Europe

Tony Blair has said that Britain should be part of the proposed EU army and stay in the union despite the efforts of  “backward-looking” Euroskeptics to withdraw Writing in Newsweek magazine, the former Brutish prime minister said there has never been a stronger need for European unity and that the EU must bind together and ignore those who are “forever looking backward to break the union asunder.” RT reports: Blair said the rise of China and India as major global powers meant the balance of global power may shift.

Submitted by Judith Bergman via The Gatestone Institute,

• Europe has voluntarily begun the process of giving up its liberal and hard-fought-for freedoms. Free speech no longer exists, only -- straight out of totalitarian ideologies -- "responsible" free speech: "free" only if it does not "offend" anyone.

I’m about to walk out the door, headed to Wichita for the Eighth Day Institute’s symposium. I won’t be able to check in until tonight, so please be patient. Before I go, here’s something to think about: Kenneth Minogue’s 2003 essay on what “Christophobia” — the fear and loathing of Christianity — has to do with the West and its future. Excerpts:

It has been another choppy, illiquid, volatile overnight session, which started with weakness out of China, whose Shanghai Composite dropped 20% into another bear market in early trading, then further slammed by news of a terrorist attack in Jakarta, only to rebound back over 3000 as the Chinese National Team decided to intrevene again, this time in the ChiNext small cap index, pushing it higher by 5.6%.

• China trade surprise brings relief (Reuters)
• Obama knocks Trump, voices optimism (Reuters)
• Republican Candidates Criticize Obama’s State of the Union Address (WSJ)
• Republicans and Democrats Agree: We Hate Wall Street (WSJ)
• Oil rises for first time in eight sessions on China, U.S. stocks draw (Reuters)
• U.S. Exports First Freely Traded Oil in 40 Years (WSJ)
• China Imports Record Crude as Price Crash Accelerates Buying (BBG)
• Can We Fix American Cities by Tearing Them Down? (BBG)