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JD Vance and the effort to reach the Memorandum of Understanding with Iran using its neighbors Egypt, Pakistan, and Qatar, Turkey in negotiations. Seen from the perspective of Asia- of all the Middle East countries, of Asian countries India, China and Japan, all these countries were involved in different ways to get that memorandum and 90 days of talks on the nuclear and other issues for Iran to access funds to stabilize its economy now in free fall. Each of these countries have prevailed in discussions that were conducted privately but whose result are amply evident, persuading DJT and Vance, Rubio, to take a different approach. And each of these countries have a major stake in ending the state of war that led to the events including the missile attacks and the bombing that also raised the price of oil and gas, fertilizer and restricted supply to the point that each country would suffer. There is now a collective will of all these countries and of countries like Brazil and Africa/Latin America to push for a new path. This is not understood in the media, because this was never before tried by previous administrations, and comes when the world as a whole is seeking a new approach.  ...

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Milbank describes Jon Kyl's role in the U.S. Congress Supercommittee negotiations on deficit reduction.

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Sadanand Dhume of the American Enterprise Institute and Arvind Panagriya of Columbia University, offer contrasting views on the performance of the Modi administration. There is a significant difference in the point of view. Dhume expresses the view of small business and some of the middle class hurt by demonetisation and the government move to check the growth in black money resulting in cooling off real estate prices. Panagriya cites the initiatives helping the poor and rural classes in an unprecedented way across the entire country.  Memories are short about the last 2 years of the Congress led government says Panagriya, when inflation was twice as high as it is now. Inflation then was 9.3% compared to 4.3% average for 4 years of the Modi government. GDP growth averaged 5.9% in the last 2 years of the Congress led government. The average GDP growth for the 4 years of the Modi government was 7.3%. Foreign investment dropped during the last 2 years of the Congress led government, and allegations of corruption in issuance of telecom licenses dominated the news. Indecision of the Congress led Manmohan Singh government led to a serious lack of sense of direction in government in 2013-2014. ...

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Defense Secretary Gates does not see Russia as the threat it was in the Cold War, first because Russia's conventional forces are a "shadow" of what they were during the Cold War, and Russia has adverse demographic trends that will diminish Russia's ability in conventional forces. He sees the Georgian war in the context of Russia's seeking to exorcize, as he puts it, past humiliations. And Gates sees opportunities in the relationship with Russia. Such things as Russia's willingness to work with the US on Afghanistan. Evidence of this is Russia supporting the renwal of the UN resolution on Afghanistan. Another indication is that Russia he says is very worried about the drugs coming out of Afghanistan, and has been supportive to provide alternative routes for Europeans to get equipment and supplies into Afghanistan. These views come across in an interview on December 17, with Charlie Rose, a five time elected Congressman, for the PBS Charlie Rose show. They are also reflected in an article in Foreign Affairs journal's current issue. Gates was a CIA analyst and has some insightful observations. Gates told Charlie Rose that he does not see the Islamic radicals and violent Islamic extremists as a threat in the same way as the threat in the Cold War years. This threat is not as big as the threat to freedom during the Cold War. He says the failure in strategic communications was huge as agencies of the US government engaged in activities in other countries, like the Agency for International Development and the US Information Agency, were neglected starting in the in the 1990's. Communications in other countries of what the US represented and stands for was left to the Pentagon, a role the Pentagon was ill-suited for. He sees the Islamic terrorism as more of an ideological conflict. Speaking at a town hall meeting at the Balad Air Force base in Iraq, in December, Gates pointed to these communications failures as a real challenge for the new administration. But he now sees a huge opportunity in this past failure, and ways of addressing it creatively, in addition to commiting resources and people to this effort. Walter Pincus wrote this article, and its part of the fineprint analysis effort at the Washington Post in which speeches, reports, and other documents are examined by people like Pincus, to catch the really important things, uncovering the fine print that really makes the headlines. Another aspect of this fineprint effort is that there are a huge number of reports, and speeches and documents that had a tone reminiscent of the Cold War during the Georgia war and yet they do not correctly reflect the real situation about Russia, as Gates sees it from his analysis of what is actually happening. Gates has used Foreign Affairs, the Dec 17 Charlie Rose Show on PBS in which he was interviewed, and the speech at the Balad Air Force base in Iraq, to communicate his views and analysis. They are important to underline and emphasize precisely because they show that all that cold war hysteria reporting and speeches may be misleading and lead to improper conclusions and mistakes in policy, wasted effort, wasted resources, and lost lives. And just as the US strategic communications was starved of resources and effort, so also this necessary work to retrieve and give emphasis to the important things is neglected. One additional link to this is the speech, discussion, and QA session in Washington DC at the time of the G20 summit in which President Medvedev and the new administration's elder statesman and diplomat Marilyn Albright, former secretary of state, expressed their hopes and plans for a new era in Russian-American relations. ...

