United States

As the United States comes to grips with the possibility of Donald Trump sitting in the White House making final judgments on U.S. and world affairs, a 1700% increase in renounced citizenship,compared to the Bush era, has been reported by the US Treasury Department. An exodus of U.S. citizens is even more likely after he became the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican party when his rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich dropped out of the race.

A Dire Future

Paul Craig Roberts

Do you remember all the hopes Americans had for Obama when we elected him to his first term? Painful memories. He betrayed the voters on every one of his promises. There was no change, except for the worst as Obama went on to become one of the most vicious war criminals in world history. Despite his horrific record, we re-elected him, only to have US economic policy turn against the people in order to bail out at our expense the mega-banks and the One Percent.

The US government has most likely acted to prevent the Syrian government’s armed forces from recapturing the city of Aleppo from the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front, according to Richard Black, US Senator for the State of Virginia On Friday, Black said: “It is clear to me that what is happening is we are trying desperately to slow down the Syrian army’s advance, which is on the verge of crushing al-Nusra and liberating Aleppo once and for all” al-Nusra Front Sputnik News reports: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated that the United States was attempting to create a safe-zone

Submitted by Eric Zuesse courtesy of Strategic Culture

Why Obama Prioritizes Ousting Assad Over Defeating Syria’s Jihadists: Part I

Dr Christina Lin, a leading young scholar on jihadist groups, opens her April 8th commentary at Asia Times: «In a blunder reeking of the fallout caused by supplying Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to 1980s mujahideen in Afghanistan, civilian airline passengers are now under threat from Syrian jihadists armed with portable surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS).

BofAML's Mike Cantopoulos' distaste for corporate fundamentals, displeasure with the efficacy of QE and easy monetary policy on spurring growth and inflation, and concerns that a further deterioration in credit conditions will create deeper economic troubles not appreciated by many have left credit markets with poor default adjusted valuations and little room to absorb a negative shock. He highlights nine key reasons below why BofAML believes this rally won't last (and in fact may have already seen its end).