President Trump signed the historic United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, replacing the Clinton-era North American Free Trade Agreement that he called a "disaster."

The USMCA, which is the biggest trade deal of all-time, covers more than $1.3 trillion of commerce, and is the second major trade deal secured by the Trump administration this year. The agreement has already been ratified by Mexico, but not yet by Canada.

"You're going to see more jobs all across the economy, in the automobile sector, in the agricultural sector and of course in the energy sector as well," Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told FOX Business' Maria Bartiromo on Wednesday. [See below]

The past week has seen the celebration of the anniversary from January 1945 of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp by Soviet forces. The casual reader of the speech given by United States Vice President Mike Pence could be forgiven for not realising that the liberation was carried out by Soviet forces. Although a relatively trivial slur by the United States Vice President it was symptomatic of a wider tendency in the United States perception of world events.

The liberation of Auschwitz was followed four months later by the final defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of the European phase of the world war. Many thought and hoped that it marked the end of an old discredited era and the beginning of a brave new world. This optimism was manifested in the founding of the United Nations. Many saw that development as commencing a new era with the scourge of war that could be, if not abolished, at least severely limited.

That optimism was exemplified in the United Nations Charter, one of the most important provisions of which was a severe limitation on the circumstances in which a country could take military action against another country. Essentially, a country could take military action either in self-defence, or with the imprimatur of the United Nations Security Council.

The Security Council itself reflected the geopolitical realities of 1945, with its five permanent members being the five victorious powers of World War Two, namely, the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, France and China. Whatever justification there may have been for those five permanent members in 1945 has not stood the test of time.

Brexit Party leader and MEP Nigel Farage gave his final speech in the European Parliament, denouncing the EU as an anti-democratic experiment. He waved the Union Jack flag to cheers from his UK colleagues as he said goodbye.

As the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to approve the agreement that would let Britain leave on January 31, Farage rose one last time to cap his 20-year term in the forum with a speech declaring victory and wishing the EU good riddance. "Once we've left, we are never coming back."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has pardoned Naama Issachar, an Israeli woman convicted on drug trafficking charges in Russia, citing "humanitarian reasons." Issachar is expected to return to Israel shortly.

The decision to pardon Issachar came ahead of a visit by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who is set to meet Putin in Moscow on Thursday. According to media reports, Netanyahu is expected to bring the woman back home on his plane after his visit to Russia concludes.

Issachar, a 26-year-old Israeli-American citizen, was nabbed by Russian law enforcement in April 2019 in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport. The woman, who was traveling from India to Israel, was caught when a sniffer dog discovered that she happened to have some 10 grams of hashish in her luggage.

The woman was convicted on drug trafficking charges in October and received a sentence of 7.5 years behind bars in a Russian prison. Issachar, however, denied all the charges, insisting that she was unaware of the illicit substance's presence in her bag and that she never actually bought it.

No group in the United States has labored so hard as the friends of Israel to destroy the First Amendment to the Constitution, which commits the government to prohibit any "abridging the freedom of speech...or the right of the people peaceably to assemble." Ironically, of course, Congressmen and government officials who have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution against all enemies domestic and foreign have themselves been cheerleaders as the Israel Lobby carries out its devastation of the fundamental rights of every American. Many in government at all levels repeatedly boast about their undying love for the Jewish state, which is a foreign nation and no ally, even as they enthusiastically sign on to legislation that criminalizes criticism of Israel or requires recipients of government funding to sign a no-boycott pledge.

Hubristic due to their great political power, wealth and arrogance, what the Israel firsters tend to forget is the old homespun warning that "what is good for the goose is good for the gander." Change the rules for what people can say or do and it will sooner or later come back to haunt you when you want to speak or associate freely.

In the past, Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) traditionally fought for free speech and association to advance their own tribal interest as they frequently promoted unpopular left-wing causes that most of the population opposed. Most American communists were Jews, for example. Now that that particular battle has been won they have switched gears in their war against what they perceive as anti-Semitism and have become leaders in the promotion of hate crime legislation, censorship of criticism of Jews and Israel on the internet, and legislation that would criminalize or otherwise punish supporters of an anti-Israel boycott.

There are obviously some serious linguistic issues and disagreements between the West and the rest of the world. Essential terms like "freedom", "democracy", "liberation", even "terrorism", are all mixed up and confused; they mean something absolutely different in New York, London, Berlin, and in the rest of the world.

Before we begin analyzing, let us recall that countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States, as well as other Western nations, have been spreading colonialist terror to basically all corners of the world.

And in the process, they developed effective terminology and propaganda, which has been justifying, even glorifying acts such as looting, torture, rape and genocides. Basically, first Europe, and later North America literally "got away with everything, including mass murder".

The native people of Americas, Africa and Asia have been massacred, their voices silenced. Slaves were imported from Africa. Great Asian nations, such as China, what is now "India" and Indonesia, got occupied, divided and thoroughly plundered.

And all was done in the name of spreading religion, "liberating" people from themselves, as well as "civilizing them".

An Irish political analyst explained the reasons behind Washington's failure to respond to Iran's retaliatory missile attack against a US base in Iraq on Jan. 8, saying that "the US is aware that Iran is willing and able to engage in a major conflict if necessary..."
Following is the full text of the interview.

Britain's departure from the EU on 31 January was set in stone in a historic moment for the nation as MEPs in Brussels ratified the withdrawal agreement before breaking out in a rendition of Auld Lang Syne.

As the president of the European parliament, David Sassoli, announced the result of the vote, with 621 in favour to 49 against with 13 abstentions, MEPs stood almost as one to sing the Scottish song.

The vote ensures that the UK's 47 years of membership of the EU will now end at midnight central European time on Friday, after years of troubled talks and uncertainty.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Russia after unveiling a peace proposal alongside US President Donald Trump in Washington. The 'deal of the century' was met with skepticism and outrage around the world.

The caretaker prime minister was in Washington, DC on Tuesday alongside his chief rival, retired General Benny Gantz, as Trump unveiled his controversial "Vision" that included a two-state solution, Israeli control of Jerusalem and no right of return for Palestinians.

Netanyahu's office said he would return from Washington to Tel Aviv via Moscow, something that was previously not included on his official itinerary.

Catalonia's separatist president, Quim Torra, has announced he will call an early regional election amid growing divisions and deteriorating relations between the two pro-independence parties in his coalition government.

In an address that laid bare the splits between his centre-right Together for Catalonia party and the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), Torra said: "No government can work without unity and without a shared, common strategy and loyalty between partners."

He said an election would be called once the regional parliament had approved this year's budget - a process that could take months and result in a May or June poll.