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The French national assembly votes 551 to 6 with one abstention to extend for 3 months a national state of emergency imposed after the day of the Paris attacks in November 2015. Prime minister Manuel Valls says "the state of emergency, it's true, justifies certain temporary restrictions on liberties, but resorting to this gives us every chance to fully restore these liberties." Belgium is also taking strong action. The director of Carnegie Europe voices popular opinion when he says this is intended to regain some trust after the lax approach of Begian authorites, and lack of strong action in France in the past.

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Students are failing in math and need remedial preparation. Professors are alarmed at UCLA and UC San Diego. Governor Newsom pushed his not well thought out initiative to remove SAT/ACT preparation so that it would help disadvantaged students when it is exactly that kind of rigor that all students need. And to help disadvantaged student special programs and teachers should be setup before college entry not remove rigorous preparation requirements that all student can take and benefit from preparation. There is no substitute for discipline and hard work in education and this starts early in the K-12 process and goes through all the level to 12th grade when the preparation all over the world gets rigorous, as it is in Asian countries and in Europe.

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This video and reports from the G-7 Summit in Les Bains, France is notable for one aspect that was missing throughout previous administrations and provides clues on the discussions that must have taken place for the Iran peace memorandum approach for 90 days of talks. India's Modi is at the table, so is Lula of Brazil, for the first time a G9. Both Lula and Modi are shown at the opposite side of the table from the European leaders. Another picture of the table shows Modi on the right of DJT and Macron on his left suggesting the important role that India has played behind the scenes to the memorandum approach to put the burden of talks on the details to a next 90 day phase of discussion. It makes sense after so many missile attacks and bombing to create a period of calm for discussions. It has also benefits for the US and EU/Japan in G7 now the G-9 with India and Brazil and G-9 plus 1 with Egypt brought in for discussions. This type of involvement and intense discussions to solve conflict are unknown in previous administrations and with no details about the agreement the media is left without a clue. Yet it is clear from this involvement of every major nation, as Lyrarc.com shows however rancorous the disagreements and back and forth including from Merz, Starmer, Macron to DJT, that something significant has been achieved- getting everyone to the table for frank and open discussions for a path forward. That includes G-9 as Lyrarc calls it and Russia, China where talks were held by DJT in Alaska and Beijing in 2025 and 2026. It could be called G-9 + 3 (China, Russia and Egypt). The importance of Egypt is that it is the most populous nation in the Middle East. The issues of food security (fertilizer supply), energy (oil and gas), and nuclear free Middle East are important to all these nations. In addition Pakistan serves on the Board of Peace.  This brings as collective world opinion to help the US lead in its shared goal with these 13 nations to bring about a solution for the people of the world on the nuclear issue and restore each to the path of development and modernization, including Iran with its neighbors support in the best way possible. A good insight into this is evident just from looking at the situation facing Pakistan and also India, both are nuclear powers yet both have suffered (even more so nations with military structures such as the Pakistan military and the Iranian RGC with diversion of resources to military), both Pakistan and India have suffered from the economic crisis with nuclear power making little difference in the lives of the people with shortage of energy and decline in growth.  By bringing in all nations into the discussion on nuclear free Middle East- the US and its partners India, Japan, Brazil, along with Russia and China- a first major step has been achieved to set the path for reindustrialization/infrastructure building in the US and Europe. And for modernization/infrastructure building in India, Pakistan, Egypt and Brazil, sustained development out of middle income status for China. ...

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This report in the Washington Post says the cancellation of the Trump meeting with Kim Jong-un of North Korea was the result of a lack of detailed planning and lower level meetings before a top level meeting. The more that Trump mentioned "Libya" the more North Korea turned hostile leading to the cancellation by president Trump. North Korea has long seen the Libyan route where Moammar Khaddafi of Libya closed all nuclear facilities as leading to the fall of the dictator and his government.  Experts say the Trump unconventional way of diplomacy is not entirely disproven, yet this shows it has its limits in what can be accomplished. It is also one of highs and lows, moving in one direction and then in the opposite direction in a short period.

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The culture clash of Mike Lynch and managers at Autonomy with officers under CEO Meg Whitman, after the acquisition by H-P, leads to the departure of most of the Autonomy managers.

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Dominic Raab Britain's Foreign Secretary reflects on the period when Boris Johnson was in hospital for close to 1 month when he took over running the government in Johnson's place. Raab took over when Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital with coronavirus on April 5, 2020. With Mr. Trump admitted to Walter Reed Hospital the situation in Washington D.C brings back memories of the difficult days in April in London.

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German chancellor Merkel appeals to Christian Democrats in the German parliament to support the European Financial Stability Fund. Other 17 members of the eurozone will have to approve their share of the rescue fund's guarantees.

