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In getting the support of an overwhelming majority of Senators to support Ukraine aid Mitch McConnell plays a key role. His remarks on the floor of the US Senate underscored the gravity of this moment in the Congress: "Make no mistake: Delay in providing Ukraine the weapons to defend itself has strained the prospects of defeating Russian aggression. Dithering and hesitation have compounded the challenges we face. Today’s action is overdue, but our work does not end here. Trust in American resolve is not rebuilt overnight. Expanding and restocking the arsenal of democracy doesn’t just happen by magic.” President Biden's effort will be remembered. It is similar to what happened when Harry Truman had to persuade a war weary country and the US Congress in 1948 to pass bill for aid to Greece and Turkey to prevent an imminent Communist takeover with support from the Soviet bloc. McConnell will be remembered for his action, so will Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator Schumer and other Republicans, Democrats that worked hard to get a decisive vote for Ukraine aid of 79 For to 18 Against, with 15 Republicans and 3 Democrats voting against. Alabama Senator shifted to a yes vote saying most of that $61 billion of aid to Ukraine will be spent in the US to hire American workers in defense industries. A $10 billion loan provision with forgiveness included was a way to get the former president to support it. On the third try America's Congress gets it through in a decisive manner with overwhelming support. This is not unlike the efforts before, when Aid to Greece and Turkey had to be passed through Congress under president Harry Truman in 1948 with both countries facing a danger of Communist takeover supported by the Soviet bloc with only US support keeping democracy in both Greece and Turkey. Even in 1948 to a war weary country Harry Truman had to persist and get the support he did from the US Congress as president Biden did today April 23, 2024. ...

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A teary Theresa May resigns as prime minister of Britain. Headlines in The Times say she had commitment but lacked flexibility. Other headlines say her attempts to pass her Brexit deals were doomed to fail from the beginning as she lacked a consensus in her own party. The Conservative party is badly divided.

This also stiffens European resolve not to negotiate further with a no-deal Brexit supporter, Mr. Boris Johnson, likely to be the new prime minister. Mr. Johnson has said the only problem with Britain going ahead and leaving the European Union without any deal negotiated is that there could be a shortage of Mars chocolate bars.

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Boris Johnson, British prime minister has a close knit team in the new cabinet. The separate back office teams of the prime minister and the chancellor are now integrated so that there is a clear direction coming from 10 Downing Street. This was not happening when Mr. Javid was chancellor as there were wide differences on policy and compromises were being made. Mr. Javid was in the views of Mr. Johnson's team too focused on balancing the budget. Fiscal rules had to be relaxed if infrastructure promises are to be kept and action taken quickly. Mr. Johnson told his new cabinet at the first meeting- "we have to repay the trust of people who voted for us in huge numbers in December and who look forward to us delivering."

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This in depth report in The Times reveals that after Brexit talks between Lord Frost and Michael Barnier were getting nowhere on December 3 and the EU had increased its demands, Boris Johnson came up with the idea of a direct call between Johnson and Macron of France and Merkel of Germany, with the EU Commission president Leyen present. This was rejected after Macron spoke to Merkel and both decided they should stay united in their demands that Britain agree not to relax environmental or other rules to gain unfair competitive advantage after leaving the EU. The decision by France and Germany not to talk directly with Britain had been made. Leyen at the EU headquarters in Brussels was to convey the decision. Leyen offered to meet Johnson for a dinner discussion in Brussels. Johnson hesitated. He finally accepted knowing that this would show he had done everything possible and would have the support of all his ministers including ones that supported Remaining in the EU. The whole world thought that the EU was making a genuine last effort to get agreement, but this was not the case. During the dinner meeting Leyen just listened and listened, not saying much, as the EU strategy was to convey to the British that it was serious and not going to budge. This is where the situation is today on December 12, 2020. Cabinet ministers say the chances of any agreement before December 31, 2020, the date Britain leaves are just 30%, some even say 20%. Both sides are ratcheting up the pressure. The British have taken steps to increase patrol ships to 4 and the total fleet to 8 ships to patrol its Economic Zone in British waters looking for EU, mostly French fishermen. Britain would keep the French from fishing in its waters.   ...

