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Israel's use of latest generation F-35 aircraft, modified for its own use, and drone attacks from within Iran changed the course of the war in the first 48 hours. Israel now controls skies over Iran. Missiles launched from within Iran continue to operate but are being targeted by Israeli planes including the use of its older aircraft. Air defenses and missile launching places within Iran are being steadily put out operation which makes it difficult to launch missiles as the days pass. This WSJ report compares the Ukraine war with the air wars with Iran, saying Russia did not operate its planes over Ukraine after the first days of the war. US warnings helped Ukraine prepare its air defenses and the better integration of air defense capabilities across cyber and other lines helped Ukraine maintain control over its skies. Russia was left with missile attacks and drone attacks and a slow war of attrition in the Ukraine War which resulted in staggering casualties. With Germany stepping in under Merz the Ukraine war enters a new phase after Russian gains in 2024. Germany is stepping in to the role played by the US working with France and Britain, as the US focuses its energies on the other threat posed by China in the Indo-Pacific region.  Eventually this will lead to another stalemate in the war in Ukraine after a swing one way, then a swing the other way, and now a swing back to where both sides have little to gain and reach a compromise, Ukraine giving up sovereignty to regions controlled by Russia and Russia recognizing Ukraine as an independent nation. ...

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As one group of B-2's headed west pver the Pacific, another group quietly headed east to bomb the Iranian nuclear weapons development sites. The intent was to carry out the decision made by the US and the EU and tacitly supported by Russia, China, India, and the world, to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. It is now evident that since the beginning of 2025 the number on priority of the DJT administration in foreign policy was to end Iran's effort to get a nuclear weapon. This is why the US DJT administration brought together Gulf regimes Qatar and UAE, Saudis for $2 trillion in business and economic deals in a DJT visit in May 2025. It is also evident that when India launched air strikes on Pakistan terrorist bases in June the US president DJT ended the war quickly in 72 hours. The Pakistan military head met with DJT in the White House a week back. This was preparation for the plan to take out the nuclear sites with minimal regional instability, a goal of the American people after Reagan/Bush miscalculations in supporting Hussein in Iraq and creating the Middle East wars Americans have had enough of. It may close a chapter of violent conflicts in the Middle East to be replaced with US support for India, UAE/Qatar/Saudi, Pakistan economic deals economic agreements. Much of the Indian media fails to understand this. The job of a US president if done right has responsibilities to the Nation and the World, after all the missteps of his predecessors DJT is stepping into this role. ...

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Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and his views on relations between China and the U.S.

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China's perception of the US as a declining power is a miscalculation, yet it appears to influence Chinese policy in 2010-2011.

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To get a right grasp of the situation as a whole from the bigger picture than the headlines, is to know that even in the current chaotic immigration handling of both parties, the US comes out a winner in long term by 2034. That it gives for the younger generation a better future. Congress's Budget Office economic report shows GDP higher by 2% from the higher immigration of 5.2 million added to the US workforce by 2034. US productivity higher by 0.2% and residential investment including construction up by a whopping 10%. The younger profile of immigrants will help the US compete with India's younger population, and as China ages to have what it and Europe is aspiring to have- a younger population. The best way to look at the immigration issue is for the short term- manage it better by organized method of immigration without chaotic border crossings by allowing potential immigrants to apply from their home country, a step taken by the Biden administration. What it or any Republican administration could not control is the immigration that happens from countries the US is at war with or in conflict with. It is important to recognize that this is what happened with Venezuela the largest component of the immigration border crossings in 2023. It was made worse by actions of both parties Democrats and Republicans and made worse in 2017 by more severe sanctions on Venezuela under the Trump administration.  Also part of the problem is Venezuelan mismanagement- providing oil at pennies a gallon, hurting imports and spiralling inflation that only worsened under US sanctions after 2017. Long term- To reflect that US sanctions on top of mismanagement by Venezuela is a warning for all developing countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia and for the US. It meant 7 million refugees a staggering quarter of Venezuela's population fleeing the country, that burdened neighbors Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile. By 2022-2023 many of these refugees were making their way up the Darien Gap to the US. Yet within this tragic situation for Venezuelan people how could the US best respond is to close the border as president Biden has proposed with McConnell and the Lankford effort in the Senate, which was blocked by the House under Mike Johnson. This gives time to assess the situation, correct US laws on asylum and parole that allowed this chaotic way to proceed under actions of both parties.And not let this destabilize the US by understanding that while Venezuela has suffered for its role in the crisis the US will ultimately have come out a winner, as pointed out by the Congressional Budget Office projections. CBO projections of this immigration impact by 2034 of increasing the workforce population by 5.2 million will provide higher GDP, more tax revenues, and higher productivity than without this group of Venezuelan and other immigrants in this special situation of 2022-2023. For the Immigration projections discussion given by Phillip Swagel, Director of the Congressional Budget Office see page 51 of the Budget and Economic Outlook 2024 to 2034. For this search for term Congressional Budget Office or CBO which brings up the report on PDF and turn to page 51 or just click on Original Article on Lyrarc.   ...

