United States

Chinese military plan to keep their next generation intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles on a hair-trigger state of readiness as a deterrent against the US. World leaders with the exception of Russia gathered in Washington today for the Nuclear Security Summit hosted by president Obama to discuss nuclear weapons and security. Sputnik reports: China’s nuclear deterrence strategy in the past has relied on patience, with a calm focus on long-term retaliation rather than immediate reprisal. Under President Xi Jinping, that policy is about to change.

We are one step closer to another full-blown return of the cold war.

Yesterday, during a briefing in Latvia's capital Riga, NATO Gen. Philip Breedlove said that NATO and the United States are switching their defense doctrine from assurance to deterrence in Eastern Europe in response to a “resurgent and aggressive Russia."

The comments by Breedlove come a day after the Pentagon said it would begin continuous rotations of an additional armored brigade of about 4,200 troops in Eastern Europe beginning in early 2017.

With US crude production starting to drop, the lagged plunge in oil rig counts appears to be having some effect. Baker Hughes reports that the number of US oil rigs dropped 10 to 362 (14th weekly drop of last 15), the lowest since Nov 2009. The total rig count tumbled 14 to 450, fresh record 41-year lows. Crude was leaking lower into the data and rose modestly after.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll poll shows that 63% of Americans - 82% of Republicans and 53% of Democrats - believe torture of suspected terrorists is "often" or "sometimes" justified to gather information.

While it would be nice to beat the crap out of some bad guys to get them spill the beans - and prevent more terrorism - the truth is that torture DECREASES the amount of information we'll get and actually INCREASES terrorism.

We've Known for Over 2,000 Years that Torture Produces FALSE Confessions

We've known since ancient Rome that torture doesn’t work: