Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

This week I am addressing themes I see playing out in 2016.

A number of systemic, structural forces are intersecting in 2016. One is the hollowing out of democracy globally.

Democracy has three distinct states of being: formal, in actual practice and informal. Nations that claim the mantle of democracy typically mix features of all three varieties.

Greece’s Aegean Airlines issued an apology Tuesday afternoon for an incident in which Israeli passengers demanded that two Palestinian travelers be removed from a plane. Cabin crew were forced to remove two Palestinians from a recent flight from Greece to Israel following demands made by Israeli passengers. The incident happened at Athens airport on Monday night when Jewish Israeli passengers decided that the two Israeli Arab passengers on the flight were a security risk. They alerted the crew about their concerns and prevented the flight from taking off by standing in the aisles.

Priorities...

Source: Townhall.com (via The Burning Platform)

We all have opinions on the stock market. However, very few of us have daughters that are Senior Line Producers (whatever that means) on CNBC, thus we cannot share our musings with the rest of the world.  Happily, there is one Dennis Gartman who is blessed with just such a situation, and he appears on CNBC with more frequency than even the great Janet Yellen (plus he hasn't fainted on camera yet, not even once).

Following this weekend's escalation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, in which both sides managed to infuriate each other to a degree that brought diplomatic relations between the two to levels not seen since 1980, one thing was certain: the escalation has only just begun; after all, there is no point in severing diplomatic ties with Iran, and thus thrusting OPEC into complete chaos, if Iran does not at least curb its production on its own, one way or another.