Politics

What took the Clintons years of confidential speeches before major investment banks and middle eastern clients of the Treasury Department, the Obama's plan to achieve with just two books.  According to the FT, several publishers are participating in a blockbuster auction for the global rights to two books by Barack and Michelle Obama where the bid has reached more than $60 million. The Obamas, who are writing separate books but selling the rights jointly, stand to make a record amount for their presidential memoirs.

Via Patrick Buchanan of Buchanan.org,

The founding fathers of the Munich Security Conference, said John McCain, would be “be alarmed by the turning away from universal values and toward old ties of blood, and race, and sectarianism.”

McCain was followed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov who called for a “post-West world order.” Russia has “immense potential” for that said Lavrov, “we’re open for that inasmuch as the U.S. is open.”

Russia and China have prevented the UN Security Council from imposing sanctions on the Syrian government for its alleged use of chemical weapons. On Tuesday they vetoed a UNSC resolution that had been drafted by Britain, France and the United States. The measure won nine votes in favor, while China, Russia and Bolivia opposed it. Russian President Vladimir Putin described the draft resolution as “totally inappropriate” and that it would have undermined efforts to end nearly six-years of conflict in Syria.

One wonders who funded the ‘Leave’ campaign in the UK ‘Brexit’ referendum. A shadowy group with ties to Saudi intelligence donated over US$500,000 to the largest unionist political party in Northern Ireland during United Kingdom’s EU membership referendum. Newly released secret documents reveal that the major donor to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) during the campaign was a shadowy group called the Constitutional Research Council, chaired by the Scottish Conservative Richard Cook. Cook is the founder of a company with close ties to Saudi Arabian elite and intelligence service.

A double-whammy of bullish news hit WTI crude futures shortly after 1300ET today sending prices soaring. First, The White House denied earlier rumors on changes to the ethanol mandate; and then Reuters confirmed OPEC production cut compliance steady at 94%.