COUNTRY #213: Palau

The 213th Google entity has visited this blog site:  the Republic of Palau (sometimes spelled Belau), which is a United States Trust Territory under U.S. Administration.  Note that this differentiates Palau from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), located to the east, and BOTH have seats in the UN.  The per capita income is double that of FSM.  A population of 21,000 lives on 250 islands, half on Koror

Quite a history:

• settled 3,000 years ago
• part of the Spanish East Indies in 1885
• sold to Imperial Germany in 1899
• conquered by Japan in World War I
• made a part of the U.S. Trust Teritories in 1947
• voted for the world's first nuclear-free constitution in 1981

Interesting that in 2009, Palau accepted 17 Uyghurs detained in Guantanamo as a humanitarian gesture.  However, they were all released for a variety of reasons.  American troops are based here...to it is believed, to balance the growing military force of China.  Palau gets around a quarter billion dollars from the U.S.

A few other notes:

• sea level rise is a huge concern
• salt water crocodiles up to 15 feet long live here (but only one fatality, and that was in 1960)
• created the world's first shark sanctuary (sharks cannot be killed in 230,000 square mile EEZ, about the size of France)
• Palau Saving Bank is shaky
• alcoholic drinks come from coconut on the tree and roots of the kava, plus betel nuts are chewed
• popular are Korean food and baseball
• there is a community college
• several "Survivor" series were filmed here
• islands mentioned in "Orinoco Flow" by Enya

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit another all-time high, up 129 to 15,747.  The S&P 500 also reached a peak at 1768.  This ebullience apparently has been linked to the sense that the Federal Reserve will not consider tapering until the unemployment rate drop to 6.5 or lower.  It was 7.2% in September, and will probably go up in October when this figure is reported on Friday.

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