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Shabana Mahmood, Labour MP, is Keir Starmer's campaign chief for the Labour party. She describes how she struggled over the years to bring the party to where it is now- having a new level of support from the British people. She is Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood. Her first experience with Labour comes from being with her father who was chairman of the Labour party in the area she represents in parliament. Her father was an engineer who came from Kashmir, had been to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and had a great deal of reverence for the British system of parliamentary government. Mahmood met Sunak at Lincoln's College, Oxford, in her junior year. 

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This NYT report on Mohamed Bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates, who comes from Abu Dhabi one of the 7 emirates in the Gulf Coastal region, is rare and unusual. It provides stories the prince loves to tell that make a point about how he sees the world. Here he tells them to Robert F. Worth, in the only interview Mohamed bin Zayad has ever given to a journalist from US or Europe. It took a year just to get the interview. The title about a Dark Vision is inappropriate as Mohamed Zayad simply reflects what is a British way of looking at things- valuing the Constitution, keeping religion private even its deeply held beliefs and cultural traditions such as Bedouin's practice, and a general tolerance that characterizes British society and similar societies throughout the history of Europe and Asia that were sitting on shipping lanes and practiced trade for a livelihood. It is also important because the other Mohamed, Mohamed Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia is seen as someone influenced by the ideas of Mohamed Bin Zayad of Abu Dhabi. President Biden plans a trip to the region in coming months to continue on building a narrative of development for the region. This provide an insight into the coastal regions that include Gujarat across the Gulf in India, that for centuries traded with the Gulf kingdoms. They have a trading mentality and with it comes a tolerance that is also seen in trading nations such as England. This is what brought Britain to India (and China) says Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi went so far as to say that if there was trade on the moon you would find a British shopkeeper was first to setup shop there. Zayed has as a minister in his cabinet, a woman who is minister of Tolerance, Sheikha Lubna al Quasimi.  Zayed is unique for three reasons. He has embedded in his views the spirit of tolerance. As Worth puts it in NYT, Zayed has grasped what is true to the spirit of the Gulf region. The country's location on an ancient shipping lane has bred a type of Islam in the Gulf region, that is open to the world and tolerant.  His father Zayed Nahyan's  tendencies to openness and frank demeanor combine with this tolerance to provide a different kind of leadership. His father had the pluralist instincts that combined traditional Bedouin attitudes with a rare liberal mindedness. He died at age 86 in 2004. Zayed bin Nahyan MBZ's father was selected for these very reasons by the British in 1966 to rule the small Gulf kingdom of Abu Dhabi. In 1966, says this NYT report, the country was mostly illiterate, half of all children died during childbirth and one third of the women during childbirth, there was a complete lack of western medicine. Zayed Nahyan's brother was averse to development making the British select Zayed Nahyan at the request of Abu Dhabhi families. These early years shaped Mohamed Bin Zayed's views of how to see the world. Zayed the son loves to tell stories, and this one in the NYT shows how Mohamed bin Zayed the son and Mohamed bin Nahyan the father share a sense of what it means to be human and support all people's aspirations for a better life. This is the narrative in India and the region of 1.8 billion people that extends from India to Indonesia and Vietnam. This was seen at the G7 when leaders of India and Indonesia were invited to meet with the G7 in Munich, Germany and taken as utterly serious participants in the discussions to shape the Free World. To see the difference- UAE has signed agreements to increase trade with India to $100 billion over 5 years and was thanked by prime minister Modi for treatment of 8 million Indian workers in the Gulf region during the pandemic. Saudis are now stabilizing the Turkish and Egyptian economies with aid and providing some of the funding assistance for Siemens to modernize the entire Egyptian rail system with the latest technology over the next 5 years. Projects of this size that have never been undertaken since 1945. Sometime in the 1980's when Zayed was a young military officer having completed training at the Royal British Military Academy at Sandhurst, England, and educated in Scotland, he went to the grasslands of Tanzania. During his visit to Tanzania he went to several villages to see the Masai tribes. When he returned he sat with his father crosslegged on the floor in traditional Bedouin and Asian style and told him about his travels. His father asked Zayed about all the details- the wildlife, the Masai people and their customs, the extent of poverty in the country. After hearing it all his father asked Zayed what he had done for the people he had encountered. In response Zayed shrugged and answered, the people he met were not Muslims. Zayed still recalls his father's reaction, sudden, forceful and indelible from memory. Zayad says his father took a sudden hold of his arm and spoke to him in a harsh tone and stern demeanor- " We are all God's children."     ...