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See the BBC show geography of the Straits Hormuz of Iran and Saudi/Oman. Would Iran block the Straits of Hormuz, the narrow waters in the Persian Gulf where Oman, Saudi Arabia on one side and Iran on the other meet. At some points the corridor in the sea which is 20 miles wide at narrowest point, is 108 miles long, is only 6 miles wide for oceangoing tankers carrying a fifth of world oil supplies. The reason Iran woul be hesitant to do this are- Iran supplies China with discounted oil through these Straits. Iran central bank says $67 billion of its total oil exports go through the Straits Hormuz, 90% of it to China. China gets a third of its oil supplies from the Saudis/Iran through these Straits. India gets 40% of its oil supplies, Japan 75% and South Korea 60% of crude oil supplies through tankers plying this waterway. It would put China and  all industrialized countries in opposition to Iran. It would also cut Iranian oil exports and leave it's oil based economy unfunded.   ...

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How 13% unemployment is affecting Lawrence, Massachusetts, with a heavy Latino population, heavier concentration of foreclosures and poorly managed finances, and high rate of unemployment that affects those with high school diplomas, and younger people. Unemployment nationwide is 7.3% among whites and 10.9% among Latinos. And places like Lawrence have a young and undereducated population, with the unemployment rate for teenagers at 21.6% and for those without a highschool diploma at 12.6%. Surprising as it may sound the town was going through a revival before this happened suddenly without warning. It was a fading industrial city 25 miles northwest of Boston. A new $110 million high school, three new grade schools, and a renovated city hall. And a developer refurbished several abandoned mills along the Merricmack River, and leased out 1.4 million square feet to some 200 companies employing 2000 workers.

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Gone are the days when Gandhi's India was stuck for 50 years in a sort of wavering in its standing up with America. Gone are the days of John Foster Dulles and the Eisenhower administration and the Kennedy administration following British policies of not seeing India's potential. Gone are the days when Nehru's own lack of comprehension and grasp of India's potential and the potential of 1.4 billion people made him put India in a non-aligned movement that was going nowhere with the likes of Yugoslavia (that no longer exists) and Egypt ( which is struggling). This is what Jaishankar referred to as "overcoming the hesitations of history", and Rubio as "perfectly positioned." Deep introspection on both sides with the live events in West Asia of 2025 and 2026, America's willingness to confront the issues in a straightforward manner under DJT, and Modi's patience, willingness to wait and still build for the US the strong relationships that it was loosening up with the European Union to regain the initiative in the western hemisphere with the Monroe Doctrine (Merz visit to India and Modi visit to the Nordic Summit/EU Summit in Oslo), proving the maturity of the relationship. America did not need to cover its own relationships across the Atlantic while attending to the damage done by drug cartels and foreign interventions in its backyard leading to more loss of lives in drug deaths than the Korean, Vietnam and WWI combined. India had already done so and would hold the relationships together in the interests of the Modern World created by Britain, the US, and the countries of Europe through the Renaissance, the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions. In a way Asia had matured- both China and India keen to join the Modern World of science and technology, of modernization, are on the same path, and seek relationships that matter, India on the American side and China in a arrangement of cooperation with competition, at the very time the European nations led by Britain and Germany were faced with struggles from European history from 1700 of how to deal with differences they have with their large Northern neighbor Russia and its concerns about NATO. ...

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Hillary Clinton narrowly loses the Michigan primary to Bernie Sanders in March 2016, as the Sanders campaign focusses on Clinton's support for trade agreements that hurt American workers and lead to loss of manufacturing jobs. About three fifths of voters in the Michigan primary considered this a major issue. Many less educated younger workers see their job prospects diminish and wages drop with free trade that hurts American manufacturing jobs. Bill Clinton signed the NAFTA agreement with Mexico, and as a member of the Obama administration Clinton supported the Trans Pacific Trade Agreement, later opposing TPP when she left the cabinet. Sentiment against trade that hurts manufacturing jobs in the U.S. is strongest in midwestern states such as Michigan, Ohio and Illinois. This was also a major issue benefitting the Liberals under Justin Trudeau who won in Canada's industrial Ontario province which has suffered hollowing out and loss of manufacturing jobs under the Conservative Harper administration. In the U.S. the issue goes back to the Clinton Administration for two decades. New jobs created by Apple, Google, and other tech companies pale in comparison with the industrial jobs created in another era that benefitted working class families. This issue and high unemployment or under employment, lower wages for working class families, was a major issue in the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign. Widening wealth disparities, and lack of upward mobility, high tution and healthcare costs for ordinary families, dominated the campaign in the U.S....

