It may look weird to question whether Israel has a future, when it is just now successfully quashing its enemies Hamas and Hizbollah with US support. They are winning, so of course they have a future, right? Firstly, are they really winning? And secondly, Israel is a settler-colonialist project which has turned into an apartheid state. Their strategy is to drive out the Palestinians from Greater Israel, and they are counting on the world looking the other way while they do it. Will it? Will we?
However you look at it, China’s economy surpasses that of the US
Is the Chinese economy bigger than that of the US, or is it the other way round? Both statements are repeatedly seen in the headlines of the media. The answer boils down to whether you look at GDP in market prices or you correct for what you can buy for the money (purchasing power). But there are also other ways to measure the relative strength of the two economies and the result is the same. China inevitable comes out at the top.
Independently of the outcome of the Paris Climate Change summit, big oil and coal have started an irreversible decline, facing the competition from renewable energies and an increasing political pressure to de-carbonize our societies. This changes completely the game and eliminates the incentive to reduce supply to get higher prices. In stead, the rush is now to exploit the oil and gas before it is too late. Who comes too late, loses. So OPEC has lost its power for good, and there is no chance it will get it back again.
The reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US is historic. From not talking together for more than 50 years, they now talk. From the press coverage you could get the impression that the relations between the two neighbouring countries are now almost normal. Alas, they are a very far cry from that. The embargo against Cuba has not been lifted and the financial embargo against the country has actually been tightened. European banks, which have broken none of their own countries' laws, have lately accepted breathtaking fines in the US – the last one of 8,900 million dollars for French bank BNP. Their crime: they have carried out financial transactions with Cuba, not from the US but from their home country. That is a criminal offence in the US.