PBC News & Comment: Oil, a Weapon for Peace?

--Saudi talks with Russia show that crash in oil price may have a political component—part of geostrategy to punish Putin…
--falling oil price prompts new EPA analysis of Keystone pipeline will lead to increase in greenhouse gas emissions
--IS adds immolation to its bag of barbaric tricks, burning captive Jordanian pilot to death
--from our in-depth interview regarding the conviction of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, Norman Solomon tries to explain government motives
--top spook and proven perjurer James Clapper announces modest reforms to NSA’s massive dragnet for phone records
--America’s use of Diego Garcia as black site, confirmed by Powell aide Wilkerson, shows that British role was deleted from torture report
--in about-face, Pentagon will release some IG info on Afghan troops
--new report says Pentagon has lost track of much of $400 million in arms supplied to Yemen government, now in Houthi control
--“Justice” Dept. settles with Standard & Poor’s, the rating agency that enabled Wall Street fraud on mortgage-backed securities
--new measles outbreak forces GOP candidates to talk about vaccination, as pro-immunization voices squelch any debate
--San Diego jury convicts reveng porn operator
--Pope Francis acknowledges Bishop Romero as a martyr, a major embrace of liberation theology and shift from the past