Irony Alert: Syrian Army attacks U.S.-backed rebels with U.S. weapons captured from ISIS

The Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) Tiger Forces arrived in northern Hama this week with a big surprise from their previous operations in the Deir Ezzor Governorate.
Units from the Tiger Forces were seen armed with US-manufactured weapons that were seized from the Islamic State (ISIS) during the two month long battle in Deir Ezzor.
According to a military source in Hama, the Syrian Army’s Tiger Forces are planning to use the US-manufactured weapons against the jihadist rebels in the upcoming battle for the Idlib Governorate.
Among the US-manufactured weapons transferred to the Idlib front were a large number of TOW missiles that were previously supplied by Washington to the rebel forces in Syria before they were later sold to the Islamic State.

CIA: War between U.S. and Turkey possible

As Turkey prepares to launch an operation against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists in Syria’s Afrin, the U.S. has threatened war with Turkey in the PKK-occupied city, in a report published by the CIA-affiliated Rand Corporation.
The most recent report, titled “U.S. Strategic Interests in the Middle East and Implications for the Army,” was published by the Rand Corporation, an American think tank closely affiliated with the CIA.
The report concluded that opposing interests between Ankara and Washington may lead to possible clashes between the two countries, deeming a potential confrontation to be “not entirely out of the question.”

Iraqi Kurdistan falls into chaos

Two opposition parties, the Gorran and the Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal), have withdrawn from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), party sources said.
The withdrawals came Wednesday after two days of violence in the region, as Kurdish demonstrators protest years of austerity measures and unpaid public sector salaries.

Trump tries to bully the entire world; fails

The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a measure critical of President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel despite U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s warning that the move could put funding for their nations and the global body at risk.
The nonbinding UN resolution passed Thursday by a vote of 128-9, with 35 nations abstaining. Key U.S. allies backing the measure over Trump’s threats included the U.K., France, Italy, Japan and Germany. The U.S. was joined in opposition by countries including Guatemala, Nauru and Micronesia. Abstentions included Australia, Canada and Argentina.
“The United States will remember this day when it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly,” Haley said at the UN podium ahead of the vote. “We will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they often do, to pay even more. This vote will be remembered.”
“We were all asked to vote no or face the consequences,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said before Thursday’s vote. “Some even threatened to cut development aid. This is bullying. It is unethical to think that the votes and dignity of member states are for sale.”

Saudi-Iran War? It's already here

When asked to address the question of what a Saudi-Iran war would look like, my first instinct is to ask the reader to look around because it is already happening. As the futurist William Gibson noted, “the future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed.” Already, Saudi Arabia and Iran are killing each other’s proxies, and indirectly are killing each other’s advisors and troops, in Yemen, Syria, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia’s Shiite Eastern Province.
The future is likely to look similar.

Big Surprise

Take Pfizer Inc., for instance. On Monday, the company, which was already committed to buying back $6.4 billion worth of its shares, announced that its board had authorized an additional $10 billion buyback, plus a 6 percent hike in its dividend, according to FiercePharma, an online trade publication. The news was directly linked to the new tax bill.
Or how about Oracle Corp? Since 2008, it has been spending between $4.2 billion and $5.2 billion on stock buybacks. With $52 billion stashed abroad, it announced last week that it would raise that by an additional $12 billion. Home Depot Inc.: $15 billion buyback announced on Dec. 6. Bank of America Corp.: $5 billion, Dec. 5. Mastercard Inc.: $4 billion, Dec. 5. A list compiled by Senate Democrats shows that in the space of 10 days in December, 29 companies announced close to $70 billion in buybacks. And that’s just the beginning. Wait ’til you see the mad rush after the bill becomes law.

In 2 weeks since @SenateGOP passed #GOPTaxScam big corporations announced $70+ Billion in stock buybacks - a clear signal the bill is just a massive giveaway to the wealthy & biggest corporations: https://t.co/9gPwalPV6G pic.twitter.com/SDg4IIEz0v

— Senate Democrats (@SenateDems) December 18, 2017

This sounds very familiar

In the years after the financial crisis, buyout firms poured billions into auto finance, angling for the big profits that come with offering high-interest loans to buyers with the weakest credit. At rates of 11 percent or more, there was plenty to be made as sales boomed. But now, with new car demand waning, they’ve found the intense competition -- and the lax underwriting standards it fostered -- are taking a toll on profits.
Delinquencies on subprime loans made by non-bank lenders are soaring toward crisis levels. Fresh investment has dried up and some of the big banks, long seen as potential suitors, have pulled back from the auto lending business. To top it off, state regulators are circling the industry, asking whether it preyed on borrowers and put them in cars they couldn’t afford.
“The PE guys sailed into this thing with stars in their eyes. Some of the businesses have done fine and some haven’t,” said Chris Gillock, managing director at Colonnade Advisors, a boutique investment bank. But right now, “it’s about as out-of-favor a sector as I can think of.”