Russia

The key (recurring) catalyst for today's early spike in oil, was the latest desperate attempt by an imploding OPEC member, this time Nigeria to push oil higher when overnight its petroleum minister Emmanuel Kachikwu said that key members of OPEC intend to meet with other producers in Russia on March 20 to renew talks on an agreement to cap oil output, Nigeria’s petroleum minister said.

The headlines in question:

Authored by Cathal Haughian via TheSaker.ie,

It has been our undertaking, since 2010, to chronicle our understanding of capitalism via our book The Philosophy of Capitalism. We were curious as to the underlying nature of the system which endows us, the owners of capital, with so many favours. The Saker has asked me to explain our somewhat crude statement ‘Capitalism Requires World War’.

Authored by Eric Zuesse,

Foreign policy is both economic and military. An interpretation of U.S. President Barack Obama’s foreign policy will be presented here that explains both his economic and his military decisions to-date, and that shows he’s been carrying out the policies of his predecessors in office.

 Operation Barbarossa 2 – As the U.S. makes preparations to face a Russian threat in eastern Europe and Syria, Russia feels that the past is about to repeat itself and sees an invasion plan in place that looks very much like Nazi Germany’s build up of forces prior to Operation Barbarossa. Except this time, Russia is different from the former Soviet Union and the Nazis and their allies are the Americans and their friends in Ukraine and the Islamic State.

Last Monday, Washington and Moscow hailed an agreement that would see a temporary cessation of hostilities in Syria.

The “ceasefire” went into effect on Saturday and so far, so good. “Clashes and airstrikes across western Syria largely abated Saturday morning, as an internationally backed truce took hold in parts of the country where rebels have been fighting the regime,” WSJ reported this morning. Although the SAA apparently hit a few rebel positions east of Damascus, overall, “it was a calm morning.”