Iran

The Fed is weighing the negative consequences of a strong dollar on corporate profits vs. unleashing inflation on the electorate, pressuring long term interest rates. We will soon see which negative scenario they favor and why.

There are a multitude of fuses affixed to dozens of powderkegs and little kids with matches are on the loose.

"There's no point in other countries getting together and deciding about a system of government and the head of that state. This is a dangerous innovation which no government in the world would accept being imposed on itself. The solution to Syria's problem is elections."

On a day full of Manufacturing/PMI surveys from around the globe, the numbers everyone was looking at came out of China, where first the official, NBS PMI data disappointed after missing Mfg PMI expectations (3rd month in a row of contraction), with the Non-mfg PMI sliding to the lowest since 2008, however this was promptly "corrected" after the other Caixin manufacturing PMI soared to 48.3 in October from 47.2 in September - the biggest monthly rise of 2015 - and far better than the median estimate of 47.6, once again leading to the usual questions about China's Schrodinger economy, first defined here, which is continues to expand and contract at the same time.

"Russia and Iran have very similar objectives in that they both want to eject U.S. influence from Iraq. Any success that the militias have bolsters that goal."

"The US and the CIA should stop this illegal and counterproductive war to overthrow the Syrian government. It puts us in that position of a possible head to head conflict with Russia which brings us... to the brink of a World War III-type scenario."

It was 77 years ago this week that Orson Welles struck terror into the hearts of Americans with his live radio broadcast of the HG Wells classic War of the Worlds. What struck me while watching the PBS retrospective were the similarities between then and now. The gullibility of the masses, the power of fear, the overreaction by the media, busy bodies calling for the government to do something, and the effectiveness of propaganda are all commonalities between that Fourth Turning and today’s Fourth Turning.

It's "boots on the ground" time in the Mid-East and predictably, the mainstream media are asking all the wrong questions. Here's what you need to know about America's plan to embed US commandos with Kurdish forces in Syria.

Most investors don’t take kindly to change. “The market” chooses to stay in the here and now; each human component vibrant and alert while the whole is passive and inert…like a herd of wildebeests, protected by its mass and collective wisdom that each one of them is statistically safe from lions as long as they stay together.

According to multiple reports, the Obama administration is set to send dozens of "military advisers" to Syria. They will serve in an "advise and assist" role in the effort to rout ISIS. Cutting through the obfuscation: Washington needs to figure out how to salvage its strategy in Syria - and fast. Make no mistake, this will be a disaster...

Don't call us, we'll call you: "This is an Iraqi affair and the government did not ask the U.S. Department of Defense to be involved in direct operations. We have enough soldiers on the ground."

• Fed puts December rate hike firmly on the agenda (Reuters)
• Charting the Markets: A More Hawkish Fed Rattles Investors (BBG)
• China to modernize and improve fiscal and tax systems (Reuters)
• Deutsche Bank to Cut 35,000 Jobs in Overhaul (WSJ)
• Deutsche Bank Said to Near $200 Million Sanctions Settlement (BBG)
• Barclays profits drop as it abandons cost-cutting targets (FT)

Nearly all empires end due to over-extension. If brave people from Ottawa to Baghdad simply say “enough” within a brief space of time, hopefully this empire can dissolve relatively peacefully like the Soviet Empire did, leaving its host civilization intact, instead of dragging that civilization into oblivion along with it like the Roman Empire did. But beware, the imperial war party will not go quietly into the night, unless we in their domestic tax base insist that there is no other way. Russia’s entry into Syria has thrown all of the neocons’ schemes into disarray, as even Jordan, that favorite proxy force in Israel’s dreams of regional dominance, has begun coordinating with Russia, in spite of its billion dollars a year of annual aid from Washington. Et tu Jordan?!