Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated today that Israel will never give up control of the Golan Heights, Syrian territory that Israel has occupied since the 1967 war. Israel extended Israeli civil law to the territory in 1981, signalling its intention to incorporate the territory under Israeli sovereignty. The international community has never recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Occupied Territories, but with the Syrian government in total disarray right now, there is no appetite to contest the Israeli claim.
The major oil producers failed to reach an agreement to freeze production of oil in order to stabilize global oil prices. Prices have fell sharply over the last year as Saudi Arabia tried to depress the market to prevent US fracked oil and Iranian new production from being economically viable. The effort, however has failed, and it was principally Iran’s refusal to join in the production freeze that led to the collapse of the discussions. All the major oil producers have suffered greatly from the price decline, but Saudi Arabia is playing a long-term gain to prevent the emergence of future competitors.
Image of an Oil Tanker Traffic Jam Near Singapore as Oil Supplies Overwhelm Storage Facilities (4 days ago)
The Czech Republic (part of which we once called Czechoslovakia) is poised to change its official name in the United Nations to Czechia. The name change is part of a “rebranding” effort to better market the country by have a single word on products, like sports apparel, to designate their place of origin. The Czechs cannot use “Czech” since that word is just an adjective in Czech. And many countries are known by a single word even though their official name silently carries the word Republic (France is officially the French Republic). Unfortunately, Czechia sounds an awful like Chechnya, an area in Russia that has long been agitating for its independence.
World Politics News 
Leave a comment