America

There is a reason Vladimir Putin and the Russian top political echelon has been avoiding the media following the onslaught of allegations lobbed at the Kremlin, and Trump: as AP writes, careful not to hurt chances for a thaw in U.S.-Russia relations, President Putin and other Russian officials "have deferred questions about their plans for future contacts with Trump and any agenda for those talks until he takes office on Friday." In short, the "Kremlin is counting the days to his inauguration and venting its anger at Barack Obama's outgoing administration, no holds barred."

Some always enlightening thoughts from the latest weekly letter by Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management

Submitted by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,

2016 brought a lot of changes, or rather, brought them to light. In reality, the world has been changing for many years, but many prominent actors benefitted from the changes remaining hidden. Simply because their wealth and power and worldviews are better served that way.

Human Rights Watch is placing President-elect Donald Trump on a list of people who they deem a “threat to human rights”. The organization say that Trump’s political philosophy promotes intolerance and spreads hatred throughout America. “Donald Trump’s election as US president after a campaign fomenting hatred and intolerance, and the rising influence of political parties in Europe that reject universal rights, have put the postwar human rights system at risk,” the group announced.