It is very unlikely that congressional Democrats and Republicans can reach an agreement on extending the Bush era tax cuts for the middle class, while allowing them to expire for the rich. They will spar with each other for another six weeks, then go to the brink of the purported cliff and see who blinks at the last moment.

Even so, Russian and Western officials continue to spar over American plans to deploy ballistic missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. In his speech in November to the Russian parliament on the state of nation, President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Russia would deploy short range Iskander missiles in the Baltic Sea port of Kaliningrad to neutralize if necessary the anti ballistic missile system in Europe.