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DJT says Iran does not want to talk to the Europeans, it wants to talk to the Americans. He says it is hard to stop the war when one side is winning. Russia and the US have better relations than under the Biden administration which is proving to be an important factor in this war. As it is about nuclear proliferation, not regional powers- the Israelis, the Saudis and the Iranians. Both Russia and the US are technologically sophisticated powers with different interests, they are world powers because they have first and foremost important responsibilities in nuclear non proliferation and the health of the planet. By allowing regional conflict in Eastern Europe to cloud this fact and not engage with Russia as a world power the US under Obama and Biden had failed to grasp a key principle of peaceful relations since World War II. We argue that "western powers" is a concept of colonial powers France and Britain, and western civilization is the reliable concept that includes Russia, and includes China and India that have embraced the creation of the modern world by western civilization. ...

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US president Biden renews the US commitment to Asia on the second day of Quad meetings in Tokyo. Lessons from Ukraine were uppermost in the thinking of the Quad leaders from the US, Japan, India and Australia as a new framework is envisioned for Asia. That framework is envisioned through an economic framework the IPEF including South East Asia, the Quad as a core nation setup similar to the G-7, and direct ties such as US-India, US-Japan. Latin America is part of the US direct ties to Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Europe is included through the Europe Trade and Technology Council and direct US ties with the European Union, Germany, France and Italy. President Biden is giving the kind of leadership of the Free World that Harry Truman gave following the Berlin Soviet Blockade and the US Airlift of 1948-1949 and the Korean War between 1950-1953 with Soviet and Chinese forces supporting the attack of North Korea against South Kporea similar to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  ...

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Tensions on the India China border as India builds roads and infrastructure in the mountainous Himalayan area close to the border in Ladakh to match the Chinese buildup of roads in the region over the last decade. India has also built up its troop presence in the region to match China's troop presence along the border in Ladakh.

India has supported a call from Australia for an investigation into the early origins of the coronavirus. The call was supported by many countries around the world and by the U.S., Japan and France. The 350,000 deaths from coronavirus and the 5.5 millions confirmed cases, the economic damage, most of them in western nations in North America and Europe, have  led to growing tensions between China and the rest of the world. 

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This Editorial Board editorial in the WSJ should be titled Ukraine Corruption and Ukrainian people's interests in good governance. The reason is that beyond ensuring that the $187 billion sent by the US is used without corruption and this editorial cites evidence that this is the case through many oversight authorites US and EU has set up- there is the larger interest of the people of Ukraine battered and fatigued by 4 years of war. Corruption becomes an accepted practice in many democracies. Nations such as India that were mired in corrupt practices in state governments are seeing major changes in the last decade with public funds dedicated to infrastructure going to build the new infrastructure India needs to modernize its economy. It is proving that this is possible in Asia, as is shown in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, China and now India. There is every reason to believe Ukraine can achieve this good governance with sufficient efforts and this is the goal set by the European Union, by Germany, Britain and France, for Ukraine. ...

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During the civil war the Libyan government of Gaddafi used mercenaries from Mali and the Shaharan region region to suppress the young people fighting for democracy. After the fall of Gaddafi, these troops with arms returned to Mali and the Sahel region and formed militias that now control the northern part of Mali. These mercenaries who linked up with Al Quaeda are suspected of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. The U.S. with French support is only now focussing on this problem. During much of the Libyan struggle for democracy the Obama administration let France take the lead in Libya, and may have missed the volatile situation developing in the Saharan region of Niger and Mali as a result of the flow of arms into the region from people of Mali and Niger returning to their countries from Libya.

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Graphs in this Washington Post report show the success or failure of vaccination drives around the world from the US and Canada to Europe, Brazil, Japan and Africa as of the first week of July 2021. Japan and Africa are far behind Europe and America. By July 4, 59% of Americans were fully vaccinated short of Biden's goal of 70%, according to CDC. Canada, Italy, Germany have passed the US. By making vaccinations mandatory France is working to catchup with Germany and Italy. Canada and UK lead in vaccination drives. 

