Greg Hunter – The U.S. is sending a dozen F-15’s to Turkey. The F-15 specialize in air-to-air combat. The Pentagon officially says the jets are to “ensure the safety” of NATO allies, but there is much speculation that the jets could also offer protection to the Kurds and the recently announced Special Ops Forces going to help “train” the Kurds. There is also the fear that these jets could meet Russian jet fighters in air-to-air combat either on purpose or accident. They have plenty of other U.S. Airforce firepower in Turkey such as the F-16, F-22 and B-1 bombers, to name a few.

Meanwhile, Russia is having meetings with many Middle East players including Saudi Arabia and Egypt.  Speaking of Egypt, there is a lot of confusion over why that Russian passenger jet went down on the Sini Peninsula. The British say it was a bomb, and ISIS has taken credit for killing more than 220 people. Usually, when you kill more than 200 people, you are a little sheepish, but not ISIS. The group wants credit for the murders of Russians and have almost demanded they get the credit. What a sick group of people.

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That said the jury is still out on what exactly happened to the Russian passenger jet. The U.S. and Russia say they don’t have conclusive evidence it was a bomb. Some suggest the tail of the plane fell off because it had damage to it years ago and it was not repaired correctly. If it was ISIS that killed those Russians, tourism in that part of Egypt will come to a screeching halt. This will further kill Egypt’s economy that is dependent on tourism. It’s 11% of GDP, and it caters to more than 14 million tourists per year. One thing is for sure, the situation and violence in the Middle East is heating up and not slowing down.

Friction and war talk is also heating up in the South China Sea where China has built islands and claimed territory 600 miles from its shores. The U.S. is sending war ships to the islands and announced it will do so on a regular basis. China is reacting angrily and says its sovereignty is “threatened” and calls the U.S. action “highly-dangerous.”  U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Harry Harris, who is a critic of China’s island building activities, told Congress recently, “The South China Sea is no more China’s domain than the Gulf of Mexico is Mexico’s.” The tensions mount, and the U.S. has conflict with Russia and China on at least two fronts.

Fed Head Janet Yellen is doubling down on the rate hike talk. She told Congress this week a December rate hike is “a live possibility.” Folks like David Stockman say the Fed should raise rates ASAP. Other people say the Fed can’t raise rates, and if it does, stock and bond markets would tank. The IMF has been continually warning the Fed not to raise rates. It is beyond me that the Fed does not know what it’s going to do little more than six weeks from now. The only reason why the stocks and bonds have not tanked is because the Fed and other central banks continue to prop up the global markets.

SF Source USA Watchdog  Nov 2015

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