Grasping Reality on TypePad, by Brad DeLong

Hiroko Tabuchi: Japan’s Economic Stimulus Gets Its Second Wind: "Investors raced back into the Japanese stock market Monday after upbeat data helped dispel some recent doubts cast on the government’s aggressive pro-growth policies. The Nikkei 225 stock index jumped 636.67 points, or 4.9 percent, to 13,514.20…. The broader Topix index rose 55.02 points, or 5.2 percent, to 1,111.97… the government’s revision of [Q1] gross domestic product data showed Japan’s economy expanded at… 4.1 percent in annualized terms, up from 3.5 percent. Bank lending… rose a robust 1.8 percent in May from the same month last year…. The fresh data came as relief for investors who had become increasingly jittery over Japan’s recovery… provided encouragement for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his push to reinvigorate Japan’s deflationary economy…. Now, as investors take more measured stock of opportunities and risks in Japan, its stock market is likely to see a more tempered rise, said Nicholas Smith, Japan strategist at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. After the rally Monday, the Nikkei is still down 15 percent from a peak in mid-May, but up 30 percent since the start of the year. 'Growth from here is likely to be a lot less rapid — almost certainly a good thing for the longevity of the bull run', Mr. Smith said in a note to clients."

Svetlana Chervonnaya: » Alexander Vassiliev’s Notes and Harry Dexter White: "Haynes and Harvey Klehr… subchapter, 'Harry Dexter White'… 'In 1944, Vassili Zarubin… wrote: “‘Jurist’ is rough around the edges and a lot of work has to be done on him before he will make a valuable informant. To date he has reported only what he deemed necessary himself.” Earlier [Nov 1942 - notation in the margin] Moscow Center had told the KGB New York station: “According to the information we have received, ‘Jurist’ [White] at one time was a probationer [agent] of the neighbors [GRU]. We will communicate detailed information about him separately.…”' Haynes and Klehr’s quote… omits information that is most pertinent: '‘Jurist’ is Harry …, one of the leading officials at the Treasury Dept., member of no party,a man of leftist views, close friend of ‘Pal,’ ‘Polo‘ and ‘Aileron.’ The friendship dates back to 1937-1938 – the ‘Jurist’ shares information with them, knowing that they have an interest in it, but he doesn’t provide documents. The ‘Jurist’ is rough around the edges and a lot of work has to be done on him before he will make a valuable informant. To date he has reported only what he deemed necessary himself. If ‘Pal’ receives proper and sufficient guidance from us, he will be able to put the ‘Jurist’ to much more specific and broader uses.'… On April 6, 1942, an 'orientation on "Political and Diplomatic Lines of Work"'…. Vassiliev’s notes… Here is what they say about the status of White, or 'Jurist': 'The Ministry of Finance. The group of “Pal” (agent) which includes “Jurist”, “Saks”, “Pik” and “Polo.” Used blind.' In intelligence tradecraft, 'blind' means using someone without his/her knowledge. Here is what this document says about 'Jurist' and other 'blind' sources…. However, with respect to White, 'blind' was a stretch, as is evident from Zarubin’s report to Moscow on August 18, 1942: 'A total misunderstanding has occurred with “Jurist” [White's pseudonym until September 1944]: you consider him a “valuable probationer” (obviously based on what was reported to you or, rather, was not reported) and here “Leonid” informed us along the same lines. However, when we too had the idea of separating “Jurist” from “Pal’s” group and taking him over for direct communications, it turned out that he is not only not our probationer, but we hardly know anything about him at all, and “Sound” also knows very little about him and has a very fuzzy concept of the nature of his contact with “Pal’s” group.'"

Corey Robin: David Brooks: The Last Stalinist: "David Brooks disapproves of NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden. Snowden’s actions, Brooks says, are a betrayal of virtually every commitment and connection Snowden has ever made: his oath to his country, his promise to his employer, his loyalty to his friends, and more. But in one of those precious pirouettes of paradox that only he can perform, Brooks sees those betrayals as a symptom of a deeper pathology: Snowden’s inability to make commitments and connections…. This is an old argument on the communitarian right and left: the loss of social bonds and connections turns men and women into the flotsam and jetsam of modern society, ready for any reckless adventure, no matter how malignant: treason, serial murder, totalitarianism. It’s mostly bullshit, but there’s a certain logic to what Brooks is saying…. Take the Soviet Union under Stalin…. Nikolai Bukharin’s confession in a 1938 show trial to an extraordinary career of counterrevolutionary crime, crimes he clearly did not commit…. Bukharin was brutally interrogated for a year and he was repeatedly threatened with violence against his family. In the end, the possibility that a confession might save them, if not him, proved to be potent…. It wasn’t just under Stalin that family ties could be leveraged like this. The entire history of McCarthyism, that sordid story of the blacklist and naming names, is littered with similar concerns…. Sterling Hayden—best known for his roles as General Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove and the corrupt Captain McCluskey in The Godfather—named seven names (including his former lover) in part because he was worried that if he didn’t cooperate with the government he might lose custody of his children (he was in the middle of divorce proceedings.)… Brooks likes to package his strictures in the gauzy wrap of an apolitical communitarianism. But Brooks is also, let us not forget, an authority- and state-minded chap, who doesn’t like punks like Snowden mucking up the work of war and the sacralized state. And it is precisely banal and familial bromides such as these—the need to honor one’s oaths, the importance of family and connection—that have underwritten popular collaboration with that work for at least a century, if not more. Stalin understand all of this. So does David Brooks."

Saijel Kishan: Scaramucci Seeks Money for Manhattan Hedge-Fund Hangout: "Anthony Scaramucci, the investment entrepreneur known as the 'Mooch, is teaming up with a restaurant owner and a former Morgan Stanley executive to open a Manhattan eatery catering to hedge-fund and private-equity professionals. The group, which includes restaurateur Eytan Sugarman and David Barrett, a 22-year veteran of Morgan Stanley, seeks to raise $4 million for The Hunt and Fish Club, set to open in December. It will have the feel of an elite 'clubhouse' and be an alternative to bars and eateries surrounding the Grand Central Terminal in Midtown, which are 'not fun' and have unattractive staff, the team said in marketing documents to prospective investors."