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An extraordinary moment in history took place at Rajghat Gandhiji Memorial in New Delhi on September 10, 2023. The leaders of 20 largest nations from all over the world observed a moment of silence after devotional hymns at the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi. Click on original article to pull up the larger picture and take our On the Spot Quiz on which countries were paired together on either side. On either side of Modi are Widodo (Indonesia) and Lula (Brazil), next to them either side Macron and Biden, Albanese and Sunak, EU's Michel and Leyen , Erdogan and Yeong, Fernandez and Meloni, Qiang and Kishida, Lavrov and Scholz, Sissi and Ramaphosa, Rutte and Trudeau. Can you tell which countries each pair of leaders are from? Answer below for our first On the Spot Quiz. Answer: France and US, Australia and UK, EU's pair, Turkey and South Korea, Argentina and Italy, China and Japan, Russia and Germany, Egypt and South Africa. It is an exceptionally well thought out arrangement. With Indonesia and Brazil on either side of India, you have the core of the aspiring population of 1.7 billion people more than anywhere else on the planet Earth, who think alike, act alike. And next to them are leaders of France and US, Australia and Britain, and the European Union, who are resolutely backing the shift in agenda- debt assistance, tripling renewable energy, and a new infrastructure building effort for ease of living.   ...

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Bernie Sanders presents the case for Medicare for All, healthcare for all legislation in the U.S. Congress introduced in September 2017. It has the support of 15 Senators. He says the current system is costly, wasteful and bureaucratic. It is time says Sanders for the U.S. to join the rest of the industrialized world, join Britain, France, Germany and other countries of Europe, Japan and Australia, Canada, with healthcare for all Americans. After all he says only 50 miles north of his electoral district in the Burlington, Vermont area is Canada, where the system of healthcare for all works better than in the U.S.  And the Canadians, Germans, French, and British do this spending less than half the U.S. does. In 2015 the U.S. spent $10,000 per person for healthcare, this means that it cost less than $5000 per person in these advanced countries and the way they do it can be studied and its best aspects adopted by the U.S.  He says this is because the U.S. healthcare system is designed to maintain profits for the medical-industrial complex. A major problem is the manner in which the issue is distorted by different sides on the issue of health care in the U.S., without a consensus being developed on what the common interest is in a civilized society. Mostly because the U.S. unlike other societies is still grappling with the issue of what values it embraces on healthcare being made available to all. Under this legislation the transition to healthcare for all would take place over 4 years. In the first year eligibility for Medicare would start at age 55 years, and children under 18 would be covered. In the second year the eligibility starts at 45 years, in the third year at 35 years, in the fourth all are covered.  ...

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President Macron of France says with the president of Sweden Ulf Kristersson at the Swedish Defense Academy- "The EU has to make bold decisions to defend Ukraine, to preempt any US decision to withhold of reduce its support." Europe should have its own security architecture independent of the US and Russia. it says Europe's effort was inadequate when Russia had completely revamped its war effort, that Europe should not shirk its responsibilities for its own defense. That no matter what happens with Ukraine aid in US Congress, or no matter what happens in the US presidential election in November, Europe will have done what it needs to do for its own defense. In doing this he said Europe needs to stand by Ukraine. 

Sweden is about to join NATO. A recent report in WSJ is shown on this page about the advanced defense manufacturing capabilities of Sweden for fighter jets, artillery and other systems.

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Speaking at the Economc Club of Indiana, U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Bernanke, says responsibility for fiscal policy lies fully on Congress and the administration. Monetary easing through QE I,II and III, which reduces the borrowing costs of the U.S. government by keeping interest rates low, cannot be seen as taking pressure off Congress and the administration, as critics claim. He countered criticism by saying: "Suppose notwithstanding our legal mandate, the Federal Reserve were to raise interest rates for the purpose of making it more expensive for the government to borrow. Such an action would substantially increase the deficit, not only because of higher interest rates, but also because the weaker recovery that would result from premature monetary tightening would further widen the gap between spening and revenues." Lawmakers would be no more inclined to come up with a program to reduce the deficit in this situation argues Bernanke. This statement of Bernake only reaffirms that low interest rates are an important goal here in the U.S.,- just as they are for France and other countries in Europe that are faced with tackling large debt and deficits- and are part of the overall solution for the government to manage its finances....

