With Russia's unexpected and forceful intervention in the situation in Yugoslavia, the originally deadlocked armistice negotiations between NATO and Yugoslavia began to accelerate. After all, even if World War III does not occur, NATO, led by the United States, does not want to have a head-on conflict with Russia.
The furry bear really knows how to fight when he is stunned.
As a result, on June 10, NATO and Yugoslavia formally signed an armistice agreement. Both sides stopped fighting, and the Kosovo war that lasted for more than two months came to an end.
The result of this war was that, following the disintegration of 1991, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was once again dismembered. Even though many countries, including Russia, did not recognize it, Kosovo actually gained independent status and became a member state of the United States. A nail firmly wedged in the Balkan Peninsula.
The most critical indirect result of this war was the sharp depreciation of the euro.
On the day the war ended, at the close of June 10, even if the exchange rate of the euro against the U.S. dollar rebounded due to the end of the war, it still fell to a dismal position of 0.9735 to 1. Compared with the official initial exchange rate of 1.1800 to 1 when it was first issued at the beginning of the year, it was half a year In less time, the cumulative decline has reached 17.5%.
While the euro continues to depreciate sharply, it is inevitable that the stock markets of European countries have also generally fallen recently. Coupled with the lingering effects of the 1997 financial crisis, the economic situation of European countries this year can be described as sluggish.
When someone is frustrated, someone will naturally gain.
On the other side of the Atlantic, after the initial brief shock of the war, the situation was settled, and the major U.S. stock market indexes began to rise across the board. Among them, the Dow Jones Index exceeded the 10,000-point mark for the first time on May 26, driving the share price of Daenerys Entertainment, the leading stock on the New York Stock Exchange, to a new high. Its market value closed at $637.7 billion on May 26.
While Simon's personal net worth has risen as a result, another result is that the Westeros system's stock exchange plan is increasingly favored by capital flowing into the United States from all over the world.
Asia, Europe and even Africa are still in turmoil, and Latin America is even more half-dead. The only safe haven for the huge international capital swimming around the world is North America.
The Westeros system, which is based on North America, is undoubtedly the brightest pearl in this market.
Of course everyone wants to get some light.
The matter is so eye-catching that even if we try our best to suppress public opinion, it will inevitably attract more and more attention.
Just in May, a Minnesota Republican member of the House of Representatives proposed a bill requesting the U.S. Congress to establish a special committee to investigate the tax issues that may be involved in the large-scale stock swap being carried out by Westeros Corporation. investigation.
The result of the matter was that one person was quietly added to the blacklist in the Westeros system, and then nothing happened.
check
How to check
What's more, if any problem is discovered, will the benefits fall into one's own pocket
As for the political capital gained from this, Simon Westeros can give you a negative value if he spends a sum of money.
Completely thankless.
Actually, Simon doesn't mind paying taxes.
Because Simon knows very well that no one can escape the horrific consequences of a country's fiscal collapse after it fails to collect taxes.
However, Simon would not deliberately pay too much.
Not that aware.
No matter how everyone plays, Simon also plays the same way. Just like some cash transactions that can be kept overseas to avoid taxes, Simon will not take the initiative to remit them into the country.
Simon also understood that this was actually a dead end.
Of course, I don’t know how to explain it, because history cycles and prosperity alternates, which is an inevitable law. Even if Simon donated all his personal wealth, he would never be able to break this historical cycle, and would only be able to bring a carve-up feast to a group of people. In short, let's do whatever it takes.
Let’s talk about future matters in the future.
…
On the same day that the Kosovo War ended, "Godzilla", which had its world premiere the day before, was officially released. The comprehensive media score reached 8.3 points. "Variety" magazine praised the film as "after the "Jurassic Park" series. A shocking monster blockbuster'.
Daenerys provided 4,103 screens for this CG masterpiece with a budget of $120 million and a promotional budget of $30 million.
The market response was unexpected.
In just the three-day opening weekend from June 11th to June 13th, this monster blockbuster with excellent reputation quickly earned 81.37 million in what seemed to be a retaliatory rebound in consumption for the previously disappointing first installment of the Star Wars prequels. US dollar box office.
