MUST-READS

• Paris Attack
  Paris attack: Middle East press condemns killings

  The overwhelming tone of reaction from Middle Eastern press is one of shock and categorical condemnation of the 7 January attack on the offices of French magazine Charlie Hebdo and the killing of 12 people.

• Art
  LACMA to loan Damascus room, Islamic art to new Saudi museum

  The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced Tuesday its intention to loan more than 130 pieces of its Islamic art collection to a museum under construction in Saudi Arabia.

• U.S. Military
  Opinion: The Tragedy of the American Military

  his reverent but disengaged attitude toward the military—we love the troops, but we’d rather not think about them—has become so familiar that we assume it is the American norm. But it is not.

  • Task and Purpose - The Real Reason For The Poor State Of Military Morale
• 2014 Review
  The Top Five Events in 2014

  The question is how far the collapse of the post-World War I system will go. Will the national governments reassert themselves in a decisive way, or will the fragmentation continue? Will this process of disintegration spread to other heirs of Sykes and Picot? This question is more important than the emergence of the Islamic State. Radical Islamism is a factor in the region, and it will assert itself in various organizational forms. What is significant is that while a force, the Islamic State is in no position to overwhelm other factions, just as they cannot overwhelm it. Thus it is not the Islamic State, but the fragmentation and the crippling of national governments, that matters.

• Global Oil Markets
  Here is how low oil prices will shake things up in 2015

  OPEC is losing money and is said to be moving toward irrelevance, but it is hard to to make that argument stick. The cartel is fighting a war for dominance and controls about one-third of the daily global supply. Looking ahead, it seems likely that when the smoke clears and prices return to $80 a barrel or more, its influence will snap back. For cartel members who use this time of disarray to really clean up their economic systems, the low price bout could be a blessing.

• Syria
  Jordan Says IS Fighters Capture Pilot in Syria

  Jordan said Islamic State militants have captured one of its pilots after his plane went down in northern Syria during "a mission" against Islamist insurgents.

  • Yahoo! - More than 1,100 jihadists killed in US-led Syria strikes
  • McClatchy - U.S. strikes in Syria ease Islamic State pressure on moderate rebels
  • Informed Comment - Have the Kurds cut the ISIL/Daesh State in Two, Blocking Supply Lines?
  • Al Monitor - US to accept thousands of Syrian refugees for resettlement
  • Al Jazeera - The Heritage sites ravaged by Syria's war
• Global Oil Markets
  Saudi Arabia Confident in Oil Rebounding on Global Growth

  Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, is confident that crude prices will rebound with global economic growth boosting demand.

  • CNN - Saudi Arabia: We'll never cut oil production
  • Bloomberg - Euro Rises From Two-Year Low on Saudi Oil Comments
  • WSJ - Why Saudis Decided Not to Prop Up Oil
  • Reuters - Saudi Arabia says won't cut oil output
• Budget
  Saudi Budget Could Decide Stocks’ Fate

  Gains over the past two sessions, however, suggest that Saudi Arabia’s budget for the coming fiscal year will be keenly watched. If the finance minister stays true to his words, we could be in a for a stronger equity rebound.

• 2015 Budget
  Saudi Arabia to keep spending in 2015 budget: finance minister

  Saudi Arabia will continue spending on development projects and social benefits in its 2015 budget despite "challenging" global economic conditions, Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf said on Wednesday, state news agency SPA reported.

  • Arab News - Saudi to continue ‘massive’ spending despite oil price fall
• CIA Report
  Dick Cheney Pushes Back on Torture Report: ‘I’d Do It Again in a Minute’

  "I'd do it again in a minute," Cheney told Meet the Press's Chuck Todd, offering an unqualified condemnation of the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation into the Bush administration's post-9/11 interrogation methods used at foreign "black sites," which many regard as torture.

  • Washington Post - New poll finds majority of Americans believe torture justified after 9/11 attacks
  • CBS News - Nearly Half Say CIA's Interrogation Techniques Sometimes Justified
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