Israel’s defence minister has stated that Iran is a bigger threat to Israel than ISIS, saying that Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and “terror infrastructure” make them Israel’s number one enemy. Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told a conference in Tel Aviv that “Iran is our main enemy,” and faced with having to choose between Iran and ISIS in an open conflict, he would “prefer ISIS.” RT.com reports: The logic seems simple, as IS will be eventually be defeated, while Iran continues to pose a threat with its new rapprochement with the West.

Yesterday some readers were offended when we dubbed the upcoming winter storm set to slam the Northeastern United States and impact up to 50 million people, in roughly 48 hours as "potentially historic" - a phrase created not by us, but by the WaPo's meteorologists.

A Grand Book From The Saker

Paul Craig Roberts

Several years ago a new commentator appeared on the scene. He writes under the pen name, The Saker, and describes himself as European born son of Russian refugees from the Bolshevik Revolution. He has two US college degrees and worked in Europe as a military analyst until his opposition to the US/NATO sponsored wars in Chechnia, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo cost him his career. He retooled as a software engineer and began writing in response to the nonsense spewed by the Western media.

Submitted by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World blog,

A person often reads that low oil prices–for example, $30 per barrel oil prices–will stimulate the economy, and the economy will soon bounce back. What is wrong with this story? A lot of things, as I see it:

1. Oil producers can’t really produce oil for $30 per barrel.

2015 was officially the hottest year on record, following a gradual rise in temperatures worldwide for over a century. The Hindu reports: The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and NASA announced on Wednesday that 2015 was by far the hottest year in 136 years of record keeping. The NOAA said 2015’s temperature was 58.62°F (14.79°C), passing 2014 by a record margin of 0.29°F. That’s 1.62°F above the 20-century average. NASA, which measures differently, said 2015 was 0.23°F warmer than the record set in 2014.