Next week Hillary Clinton will in India working out details of Iranian oil consumption reduction to get a waiver from Obama.

At the same time there will be a major Iranian trade delegation in India to increase trade, including oil sales. It has been suggested that the mere appearance of a reduction in Iranian oil purchases will be enough to get the waiver
This would be the same situation that exists with China, which pays lip service to US sanctions and still benefits from access to cheaper Iranian oil.

IEDs recently blew up a car wash in Aleppo and similar civilian installations throughout Syria, and now the United States is under increasing pressure to clarify its stance in the war on terror. It is now clear that the ‘Free Syria’ forces fighting Assad are similar to him in their penchant for violence, and perhaps even more ready to employ terrorism for their objectives. Add to this their political support from the Muslim Brotherhood and paramilitary association with ex-Libyan rebels (themselves connected to Al Qaeda), and Washington’s choices look rather uncomfortable.

For our part, the choice is clear: civil war in Syria is the best scenario for Israel, while Assad remaining in power is the second-best.

Environmental groups are urging the government to partially relinquish its monopoly on solar panels. Under the current guidelines, the government sets quotas for alternative energy, including solar panels, so that homeowners cannot even install solar batteries on their own rooftops—something that every other country encourages or even subsidizes. Just the officially filed demand for solar panels exceeds the amount of the quota by three times.