SUNDAY 1/25/14; Greece Elections; Yemen in Chaos; Venezuela Turmoil; Greece Elects Syriza Party Tsipras Claims Victory

The ISIS militants murder one of the two Japanese hostages so preliminary reports were incorrect that both had perished. The other hostage is forced to hold a picture that displays his beheaded comrade and ISIS says the man will only be spared if a female suicide bomber is released from a Jordan prison. The ISIS radicals are poking a stick in the eye of any remaining US-friendly country (Jordan) in the Middle East. PM Abe condemns the murder of the hostage and demands the immediate release of the remaining hostage.

ISIS forces are estimated at from 9K to 20K across Syria and Iraq. ISIS was 20K to 30K strong a few months ago so the US and coalitions air strikes 







































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As expected, the Greece elections declare victory for the Syriza party. The final seat count continues to shake out and may be a hair short of a majority at 151 seats. The Guardian newspaper prints a headline, “Syriza’s historic win puts Greece on collision course with Europe.” The Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras proclaims “an end to austerity and humiliation.”

The Syriza party receives 36% of the vote with the current conservative party, led by incumbent PM Antonis Samaras, receiving 28%. Samaras congratulated Tsipras on the victory. ECB President Draghi will lose sleep this evening. The Greeks will fight the European central bank to relax the austerity measures and if the ECB does bend the rules for Greece other countries will want an easier ride too.

A blizzard and major snowfall event is moving into New York and up the northern seaboard to Boston and Canada over the coming hours. Two to three feet of snow (0.6m to 1m) is expected which will stifle business and commerce for several days.