United States

U.S. Treasury Secretary: I Assume Fort Knox Gold Is Still There

Two United States MQ-1 Predator drones have crashed in Turkey within four days, possibly cutting the Air Force's operational fleet of drones at NATO's main Turkish base down to half. This comes at a moment when the future of US drone operations in the region remain in question due to heightened political tensions with the Erdogan government and the uncertain future of the war in Syria.

Authored by GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs' Gregory Copley via OilPrice.com,

Yes, there is a civil war looming in the United States.

But it will not look like the orderly pattern of descent which characterized the conflict of 1861-65. It will appear more like the Yugoslavia break-up, or the Russian and Chinese civil wars of the 20th Century.

It will appear as an evolving chaos.

In a widely anticipated national address, President Donald Trump on Monday announced that he will not pull out U.S. troops from Afghanistan, saying he’s committed to a new strategy aimed at winning the nation’s longest war, now in its 17th year. Admitting that his "original instinct was to pull out" of Afghanistan - which in retrospect had been a mistake - Trump said he’s arrived at three "fundamental conclusions" about America’s core interests in Afghanistan:

As we detailed last night, President Trump will unveil his long-awaited new strategy for Afghanistan tonight. Will he, as Ron Paul suggests, do the sensible thing and end the failed longest war in history? Or will he continue doing the same thing and expect that somehow he will "win" the war? Does America even know what "winning" looks like in Afghanistan?

Here's Ron Paul's preview (which may be a post-mortem)...