As you might have heard, the opposition in Syria is in serious trouble.
Last summer, Bashar al-Assad’s army was on the ropes, as the SAA fought a multi-front war against a dizzying array of rebel forces including ISIS. Then Quds commander Qassem Soleimani went to Russia. After that, everything changed.
Yesterday morning, when musing on the day's key event namely Yellen's congressional testimony, we dismissed the most recent bout of European bank euphoria which we said "will be brief if not validated by concrete actions, because while central banks have the luxury of jawboning, commercial banks are actually burning through funds - rapidly at that - and don't have the luxury of hoping for the best while doing nothing." This morning DB has wiped out all of yesterday's gain.
The United States has announced plans to double its military presence in Europe as part of a move to support NATO against increasing “Russian aggression”. The plans are part of the European Reassurance Initiative outlined in the 2017 defense budget, which has been sent to congress for approval. Theepochtimes.com reports: “We’re going to move to a so-called heel to toe basis, where we’re over there consistently on the ground exercising,” said Under Secretary of Defense Mike McCord in a Feb. 9 briefing, according to a transcript.
Submitted by JC Collins via PhilosophyOfMetrics.com,
For the first time in a long time I feel concerned and worried about the prospect of war. The reaction of Saudi Arabia to the Russian intervention in Syria has always been the wild card in the shifting geopolitical power base in the Middle East. Turkey and Israel, along with Saudi Arabia are the three countries with the most to lose because of a strong alliance between Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia.