Right, so here goes a weird one.  Alexander Solzhenitsyn's book The Gulag Archipelago will be made required reading for school children:According to the state-run news agency RIA Novosti, the Education Ministry on Wednesday ordered that passages from the book become required reading in order to deepen students' understanding of Russia's history. A ministry spokesman did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.This seems quite odd in light of the other more politically controversial history textbooks being put into Russian schools, or potentially conflicting with the return of thought police at the history commission.  Then again, Solzhenitsyn was a dedicated Putin supporter in his fading years, so as long as passages are reflected which don't cause students to think about contemporary cases - say, the show trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky - I guess everything should continue as normal. ...

The half-trillion-dollar stimulus package that China unveiled on Sunday underscores that country’s growing importance to the global economy and shows Beijing’s willingness to assume a leadership role in the battle to blunt a widening worldwide financial crisis, a top expert on China said yesterday (Monday).

“China understands that it’s gaining importance in the world economy and that it’s going to participate in that process,” said Keith Fitz-Gerald, Money Morning’s investment director and a former professional trade advisor who’s spent more than two decades focusing on investment opportunities in China, Japan and the rest of the Asia region.

“Many experts will see this as just a ‘bailout’ that’s directed at Chinese infrastructure projects, Chinese technology companies and at holding the global financial crisis at bay” Fitz-Gerald said. “But the real message here is that Beijing is going to pull out all the stops to ensure that its economy does not

...

In the currency market, the dollar edged lower against the euro. Late Monday, the euro was trading at $1.275 vs. $1.2712 on Friday. China’s state-run news agency, Xinhua, said that the government’s stimulus program will “will loosen credit conditions, cut taxes and embark on a massive infrastructure spending program in a wide-ranging effort to offset adverse global economic conditions by boosting domestic demand.”

The only question was how quickly the money would hit the streets, and Jing Ulrich, J.P. Morgan Chase, said that, “With a healthy fiscal surplus and low government debt, China appears to have considerable resources to ramp up its fiscal spending in a short period of time.”

Weekend news of the Chinese package had lifted equity markets around the world and revived risk appetite, but only momentarily in the U.S. as domestic stock markets ended the day down and the buck—which has been a primary destination for

...

China’s $585 billion spending package is equivalent to the U.S. spending nearly $3 trillion in fiscal stimulus. Massive? You bet it is! Inflationary? Absolutely! A boost to the entire global economy? YES! -- LarryChina unveils stimulus package as growth slowsProgram will spend more than $585 billion to jump-start economyNovember 10, 2008 (MarketWatch) -- China unveiled on Sunday what it described as a "massive" economic stimulus package in an effort to reverse slowing economic growth in the world's most populous country.China's state-run news agency, Xinhua, said that the program will "will loosen credit conditions, cut taxes and embark on a massive infrastructure spending program in a wide-ranging effort to offset adverse global economic conditions by boosting domestic demand."The package is valued at about 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion), to be spent over the next two years.Resource stocks on fire as

...