Obama’s Atlantic interviews on foreign policy contains some interesting remarks, but they are difficult to square with Obama’s own policies. The New York Times summarizes some of his views this way:
President Obama believes that Saudi Arabia, one of America’s most important allies in the Middle East, needs to learn how to “share” the region with its archenemy, Iran, and that both countries are guilty of fueling proxy wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Global stocks and U.S. equity futures are mostly higher this morning (despite China's historic NPL debt-for-equity proposal) as traders await the main event of the day: the ECB's 1:45pm CET announcement, more importantly what Mario Draghi will announce during the 2:30pm CET press conference, and most importantly, whether he will disappoint as he did in December or finally unleash the bazooka that the market has been desperately demanding.
The U.S. have dispatched three B-2 stealth bombers to the Asia-Pacific region amid escalating tensions with North Korea. U.S. Strategic Command announced the deployment on Wednesday morning, but said the exact destination of the bombers were a secret. Townhall.com reports: The deployment was announced Wednesday by U.S. Strategic Command, which is responsible for U.S. nuclear forces. B-2 bombers are capable of launching nuclear as well as conventional weapons. They are based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.
American political analyst Richard Forer has said that he believes the US government to be “cultivating the seeds of terrorism” by giving Israel unconditional support which, in turn, allows groups such as ISIS to thrive. Speaking with Press TV, Forer noted that US Vice President Joe Biden’s vow to protect Israel at all costs, and his “deep and personal” friendship with Netanyahu means that America is aligning itself with ethnic cleansing policies and abuse of international law.