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Chile and the dilemma of copper exports taking up 57.8% of exports in 2009, from 54.4% in 2005, making 15.5% of GDP. With the surge in China's growth Latin America remains as tied to commodities exports as it has been for decades, facing boom and bust cycles and not able to diversify into value added and industrial products. A regional economic commission says in a report, that Latin American and Caribean exports were over 50% in raw materials in 1980 and declined to 27% in 1999, and back up to 39% in 2009.

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By acquiring Vodafone Japan Softbank CEO Son brought competition to the industry and challenged the duopoly of DocoMo and KDD telecom providers. After acquiring Sprint Son is taking a hands on approach to shakeup management at the company, which has lagged behind T-Mobile in building its subscriber base. After years of losses Sprint now faces the prospect of a complete makeover from the old way of doing things. Sprint is based in Overland, Kansas. Son says Sprint is like Japanese lords in feudal Japan who controlled everything in their lands, and said Sprint is a Kansas Daimyo. Masayoshi Son has asked executives to fire all the ad agencies and start over, at one point asking executives if they were stupid. Son has established shadow offices at San Carlos, California to monitor weekly progress at Sprint.

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Newly elected president Poroshenko's personal relations with Putin and his connections to Russia's business interests will help him improve relations with Putin. He wants to have substantive preparations for talks with Russia so that progress is made in relations and in other issues. Putin has said he will respect the results of the Ukraine election. Senators Portman and Cardin, and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright were in Kiev to monitor the elections, and found them to be fair and properly conducted. Turnout was high and voters rejected the old world politics of the main rival candidate Tymoshenko, who received only 13% of the vote compared to Poroshenko's 54%. Poroshenko is a businessman who started out in chocolate, but has business interests in automobiles and owns television station 5. He was Speaker of parliament, and Trade minister in previous governments. The election result and voter rejection of the old politics gives a fresh start, and a chance for Russia, Germany and the EU to move forward. Russian president Putin had serious problems with the old politicians and may find it easier to work with Poroshenko. American led sanctions provide Russia an incentive to resolve the situation to give Russia's economy a chance to recover from serious capital outflows. Poroshenko is pro-EU, with enough Russian connections to maintain confidence in Russian-Ukrainian relations, for the fresh start Ukrainians are looking for. His focus is on economic development, with jobs as a priority for the young people facing extremely high unemployment....

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Friedman points to the need for workers to have a Curiosity Quotient or C.Q., and Passion Quotient or P.Q., in addition to Intelligence Quotient I.Q. to compete in a digital hyperconnected world. The ubiquitiousness of tech devices, instant access to information, learning and knowledge, for people in remote cities to smaller towns everywhere, reduces the span in which a particular knowledge subset is relevant. New developments take place faster creating continual obsolescence and need for constant learning and curiosity.

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Lt. Gen Trainor and Michael Gordon describe the situation during the last months of U.S. presence in Iraq. President Obama is ambivalent about the size of the military presence he would like to leave, settling for 3000 troops and a few F-16's from a inital figure of 10,000. Obama sees the presidential election approaching and sets an objective of keeping it minimal. The military cooperation treaty with Iraq has to be approved by a Iraqi parliament with different factions in parliament not likely to approve it. Prime Minister Malliki decides not to move ahead. In the end no military cooperation treaty is signed after 8 years of war and a date is set for a complete withdrawal. Iraqi airspace is used by Iran to ship supplies to Syria's Assad regime, and the U.S. has less leverage in the region as the Arab world goes through a transition to popular government and elections. The Obama administration shifts most of its attention to Afghanistan where the U.S. has no vital stake in the long run compared to the Middle East region, with its large population, growing economies, move towards democracy and meeting the aspirations of hundreds of millions of young people. One Middle Eastern leader says the U.S. had no long term policy under the Obama administration for Iraq, and this applies also to the rest of the Middle East region, and mostly reacted to events as they happened. The Obama administration's committment to the war in Afghanistan, just as it focussed on winding down the war in Iraq, responded to the American public's waning support for the war in Iraq. It did not reduce the total cost of the conflicts because of the initial escalation of the war in Afghanistan and later slow progress towards a negoiated settlement to that conflict. A negotiated settlement is the best the U.S. could achieve, and the best desired objective considering the limited interests in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan most of the dynamics would be determined in the long run by the situation in Pakistan, and India-Pakistan relations, which the U.S. could influence constructively only through dialogue, promoting cooperation between the two countries, and economic relations....

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A severe drought is affecting parts of Mexico in January 2012. About two million people are left without access to water. The Agriculture Ministry estimates total loss for 7% of Mexico's agricultural land. The worst affected areas are in the Sierra Madre in the north. The Mexican government has approved $2.63 billion in aid to the worst affected regions. These are rural parts of 19 of 31 Mexican states. The drought is likely to increase inflation in the latter part of 2012, as it is leading to higher prices for corn and beans.