United States

As China expands its military and economic influence in Africa, the United States should feel “very nervous,” according to journalist James Poulos. China is planning to build a military base on the horn of Africa in Djibouti. It could be the first step toward Beijing’s deeper involvement with the continent. Sputnik reports: Last year, China began talks with Djibouti to install a “logistics hub” and airfield in the east African nation.

Back in November 2009, knowing he had both the inside track and the final decision on US energy policy under his crony president Obama, Warren Buffett acquired the 77% of the Burlington Northern (aka BNSF) Railroad he did not own for one simple reason: realizing he could pressure the "progressive president" Obama to curb all pipeline progress, confirmed recently with the terminal failure of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, Buffett would be ahead of everyone by controlling one of the key actors among "the New US Petroleum Pipelines." The "pipelines" in question were shown in the following

The Pentagon have said that up to 10 US Navy sailors are being detained after a vessel broke down and drifted into Iranian territorial waters. The boats are in Iranian custody and Iran has said the crew will be returned “promptly”. A Pentagon spokesman told the Associated Press they lost contact with the vessels as they moved through the Gulf between Kuwait and Bahrain. “We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly,” the  spokesman Peter Cook told AP.

Last year, we noted with some incredulity that when it comes to US foreign policy in the Mid-East, someone inside the Beltway actually "gets it".

That someone is Hawaii Democrat Tulsi Gabbard who knows something about the region thanks to the fact that she served in the Middle East - twice. Now, she’s sponsoring a bipartisan bill to stop what she calls an “illegal” war against the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHkher6ceaA

It’s not necessarily that Gabbard is a fan of Assad.

Via Dana Lyons' Tumblr,

U.S. stocks logged the worst week ever to kick off a new year; is this historically low reading on the “January Barometer” a bad omen going forward?