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The Guardian's Geof Lemon shows how India's lower order collapsed not able to hold on for 14 overs or just one hour on the final day of the MCG Test in Melbourne, Australia. After 30 from 103 balls Rishabh Pant became impatient without a goal in mind and took aim at the 104th from Travis Head over midwicket into Mitchell Marsh's hands. This started the collapse when the tea session was close at hand on the final day and India could easily have batted out the rest of the day. Boland, Cummins, and Lyon ran through the lower order with some excellent catching in the field. Australia lead 2-1 as the cricketers head to Sydney. The Indians have a lot to think about, including the absence of Shubman Gill, the failure of Rohit Sharma in batting, the Australian lower order Lyon and Cummins putting up resistance and the Indian lower order folding so quickly in the final hours on the fifth day. For the Australians a record is broken with 75,000 watching the final day of the Test cricket at MCG cricket ground. ...

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Lt. Gen. Frederick "Ben" Hodges is the U.S. Army Commander in Europe. He describes the threats facing the U.S. in an interview with Sohrab Ahmari of the WSJ. Hodges says Russians are preparing for a conflict five or six years down the road, and should have capabilities built up in 2 to 3 years. The U.S. military remains stretched with 9 of 10 division headquarters committed to some requirement, and new crises popping up unpredictably, such as Islamic State and Ukraine in 2014- a situation not faced even at the height of the engagement in Afghanistan and Iraq. The budget sequestration cuts continue to limit the army's capabilities just when additional resources are needed. Hodges calls for depth in resources as the only way for the army to be there to counteract bad actors in Europe or the Middle East, or some other place. With further budget cuts the army will have to drop down to 420,000 personnel from 500,000 today, just when the number of crisis areas are increasing, hurting preparedness and modernization....

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This report by Goodman in the NYT shows that the ANC has lost most of the moral authority it had under Mandela. After 9 years under president Zuma, and after the term of his predecessor Mr. Mbeki from 1999-2008, South Africa remains stuck with stagnant economy, and about two thirds of young people in the townships being jobless. The challenge is how to change the economy to where growth is generated and benefits go to a broader section of the population. Problems the new president Ramaphosa faces are how to change the protections given to conglomerates that dominated the economy under Apatheid, and the patronage network that evolved with the ANC in the post Apartheid era. Growth performance of the South African economy is dismal. According to the World Bank the South African economy in 2016 was about the size of the economy in 2009. Many warnings about the economy and the operation of the state run electric utility appeared during Mr. Zuma's presidency, including one by former president De Klerk. Growth in 2018 is expected to be only about 1.1%. The economic gains by the largely black population have suffered with lack of growth and mismanagement of the economy. Official unemployment is at 27%, with about two thirds of the young people in the townships being jobless.  ...

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The devaluation of the Argentine peso from 9.8 to the dollar to 13 to the dollar in Dec. 2015 by president Macri is leading to higher inflation hurting the working class. The cutting of export taxes is helping farmers. Removing most currency controls is designed to help increase foreign investment by letting foreign companies freely repatriate profits. Also expected to be removed are bureaucratic procedures that limit imports of new equipment for manufacturers. Middle class voters see the moves helping the economy in the long run with new foreign investment and changing the outlook for investment. A former central bank president Mario Blejer points out that after 12 years of the previous Kirchner administration Argentina needs investment- by improving the outlook for investment and removing import controls the government plans to stimulate investment to lead to economic growth. Inflation is up 25% and Macri is keeping Mrs. Kirchner's price control programs in place to prevent a surge in inflation beyond the impact of the devaluation. ...

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GDP growth for the 17 eurozone countries showed a 0.2% decline in the second quarter of 2012, according to Eurostat, the EU's statistics agency. The German econonomy showed GDP growth in the second quarter 2012 of 0.3%, France showed zero growth for the third consecutive quarter. Italy and Spain showed negative 0.7% and negative 0.4% growth during the quarter. The ZEW indicator of sentiment in Germany fell to its lowest level reflecting German manufacturers reluctance to invest in new equipment. As the eurozone economic growth remains flat and declining for longer period, German business sees this affecting German exports. Analysts at Commerzbank and Dutch Bank ING see a further slowdown in the German economy in the second half 2012. The German economy showed GDP growth of 0.5% in the first quarter 2012, compared to the prior quarter, before declining to 0.3% in the second quarter. Further decline is now expected.

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The manufacturing purchasers index for the eruozone was 45.1, remaining at the same level as May, a three year low, according to survey firm Markit. The figures are based on a survey of purchasing executives. Index figures below 50 indicate contraction in the manufacturing sector. Germany was at a PMI of 45, Spain at 41.1. The PMI reports indicate a contraction of 1% at an annualized rate for the eurozone economies in the 2nd quarter of 2012.

