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Guardian Royals correspondent Stephen Bates says that it is indolence, self-seeking, and self-entitlement, the absence of the responsibility that is borne by the institution of the monarchy to the people of Britain from ancient times, that could one day sink the monarchy in Britain. He looks at the monarchy in Britain in the last one hundred years.

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This editorial in the WSJ tackles the issue of Russian hacking during the U.S. presidential election by saying that this should not be seen as a move by Democrats after the election defeat, and yet at the same time supports the Republican Congress's efforts to hold an inquiry into the hacking during the election. 

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The expiry of pandemic aid programs and the cost of living increases in housing and food, medicine, have increased poverty in the US and affected the middle class and lower working class struggling to make a living. This is an issue for Biden-Harris to tackle upfront.

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"Cancel Culture"- how Democrats and Republicans Conservatives and Liberals see the shaming of people for their views on social media- it is having accountability for some, and seen as censorship or punishment by others. Pew Researchers show the views of different people by age, gender, political affiliation, on the idea of "cancel culture." Some say does it even help doing this on a platform like social media as it tends to exaggerate and is rarely helpful to educate people and create real conversations to increase knowledge. When people are being shamed for racism or sexism, there is little idea of getting people to change or for patient forgiveness, or educating on why certain behaviours are wrong. Yale University's 58 page document on where it went wrong on "holistic admissions" and "cancel culture," is an example of how "cancel culture" when adopted inadvertently at universities and colleges across the Nation can be misguided and not result in positive actions. In the process can this denigrate the achievements of western civilization through the Renaissance of ideas, the awakening of knowledge in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Enlightenment, and the Scientific Revolution that resulted from this. Followed by the Industrial Revolution unique in Europe and the US that created the Modern World and the standards of living, of literacy, education and healthcare, and transportation we know today. This is the question Yale and other universities are asking today in 2026. ...

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For what a ruble buys in Russia , 2.7 times what a dollar buys in the US, Russia gets alot of bang out of its defense budget of $149 billion, about $401 billion (Purchasing power) compared to US $997 billion. Add to this Russia is now a war economy in the war with Ukraine and concentrates its forces in one theatre not four as the US spread out over Indo-Pacific, Europe and Middle East and Korean peninsula. This is the reason behind most of DJT's actions reflecting realities in defense. Shut down the Middle East theatre which is also what the American people want by moving everything in the direction of economic progress, turning down the revolutionary and sectarian ideologies that roiled Egypt of Suez, Iraq and Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the 60's and dragged the world into costly insane wars. And do this with the consensus of Russia, China and India. Wind down the war in Europe- accept the Russians as a Northern European power with a settlement of the Ukraine conflict, and let Germany lead Europe's defense. Manage the relationship in the Indo-Pacific with India and South and Southwest Asian investments in economic infrastructure that will offset China's rapid growth of the last three decades by incentivizing South Asia and South western Asia parts of which were called the Middle East by the Britons and now can be rengaged in the South /Southwest Asian group of nations led by the US. This is the policy for the next 25 years to 2050 that a Russia, Germany, US, China, India consensus sees as a constructive future for the people of the world.   ...

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Modi called Prakash Singh Badal of Punjab "the Nelson Mandela of India," for the long time spent in jail during his lifetime in politics. Badal in turn called Modi a leader who would "fulfill aspirations of national heroes like Jayaprakash Narayan." 

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US Naval Blockade of Iran - Day 10.

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Writing about the Michael Cohen testimony to the U.S. COngress NYT columnist David Brooks says there is moral distancing every time House Republicans support Trump. He says there are the worst elements of our culture, of using people and being used.

Brooks cites John Steinbeck's classic book East of Eden."Humans are caught in their lives and in their thoughts, in their hungers and in their ambitions- in a net of good and evil.  A man after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life will ask only the hard clean questions, was it good or was it evil? Have I done well or have I done ill?" And here he finds president Trump and Cohen coming out short of where they should be.

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Key members of Congress like Barney Frank, Treasury Secretary Paulson and key officials at the Fed had discussions over the weekend in advance of a critical auction of debt by Freddie that could affect confidence in the company and unsettle financial markets. As part of the confidence building process Treasury announced that it plans to seek approval from Congress for a temporary increase in a longstanding Treasury line of credit for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Treasury also said that it would seek temporary authority to buy equity in either company to ensure that both companies have sufficient capital. The plan also has a provision giving the Fed a "consultative role" in the process of setting capital requirement for the two companies and other "prudential standards". Meantime the Fed's Board of Governors met Sunday in Washington and voted to grant the New York Fed authority to lend to Fannie and Freddie. This effectively gives the two companies access to the Fed's discount window if there were to be a short term funding crisis at the two companies. In this process Treasury's plan is to expand the Fed's authority and supervisory role in the financial markets to prevent any future financial crisis in which the Fed would have to intervene. ...