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ICBC's strong performance is largely because of the leadership of Jiang Jiangqing. Jinagqing was reluctant to engage in the large scale lending encouraged by the government during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. For this reason he is not popular with the leadership in the government and the Communist party. This could change considering the large number of loans from that period which are expected to go sour in coming years. The U.S., Spain, U.K. and other countries suffered from the effects of bad loans in the banking system and experts say China is not likely to be an exception. Especially considering the excessive lending during that period and slowing growth in China. When this happens Jianqing's banking skills and conservative approach is likely to gain increasing respect within China. Jiangqing has expressed the view that the last thing China needed was to go back to the situation in 2000 when China's banking system was weighed down with bad debt. One has only to look at the change in Spain where once respected senior IMF officials like Rodrigo Rato are now looked at very differently. Jianging's push for expansion overseas- so that ICBC does not end up being a regional bank- is not viewed favorably by the government, which looks for a domestic focus. ...

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Europe ten years ago invested heavily in gas fired electricity plants thinking that natural gas will be plentiful in the future. Now with global demand rising with the emergence of China and Russia. and Western Europe's own reserves, such as Norway's depleting, Europe is in a bind. Alexei Miller told shareholders: "The Natural Gas Market is now a seller's market." Western Europe's share of global gas consumption rose to 17.4 % in 2004 from 14.9% ten years ago. Now countries like Italy and Germany are scrambling to secure supplies and build long term relationships with Gazprom while Poland and other Eastern European countries are facing uncertainty about reliability of Russian gas supplies. Italian oil company Eni is negotiating a long term relationship to cooperate with Gazprom to recover gas from the Russian North and to supply the Italian market. Eni's CEO Paolo Scaroni addressing an industry conference in Amsterdam in June 2006, provided estimates that by 2012 Europe will need 220 billion cubic metres or nearly 2 and half times Italy's annual consumption. Scaroni said: "Where are we going to find all that gas?" Like other countries in Europe Scaroni does not see Gazprom as the whole answer, but sees few other ways to solve supply problems. Italy will invest in liquefied natural gas to have flexibility of sourcing. In the end though Scaroni is relying on Gazprom and says : "This gives them a responsibility to the Italian market .. and it strengthens our relationship."...

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Signs of a serious bubble in house prices in Canada. Home prices in February 2011 rose 8.8% from the year before, to 365,000 Canadian dollars. This is more than double the average home price of C$158,145 in 1999, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association. A comparison with the U.S. shows home prices going up 58% between 1999 and 2006, according to the National Association of Realtors, and falling 18% after the subprime mortgage crisis. By contrast home prices in Canada went down in 2008-2009 during the global financial crisis but are now back up and surpassed the previous high. This suggests the Canadian real estate market is facing a serious bubble comparable to or exceeding the bubble in the U.S. Trends that have supported the market such as Chinese buyers in Vancouver and Toronto, depend largely on the strength of the high economic growth in China and overseas buyers. Other weaknesses- the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals pointed out in a study in January that of the 400,000 first time home buyers during 2010, about 50,000 would have high-debt service ratios if interest rates, now at between 2-4%, were to rise to 5%. The Canada economst at Capital Economics, David Madani, says he expects a correction of 25% in the next 3 years, as this boom unwinds. He points out that house prices are now 5.5 times disposable income per worker, compared to an historical average of 3.5....

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Bo Xilai is given a sentence of life in prison by the Intermediate People's Court in the eastern city of Jian. He was found guilty on all counts for embezzlement, corruption, and abuse of power. All money received illegally is being confiscated including a house in Cannes in the south of France.

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Sternberg points out that China's banking system lacks the experience in consumer credit and consumer finance products that would provide the impetus to a surge in consumer spending in China for imported products from the US or Europe. Outstanding consumer credit in China is only 13% of GDP, according to a 2009 study by McKinsey and Company, compared to 48% in Malaysia and 70% in S. Korea. China has lost a decade or more he says in allowing foreign banks to develop a consumer-finance market, and Chinese banks have little compettitive pressure to serve lower income consumer borowers. The Dutch PPF Group was allowed into this field for the first time in November 2010 to introduce in-store financing for durable goods purchases, something available to consumers in Brazil and other developing countries for many years. Large banks have an entrenched mindset to lend to businesses, and especially to state owned enterprises which have the collateral and government guarantees and support to obtain this lending. Risk averse banks in a financial system that lacks the kind of credit ratings system for consumers that the US and Europe have, prefer to lend to make loans to state owned enterprises where the government guarantees the loans. Interest rates on deposits are low and the government deliberately allows a wide spread for the banks so that they can ensure enough earnings to pay for non-performung bad loans, both from the last decade and from the binge in stimulus lending in 2009-2010. This reduces consumption by reducing the earnings on savings for consumers and households. These problems can only be solved gradually if the government and leadership want to change course, but this oddly enough is not happening. Other problems are that China's export factories are part of a global supply chain in which other countries do the product development, logistics, marketing, and retailing. Chinese firms lack the experience in these areas to shift to domestic consumers. As a result, says Sternberg, to lose a foreign customer can mean going out of business. Without government leadership and new direction through large scale re-allocation of capital and labor to the small scale businesses that serve consumers in the domestic market, all the talk of rebalancing will be just that, talk only and no real rebalancing....

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Shinzo Abe talks about China and Japan being similiar to competing powers Britain and Germany towards the end of the 19th century at a meeting in Davos.