Market Volatility and Twilight of Dollar

For those interested in that sort of thing, 20th August 2015 has been a fascinating day in the markets. Oil has plunged, Kazakhstan and Vietnam have both floated their currencies, the Kazakh currency has fallen by 20% in a single day, and what are politely referred to as the currencies of the “emerging market economies” – which include the rouble – have all fallen in unison. In Russia the rouble has tracked the fall in the price of oil, with Economics Minister Ulyukaev saying that because oil is likely to continue its fall, the rouble is likely to fall further.

Obama’s “Liberated Syria”: Brookings Institute PLAN to “LIQUIDATE SYRIA”

Here’s your US foreign policy puzzler for the day: When is regime change not regime change? When the regime stays in power but loses its ability to rule. This is the current objective of US policy in Syria, to undermine Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s ability to govern the country without physically removing him from office. The idea is simple: Deploy US-backed “jihadi” proxies to capture-and-hold vast sections of the country thereby making it impossible for the central government to control the state. This is how the Obama administration plans to deal with Assad, by making him irrelevant. The strategy is explained in great detail in a piece by Michael E. O’Hanlon at the Brookings Institute titled “Deconstructing Syria: A new strategy for America’s most hopeless war”. Here’s an excerpt: