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The nominee for the position of FBI Director in the U.S. in July 2017, Christopher Wray, is a former defense lawyer, prosecutor and Justice Department official. He responded to questions from Senator Graham on his views on Russia, and from Senator Leahy. He told the Senators that this was not a job for the faint of heart, and that "I am not faint of heart." He said he respects Mr. Mueller and Mr Comey's long service. Answering persistent questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee Wray said: "I believe to my core that there's only one right way to do this job, and that is with strict independence, by the book, playing it straight." Wray's background is Yale Law School 1992, Assistant U.S. Attorney in Georgia 1997, and with the Justice Department since 2001 becoming Assistant Attorney General for the criminal division. 

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Deteriorating China Iran relations as the oil imports from Iran for China face US tariffs of 25% on China's exports to US, and US economic relations far more significant for the Chinese economy. China gets somwhere between 1.4 to 1.6 million barrels aday from Iran (80% of Iran's oil exports) into Shandong refiners at $10 below Brent crude prices. Another 400 mbd comes from Venezuela to China. This means $30 billion comes to Iran from oil sales to China at $59 a barrel, and $8 billion for Venezuela from oil sales to China. This has financed much of the bellicose policies towards the US in the western hemisphere and in the Gulf region. Iran's bellicose policies in the Middle East, its nuclear policy, are now seen by China as a distraction and  detract from good economic relations with the US. China $400 billion oil deal 25 year cooperation agreement signed in 2021 was signed under the Biden administration and China today faces a completely different situation in 2026. Even China's relations with Russia are not the same as the US builds better relations with Russia. A wind down of the Ukraine war would change the situation completely and ensure peace in Europe including Russia, as the US works with the EU to meet future challenges having learned from this experience in Europe (Ukraine dividing Europe) and in the Western hemisphere (drug/ migrant. trafficking). When historians write this chapter of the inflows of capital from advanced West to Arab countries and the Gulf region they will write about the huge contrast between China/India's efforts to modernize and these nations where much of that capital was wasted in wars and conflicts and in grandiose projects that made no material difference to the standard of living and quality of life of the vast number of ordinary people. Once the oil dividend is gone with fossil fuels replaced with renewable energy by 2035-2040 this opportunity to advance is lost for the Arab and Gulf region. ...

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The Iran Saudi talks had already taken place and there was a sense of fatigue on both sides after the prolonged war in Yemen. The Chinese mediation was able to build on this to get the two sides to discuss their differences and come to an agreement. The situation in Russia and Ukraine is very different. China's interest in ending the war in Ukraine comes from its need to not let relations with the European Union deteriorate any further, as this will affect China's economic growth. The pandemic and supply chain shift to home country manufacturing is not likely to change even if China finds a way to keep its relations with the European Union from deteriorating further, as this shift is seen by the US and the European Union as part of the new way of meeting their own strategic interests in the new world following the pandemic.

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Arthritis drug Humira from Abbvie is shown in this NYT report as having made $114 billion from Humira using the US patent system to delay the introduction of competing products that would have lowered prices for Americans suffering from arthritis. NYT says the114 billion was made just since 2016 when competing products were coming to market. In 2022 this is ending as nine competitors including Pfizer come up with their competing products. In many ways the system of market competition does not operate in the way textbooks or free market advocates say. It is considered ok to engineer advantage within what is a supposedly a market competition system and to turn a blind eye to it. Is it acceptable when it comes to health products and when prices increase from the exorbitant to the outrageous. The Inflation Reduction Act of president Biden included efforts to prevent just such abuses of a market competition system to restore fairness after years of egregious behaviours.

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IMF forecasts are always behind the curve and come out a month or so after some event has happened. For fast paced events the lag makes the forecasts obsolete in a short time. Even so the IMF says the impact will be to reduce world growth from 3.2% to 2.5% based on situation today, a slight drop in growth. More impacted are the country's with weaker financial situation going into this period including countries in the Middle East and Africa, Asia. There are also indirect benefits from the naval blockade which is to accelerate the move to renewable energy reducing fossil fuels as a percentage of each country's energy mix with more room for nuclear and solar energy, and getting more efficient use of energy with Germany and Japan as examples.

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This view from the Editorial Board comes as Republicans in Congress geared up for a legislative victory decided to ignore the expert opinion of the Joint Committee on Taxation and polls showing a majority of Americans disapprove of the tax law. It says a "corrosive partisanship" that is affecting the nation has led to this decision. Not an informed consensus necessary to make real and lasting changes to the tax laws that increase growth without disrupting hard won gains in social cohesion after World War II.  Republicans pushed through a trillion and half dollars in tax cuts in the law that reduces the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%, and cut taxes in 2019 by 51 times ($51,400) for the top 1% of incomes compared to ($1000) for middle class families earning less than $100,000 (Tax Policy Center). The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates it will add $1 trillion to the U.S. deficit as only $500 billion is expected in increase in government revenues over a decade from additional economic growth. This is supported by evidence from countries such as Britain that implemented this type of corporate tax cut without generating much economic growth, says Greg Ip in the Wall Street Journal. The "victory" then comes at a high cost says the Washington Post- in years to come programs to help the growing lower middle class and working class will be subject to cuts and taxes will have to rise to balance budgets.   ...

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UK 'one in, one out' deal with France to return migrants crossing Channel in small boats November 2025. It is an effort that comes ten years after Denmark's Mette Frederiksen of the socialists pointed out the dangers of illegal migration to European society and five years after Wilders from the Netherlands pointed out the problems of illegal migration. 

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Unintended effects of Title 42 law introduced by president Trump which quickly returns migrants crossing the US border with Mexico leading to repeated crossings by the same persons. This leads to a more complicated picture at the border.  About 2 million will have attempted to cross the southern border in 2022 fiscal year. About 22% of crossings involve repeat border crossers.Two thirds of the 182,000 migrants crossing in July 2022 were single individuals. The pandemic hit Mexico and Central America hard and the quicker economic rebound in the US is leading to a surge in migrants looking for work. In addition to Central America asylum seekers come from Cuba and Venezuela with repressive action by regimes. Mexico only takes some of these migrants back. There is also a flow of illegal drugs across the border from Mexico which continues to this day even after the Trump Wall at the border, as most of it comes through official entry points. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have taken action of different kinds yet the problem remains unresolved. ...

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Little of what John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy fought hard for comes through in the next generation of Kennedys. Looking at Profiles of Courage and Kennedy's speeches one finds something authentic in its conversations about America past and present, about the world past and present. This authenticity is missing in the next generation and the passion for the themes of the day in Kennedy's time is long gone. Did Kennedy come in too early, too soon, Harry Truman would have him wait, giving Humphrey or others a chance. Profiles of Courage and its author would still have made a mark on America in the seventies and eighties. The examples JFK gives of people who put country before party are genuine and real, and they are relevant to today as others including Republican Lankford of Oklahoma who authored the immigration bill in the Senate -that Harris gave a pledge to sign in the nomination speech -are modern day embodiments of that courage They will join the list Kennedy covered. ...

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How Saturn is finding itself and trying to refocus its image and reach out to loyal customers. Efforts in ads that failed and the redesign thats working a lot better. See the way Saturn is redesigning its showrooms by not looking at competitors but looking at how Apple has redefined the retail experience in its stores that are a leader in this area with customers flocking to Apple stores. This is innovative approach of Saturn. See the slide show on this in the Sept 3, BW, on Saturn's new redesign of its showroom experience.