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The economic crisis hit the eastern part of Ukraine, the region aound Donetsk, especially hard with a 50% drop in industrial production in Jan 2009. This region of about 4.6 million people has 80% of its economy related to the metals industry, a legacy of heavy industry from the Soviet period.

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During the campaign and in the crucial Iowa primary Obama used newspapers, small and large, to get his ideas across. At one point he gave six interviews to one columnist for the Daily Times Herald of Carroll, Iowa, (circulation: 6,000). He chatted with reporters from papers like the Mason City Globe Gazette, Fort Dodge Messenger, and met with editorial boards of papers throughout Iowa. Some of these media may just be curious to hear a new kind of message, and Obama could use the communication skills developed in years of writing to express his ideas and his vision all in a casual setting, seeing faces, expressions, feeling the way the way people responded, and all the time listening to what they had to say. Now the same approach is to take world newspapers as another outlet through the Tribune Media Services which enables him to run an oped column in 30 papers around the globe. Here is the list: Arab papers are Al Wataan (Gulf States) Asharq Al Aswat (regional paper in Arabic), Gulf News (Gulf States), Saudi Gazette. European papers are: Corriere della Sera of Italy, Die Welt of Germany, International Herald Tribune of Paris, Eleftyropiea (Greece), Kristeligt Dagblad of Denmark, Le Monde of France, Lidove Noviny of Czechoslovakia, NRC Handelsblad of Netherlands, Svenska Dagbladet of Sweden, WPRost of Poland. South American papers: El Mercurio of Chile, Estado Sao Paulo of Brazil, Clarin of Argentina. South Asian and Asian papers: Hindusthan Times/ The Hindu of India, The News of Pakistan, South China Morning Post of HongKong, Straits Times of Singapore, Yomiuri Shimbun of Japan, Bangkok Post of Thailand. In South Africa the Sunday TImes, in Australia the Sydney Morning Herald, and The Australian, and in the USA, the Tribune papers which are Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun. These are all distributed through the connection and means of the Tribune Media Services. The key point inthis communication effort is to signal something that may not have sunk in, in many parts of the world. A deep and all pervasive truth that is emerging from this crisis. We are all in this together in ways you can't imagine, as were in one boat and we float or sink in it together. Leave language, culture, borders aside, its aprofoundly new world in which the Obama story itself of multiculturalism may just be scratching the surface of really deep pervasive changes that are happening. Obama may actually not have hit this point hard enough. "Once and for all, we have learned that the success of the American economy is inextricably linked to the global economy.There is no line between action that restores growth within our borders and action that supports it beyond. If people in other countries cannot spend, markets dry up- already we have seen the biggest drop in American exports in nearly four decades, which has led directly to American job losses." This is dramatically proven by the latest Commerzbank estimates that show the 2 largest export based economies, Germany and Japan will see a contraction of GDP of 7%, USA 4% contraction and China, Eastern Europe and other parts of Asia and Latin America will also be impacted severely by the same phenomenon of markets drying up around the globe. And Obama offers the simple message that the United States is ready to lead, and asks its partners in the G20 to join with a sense of urgency and common purpose. Obama goes on to say that " we need not choose between a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism and an oppressive government-run economy. That is a false choice that will not serve our people or any people." ...

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This article by Lithuanian president Dalia Grysbauskaite, on the 75th anniversary of the Welles declaration points to a path for other Eastern European countries seeking membership in the new Europe. The declaration by Sumner Welles, acting Secretary of State, on July 23, 1940, stated that the U.S. did not recognize the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia. It says the other Eastern European states such as Ukraine need to follow Lithuania's example to fight corruption, transform their economies, and create a foundation for the future, for integration into the European Union.

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As Turkey's trade ties with the other countries in the Middle East and Asia increase there is less support for joining the European Union. In 2004 12.5% of Turkey's exports went to the Middle East, today this is up to 20%. This figure is expected to increase after the Arab Spring and new economic opportunities in the region, according to one business group leader. Turkey's exports to Europe in 2010 were about 56%. As Cyprus takes the rotating presidency of the European Union in July 2012, Turkey plans to boycott the presidency and freeze negotiations. In 1974 Turkey invaded Cyprus and set up a rival government in the Turkish part of Cyprus. The talks may be abandoned if no progress is made by 2014, according to Turkish officials. Turkish public opinion is also shifting away from favoring joining the EU. Surveys by the German Marshall Fund show 38% of Turks saw membership as a good thing in 2010, compared to 73% in 2004.