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Baker and Erlanger describe Russian president Putin's effort to finance parties on the right and the left to oppose western sanctions on Russia. The effort by Russian television RT to spread disinformation in the European Union. The goal is to create fractures in European unity and weaken the European Union and NATO. Other experts such as former national intelligence officer, Fiona Hill, and former assistant secretary of state, David Kramer, are skeptical about the effectiveness of these methods. These methods may also come from an old book of methods from the Cold War period because of president Putin's experience in Dresden during the Soviet days, which current European Union leaders would see as having little relevance to the global economy and global scene of today. The rise of the smaller parties in Europe in opposition to the traditional parties has more to do with the difficult economic conditions in Europe, and has little in common with Russia and its problems with its oil dependent economy and its interests in Eastern Europe. As the 2015 Pew Research survey on Europe shows, opinion is shifting towards greater support for the European Union as economic conditions improve, and is likely to move further in this direction with a return to economic growth. Favorable views of the EU which dropped from 60% in 2012 to 53% in 2014, was up to 61% in 2015, according to the survey. The Euroskeptic parties are viewed "as a good thing," as a way to shake up the complacency of the major ruling parties in tackling the economy, according to the Pew Europe Survey. In the percentage of people who see the Euroskeptic parties as a good thing for the country- Podemos left party in Spain gets 70% favorable rating, UK Independence Party 66% favorable, Five Star Movement in Italy 58%, AfD in Germany 50%, and much less so in France with 36% saying this for the National Front, and 36% for the New Right in Poland....

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Sam Bankman-Fried head of the cryptocurrency firm FTX is charged with fraud and arrested in the Bahamas, for what US federal prosecutors called a scheme to defraud crytocurrency customers and his hedge fund's lenders. The indictment was made by the US attorney's office for the Southern District of New York.

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IEA shows China in 2030 with 54% of mining and 77% of refining for rare earth minerals- a near monopoly. It is this monopoly that China is now using to negotiate with the US. Rare earth minerals are needed for many advanced technology products and renewable energy. This move by China to strictly restrict access to rare earth was not anticipated by US negotiators. US negotiatons with China relate to China's access to technologies, to the US market, and on the subject of fentanyl coming in from China to Mexico and illegally brought into the US. 

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The NYT provides a good look at the situation in India in September where cases are over 4.5 million, the world's second largest after U.S. During the lockdown in April and May India had successfully stemmed the coronavirus. After reopening in June a lot has changed as can be seen in this look at the steep curve in June, July, August and September. Cases are now at the rate of 95,000 daily and deaths at 1172 daily as of September 9. The deaths are up 16% and cases up 29% over 2 weeks. Maps show the situation in the states with Maharashtra, Andhra, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh showing the highest cases. Maharashtra has about 1 million cases and the two states in the south east Andhra and Tamilnadu have about 1 million combined with Uttar Pradesh at about 250,000 cases. Delhi has about 200,000 cases. So that about half of the 4.5 million cases are in three states in the southeast and the western state where Mumbai (Bombay) is located. The increase was seen after increased testing from 200,000 a day to 1 million a day by the end of August, a steep jump being seen in late August and September. At the end of July the coronavirus recovery rate of 70% in India and 90% in Delhi were the favorable signs, until things changed in August with increased testing and the spread to rural areas. India is doing over 1 million tests daily. On September 3, 1.1 million people were tested, taking the total to 45 million tested throughout India.  As in Europe and America the reopening which is essential for the economy and jobs has resulted in a big jump in cases. The laws for lockdown were carefully obeyed without many of the problems seen in America and Europe, the early complete lockdown was implemented with success, and Indian pharmaceutical companies are some of the largest in the world giving the public wide access to essential medicines and drugs. The postal service has functioned remarkably well during the lockdown for delivery of essentials throughout the country, and earlier action to establish bank accounts for each and every individual in the country, has enabled rural Indians to get through this most difficult period. This has given the government some breathing room as it faces the cases from reopening in a vast country of 1380 million people.   ...