United States

The US is to deploy 217 troops and Apache helicopters to Iraq as part of operations against ISIS, according to US defense officials. In Iraq #SecDef announces accelerants to defeat #ISIL. List includes expanding advise & assist efforts to help Iraqi forces liberate Mosul — U.S.

Despite the proclamations from any and every Federal Reserve talking-head, Sam Zell appears to be willing to 'peddle some fiction' about the less than awesome reality in America. Having correctly called the top of the last commercial real-estate cycle, Zell is predicting global problems will likely push the U.S. into a recession in the next year...

"I’m not being pessimistic, I’m being realistic,” he said last week at a real-estate conference in New York. The U.S. economy is now “in the ninth inning,” he said.

William Hartung chides the Obama administration for trying to buy Saudi goodwill with weapons:

One justification that has been put forward for the continued flow of weaponry from the United States to Saudi Arabia is that it provides reassurance to the kingdom’s leadership that Washington won’t tilt toward the Iranians in the wake of the deal reached last year over Iran’s nuclear program. But if demonstrating a commitment to the Saudi government entails supporting deadly and reckless initiatives, like the war in Yemen, the policy is not worth the price.

As conclusion to our article yesterday reporting on the largest U.S. health insurer's accelerating exodus from various Obamacare markets (it had already announced it was out of Georgie, Arkansas, Michigan and Oklahoma) we said that UnitedHealth "will likely announce more defections in the coming days."