United States

As OPEC, which currently is pumping crude at a record rate yet has managed to fool algos and "experts" into bidding up crude to multi-month highs on "promises" it will cut a little over 1 million bpd in output starting in 2017, an "agreement" which Russia and other Non-OPEC nations may or may not join depending on whether OPEC states comply with the cuts (Russia has made it very clear it won't start cutting for a a while in the new year), a problem OPEC has long hoped to avoid mentioning, let alone addressing, has emerged.

As Washington prepares to unleash new sanctions on Russia, it appears Putin won't take this laying down. If U.S. adopts new sanctions against Russia, govt in Moscow will resort to counter-measures, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warns in a website statement.

Following his earlier tweet to president-elect Trump thanking him for his "warm friendship," Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at US Secretary of State John Kerry's speech as "biased against Israel," as he said Israel "will never have true peace" with the Arab world if it does not reach an accord based on Israelis and Palestinians living in their own states.

This follows acusations that The White House was being the vote...

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

As Reuters reports,

Global totalitarians are rejoicing at German and US moves to replace the free press with state controlled propaganda. Once the citizenry accept the conceit that some news is ‘real’ (and therefore, good) while other news is ‘fake’ (and therefore, bad) they will voluntarily submit to censorship. Freedom of the press can easily be replaced by sanctioned propaganda, it is happening before our very eyes. Hitler would be breathless at the slick operation being enacted by the establishment in Washington and Germany.

What is Henry Kissinger Up To?

Paul Craig Roberts

The English language Russian news agency, Sputnik, reports that former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is advising US president-elect Donald Trump how to “bring the United States and Russia closer together to offset China’s military buildup.” https://sputniknews.com/politics/201612271049024500-kissinger-trump-russia/