Turkey

"The reaction of Erdogan and Turkish authorities can say one thing: they were stunned and shocked that Moscow has such evidence. This significantly affected the position of Turkey's NATO allies."

For the first time since the conflict in Syria began, coalition warplanes bombed Bashar al-Assad's troops in what may have been an "accident" or what may signal a dangerous strategic shift for the US. Meanwhile, Turkey says Russia violated the treaty governing passage in the Bosphorus by placing a soldier with a rocket launcher on the deck of the Caesar Kunikov.

• Obama in speech to nation vows to defeat 'new phase' of terrorist threat (Reuters)
• Clinton Urges Social-Media Intelligence Sharing in Terror Fight (WSJ)
• Obama urges tech, law enforcement to address social media used for plots (Reuters)
• NATO says won't send ground troops to fight IS (Reuters)
• Le Pen Scores Historic Victory in France's Regional Elections (BBG)

The mutual escalation between Turkey and Russia continued on Friday after Ankara detained four Russian ships for a laundry list of "violations." Meanwhile, a soldier was seen standing on the deck of the Russian warship Caesar Kunikov brandishing a surface-to-air missile as the vessel made its way through the Bosphorus. 

Iraq “may soon ask Russia for direct military intervention in response to the Turkish invasion and the violation of Iraqi sovereignty."

Terrorism works on the perception of the victims. It seems incredible that ten mediocre individuals, with a few primitive weapons, could cause world-wide panic. But it is a fact. Bolstered by the mass media, which thrive on such events, local terrorist acts turn themselves nowadays into world-wide threats. The modern media, by their very nature, are the terrorist’s best friend. Terror could not flourish without them. The next best friend of the terrorist is the politician. It is almost impossible for a politician to resist the temptation to ride on the wave of panic. Panic creates “national unity”, the dream of every ruler. Panic creates the longing for a “strong leader”. This is a basic human instinct.

Over the last few months, in a prime example of currency failure and euro-defenders' narratives, Finland has been sliding deeper into depression. Almost 7 years into the the current global expansion, Finland's GDP is 6pc below its previous peak. As The Telegraph reports, this is a deeper and more protracted slump than the post-Soviet crash of the early 1990s, or the Great Depression of the 1930s. And so, having tried it all, Finnish authorities are preparing to unleash "helicopter money" to save their nation by giving every citizen a tax-free payout of around $900 each month!

You've seen those internet ads that offer "one weird trick" for eliminating belly fat or boosting testosterone, right? Well, here's one weird trick for getting rid of ISIS and boosting our security from terrorism. The "trick" is non-intervention. And it is only weird in the sense that it is so uncommon in this age of war. Nonetheless, it works. The "one weird trick" has three easy steps. These steps are only "easy" for Westerners, because they basically amount to us refraining from constantly screwing things up. Once we get out of their way, the hard work will be done by locals, which is as it should be.

"When US officials say they don't see how the terrorists' oil is smuggled to Turkey... it smells badly of a desire to cover up these acts."

Perhaps the best way to show what a mess Europe is in is the €3 billion deal they made with Turkey head Erdogan, only to see him being unmasked by EU archenemy Putin as a major supporter, financial and who knows how else, of the very group everyone’s so eager to bomb the heebees out after Paris. But Brussels thinks it’s found a whipping boy for all its failures. Greece. It’s fast increasing its accusations against Athens’ handling of the 100s of 1000s of refugees flooding the country. Everything that goes wrong is the fault of Greece, not Brussels. The EU has so far given Greece €30 million in ‘assistance’ for the refugee crisis, while the country has spent over €1.5 billion in money it desperately needs for its own people. But somehow it’s still not done enough.

Turkey's most notorious Twitter personality predicted the downing of a Russian warplane a month in advance in the lead-up to November's fraught elections.

The system is beyond the point where it is merely showing stresses and fractures. Things are now falling apart and there may well be no way of putting them back together again. The media will continue to claim everything is fine, until the day of panic and reckoning when it will suddenly be the "next Greece" or "2008 all over again"... but worse.

"The liquidity picture for EM corporates in 2017 looks less appealing, due to a 38% yoy increase in USD bond maturities (to USD122bn) and lingering uncertainty on commodity prices (an important component of the corporate sectors’ cash flow) and FX (a headwind for domestic-oriented players). A further depletion in cash buffers and reduced appetite for certain portions of the EM corporate universe may lead to increased refinancing stress in 2017."

After being threatened with expulsion from the Schengen borderless Europe zone, Greece has grudignly accepted an offer from the European Union to "bolster its borders with foreign guards as well as other aid, including tents and first aid kits." In doing so it has last its last shred of state sovereignty.