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The British pound was trading at $1.50 just before voting to leave the EU in June 2016. Since then years of wrangling on Brexit led to uncertainty and the pound dropping to $1.22. The decisive win of Boris Johnson and the Conservatives in 2019 led to removing much of the uncertainty, and the British pound recovered to $1.34 on prediction of Johnson's win. The big win makes it certain that Britain can leave the EU by Jan 31st 2020.

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As Boris Johnson wins the British election with a 80 seat majority, the Economist warns that what made this possible, the shift of the North and Midlands Labour vote to the Tories is something that is not secure. The traditional working class Labour vote that shifted to the Conservatives is only on loan say experts. Johnson faces a bumpy road with challenges from Scotland and Northern Ireland, parts of the UK that favor being in the EU.

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The Ukraine, Israel and Indo-Pacific aid bills are passed in the House of Representatives with 316-94 vote on April 19, 2024. Vote rule set with support of Democrats made a simple majority vote sufficient to  pass. It was a significant win for both parties as 165 Democrats and 151 Republicans voted for the bills. 55 Republicans and 39 Democrats voted against. It was as Speaker Johnson had said earlier for each Congressman to vote his conscience. Speaker Johnson said it was the best possible bill "we could get under the circumstances." He said if this wasn't done then Democrats would have bypassed Republican leaders and forced their own package of bills through the House. As a nod to the former president $60 billion in aid to Ukraine has $9.5 billion in forgivable economic loans. Overall similar to what Democrats had passed in the Senate over a month earlier. “I hope at the end we can take care of our responsibilities. Ukrainians desperately need lethal aid right now. I mean we can’t allow Vladimir Putin to roll through another country.” - Mike Johnson, Speaker ...

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In his speech at the Labour party conference Keir Starmer wll put mental health as Labour's key pitch to voters. Starmer will say that a Labour government will take note of the mental health crisis after Covid and make mental health treatment available to anyone who needs it within a month, and create drop-in mental health hubs for children and young people. This is Starmer's first in person address to Labour's party conference.

Labour believes the mounting fuel crisis with most petrol stations out of gasoline is creating concerns about Boris Johnson's ability to tackle Britain's problems after Covid pandemic. Referring to Boris Johnson's plea for motorists not to fill cars unless necessary, Starmer will try to contrast the challenges facing Britain after the pandemic with the chaotic approach of Boris Johnson. 

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President Trump says the terms set in the deal Boris Johnson negotiated with the European Union preclude any deal with the U.S. He says after looking at the agreement that "we can't make a trade deal with the UK."  Trump made similar comments for prime minister Theresa May when he said that May's strategy for Brexit would "kill" any chance of a trade deal with the U.S. Mr. Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, has promised to negotiate a free trade agreement with the U.S. after delivering Brexit. A separate report in DW.com showed that countries with large potential in trade for Britain such as India are also less likely to sign a deal with Britain because the EU is a much larger trading partner with India. This could have an effect on Mr. Johnson's election campaign.

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The Economist magazine says parliament in Britain should act to pass a motion of no- confidence for the Boris Johnson government. It says Mr.Johnson's action stifling parliamentary democracy by suspending parliament in the weeks before the Brexit date of October 31st is reason for the opposition and Tory rebels to set aside their differences. Without this Mr. Johnson could take Britain out of the European Union without any deal. This would damage the economy, leaving Britons poorer, and create unrest in Northern Ireland.

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After meeting with Rishi Sunak, the Finance Minister and the Business Secretary Alok Sharma prime minister Johnson is keen on getting things to as normal as possible in the summer to save jobs. About 3 million jobs could be lost, some permanently if businesses cannot open by summer, especially in the hospitality industry. This could push unemployment up from 1.3 million  to 2 million. The Times reports that at one point in the meeting Johnson said "Christ!" In mid March after he had the virus and Britain saw a surge in cases Johnson made health a priority even quoting Cicero in Latin that the health of the nation was the priority. Now this is changing with the jobs situation becoming a major risk. Much of the loss of jobs is likely say experts in the red wall districts that Johnson took from the Labour party in the election, and the prime minister feels a special responsibility to these districts. Johnson also said at one point about youth unemployment 18 to 24 years that is bleak, that he wanted to have an apprenticeship for every young person. The critical R rate is higher in the northwest and the southwest of England, compared to London. In England overall it is between 0.7 and 0.9. It needs to be around 1 to avoid spreading the virus.  As part of the social distancing guidelines ministers are also discussing changing the distancing on public transport so that it is 1 metre instead of 2 metres, so that reopening to get back to close to normal can be done sooner.     ...

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James Pressley reviews Simon Johnson and James Kwak's new book - "13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown. " He suggests reading the first and last chapter for what the authors recommend, limiting banks to no more than 4% of GDP in assets or $570 billion maximum, and investment banks to 2% of GDP or $285 billion. Pressley agrees that incremental steps are not going to change the situation. And the authors have thought this thing through, with Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the IMF and writer of the Economix columns in the New York Times on the current crisis in Greece, Portugal and Spain. Some of their analysis on that crisis has been borne out by developments, as Greece lurched towards default with the slow response of Germany enlarging the dimensions of the crisis, and requiring a larger bailout for Greece of $160 billion in late April.

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With Democrats emboldened by winning governor races in NJ and Virginia government shutdown on issue of ACA subsidies continues on November 8 2025. Speaker Johnson refusal to commit to holding a vote in the Senate on ACA subsidies means negotiated compromise cannot be made on a future vote for ACA subsidies so that the government funding takes place.

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Discussions at the cabinet level and with prime minister Johnson now include the possible use of annual covid jabs, the importance of getting the vaccine out before a new mutant strain of the virus that is hard to deal with a year from now. An annual covid jab could deal with new mutant strains of the virus. 

Prime minister Johnson is also having to deal with the issue of letting people in from overseas. If Britain's vaccination drive succeeds it will be all the more important to protect Britain from new mutant strains arriving with people coming from overseas. This will require strict control of people coming from other countries including Europe. The question of closing the borders to to reduce risks is now a serious one.

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Unions reject a 3% pay offer not enough to meet soaring inflation in UK. Boris Johnson calls for pay restraint. More than 50,000 members of the RMT union will walk out in Britain in a British rail strike, the largest in 30 years.

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Britain's parliament voted 358 in favor and 234 against to back prime minister Boris Johnson in his effort to get Britain to leave the European Union by January 31, 2020. Negotiation will not be extended beyond 2020. With a comfortable 80 seat majority and many lawmakers newly elected in parliament in favor of Brexit the process appeared easy compared to the problems faced by Theresa May who lacked a majority. In October Mr. Johnson negotiated a deal with the EU which stated how Britain plans to leave the EU. This covered citizens' rights, a financial settlement to leave, and an arrangement to avoid a physical border in Ireland. With another vote in parliament and passage in the House of Lords the process now appears certain to be completed before January end 2020. To get Brexit done Mr. Johnson sought blue collar support in the north of England and the Midlands, a region neglected by Labour and the old Conservatives. Too much of the focus had remained on London. This strategy worked after neglect of working class districts by Labour under Blair and Brown. Mr. Johnson's approach was to commit the Conservatives to new infrastructure spending, spending on schools and the NHS, just as Mr. Trump had done in the U.S. to permanently change the Republican party. This combined with an appeal to patriotism and the idea of Britain drew strong support across England in the election. ...

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Jeremy Corbyn of the Labour Party says he would support a general election within weeks after the no-deal deadline has passed, and calls the Boris Johnson programs outlined in 26 bills in the Queen's speech a "farce." These bills were on National Health Service, Brexit, and crime. These bills have no chance of being carried out as Boris Johnson heads a minority government which has called for new elections. Corbyn said the bills barely dent the devastating cuts in public services of the past decade under the austerity policies.

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Regardless of what happens in the Brexit talks between Johnson and Leyen the situation will be change for people on both sides after January 1, 2021, says this report in DW.com. Tourism, travel, banking and haulage by truck will be affected.

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For 2025 US stocks S&P 500 returns 19%, foreign stocks in Europe 36%. An extraordinary year for foreign stocks with Germany's big investments in the economy. Actually the average S&P stock was down 3.7%. It was the large investments in AI that propelled the US stock markets S&P 500 to the 19% gain.  AI investment may take a long time to be profitable and some companies may lose money yet the building of data centers creates demand for construction activity, and tariffs are bringing larger investments into the US economy. Media skeptical about tariffs led to many missing the surge in stocks. It was the same overseas after years of Merkel and limits placed in the constitution on needed spending, and the SPD coaltition struggling to get through FDP obstruction to investment spending. Chancellor Merz of CDU joined the SPD to make a big $1 trillion investment in German infrastructure and defense, and removed the constitutional brake on investment Merkel had unwisely put in, with so much of Germany's infrastructure and digital in bad shape. This pushed up European stocks that had languished under the austerity logic of Cameron/Johnson-Merkel. This also was missed by many as the old logic was suddenly and quickly taken out with Russia emboldened in Ukraine taking over much of the eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region. Defense is now a rapidly growing part of the German economy. 2025 was a year of sudden and rapid change in the world economy with tariffs, US investment deals, and Germany taking on defense and infrastructure, which few could predict. And in which the media created confusion by saying the opposite of what was required from investors. ...

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In 1867 the Alaska Purchase was also being mocked in the media. When Russia's Czar Peter the Great sent Vitus Bering to explore the Alaskan coast in 1725 there were Inuits living there. Russians slaughtered many Inuits to set up their base, says historian James Gibson in the Wilson Quarterly, cited in The Washington Post. It was the Russian czar who initiated the effort to sell Alaska to the US after Britain and France fought a war and defeated Russia in the Crimean War. These European wars in some ways have been going on in Northern Europe for many centuries and down to this day. What this tells us is that Russia treated Alaska as a colony and this is how a colonial power like Denmark treated the Inuits in Greenland. Denmark has treated Greenland harshly and now makes it look like it is interested in Greenland's people. Denmark is a small country with a population of 6 million less than the population of the Houston area, and Greenland's population of 50,000 would not fill a baseball stadium. It is disingenuous and false of Denmark to pretend to be anything other than a colonial power like the British, the French and the Dutch with little interest in the well being and economic development of the people of their colonies. If Greenland is developed the way US has developed Alaska, and the US can and will do this, Greenland is so much better becoming part of the US, completing the security of the entire eastern seaboard of the US that was envisaged by American president after American president since Jefferson, Madison, Andrew Johnson and Harry Truman for the last two hundred years. ...

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Boris Johnson's brother Jo, who was made minister for Universities, resigned saying he could no longer resolve the tensions between family loyalty and national interest.

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The gaps between myth and reality of the Conservatives continues to grow says this view from Labour expressed in The Guardian. With the chaos in the Conservatives and three prime ministers out in a short period- first with Brexit, then with the factions supporting and against Boris Johnson who led the fight to take Britain out of the European Union, the promises made to the North of England that led to Johnson's win in the election are falling by the wayside. There is no real progress in levelling up wealth and development gaps between regions in Britain, the commitment to tackling climate change is wavering and inconsistent when the rest of Europe and the US is moving forward with clear intent and funding, and the effort to tackle the cost of living crisis lacks conviction and plan changing by the day.     

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Mr. Boris Johnson resigns as member of parliament on June 8, 2023, with criticism of the Rishi Sunak Tory government. The Guardian shows the years in office 2019- 2022 of the man who took Britain out of the European Union, and his years in office during the pandemic. From 2016 to 2018 he was Foreign Secretary.  He was preceded by David Cameron of the Conservatives who setup a coalition government in 2010 with austerity policies till 2016, much of whose latter years as prime minister were overshadowed by Mr. Johnson leading the Brexit faction in the party and as Mayor of London. In 2023 with Britain under a cost of living crisis and in financial stress after the austerity years, this period looks like a lost decade for Britain- with the failure of its leaders under the Tories.