Because that is what people are saying over at the Pentagon

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Nancy Youssef, نانسى –
@nancyayoussef
I am the Daily Beast's senior national security correspondent, an Egyptian-American and a Washington D.C. native. All opinions are my own.

Washington, D.C.

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I don't think this is a coincidence
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Global precious metals trading has been under regulatory scrutiny since December 2013, when German banking regulator Bafin demanded documents from Deutsche Bank under an inquiry into suspected manipulation of gold and silver benchmarks by banks. Even though the market has moved to reform the process of deciding on its price benchmarks, accusations of manipulation have refused to go away.

Switzerland's WEKO said its investigation, the result of a preliminary probe, was looking at whether UBS, Julius Baer, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Mitsui conspired to set bid/ask spreads.

"It (WEKO) has indications that possible prohibited competitive agreements in the trading of precious metals were agreed among the banks mentioned," WEKO said in a statement.


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-28/ubs-about-blow-cover-massive-gold-price-rigging-scandal

James Grant, Wall Street expert and editor of the investment journal Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, warns of ever more extreme central bank policies and bets on the comeback of gold.

The global financial markets are under severe stress. The postponed interest rate hike in the United States, the fast cooldown of the Chinese economy and the crash in the commodity complex are causing a great amount of unease among investors. Fear is growing that the world slips into recession. "Central bank policy is intended to paper over the cracks in the systems. Seven years after the outbreak of the financial crisis we’re paying for this with a lack of growth", says James Grant. The sharp thinking editor of the iconic Wall Street newsletter Grant’s Interest Rate Observer draws worrisome parallels between the command based central planning of the Chinese economy and the economic policies in the West. He also doubts that Fed Chair Janet Yellen is the right fit for the top job at the world’s most powerful central bank. Looking for protection he points to gold and shares of gold miners.


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-26/jim-grant-explains-how-hedge-against-coming-money-paradrop

You can thank me later

"the Russians appear to have a contingency that involves another world power that was absent from the U.S. led Anti-ISIS Coalition: China.

On Tuesday morning, a Chinese naval vessel reportedly traveled through Egypt’s Suez Canal to enter the Mediterranean Sea; its destination was not confirmed.

However, according to a senior officer in the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) that is stationed inside the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, Chinese military personnel and aerial assets are scheduled to arrive in the coming weeks (6 weeks) to the port-city of Tartous – he could not provide anymore detail."

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-24/chinese-military-personnel-aerial-assets-allegedly-en-route-syria

The United Nations has been criticised for handing Saudi Arabia a key human rights role – despite the country having “arguably the worst record in the world” on freedoms for women, minorities and dissidents.

Critics, including the wife of imprisoned pro-democracy blogger Raif Badawi – sentenced to 1,000 lashes for blogging about free speech – labelled the appointment “scandalous”, saying it meant “oil trumps human rights”.

UN Watch, an independent campaigning NGO, revealed Mr Trad, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador at the UN in Geneva, was elected as chair of a panel of independent experts on the UN Human Rights Council.

http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2015/09/20/not-a-joke-saudi-arabia-chosen-to-head-un-human-rights-panel/

81 percent of Syrians believe the U.S. and its allies are behind the creation of the ISIS, according to a recent survey from research firm ORB International.

“The advance of ISIL In Iraq has many seeking reasons for their presence in Iraq. 81% Syria/85% Iraq believe that ISIL is a foreign/American made group, while in Iraq with the larger split in sunni/shia population 75% also agree that it is a result of sectarian problems across the region.

Previous Prime Minister al-Maliki is also blamed by 71% as a driving force in the creating of the terror group. A majority (51%) also believe that ‘getting rid of ISIL is not possible without solving the problems in Syria also,’” the report explained.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-19/81-syrians-believe-us-blame-isis

U.S. Census Bureau data out Wednesday underscore just how lousy the recovery has been if you aren't rich.
Looking at eight groups of household income selected by Census, only those whose incomes are already high to begin with have seen improvement since 2006, the last full year of expansion before the recession. Households at the 95th and 90th percentiles had larger earnings through 2014, the latest year for which data are available.
Income for all others was below 2006 levels, indicating they're still clawing their way out of the hole caused by the deepest recession in the post-World War II era.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-16/the-richest-americans-are-winning-the-economy-recovery

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