Tidbits
Bashar al-Assad has ruled Syria for 24 years after his father ruled for 29 years until his death in 2000.
Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia Sunday after more than 11 years of civil war. Loyalists spoke with a sense of resignation about the implosion of his 24-year rule and with it, the end of decades of rule by minority Alawites - an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam - in majority Sunni Syria.
Opposition forces are asking for an 18 month cooling-off and re-organization period before elections for a new government. That most likely will not happen because the power-void after 50 years of Assad family rule is just too much to adjust to without somebody stepping in to fill it. Russia, Iran, Israel, and the USA will be doing whatever it takes to have “their leader” installed. It is quite a flammable situation.
The USDA will issue its December S&D tomorrow. There will be no production or yield changes for U.S. 2024 crops. That will come in January. There could and should be demand changes for U.S. commodities. There will be changes in world production as well as demand.