CIA's Brennan complacent about independent intelligence gathering in Egypt & Saudi Arabia

New Law Shifts Fight on Claims for 9/11 Victims and Saudis Warn of Risks is a headline that reflects CIA Director Brennan's erroneous view that Saudi Arabia is a key intelligence source for our fight against terrorism rather than that their extreme Wahabbi vision of Islam is the source of terrorism. Another problem is that Authoritarian regimes are opaque to the CIA but with the reassurance it's getting the really good stuff from official sources. The Agency ought to remember its experience with the Shah of Iran's authoritarian regime where it was caught flat footed when he had to flee. Brennan appears to be complacent about the need for independent intelligence gathering in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.  

Syria headline attributing too much to a tactic to consolidate Al-Assad's Alawite region

Russia's Brutality in Aleppo May Be Calculated, and Effective is a headline that attributes too much long term thinking to a tactic. Aleppo is a city that Bashar al-Assad wants in his Alawite enclave and Russia is aiding that effort. But there is no indication that Russia would be willing to support an effort to bring Sunni Arab and Kurdish regions back into a unified Syria under his control.

Progressive urban regions have requirements that Conservative rural ones have no interest in solving

Headlines in today's paper, Fate of British Labour Party May Be in Leftist Group's Hand and Opposition Leader Survives Revolt in Fight for Reins of Spain's Socialist Party, shows the fragmentation of the workforce breaking down the old call of "Worker's of the World Unite."  The problem for Conservatives brought up in opposition of a united left sets them up to propose central, federal, solutions be dealt with locally. It's a universal problem. Here in the U.S. there is tug of war between authoritarians on the left and right with federal solutions that most localities don't want imposed on them. Progressive urban regions have requirements that Conservative rural ones have no interest in solving. The Libertarian Party is the ideology that simplifies to let localities determine the best answer for themselves. The Johnson Weld ticket reflects the sanity that comes from what appeared to be chaos but with a far better result than from traditional centralized parties who have lost their way.    

Russia does not respect al-Assad's dream of putting humpty dumpty back together again

In War and Diplomacy, Russia Falls Short of Its Ambitions is a headline taken from State Department sources that don't recognize a diplomatic opening staring at them in the face, which is that Russia does not respect al-Assad and his dream of putting humpty dumpty back together again. If State were to play on Russia's need to be viewed as a great power then convince them to be true to their keeping their naval base on the Mediterranean in secure hands by not letting their client overreach into Sunni Arab and Kurdish regions of Syria that he will never dominate. As in Russia's previous success of getting chemical weapons out, which made them look good in the World's eye, have them contain and protect al-Assad in his Alawite enclave by the sea. Of course that would require State give up the idea of a united Syria and for that matter Iraq as well.

Expect investors to determine Wells Fargo prospects are so bad it needs breaking up

Wells Fargo Tests Justice Department's Get-Tough Approach, so do investors care? On the margin yes and that's important.  The whole Too Big To Fail bank sector is in a dull patch for investors, dull enough for G.E. to sell out it's finance assets and thus get out of the extra bank regulation hindering it's industrial products with sensors reporting performance business.  Frankly, any TBTF entity should look at itself with the idea of spinning off units to take themselves out of government's dead hand of scrutiny.  Having Senator Elizabeth Warren chew you out publicly is bad enough. But publicly defending such a loser business model focuses investors on the idea that if Wells Fargo's prospects are so bad that they have to resort to playing games then its needs breaking up.

The Economist September 17th 2016  Free Exchange | Stealth socialism:

Passive investment funds create headaches for antitrust authorities

Passive funds moderate reactions because they mechanically work at keeping a sufficient percent of company's stock in the portfolio to best represent its industry position and not its prospects. Yes these funds react but possibly not enough to cause active hedge funds to  invest enough to force a break up.

FAIR GAME | Gretchen Morgenson

Your Fund Has Your Say, Like it or Not

Brings up the point that Mutual Funds vote with management and so they too would be slow to react to Wells Fargo's poor prospects as well, especially if it was such a dullard that it had yet to determine the poor prospects of all TBTF institutions.

Income growth protects the environment rather than diminishes it

Income growth protects the environment rather than diminishes it. Don't believe it? Compare rich high energy consuming Switzerland to poor low energy consuming Haiti whose forest are denuded as an energy source.  

John Kerry must accept Assad's power and negotiate with Russia and Iran to contain him

Smiling as Syria Burns, Assad Remains Secure in Power and Impunity because he embodies Shia Alawite political power, which may be a minority but nevertheless is the strongest in the region. The Kurds have taken away the Northeast from his possible sphere of influence by taking back Kobani from ISIS last year and with that conquest settled in with a strong political union that desires to form a Kurdish Nation. Where Assad lacks power and influence is in Sunni Arab regions and he miscalculates by thinking he can forcibly retake these regions without utterly destroying and thereby his capability of ruling them. Its a wish that Russia and Iran can be convinced not to pursue for Assad because he lost the political power to keep Sunni Arabs under his control. Syria is partitioning. Rather than take an emotional diplomatic approach that he must go at all costs it would be preferable that John Kerry and the State Department take a realpolitic acceptance of Assad's power and negotiate with Russia and Iran to contain him in his Alawite enclave.      

