The Battle Of Aleppo This Weekend

Charts: The broad index has repeatedly tested battleground support at 1333. Today we have a monster rally. This means that the key support level is rock hard and well tested. So the charts look good. The downside is volatility, which is screeching high and makes chart analysis difficult.

Long War: In Syria, Assad's army has cleared most rebel positions out of Damascus in what appears to be a hard fought victory for the bad guys. However the FSA maintains a toehold in the capital city. A huge battle is looming in the largest city, Aleppo. Assad is ringing the city with a wall of armor. Syrian helicopter gunships fill the sky. Assad's military assets are being stripped from all parts of the country. He is throwing everything he has into the Battle of Aleppo, which will probably start this weekend.

The rebels are doing the same thing, pouring in reinforcements, throwing everything they've got into Aleppo, pea-shooters and courage against Soviet T-72 main battle tanks. Currently the rebels control half the city. It is hard to see how they will prevail. But then it is hard to see how Assad will retake the rest of the country after giving it up to win this big battle.

Many experts think Assad doesn't want the rest of the country but is instead going to create a mini-state on the coast for his Alawite clansmen. This might actually be okay.

In Mali, the General in charge of America's Africa Command, Carter Ham, says AQIM (Al-Qaeda North Africa) has become enormously rich and powerful. AQIM controls all of northern Mali, it has its own country, which is bigger than France. General Ham is hinting that CIA drone bases must be built around this gigantic Kingdom-of-Al-Qaeda. And this is likely to happen over the next few years. General Ham is working to whip the African Union in shape to attack AQIM in Mali.

The President of the African Union is now a South African. A sleeping giant is stirring. South Africa has never taken a leadership role like this before. It will take the South African Army to dislodge AQIM from Mali. The building blocks are falling in place for this to happen.