Subsequently, in its first full week, "Godzilla" grossed US$111.92 million in its first seven days, easily ranking first at the weekly box office. Moreover, if only the seven-day week is counted, "Godzilla" even surpassed the previous seven-day box office revenue of the first Star Wars prequel from May 21 to May 27, which was US$99.35 million, becoming the 1999 box office revenue so far. The highest-grossing film of the year in North America.
Frankly speaking, this result surprised even Simon.
Daenerys’s three most critical blockbusters this summer are “Godzilla”, “Armageddon” and “The Matrix”. The one Simon was least confident about at first was actually “Godzilla” because The Emmerich version of the same period served as a warning, but also because of the ill-fated fate of this series in Hollywood.
This is actually why among the three super blockbusters, "Godzilla" will be placed first, and it will be separated from the first Star Wars prequel by a full three weeks.
However, it is what it is.
Simon can only confirm that in addition to the quality of the film itself, it obviously also shows Daenerys's increasingly powerful and comprehensive strength.
In any case, it exceeded 100 million in the first week. There is almost no suspense about the 300 million for the new "Godzilla" in North America. No matter how high it is, Simon does not have extravagant expectations. Breaking 300 million is enough.
"Godzilla" is a hit in Hollywood, and the first and happiest people are the Japanese.
After the three-day box office of the first weekend was released, the Japanese media began to give extensive reports on the amazing commercial performance of this own super monster IP in Hollywood. The pride was palpable, probably too proud, and some people began to criticize Japan. Bao handed over the Godzilla rights to Hollywood too easily.
Why not invest in your own production
Toho also responded quickly to similar questions. With 30% of Toho's investment in the "Godzilla" project, it can also benefit.
Then, the problem came again.
This "Godzilla" is obviously from Japan, but it doesn't seem to have many Japanese elements, and it doesn't even have a decent Japanese character. How can this be done
Dongbao could only respond repeatedly, "Yes, we will definitely fight for our actors next time."
Barabara.
Normally, with such an excellent start, the official should quickly make a statement on the sequel. Because of these complications, the follow-up news that countless fans were looking forward to did not break out immediately.
Toho hopes to take this opportunity to gain more initiative. Daenerys also does not want to give too much to Toho in the sequel. After all, the 30% investment ratio is a bit high. Even if we think about it again next time, at least Toho must give out more rights in terms of peripherals and other aspects, otherwise there will be no motivation to develop a sequel.
So the two sides fell into some kind of subtle stalemate.
Some are happy and some are sad.
The market performance of "Godzilla" is too strong, which directly affects "Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace".
It stands to reason that after the first part of the prequel experienced a deep drop of 41% in the third week, the decline should have narrowed in the fourth week. However, under the impact of "Godzilla", the film still fell 39% in the fourth week, falling from US$48.46 million last week to US$29.35 million.
Even if the total local box office of the first prequel film reaches a high of 300.68 million US dollars, after two consecutive weeks of diving of about 40%, even if the film can reach 400 million in the follow-up, it will not have more potential, nor will it have more potential. Not to mention the previous high of US$470 million.
In other words, due to the impact of "Godzilla", the North American box office of "Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace" will shrink by about US$70 million.
Moreover, this is because "Godzilla" avoided filming until the fourth week of the first prequel. If "Godzilla" had been braver and moved its schedule forward one week, the box office of this Star Wars blockbuster would have shrunk. Maybe $100 million.
Simon did not interfere with Daenerys' team's conservative approach to "Godzilla" and avoid the Star Wars prequels. He is satisfied with the current results anyway.
…
In the same week, with the end of the Kosovo War, almost immediately after, another thing happened in the American political circles that would have a crucial impact on the future development of the United States.
On June 12, Josh W. Bush, then the governor of Texas, officially announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for the 2000 U.S. presidential election, announcing that the Bush family would once again strive for American power after Bush Sr. peak.
Later, many people defended the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq when George W. Bush was in office.
The general idea is that although the two wars consumed trillions of dollars in capital, they actually ensured the long-term continuation of the hegemony of the US dollar.
Simon disagrees.
In Simon's view, George W. Bush only caused irreversible and serious damage to the foundation of the United States through two wars, and the harm far outweighed the good.
One of the key points is that the two wars should never have been protracted.
The United States took advantage of the opportunity of 9/11 to occupy Afghanistan, and then the laundry detergent incident and the invasion of Iraq. The two wars were followed by a long tangle that lasted for twenty years and cost trillions of dollars. This was completely unnecessary.
The two same wars in the 1990s, the Gulf War and the Kosovo War, are the most direct evidence.
During the Gulf War, the multinational forces led by the US military launched an offensive in mid-January 1991, and Iraq withdrew from Kuwait at the end of February. The whole process took about one and a half months, and was smooth and smooth.
During the entire Gulf War, the United States not only did not spend much money, but also made a lot of money from the tributes from various countries in the Middle East. At the same time, in order to avoid encountering the threat of Iraq again, the major oil-producing countries in the Middle East, led by Saudi Arabia, not only did not weaken their dependence on the United States, but strengthened it again. The US dollar was linked to oil. Therefore, the hegemony of the US dollar was once again consolidated. .
Then, more recently, the Kosovo War lasted for 78 days and ended with the indirect near-collapse of the euro. It was also straightforward and the same US dollar hegemony was further consolidated.
Therefore, the comparison between the two wars during the George W. Bush era is stark and intense.
Both were wars that could have been resolved neatly and neatly by relying on the absolute superiority of the US military, and both could have achieved the best results at the minimum cost. However, both times, we chose the worst plan, not because of selfish interests and the interests of the whole family, regardless of the overall situation. , what else could it be
If Simon hadn't had his own considerations about the future pattern of the world, Simon would never have chosen to support George W. Bush in next year's general election.
…
Ukraine.
At the end of June, Rivne Oblast is still cool and pleasant, perfect for escaping the heat. Simon ended his three-day trip to Cologne, Germany, and came here to have fun.
Previously, on June 18, another annual G8 meeting was held in Cologne, Germany.
As in Birmingham last year, Simon was once again joining in the fun.
Moreover, this time it was really lively.
The first topic of this G8 meeting is naturally the just-ended Kosovo War. Of course, the topic must be more high-sounding, maintaining peace and stability in the Balkan Peninsula, and so on.
However, the smart people certainly saw the true nature of the matter.
As a result, on the opening day of the conference, people gathered across Europe held grand demonstrations, demanding that NATO and Russia all withdraw from Yugoslavia and give the area real peace.
This is not the end.
Another issue, which is actually conceivable, is globalization.
At the same time, there is an even larger anti-globalization movement.
Compared with the small fight last year, this time the anti-globalization movement started on June 18. In just three days, it spread from Cologne, Germany, to the entire Europe, and then to the world, with dozens of cities and millions of people protesting. People participated and even caused riots in cities such as Paris, France, and Rome, Italy.
Publicly, Simon has always insisted that globalization is an inevitable trend in the world. However, deep down, Simon has always understood that globalization is never an inevitable trend.
This is the inevitable trend.
Therefore, Simon understands that millions of people took to the streets in just a few days.
Because the disadvantages of globalization, or in other words, the negative consequences for the economies of many countries, have begun to appear in recent years.
One of the most obvious consequences is that the shift of industrial chains to low-cost areas has inevitably resulted in large-scale unemployment among low-level industrial workers in many developed countries.
After all, the development of a country never means that everyone can enter lucrative high-end industries. The world will always have a pyramid structure, and most people can only survive in the middle and lower classes.
The result of globalization is that it becomes increasingly difficult for the middle and lower classes in developed countries to survive.
Of course everyone doesn't want to.
However, at least in the short term, this is already an inevitable trend. After all, the bottom class cannot resist capital, and if capital wants to pursue profits, it will inevitably promote globalization.
As for the future
As the saying goes, let’s talk about the future in the future.