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[spamghod]

They've been talking about this for a long time. Basically, Russia wants a railway line all the way to Pusan. Pusan is one of the best natural harbors in Asia as well as being in the middle of all the big players in Asia. It would benefit everyone as well, because it links Asia to Europe and links Japan and China from Korea. After the crash comes, trade in NE Asia will center on internal consumption rather than exporting to the USA. This rail link will definitely help in this area. Even NK will profit because they can charge a toll on every rail car going thru their territory.

17:53 06/10/2008
Russia and North Korea to build shortest railroad link between Asia and Europe

http://en.rian.ru/video/20081006/117472215.html

Russia and North Korea have launched a joint project to restore a railroad within North Korea, which will eventually be joined with the Trans-Siberian railroad. (89 sec./3.42Mb, shows: 377)

[spamghod]

This railway is part of the Greater Tumen Region project which involves Mongolia, China, Russia and the Korean Peninsula:

http://www.tumenprogramme.org/index.php?id=150

Greater Tumen Region

The 8th Meeting of the Consultative Commission in Changchun in 2005 decided to expand the geographical coverage of the Greater Tumen Region which involves now the three Northeast provinces and Inner Mongolia of China, the Rason Economic and Trade Zone of DPRK, Eastern provinces of Mongolia, Eastern port cities of ROK and the part of the Primorsky Territory of Russia.

From being relatively unknown ten years ago, the Tumen Region is now widely recognised as a frontier for economic cooperation in Northeast Asia. With the help of foreign investment, the Tumen Programme member countries have created an economic network that links resource-rich areas of North-East Asia with the global economy............

http://www.tumenprogramme.org/index.php?id=150

[spamghod]

The reason I think this is significant, is because a crash IS coming. But just like in 1997, the economy came back roughly 2 years back. The way I see it is because there will be a big comeback for Asia after the dust settles. I'm looking at it from the perspective from someone who lives in Korea and has lived in Asia since 1995.

Asia in general will suffer; Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Filipinos, etc... The crash looks to be about 2 years in length, about the same as 1997, but Asia will come out of it sooner than the USA. Inter-Asian trade will increase and dependance on the USA will decrease. If you were here in 1997 and invested wisely, bought stocks on the cheap when they dropped, bought government bonds, bought land, etc.... You probably came out well in 1999-2000 when the economy and won came back.

The same thing will happen this time as well, if you have a long term (3-5) year plan. If you were smart enough to buy gold, silver or save cash, you can make out well. My plan is to have a core of about 12-15 cherry picked stocks and buy some quality bonds from now until 2010-11. Keep your money mostly in won, and you'll do OK when the won comes back. Have a good long term plan, stick to it and don't panic! The web bot project was calling for a "significant event" to happen from OCT 5-8th. So far, it hasn't happened, but we're early in the crash. The bottom line is, IT WILL crash, and I suspect it will be faster and harder than most people expect.

Look at how fast the won went below 1300 = $1. I think we'll easily see W1500-2000 = $1 by year's end. Gold will see at least $1200/oz and silver will hit $20/oz again. If nothing else besides precious metals, medium term buy Yen as the Yen carry trade unwinds. Long term, gold or at worst Swiss Francs. They're at least partially backed by gold. Look at the trends in the market after 1997 for a rough guide, but not complete Gospel truth. This time around is going to be much worse than 1997 and 2009 is going to be a very bleak year for many.

Finally, with the exception of Russia, the traditional large grain exporters had floods, droughts or storm damage this year. As a result, food shortages and high food inflation will result. If you can, stockpile as many basics as you can like rice, beans, etc...