• Bond Anxiety in $1.6 Trillion Repo Market as Failures Soar (BBG), as reported first by Zero Hedge
• As Food Prices Rise, Fed Keeps a Watchful Eye (WSJ)
• Yellen’s Economy Echoes Arthur Burns More Than Greenspan (BBG)
• Draghi’s $1.4 Trillion Shot: Silver Bullet or Misfire? (BBG)
• Israel's Netanyahu phones father of murdered Palestinian teen (Reuters)
• Ukraine says forces will press forward after taking rebel stronghold (Reuters)
• Goldman Sachs Brings Forward Rate Forecast as Treasuries Drop (BBG)... you mean rise?
• Super typhoon takes aim at Japan (Reuters)
• Kidnapped Nigerian girls 'escape from Boko Haram abductors' (Independent)
• Merkel says U.S. spying allegations are serious (Reuters)

Global chessboard enthusiast Zbigniew Brzezinski has a plan for Ukraine. In a recent speech to the Woodrow Wilson Center, excerpted by the Atlantic Council, he argues forcefully in favor of the United States providing the Ukrainian military far more weapons. Under the guise of preventing a Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has been the rallying cry of those who seek more US involvement in the region, Brzezinski believes that the US must provide Ukraine with enough weapons to deter Russian aggression toward Ukraine. The odds of defending against the invading Russian military being very low, Brzezinski has a different idea... Ethnic cleansing.

• Obama Decries Big Bonuses at Bank Trading Desks as Risky  (BBG)
• India central bank seeks to swap gold to improve reserves quality (Reuters)
• There goes Q3 GDP: Arthur Strengthens to Become First Atlantic Hurricane (BBG)
• Airports Serving U.S. Tighten Checks on Stealth-Bomb Threat (BBG)
• Fear, cash shortages hinder fight against Ebola outbreak (Reuters)
• Brent Declines as Libya Rebels Say Ports Are Open (BBG)
• Shiites Train for Battle in Iraqi Holy City (WSJ)
• Dimon’s Cancer Has 90% Cure Rate With Demanding Therapy (BBG)
• Goldman says client data leaked, wants Google to delete email (Reuters)
• ECB Watchers in the Dark Look to Draghi for Illumination (BBG)

In Reality, War Will Bring An End to the Petrodollar, and Impose Hardship on the Average American ...

Just weeks before Blackwater guards fatally shot 17 civilians at Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007, The NY Times reports that the State Department began investigating the security contractor’s operations in Iraq. However, as James Risen (who himself faces jail time thanks to the White House) reports, a senior official of the notorious private security firm allegedly threatened to kill a government investigator leading the probe into the firm’s Iraqi operation. Stunningly (or not), the US embassy sided with him and forced the inspector to cut the visit short. “Blackwater contractors saw themselves as above the law,” Richter added; now we wonder what gave them that idea?

As propogandists prepare their "it's the other guy's fault" press releases, Ukraine's President Poroshenko issued a statement declaring the cease-fire over...

• *POROSHENKO SAYS UKRAINE TO END CEASE-FIRE IN EASTERN REGIONS
• *POROSHENKO PLEDGES TO MOVE AGAINST REBELS, 'FREE OUR LAND'
• *POROSHENKO BLAMES REBELS FOR FAILURE OF PEACE PLAN IN UKRAINE
• *POROSHENKO SAYS MILITANTS VIOLATED CEASE-FIRE OVER 100 TIMES

Furthermore, his promise to "attack and liberate" the land and resumption of the "anti-terrorist" operations, means civil war is back on (and what appeasrs to be martial law) as he explains Armed Forces, National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, Security Service received appropriate instructions.

The lukewarm war waged by the Nobel peace prize winner is getting warmer by the day. Just out from Reuters:

• UNITED STATES SENDS UP TO AN ADDITIONAL 300 TROOPS INTO IRAQ, DETACHMENT OF HELICOPTERS AND DRONE AIRCRAFT - PENTAGON

Note that "this time" it is not just "military advisors" but outright troops: According to the Pentagon, the deployment is “separate and apart” from military advisers deployed to Iraq.  This force is deploying for the purpose of protecting U.S. citizens and property, if necessary, and is equipped for combat. This force will remain in Iraq until the security situation becomes such that it is no longer needed,” Obama says in letter to Congress.

Let Us Count the Ways ...

Many believe the most significant battle of our era is between the forces of Decentralization vs. Centralization. Niall Furguson takes that battle and looks at it from a historical perspective, describing it as Networks vs. Hierarchies, and warns we "need networks, for no political hierarchy, no matter how powerful, can plan all the clever things that networks spontaneously generate. But if the hierarchy comes to control the networks so much as to compromise their benign self-organizing capacities, then innovation is bound to wane."

The Real History of the American Strategy for Iraq and the Middle East

It appears Germany has come out swinging ahead of today's FIFA World Cup match:

*GERMANY ENDING VERIZON CONTRACT, CITING NSA: AP

Is this the "boomerang" that Putin warned Obama about?

While Ben Bernanke once said that "gold is not money", it appears China, Dubai, and most especially Turkey and Iran would disagree. On the heels of the "Petrogold" wars we discussed previously, a leaked report of a secret plot to 'juice' Turkey's trade balance exposes gold at the heart of "one of the most complex illicit finance schemes [prosecutors] have seen."

"The one unlimited resource we have on the planet is the human brain – the current strategy of 1% capitalism is failing because it is killing the Golden Goose at multiple levels. Unfortunately, the gap between those with money and power and those who actually know what they are talking about has grown catastrophic. The rich are surrounded by sycophants and pretenders whose continued employment demands that they not question the premises."

Energy security is not synonymous with energy independence.

So what’s a Peeping Tom, anti-democratic, Constitution-trampling intelligence crony to do after leaving decades of “public service?” Move into the private sector and collect a fat paycheck from Wall Street, naturally. So what is Mr. Alexander charging for his expertise? He’s looking for $1 million per month. Yes, you read that right. That’s the rate that his firm, IronNet Cybersecurity Inc., pitched to Wall Street’s largest lobbying group the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA)