EUROPE - Even before she began her term of office at the helm of the EU Commission, von der Leyen had already begun to set new accents in Brussels. In her "political guidelines" for the commission, she noted back in July that "Europe" must become a "global leader;" it would have to "strengthen its unique brand of responsible global leadership. Therefore, "bold steps toward a true European Defense Union" are now needed.

USA - “US officials constantly said they were making progress. They were not, and they knew it.” That’s how the Washington Post summarized “The Afghanistan Papers,” a slick package of stories it just published revealing the rot at the heart of America’s longest war.

ISRAEL - Israelis to head back to polls on March 2 in latest bid to solve political deadlock that has engulfed country; short-lived 22nd Knesset automatically disperses at midnight. The Knesset was automatically dispersed at midnight on Wednesday, but lawmakers continued debating until early Thursday on the date of the vote. With no Knesset member having gained the support of 61 MKs by the midnight deadline, the Knesset officially dissolved and new elections set for 90 days time, March 10. With March 10 falling on the Jewish festival of Purim and various other calendar considerations, MKs eventually finalized a bill setting the elections for March 2.

ISRAEL - Jewish worshipers are able to pray on the Temple Mount with what appears to be the tacit consent of police forces at the site, The Jerusalem Post observed during a visit there on Thursday. Despite the insistence by Israel Police that there has been no change in the decades-old policy, Jews now pray – in full view of the police – in an unobtrusive and inconspicuous manner. A senior Wakf Department official said he was unaware of any change in the status quo on the Temple Mount, but warned that any change would lead to renewed protests and spark a strong response from Arabs and Muslims.

EUROPE - The EU is preparing a new sanctions regime and wants to impose coercive measures on human rights violators - both presumed and real - throughout the world. It will be equivalent to two US sanctions laws Washington uses to penalize undesirable persons from Russia and other countries. Those listed under the US law can no longer travel to the United States and any assets they may have in the USA would be frozen. The EU foreign ministers have now instructed the European External Action Service to prepare a corresponding law for the EU, the 'European Magnitsky Act'. "This will be a tangible step reaffirming the EU's global lead on human rights," the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell declared. An EU diplomat was quoted saying that the aim is to show that "we have muscles." It is therefore an instrument of power draped in a humanitarian disguise.

USA - Politicians and media use “non linear” warfare to confuse the public. They propagate countless stories, many that conflict each other, making it impossible for the public to know what is real and what is true. Through this brand of psychological warfare the public is rendered helpless in creating change because they cannot pinpoint who the enemy is and what exactly is the problem.

USA - Coconut oil is nature’s richest source of lauric acid, long known to be a powerful antimicrobial. As a saturated fat, coconut oil is almost 50% lauric acid. Nature’s next most abundant source of lauric acid, human breast milk, comes in a distant second. For years now, research (primarily outside of the US) on coconut oil has focused on the use of lauric acid as an adjunct or replacement for antibiotic drugs that have lost their effectiveness due to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Fortunately for those of us living in the US, virgin coconut oil is now available in abundance.

EUROPE - Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party on their "victory" in the general election and outlined the next phases of the Brexit process. The President of the European Commission said the EU want their relationship with Britain to be "as close as possible" and said they were aiming for a "zero tariff, zero quota, zero dumping" arrangement. She revealed that the European Council has again tasked the European Commission to be the European Union's negotiator with Britain. Ursula von der Leyen also declared the European Union will be prepared from February 1 to "go to work" regarding the Brexit process.

EUROPE - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has issued a stark warning to Boris Johnson as EU negotiations revealed details of an “uncompromising” bullying approach to the trade talks next year. The European Union will unleash a flurry of red lines within the next month, as Brussels prepares to bully Boris Johnson into compromising on a trade deal during 2020. Boris Johnson’s thumping victory was initially greeted with statements of relief among EU leaders at a European summit yesterday. However, the well wishes did not last long as leaders like Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron revealed the hardline approach that Boris Johnson will have to deal with next year.

EUROPE - European leaders warned Friday that Britain could become a formidable rival, just hours after a big victory by Prime Minister Boris Johnson's conservatives all but sealed the UK's Brexit divorce. But the EU chiefs, meeting in Brussels, also expressed relief that British voters had sent a clear message, bringing to an end the first phase of a crisis that has dogged Europe for more than three years.

USA - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (Democrat for California) on Tuesday indicated that Democrats must impeach President Trump quickly in order to stop him from prevailing in the 2020 presidential election. Democrats on Tuesday unveiled two articles of impeachment against the President: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Notably, neither allege a high crime or misdemeanor. Noticeably absent was the Democrats’ longheld appeal to bribery, extortion, or treason. Schiff briefly addressed critics who say that Democrats should simply wait for the American people to judge the president in the 2020 election. Democrats, Schiff suggested, cannot allow that, because it would essentially allow Trump to “cheat” in one more election. His remarks echo the Democrats’ longheld belief that the Trump campaign “colluded” with Russia in 2016, despite the fact that the Mueller report debunked the narrative, finding no evidence of collusion or conspiracy between the two.

USA - The House Judiciary Committee voted 23 to 17 along party lines on Friday to approve two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.

1.) Abuse of power

2.) Obstructing Congress

The Supreme Court granted the petition by President Trump’s legal team for a writ of certiorari. The high court confirmed it will hear cases related to the Democratic-controlled Congress’ attempts to gain the president’s financial records and tax filings.

USA - The trucking “bloodbath” of 2019 is taking another remarkably dire turn as the year draws to a close. Indianapolis-based Celadon, a truckload carrier that grossed $1 billion as recently as 2015, filed for bankruptcy on December 9. It’s poised to be the largest truckload bankruptcy in history, leading industry publication FreightWaves reported on Friday. While the Chapter 11 filing implies that Celadon will restructure, the company is in fact shuttered. “We have diligently explored all possible options to restructure Celadon and keep business operations ongoing. However, a number of legacy and market headwinds made this impossible to achieve,” CEO Paul Svindland said in a statement. Nearly 4,000 employees are suddenly jobless, weeks before the holidays.

USA - One might postulate that the United States is regularly supporting so-called allies whose very nature will eventually generate blowback that will do terrible damage to actual American interests. The recent example of the mass shooting at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida by Saudi Second Lieutenant Mohammed Alshamrani is illustrative. Alshamrani killed three American sailors while three other Saudi students filmed what was taking place, presumably for posting on social media. All of which means that the United States is training and arming people who just might turn their training and weapons against Washington if the al-Saud royal family cannot stay in power. The situation is somewhat comparable to that in Afghanistan, where so-called “green-on-blue” incidents in which Afghan army recruits kill their foreign trainers occur on a regular basis. The chief difference is that should the Saudi dissidents gain power, they would have a huge and much more lethally sophisticated arsenal to play around with.

GERMANY - Germany's new submarine is as stealthy as any nuclear-powered sub. The German Navy was a pioneer in large-scale submarine warfare, its U-boats able to contest the United Kingdom’s superior navy in ways that German surface warships could not. While modern-day Germany no longer has the ocean-spanning naval ambitions of its predecessors, it has become a global leader in designing small, stealthy submarines that can effectively patrol littoral waters at a fraction of the cost of nuclear-powered submarines.