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As the market in larger cities matures, the market in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities is where most of the growth is expected in China's market. An expanding middle class is one source of buyers. One forecast is for 51% of Chinese families having disposable income of 106,000 yuan to 229,000 yuan or between $17,000 and $37,000 by 2020, according to McKinsey. There were only 6% in that income range in 2010, showing how skewed the income distribution was, and why the growth of luxury cars has benefitted BMW, Benz and GM. A new generation of younger buyers is another source of growth- Nissan's chief planning officer, Andy Palmer estimates the youth market at 240 million. This group is being called the Transformers generation. A big surge in buying for SUV's has helped companies such as Ford Motor Company. Benz and Ford plan to add new dealerships, with Benz planning dealerships in 40 new cities and opening 100 new stores in 2014. Audi is planning a new certified used car program to keep used car resale values high....

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The Saudi increase production but only by a modest amount of 300,000 barrels a day. President Bush meets the Saudi king in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and with Al Naimi, the Saudi oil minister. Pressure is increasing in Congress as some Democrats are calling for sanctions against the Saudi government. The Saudi position is that they will increase production only if the refineries demand it. Odd position because refineries are not going to increase demand as long as they have to pay higer prices for crude oil and their margins are shrinking from higher oil prices- this is true of the independent refiners like Valero and Tesoro.

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Britain is too dependent on China for 71 goods that are critical for infrastructure and the economy, says the Jackson Society. This includes industrial chemicals, metal products, and consumer electronics such as mobile phones and laptops.

A group of 20 conservative MP's are seeking an amendment for a trade bill going through parliament, and calling for an audit of imported goods from China, and efforts to make trade deals that reduce this dependency. The group of MP's has written to Liz Truss, the Trade Secretary, and includes former ministers Ian Duncan Smith, David Davis, Owen Paterson. The group of MP's says that the coronavirus pandemic has made all nations reassess their approach to trade and supply chains for security.

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Heavy foreign borrowings from Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, help sustain the Turkish economy in 2022. Private companies reduce their non lira borrowings after dollar borrowings became unsustainable. Inflation reaching a high of 80% is likely to ease in 2023 to 20% in line with global inflation in other countries. Turkey's current account deficit is about 0.3 billion in November, down from 2.9 billion the prior month as global energy prices decline. The dollar is coming down from its peak and central banks are expected to bring rates down with slowing inflation. The net international reserves have reached $23 billion. A 60% drop in the currency has increased tourism revenues. Mr. Erdogan is likely to run again for president in 2023, which will be his last run for the presidency. 

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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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Nehru's speech on the first anniversary of Indian Independence reflects the troubles of partition, integrating princely states, the refugees from Pakistan, and the world situation in 1948 with civil war and hyper inflation in China, Berlin blockade by Russia, and the impending invasion of South Korea by June 1949. Nehru talk about the "Kartavya" of the ordinary citizens, the path shown by Gandhi, self-reliance, and courage, discipline, grit needed in hard times. Nehru's Kashmiri Hindi differs from the more western accent to Hindi of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Both are shown on this page in audio broadcasts from the All India Archives and gives one a feel for the times and their relevance to guide India towards Vikshit Bharat 2047.

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The 2018 report on doing Business ratings shows China at 78th place same as before when it should be 85th in the world. The World Bank is correcting the data in the report. It is seen as the result of manipulation of data as a result of "undue pressure" reported by members of the the Doing Business ratings team at the World Bank. The 2020 report is also being corrected for giving the UAE and Saudi Arabia a higher rating. The review was carried out by senior management of the World Bank in place in June 2020.

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Experiment conducted at the Gujarat Electricity Board by researchers from MIT and Harvard on correcting the flaws in the audit process for compliance with pollution control regulations by heavily polluting plants. The experiment is conducted in the state of Gujarat in northwestern India. The heavy polluters faced a audit process where fees were paid out of a central fund, were told plants could be audited for a scond time for false reporting on pollutants emittted, and faced additional disincentives of cut off of electricity supplies for noncompliance in correct reporting. This type of improvement is relevant for pollution control in China, India, Indonesia and other developing countries with similiar reporting issues and non compliance with pollution laws. Noncompliance and cozy relationships with auditors and regulators is a major problem for implementing pollution laws in these countries.