United States

After refusing to even consider the possibility of a recession in the US for over a year, the first cracks in Goldman's armor are starting to appear. Over the weekend chief equity strategist David Kostin said that while the probability of a recession according to GS economists remains low, saying that "their model suggests the US has an 18% probability of recession during the next year and 24% likelihood during the next two years", Goldman's clients and investors "continue to inquire about the impact a contraction would have on the US equity market."

At the peak of the last financial crisis, as the credit liquidation wave was jumping from one highly levered product to the next, one of the hardest hit sectors was Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLO) space, where the rout and massive P&L losses across most tranches led to a revulsion for new issuance, which effectively shut down the sector for the next 3 years.

American political analyst Dr. Kevin Barrett has said that the entire political establishment in the U.S. have served Israel for decades, and will continue to do so in the future – regardless of who is elected President in the 2016 elections.  Barrett says that if Republican candidate Ted Cruz gets elected he will ignore Palestinians completely, offering Israel unwavering support in a show of  “shameful subservience”. Presstv.com reports: Speaking at a town hall meeting in South Carolina on Friday night, Cruz said, “Let me tell you this: As president, I have no intention of being neutral.

Submitted by Shoshanna Bryen via The Gatestone Institute,

• As the Russians insist that the Assad government is the only legitimate government, all anti-Assad fighters -- ISIS, al Qaeda-related, or U.S.-backed or Turkish-backed "moderates" -- are, by definition, terrorists.

B-1B Lancer bombers covering operations in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State/ISIS are to return to the U.S. for scheduled cockpit upgrades, according to the USAF Central Command. Russia Today reports: With the B-1 taking a back seat, the campaign may lose a “little flexibility,” but the USAF has plenty of other aircraft to compensate for the deficit, Lt. Gen. Charles Q. Brown, who heads the command, told journalists from his HQ in Qatar. Brown said the bombers would return to Iraq and Syria, but didn’t provide any timetable.