Middle East

Believe it or not, American soldiers fighting against ISIS in Syria and Iraq will actually be wearing the emblem of ISIS – the infamous crossed-swords logo. Well, almost. Controversy has stirred because many think the patch looks too much like our boys are fighting for the enemy… just another sign of confusion about the counterproductive Obama-led war against the notorious and shamefully exploitative jihadist army.

As the regional proxy wars heat up, Saudi Arabia seizes an Iranian "fishing" vessel that, in addition to fishing poles and tackle boxes, also happened to be carrying missile launchers, anti-tank weapons, and firing guiding systems likely bound for the Houthis in Yemen.

Confirming API's reported data last night, DOE reported an even bigger 3.955 million barrel inventory build last week. This is the 2nd biggest build since April and after rallying confidently all morning (on QE hopes and Middle East tensions), WTI Crude collapsed... We also note that total crude production also fell to its lowest since Nov 2014... and that has spareked rampant buying...

“The king is not in a stable condition and in reality the son of the king [Mohammed bin Salman] is ruling the kingdom,” the prince said. “So four or possibly five of my uncles will meet soon to discuss the letters. They are making a plan with a lot of nephews and that will open the door. A lot of the second generation is very anxious.”

The elite want a one world government, a one world economic system and a one world religion. But they are not going to achieve these things by conquest. Rather, they want everyone to sign up for these new systems willingly. The “global goals” are a template for a united world. To many, the “utopia” that the elite are promising sounds quite promising, many of the "global goals" sound quite good. The key is to look behind the language and understand what is really being said.  And what is really being said is that the elite want to take their dream of a one world system to the next level.

"The people that want to come in and replace Assad, nobody knows who they are and they could end up being worse. We're constantly going out and siding with people and they turn out to be worse than the people who were there before."

• Commodities in crisis as Asian shares tumble and shipper files for bankruptcy (Reuters)
• Global Rout Eases as S&P 500 Futures Advance With Oil, Glencore (BBG)
• Chinese Stocks Decline Most in a Month in Hong Kong on Economy (BBG)
• India cuts interest rates by more than expected (BBC)
• Glencore Rebounds as $50 Billion Plunge Is Seen as Excessive (BBG)
• How Congress May Have Saved Goldman Sachs From Itself (BBG)

"Did Charlie Rose look like a f##king idiot last night on 60-Minutes, or what...?"

Today's most popular hedge fund strategy among institutional investors globally is "Alternative Global Macro Funds". Also known as a “go anywhere” investment style, active managers employ opportunistic trading tactics across asset classes, financial instruments, and geographic regions. Like many liquid alts, global macro funds grew rapidly following the financial crisis as investors looked for strategies that could diversify their portfolios in the midst of volatility in the global marketplace and historically high sector correlations against the S&P 500, thereby improving their risk-return profiles. Ultimately, success in this classification resides in selecting the right active manager given the strategy’s wide dispersion of returns.

"Germany's domestic intelligence chief warned on Sunday of a radicalisation of Right-wing groups amid a record influx of migrants, as xenophobic rallies and clashes shook several towns at the weekend."

"It was our Black Monday. The big question is when will they come back, because managers have been really quite reliant on Sama for business in recent years."

• Headline winner: "Read Beyond Massive Job-Cuts Headlines: Labor Market Is Fine" (BBG)
• And speaking of lies: The More Yellen Talks Up Inflation, the Less Traders Believe Her (BBG)
• How Some Investors Get Special Access to Companies (WSJ)
• Victorious Catalan separatists claim mandate to break with Spain (Reuters)
• Russia seizes initiative in Syria (Reuters)
• Former VW boss Winterkorn investigated for fraud (Reuters)
• Investors Pull Back From Junk Bonds (WSJ)

Whether it’s the economy, climate, the planet, warfare, your future obligations, your pensions, the future of your children, nobody in power tells you the truth. Human life is fast losing the value we would like to tell ourselves we assign to it. We don’t, do we? Our technological advances haven’t come with moral advances, quite the contrary, our morals turn out to be a thin layer of mere cheap veneer. What advances we’re making are the last death rattle of a society in decline, and a dying civilization.