Obama Administration

It's no secret that the US has played an outsized role in facilitating Syria's five-year civil war by funneling money and guns to a hodgepodge of opposition groups. It's also no secret that The Pentagon's latest "train and equip" program was a disaster of epic proportions. But rest assured, if Washington can make it worse, Washington will make it worse, which is why we weren't surprised that the 2016 NDAA authorizes more taxpayer money for the funding of "moderate" Syrian rebels.

It's the kind of business plan that would be laughed out of a business school classroom. "The co-ops were essentially amateur exercises." Why not scrap the perverse ACA regulations and admit it was a pipe dream to ever assume young, healthy people could be coerced into paying several times their expected costs to cover other people’s excessive spending.

U.S. drone operators are inflicting heavy civilian casualties and have developed an institutional culture callous to the death of children and other innocents, four former operators said at a press briefing today in New York. “We have seen the abuse firsthand... and we are horrified.”

Why Now?

• Turkey downs Russian warplane near Syria border, Moscow denies airspace violation (Reuters)
• Investors seek safety in bonds, yen after Turkey downs Russian jet (Reuters)
• Donald Trump Is Not Backing Down (BBG)
• Uber's Exposure May Grow as U.S. Drivers Seek 57.5 Cents a Mile (BBG)
• U.S. issues global travel alert as manhunt continues for Paris attackers (Reuters)
• Stung by Oil, Distressed-Debt Traders See Worst Losses Since '08 (BBG)

"Warning: airstrikes are coming. Oil trucks will be destroyed. Get away from your oil trucks immediately. Get out of your trucks and run away. Do not risk your life."

After calling repeatedly for the US to stop supporting militants in an effort to oust the Assad government in Syria, Hawaii Congresswoman Gabbard has now introduced bi-partisan legislation to put an end to what she calls an "illegal", CIA-sponsored war.

There are so many strands of lies and distortions that it is now almost impossible for Official Washington to disentangle itself from all the false narratives that the neocons and the liberal hawks have spun in support of their various “regime change” strategies. So, the American people are left with the mainstream U.S. news media endlessly repeating storylines that are either completely false or highly exaggerated. Official Washington’s many false narratives about Russia and Syria have gotten so tangled that they have become a danger to the struggle against jihadist terrorism and conceivably a threat to the future of the planet.

In a libertarian world, people with these differing opinions and values can live side by side in reasonable harmony, each side following the famous Voltairian advice to disapprove of what someone says (or does), but defend to the death his right to say (or do) it. But this harmony breaks down when one group or the other seeks to put the heavy finger of government on their side of the scales.

"In just the first few days, [Russian] aviation has destroyed 500 fuel tanker trucks, which greatly reduced illegal oil export capabilities of the militants and, accordingly, their income from oil smuggling."

History takes no prisoners. It shows, with absolute lucidity, that the Islamic extremism ravaging the world today was borne out of the Western foreign policy of yesteryear.

Today we got confirmation that the spinning plates of the Affordable Care Act are finally falling down, when none other than the U.S.’s biggest health insurer, UnitedHealth, cut its 2015 earnings forecast with a warning that it was considering pulling out of Obamacare, just one month after saying it would expand its presence in the program. 

• Soothing Fed sounds send shares, emerging markets higher (Reuters)
• Belgian Police Conduct Raids in Connection With Paris Attacks (WSJ)
• The Paris Attacks Can’t Lead to a Closed Europe (BBG)
• Alleged Mastermind of Paris Attacks Was ‘Emir of War’ (WSJ)
• U.S. Eyes Russia-Iran Split in Bid to End Syria Conflict (WSJ)
• Despite tensions, Asia-Pacific nations close ranks against terrorism (Reuters)