The Spanish region of Catalonia is preparing to hold a second referendum on separating from of Spain on October 1st, despite warnings from Madrid. Naturally, the EU is against any such separation. However, the regional tensions are historic and Catalonia is the rich and prosperous region of Spain with Barcelona being perhaps the most beautiful city in Europe. The separatist movement are generally small but rising on a global scale primarily because of governments going broke everywhere.

Spain was actually formed by the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs of Queen Isabella I of Castile (Spain) and King Ferdinand II of Aragon in general. Both regions were historically two separate nations. That distinction has lived on and it is economics that is driving the separatist movement as we see in Canada with Quebec and in the United States with movements building in Texas and California, albeit small minorities so far. Catalonia was not part of Aragon but to some degree much more isolated from Madrid as you can see on this map.

The government in Catalonia will immediately declare independence from Spain if the majority of the citizens vote for that result in a second referendum planned for October. However, if the majority of citizens voted against independence, new elections would have to be held in the region. Madrid opposes any separation for it would devastate their budget since they extract more revenue from Catalonia which is being forced to support the rest of the country, including the corruption and pension in Madrid.

The point is not whether or not the referendum votes to separate, The point is that such a separatist movement has risen to this level at all.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would not ratify the Paris Climate Accord unless Europe paid all costs to Turkey. France agreed to pay Turkey compensation for the cost of implementation when signing the agreement. If Erdogan does not receive any financial funds, he said that his Parliament will not ratify the treaty.  Erdogan is demanding money from Europe for anything these days including to stop allowing refugees to travel to Greece.

There is a rumor going around that the extreme violent protests in Hamburg, which resembled a Civil War, were funded allegedly  by Soros. It is just a rumor with no proof as of yet. It may in fact be true that his organization funded in part these protests but did not direct them to be violent.

On Saturday, more than 70,000 came out to protest to demonstrate that they could be peaceful after the carnage of two days before. Clearly, there is rising discontent targeting capitalism and supporting a totalitarian state. This in itself is very distressful.

The left is engaging in violent protests at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany. Both the police and G20 opponents were mutually responsible for the escalation of violence, as politicians are demanding harsh punishments for the violent protests with many arguing for prison time.

The protesters blocked the routes of the delegations in several places. Other places attacked the police and they erected barricades. The protesters have been smashing windows in the city as well. A police helicopter was attacked with laser pointer nearly blinding the pilot. The heavy riots had begun on Thursday evening and so far some nearly 160 police officers have been injured. This morning, some 60 mobs in the Altona district attacked police officers with bombs and stones. The protesters are throwing Molotov cocktails setting cars on fire.

The G20 opponents made a statement: “We have reached our goal and set a clear signal against the madness of the G20.” Most are wearing masks to hide their faces. We should expect to see increasing civil unrest especially in Europe going forward.

Ministers elected to the European Parliament have now actual power. They get paid extra if they actually show up. What you see are MPs swiping their cards to get that extra pay and then turn around and leave. Well the EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker criticized the Parliament MPs for not showing up to listen to a speech by the Maltese president. Only 30 of the 751 elected members bothered to show up at all. What emerged was a lot of name calling back and forth and Parliament members argued that the Commission was not empowered to watch over Parliament. They are supposed to monitor themselve

It was just one day after the first test of an intercontinental rocket by North Korea, that the US demonstrated military strength and threatened further sanctions against the isolated state. We have to understand that we are dealing with a pampered buy Kim Jong Un who will never yield to sanctions and counter-measures of rocket tests.

Donald Trump has classified North Korea as the major threat to the USA – not Russia. The US requested an urgent session of the UN Security Council in New York last week. The leadership in Pyongyang threatened the USA with further weapon tests and boasted that North Korea would never abandon nuclear weapons.

The division of Korea between North and South Korea was the result of the Allied victory in World War II in 1945, ending the Empire of Japan’s 35-year rule of Korea. The United States and the Soviet Union occupied the country, with the boundary between their zones of control along the 38th parallel. The United States supported the South, and the Soviet Union supported the North, and each government claimed sovereignty over the whole Korean peninsula. American troops occupy southern Korea, while the Soviet Union occupies the north, with the dividing line being the 38th parallel of latitude, which was established on September 8th, 1945 (1945,68). This arrangement proves to be the indirect beginning of a divided Korea which will lead to the Korean War in 1950.

The Korean War (1950–1953) left the two Koreas separated by the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in the later part of the Cold War and beyond. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 deprived North Korea of its main source of economic aid. Without Soviet aid, North Korea’s economy went into a economic free-fall in 1992 pretty much in line with the Economic Confidence Model calculated from the birth of the 38th Parallel.

By this time in the early 1990s, Kim Jong-il was already conducting most of the day-to-day activities of running of the state. Meanwhile, international tensions were rising over North Korean’s quest for nuclear weapons. Former US president Jimmy Carter made a visit to Pyongyang in June 1994 in which he met with Kim and returned proclaiming that he had resolved the crisis. However, Kim Il-sung died from a sudden heart attack on July 8, 1994, three weeks after the Carter visit. His son, Kim Jong-il, had already assumed key positions in the government, succeeded as General-Secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party.

The US government confirmed for the first time that North Korea on July 4th actually tested an intercontinental rocket (ICBM). The test represents “a new escalation of the threat to the United States, our allies and partners, the region and the world,” said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. He announced “tougher measures” against Pyongyang. Meanwhile, Kim said this was a “gift package” for the US on its Independence Day.

From a timing perspective, 72 years from the birth of the 38th Parallel brings us right here to 2017. The War Cycle brings us to the last date being 2020.9