Have you got a stash of foreign cash in a drawer somewhere? Perhaps a small remembrance of a holiday abroad? Well, take it out now and throw it hard at someone nearby. Because that's what the big boys of the exporting world are doing right now.
Cash is the new currency of conflict, especially after talks under the International Monetary Fund in Washington failed to come to any hard and fast decisions about how those coins in the drawer should be valued in a global context.
A weak currency means a country's export goods are cheaper to buy. And that's an advantage as the global economy sputters and countries try to sell their wares. The IMF's top boss, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said he feared a "race to the bottom" as countries try to export their way out of recession. He predicted volatile and disorderly foreign exchange markets. It makes for a good front-page story. What will it mean, I wonder, for the price of an espresso on the next visit to France?
Beyond finance, this issue of the Weekly visits North Korea, where military might is on parade for an heir apparent, assesses an environmental catastrophe in Hungary and sees a window of opportunity in the fight against HIV.
In comment, George Monbiot considers the devastation wrought by mink on the loose and other introduced species, a theme that's also reflected by a study of biodiversity on our science pages.
Review looks at plans to break up a historic seed bank in St Petersburg, books takes note of the rebirth of the KGB and Nature watch visits Britain's Wenlock Edge, where an odd quiet holds the texture of a cool breeze.
One of my favourite ditties appears in Shortcuts, which I have the fun of assembling each week. Google's Street View, which has drawn both ire and admiration, has hit Antarctica. Wondering what there was to see, I have now visited several times. Lots of snow, a few huts and flags and a decided dearth of streets. Oh, and not a currency skirmish in sight.
Enjoy the issue.
Fact of the week: The wife of jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo, who has been awarded the Nobel peace prize, is under surveillance and detention along with 30 other Chinese intellectuals.
Quote of the week: "We haven't seen such a positive spirit of negotiation for many years. This might not sound like interesting news. But compared to where we were before, it is a real step forward." – A Climate Action Network official commenting on climate talks in China last week.
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