Middle East

Submitted by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org,

The New Year’s execution by Saudi Arabia of the Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr was a deliberate provocation.

Its first purpose: Signal the new ruthlessness and resolve of the Saudi monarchy where the power behind the throne is the octogenarian King Salman’s son, the 30-year-old Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman.

 

Second, crystallize, widen and deepen a national-religious divide between Sunni and Shiite, Arab and Persian, Riyadh and Tehran.

 

The House of Saud isn’t exactly what it appears to be, as the Saudi Arabia royal family was actually born out of a zionist Western plot to exert control over the Middle East on behalf of the UK and U.S. The west wished to dominate the Arabian Peninsula, with its vast oil reserves and geopolitical advantages offered by its highly sought after location, and they have done exactly that.

Excerpted from Doug Noland's Credit Bubble Bulletin,

The year 2015 was extraordinary. Incredibly, despite powerful confirmation of the bursting global Bubble thesis, market optimism remained deeply entrenched. All leading strategists surveyed in December by Barron’s remained bullish – some were borderline crazy optimistic.

Submitted by Erico Matias Tavares via Sinclair & Co.,

It is the perpetual war and horrific rivalries in the Middle East that have finally empowered the neocons to stage a comeback; but considering the damage that these groups have already done, one is certain that no good can possibly come from Bolton and his clique.