Iran

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.

Obama’s speech at The UN made clear that Washington accepts no responsibility for the destruction of the lives and prospects of millions of Muslims. The refugees from Washington’s wars who are overflowing Europe are the fault of Assad, Obama declared. Obama’s claim to represent "international norms" was an assertion of US hegemony, and was recognized as such by the General Assembly. The presidents of Russia, China, and Iran did not accept Washington’s definition of "international norms." The lines are drawn. Unless the American people come to their senses and expel the Washington warmongers, war is our future.

"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."

With The UN's Ban earlier commenting that "Syria is out of control" and demanding that Russia, US, Saudi, iran and Turkey cooperate, it will be interesting to see what tack President Obama takes in his address this morning...

• 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.

"He’s butchered his own people, he’s helped create this conflict and this migration crisis, he’s one of the great recruiting sergeants for ISIL."

Neoliberal economics is blind to reality and serves to justify the destruction of the economic prospects of the Western World. It remains to be seen if Russia and China can develop a different economics or whether these rising superpowers will fall victim to the “junk economics” that has destroyed the West. With so many Chinese and Russian economists educated in the US tradition, the prospects of Russia and China might not be any better than ours. The entire world could go down the tubes together.

As Russia gears up for an offensive designed to rout anti-government forces operating in Syria, the US finds itself in the awkward position of having to partner with two of Washington's fiercest critics in the fight against terror. With the clock ticking on America's Mid-East strategy, Obama is set to sit down for a critical one-on-one with Putin that could have major geopolitical implications.

• Global Markets Rebound on Yellen Speech (WSJ)
• Obama and Putin to meet; Syria and Ukraine vie for attention (Reuters)
• Obama to host China's President Xi amid simmering tensions (Reuters)
• Don't Fall for It, Xi! Chinese Take to Web to Scorn U.S.—and China, Too (BBG)
• Yellen Confirms Fed Still on Track to Raise Rates This Year (BBG)... but is still China dependent?
• Abe's New Economic Plan Confounds Analysts (BBG)
• It's All `Perverted' Now as U.S. Swap Spreads Tumble Below Zero (BBG)