Require Too Big Too Fail Banks spin off into units controlling assets less 1% GDP

At Banks, the Buck Stops Short describes the Wells Fargo cross selling scam which as an investor, such as Warren Buffet, is very telling for the following: Aren't there profitable win win banking opportunities to be pursued?  There is a crying need for inexpensive money transacting systems and not for more bricks and mortar outlets in high income towns. The Federal Reserve would be doing a favor to Too Big Too Fail banks by requiring them to spin off into portions controlling assets of less than 1% of gross domestic product, roughly $200 Billion, so that they aren't too big to fail. Consider John D Rockefeller's observation to shareholders when his giant Standard Oil was broken up in 1911 that the pieces would be all together more valuable than the original whole because the favor would come from, in the bank's case, the focus management would have on real business instead of bankrupting schemes to diddle customers and pay themselves bonuses for having done it.      

A rule of diplomacy should be to confront your ally's delusions, not affirm them

Why Turks Suspect The Worst of the West is simply because we officially back the denial of the Armenian Genocide and the declaration of an oppressed Kurdish minority as terrorists to placate an irrational ally. Barack Obama as Senator and Presidential Candidate freely declared that the Armenian Genocide happened, yet as President he denies it.  Its not trustworthy.  A rule of diplomacy should be to confront your ally's delusions, not affirm them.

Until GOPs Dems understand the divide will there be a clear choice

Answer to David Brooks: Time For a Realignment 

The required realignment is one between those that are confident in self organized systems, for example language is self organized with meaning and rules without a central authority dictating how it should be, versus those who believe that authoritarian rule is required. The public displeasure with both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is that they are both authoritarian. Until Republicans and Democrats understand this libertarian authoritarian divide and decide which side they want to be on will there be a clear choice between parties and a moderate center for compromise between the two.

Syrian Peace Policy should be to pull and keep the belligerents apart

U.S. Urges Syrian Truce Despite a Stall in Policy. yes urging, as if that were enough to come to a peaceful end in a civil war.  A war where the ""marbling" of the various rebel groups with more extremist groups has been a sticking point in negotiations" as if John Kerry thinks he has the power to micro manage the belligerents to make peace. The only power outsiders should consider is diplomatic power to pull and keep the belligerents apart.  Negotiate with Russia and Iran to keep al-Assad in his Alawite enclave so that the Sunni Arab regions are left alone to work it out among themselves how to self govern and serve their people. U.S. policy should be to just discourage radical efforts for imperial expansion into other regions not of their sect.     

Ironic how Germany's penance for Holocaust lit Europe's reactionary bomb

German Far-Right Party Overtakes Merkel's Bloc in Elections in Her Home State is the beginning of the end of her Chancellorship of Germany. It's ironic that Germany's policy of penance for World War Two and the Holocaust whereby political refugees are accepted without limit has lit the fuse to a reactionary bomb in all of Europe.

Sea level rise requires intelligent decisions on abandonment or supplemental investment

Decades of Warnings of rise in Sea Level by Scientists are no Longer Theoretical, only the other warnings are such as more intense storms when trying to explain a ten year drought of hurricanes. Yes low lying areas subject to flooding in moderate storms and catastrophic loss in major storms should be studied by Insurance Companies and Real Estate Investors with the knowledge that the sea level rise will only make it worse for these communities so that abandonment or supplemental investment be considered intelligently.

Don't use a foreign militia with no interest in the people of the area to be re-taken

Kurds Fear the U.S. Will Again Betray Them in Syria comes from the incorrect use of the Kurdish pesh merga as an imperial force to conquer Sunni Arab regions as a means to oust ISIS and its caliphate. The Kurds have a desire to make a homeland nation for which their militia will fight with a zeal that out did Daesh's defense of Kobani, a Kurdish city in northeastern Syria. It made the U.S. military believe that their fighting ability should be used for retaking Arab cities regions.  No doubt promises were made to the Kurds about unifying their eastern region with a western Kurdish region split by an Arab region. But taking Arab regions is an overreach for the Kurds because they do not have the political will to govern Arab people. What is clear in the Middle East is that each tribe, clan or people does better governing their own and that is why both Syria and Iraq are currently balkanizing into their separate regions and any attempt to deny it is a useless waste of blood and treasure, particularly when we use a foreign militia with no interest in the people of the area to be re-taken.