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Short time work programs, paid leave, aid to small business for employee retention with the government paying a big percentage of wages, and unemployment benefits till companies rehire employees with government paying for this, are all different ways in which the U.S. and Europe are coping with the coronavirus crisis.  In the U.S. 22 million have applied for unemployment benefits with the U.S. government picking up a substantial part of the wages till companies rehire these employees. In the UK the government has launched a program that gives 2500 pounds or $3100 to each worker each month upto 80% of the worker's pay. The money is sent to businesses for retaining employees. This could cover estimated 8.3 million workers in the UK at a cost of $52 billion. The U.S. has a similar program with the first phase $377 billion already distributed to small businesses which requires retention of employees for government forgiveness of these loans. The basic idea is retain employees who could stay at home or be in short work programs or work from home. The French government is paying the wages of 9.6 million workers, almost half of workers in the private sector by sending the money to 785,000 small businesses. In Germany the Kurzarbeit program covers 725,000 companies which supports the wages of employees in a downturn and is financed from a special fund. The cost for Germany, France and Spain is about $147 billion or 135 billion euros for such programs. The European Union will step in with a 100 billion euros loan package. ...

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At a time when multilateral financial and other institutions are not working properly on behalf of countries in the Global South, the G20 is seen as the place where the poor countries can find a voice. The African Union was admitted to the G20 nations with the support of India and the US at the New Delhi Summit. Before this the only nation from Africa was South Africa. The other countries are the original G8- US, Canada, Germany, France, European Union, Britain, Italy, Japan. These countries represented the already advanced economies. To these nations were added the newly advanced economies of Russia, South Korea and China, Australia for 11 economies. The 7 rapidly developing nations added are India, Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, South Africa.

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The collapse of the zloty, losing half its value against the Swiss franc is proving to be traumatic for Polish consumers who took out loans in Swiss francs for property, cars, consumer goods. In the past the zloty had soared in value and it was cheaper to pay off the loans in Swiss francs which had lower interest rates. Now with the zloty losing so much value it is proving very difficult to pay off these loans. What was once seen as a win-win game, says a economic advisor to Poland's President, now is turning into a risky currency gamble. He says that people were taking risks without knowing the consequences and what they were getting into, much like homeowners in the US getting into risky subprime loans.

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The WSJ shows options to travel to Europe from the US for under $200 one way on new budget airlines set up by Iceland (Play airline), Norway (Norse Atlantic Airways), Britain (Condor Airlines), France (French Bee), Italy (Neos). Add in bags and meals and it could run to about $400 one way as you pay for everything else extra. One would travel to that country to locations such as Reykjavik, Oslo, London, Paris, Milan, and connect to other parts of Europe. Flights are from New York, Los Angles, San Francisco, Miami. With fares for Delta, United, and other carriers up significantly this offers another option.

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Wildfires that have burned 20 million acres in Canada in an area the size of Maine are affecting oil, lumber and tourism industries. Fires in Quebec have created a cloud of haze in cities as far away as New York and Detroit, and made its way across the Atlantic ocean to France for the first time. It used to be said that events in one part of the world affect us, now this is a reality and everyday life is affected.

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France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain agreed to have automatic exchange of information for offshore accounts to fight tax evasion. Luxembourg agreed to join this group. The EU nation move follows the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2010 which requires foreign banks and entities to disclose accounts of U.S. citizens, in an effort to fight tax evasion.

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Britain's prime minister Johnson has gained approval for 16 billion military buildup for naval and other buildup for the next 4 years. It was apparent for some time during the administrations from Blair through the financial crisis driven by banks under Cameron, that Britain had lost its resolve to have a strong military capability. This was evident in its handling of Hong Kong, from the transfer to its weak response to the situation in Hong Kong as participatory democracy failed in Hong Kong. During the period after the second world war Britain failed to bring participatory democracy in Hong Kong under its rule. Labour and Conservative administrations made no effort even as participatory democracy was brought to large parts of Asia and Africa through independence, following democratic elected legislatures in the period between two wars in India and Ceylon. No such effort was made in Hong Kong leading to questions about its own commitment to the principles when China introduced its own government in Hong Kong by changing legal structures.  Britain lacked the military capability and its partnership with France and the U.S. was also weaker because of other distractions from middle east conflicts and internal problems. This is now changing with the military capability buildup for the next 4 years. This is happening as France under Macron takes a new posture in its battle to defend the ideals of its Republic, and rebuild its manufacturing capabilities. ...

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Germany is trying not to choose sides in the trade and security disputes between China and the U.S. Yet it owes a lot to the U.S. from the days of the Marshall Plan and U.S. taking on the role of defending Germany after the Berlin Wall. China was then a partner with the Soviet Union in the Cold War.  Today China is Germany's top market for its car industry. Yet the U.S. export market is much larger than China at $119 billion with China's at $96 billion. In Germany 28% of jobs are linked to exports, and in manufacturing this goes up to 56%, according to Germany Ministry of Economic Affairs. Germany supplied much of the factory  equipment from its engineering companies and the infrastructure that powered up the China transformation. A transformation now underway in India.  There are signs of a shift as engineering companies in Germany grew faster in the U.S. than China, increasing by 6-10% a year. India remains a key growth market for Germany over the next 10-15 years as growth in China slows and India accelerates with its younger demographics and investment in infrastructure. Much of the infrastructure in China is built and it is approaching the saturation Japan reached in the 1990's with additional investments adding little in the way of productivity. Longer term Germany has more potential for growth in countries in South and South East Asia  that will need to make huge investments in infrastructure and technology for manufacturing to meet the aspirations of the people there. Other issues related to freedom going back to the Berlin Wall and the rebuilding of Germany after World War II will emerge. German companies are running out of patience says this report in the WSJ with the bureaucratic obstacles, forced technology transfers, subsidies by state model to extinguish competition, and protectionist approach to home markets, even as state funded companies in China put other companies in Europe, Asia and the U.S. at a disadvantage. Germany will need to transition to a shift in its global relations, a process that is only now taking place. Just as with austerity policies in which it has now made the shift from going with the northern European countries (Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland) to the Southern European (France, Italy, Spain) in favor of common solidarity even at the short term cost of common debt, Germany now is facing the shift for solidarity with the U.S. for its support of Germany from the period of the Berlin Wall in the 1950's, for the U.S. and European solidarity in the face of the post-coronavirus world. The U.S. showing its generosity and openness to Germany and war torn Europe even as it took on the added responsibilities for creating a new alliance with Europe.   ...

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A difference between QE in the U.S. and Japan with ECB action for QE is that the Fed in the U.S. is able to buy U.S. Treasury bonds. To accomplish this the ECB has to buy the sovereign bonds of all the countries in the eurozone. This is not equally as effective to stimulate the economy as the interest rates in Germany are quite low, and the rates low in Italy and France.

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Swiss regulators engineer UBS buying Credit Suisse for over $3 billion in an emergency rescue. This happened after the Swiss central bank made and infusion of $50 billion into Credit Suisse that failed to stabilize the Swiss bank. With outflows of $10 billion Swiss Francs in the week recently Swiss regulators had to quickly arrange UBS buying out Credit Suisse for over $3 billion.  In its early days in the nineteenth century Credit Suisse helped build the Swiss electricity grid and the Swiss rail system. After World War II it was part of the reconstruction effort in Europe. After 1990 it merged with banks in the US and engaged in international acquisitions, investment banking operations, and wealth management. This led to problems and the company had to make settlements for each of its businesses in the last three decades, leading to the current crisis. The bank is seen as lacking good governance, and taking on excessive risk in the pursuit of profit. A bank that was known for setting up key infrastructure in Switzerland in the nineteenth century succumbed to poor management and risk taking over one hundred years later as it fumbled in each of its businesses. ...

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After a good start the vaccination drive is slowing both in India and the US. Vaccine supplies need to be boosted in India and the government has given approval to the Pfizer, Moderna and J&J vaccines to boost supplies. The Sputnik vaccine from Russia has also gained approval with new supplies of that vaccine expected in India. Vaccine skepticism is a problem in the US and Europe. Supplies of the Pfizer vaccine will be boosted in Europe with the EU contract for 1.8 billion doses signed recently. This should give the slow vaccination drives in France and Germany a boost.

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This report in the WSJ shows in an extraordinary detailed way going back 20 years how under each administration Bush, Obama, Trump in the US and Angela Merkel in Germany, Hollande and Macron in France, the serious differences in the world view and thinking between president Putin of Russia and western leaders were simply ignored or overlooked. Mr. Putin truly believed in Ukraine and Russia as one people, researched history on his own and wrote an essay that made him more convinced than ever about his views that separation of Ukraine from Russia was an artificial construct, more so in the last two years.  By integrating the German and European Union economies with Russia and China without coming to terms with the large separation in views of the world and ignoring Russian views because of its economic size as an economy the size of France, both Merkel and Obama's policies failed to grasp what was happening. This report shows in much detail each event since 2005 that led to increasing distrust by Putin of western leaders.  The integration of the economies of the west and the integration of supply chains with China and Russia continued even after serious concerns had developed during the Trump administration. US and European business was operating on a completely different path not taking this into account in any way. It was only in the Biden administration and after the election of Scholz in Germany in 2021 that the situation was becoming clear. On the other side Ukraine itself and its people had changed in ways that were not anticipated by people in Germany or Russia, much less the leaders in Germany or Russia. There was a genuine sense that Ukraine was a national identity leading to the Ukraine resistance and a prolonged conflict. Brendan Simms, Cambridge historian shows how Europe went through conflicts and wars in its history as each of the major European nations sought advantage from 1453 to the present in his book, "Europe- The Struggle for Supremacy 1453 to the Present." Small gains were made in these wars that dragged on bringing great suffering to ordinary people.These wars involved England, France, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Russia. ...

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Japan's foreign minister Taro Kono says Japan will propose an alternative to China's One Belt, One Road Initiative. He is particularly looking at the role of Japan, Australia, India and the U.S. in coming up with an alternative. Kono sees France and the UK as additional partners. 

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Ski resorts in the northern French Alps in the Savoie region and the southern French Alps near Grenoble are easy to access with flights from the US and cost a fraction of what the ski resorts cost in the US in places like Colorado. About 4000 mountain ski resorts are owned by families or a municipality and have kept costs low. By contrast corporate consolidation has led to much higher prices in Colorado and other mountain ski locations in the US. 

During the summer and fall seasons these locations are attractive for hikers and cyclists and cost much less. 

Shown here are-

La Clusaz an hour's drive from Geneva, Switzerland with five sprawling mountains.

Obergurgl-Hochgurgl in Ausstrian Alps near Italy, the Tirolean region and culture.

Tignes, France about 2 and half hours drive from Lyon or Geneva.

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Some of the gentlemanly aspects of the game going back to the 50's and 60's, and 70's, including courtesy and sportsmanship are lost as media hypes winning and losing at the US Open Tennis at Forest Hills. Always looking for television moments and attention getting the media enlarges the slightest faults of players, much more than players themselves who go through the game focused on their game skills. A game between Bonzi of a France and Medvedev of Russia in 5 sets which Bonzi won is yet another example. Late night games with crowds are not new to the game. Ilie Nastase and Rod Laver played many late night games with crowds keen to see the skills of the players not focused on winners and losers in the 1970's.