to India and Brazil
Not long ago, when derivatives were mentioned, they were always referred to as "financial weapons of mass destruction," as investor Warren Buffett called them (who, however, made billions with them). Today, Silicon Valley has displaced Wall Street, and Buffett has retired after Peter Thiel (Meta, SpaceX, Palantir) called him, with the usual mental stability of tech leaders, a "psychopathic grandfather." But derivatives are still here, like the dinosaur in Monterroso's tale. They are just migrating south. Brazil and India are the largest derivatives markets in the world by number of contracts, thanks to the democratization of these assets, with products that people buy and sell from their mobile phones. Now, India has restricted access to liquidity for companies that engage in derivatives trading with their own money (not investors'), known as proprietary trading, which was one of the causes of the crises from 2008 to 2015.
The 'narco' in Mexico: an economy within another economy
According to the OECD, the global financial system - understood as everything from Wall Street to a loan house in a developing country - launders between 1.8 and 4.4 trillion euros each year, which is 2% to 5% of the Earth's GDP. This is equivalent to the GDP of countries like Spain (lower end of the estimate) or Germany (higher end). According to these calculations, drug trafficking generates between 7% and 19% of all money laundering, which is between 340 billion euros (the GDP of Egypt or the Czech Republic) and 500 billion euros (the GDP of Singapore or Austria). In Mexico, drug trafficking and its related activities - extortion, investment in agricultural and real estate production, derivatives, and above all, oil theft from pipelines - account for between 1.5% and 5% of the country's GDP. This explains the power of the cartels, reflected this week in the wave of savage violence unleashed in the country due to the death of 'El Mencho,' the narco Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes.
AI becomes Hollywood's new horror movie
Matthew McConaughey already has eight characters registered, just in case Artificial Intelligence takes them on and starts making movies with McConaughey but without him. The star said this week, "It's not going to be enough to sit on the sidelines and say 'this is not right,'" referring to AI taking over characters. For now, the film industry is not paying attention to him, as evidenced by the sector's pressure forcing the world's largest cinema chain, the American AMC, to abandon the promotion of the short film Thanksgiving Day, an AI-made animation product. Hollywood's pressures stem from panic over this technology, fueled by horror movie-like forecasts (with or without AI). Last week, UNESCO announced that the salaries of film industry professionals will decrease by 21% in the next two years due to this technology.
The West doesn't know how to 'remilitarize' its economy
During the Cold War, 94% of military spending in Western countries went to companies whose main line of business was products with civilian applications, partly as a result of the militarization of economies caused by World War II. This is how the American Chrysler (now part of Stellantis) made atomic missiles, and its rival General Motors made tanks. However, civilian companies now only capture 20% of defense investment. The specialization of defense companies allows them to produce technological gems but prevents mass production. This is a problem because in 21st-century wars, the quantity of weapons matters as much as quality. For example, Ukraine will produce 7 million drones this year, while the US will only reach 300,000. Germany wants its car manufacturers to make drones, but the companies are not willing.
Austria leverages 'trumpism' to attract US researchers
So far this year, at least 25 American academics and researchers have moved to live and work in Austria, in what seems to be a discreet but very effective plan by the Vienna authorities to benefit from the brain drain from the United States caused by restrictions on academic and research freedom imposed by the Donald Trump administration. The Austrian section of the European Union's academic mobility program Euraxess highlights 'New opportunities for US researchers' in its heading, offering visitors webinars and an insight into research principles in the country, including gender equality. This is relevant considering that 40% of American women want to leave the country, according to an annual Gallup survey conducted late last year. Any day now, the Austrians will make an offer to Mariano Barbacid.