LyrArc Article Gist
The German parliament votes 439 to 119 on July 16, 2015, approving a 86 billion euro aid and loan package to Greece under an aid for reforms plan. 60 members of chancellor Merkel's CDU group voted against compared to 29 voting against the bailout extension of Feb. 2015. This included approval of 7.16 billion euros in short term funding for July 20, to meet a 4.2 billion euro payment to the ECB. This was conducted as a special session of parliament. Chancellor Merkel said: "we would be acting with crude intelligence and irresponsibility if we didn't at least try this path." Finance Minister Schauble told parliament- "We believe that there is a chance that we can bring these negotiations to a successful conclusion," yet he cautioned that after the negotiations of coming weeks "we will have to discuss whether the negotiations have shown a way that works."

LyrArc Article Gist
Francois Hollande, Socialist candidate for president in France, has led the Socialist party for many years. He started his career as a junior politician in the Mitterand government, and regards Mitterand his mentor. Another mentor is Jacques Delours, who was president of the European Commission. He has many years of training, and has persevered thorughout with a certain sense of humility in the midst of colleagues and politicians in France with larger egos. That inner strength and courage has emerged in the recent campaign appearances and the final debate with Sarkozy in April 2012. He has shown this in the recent campaign by not overstating expectations as he looks at the long term, and at the same time not understating when courage demanded a stronger statement. He has taken timely and effective positions in the current debate of austerity vs growth, or growth coupled with restraint in fiscal spending vs austerity, that is raging in Europe. He was quick to call the situation in Greece, a failure of governance in Europe, as well as a failure of governance in Greece. With the new voices of Premier Monti in Italy and ECB president Draghi from Italy, pushing for growth coupled with fiscal responsibility, a president Hollande in France, would add another voice to European aspirations for growth in the debate with Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats in Germany. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
In this interview with Der Spiegel Bernie Sanders reflects on the 2016 election. He says that the Democratic Party missed the fact that many people in the midwest, south and other parts of the country, were worse off after president Obama left than when he came in in 2008. He also says Hillary Clinton relied too heavily on speechwriters and advisers upto the point of  having three speechwriters say why she was running for president. He finds the cuts proposed to healthcare, in the budget, and action on climate change, immoral. He also points out about the investigations that Mr. Mueller is someone everybody respects and that it would be wrong to offer a biased opinion, that Trump supporters would see this in the way that he is picked on when he just came in. He also believes Trump supporters are like other voters and are likely to look at the results, how better off they are under the Trump administration.

LyrArc Article Gist
This editorial in the WSJ in June 2016 points out the dangers in the U.S. president Obama not facing up to the threat in the Middle East since 2013 leading to the fall of Mosul,  and in not clearly focussing on the threat since then. This has created divisions inside Europe and the U.S. in internal politics, and is being exacerbated with the rise of far right groups in Europe and by Trump in the U.S. It points out that by not clearly identifying the threat president Obama has given "illiberal" policy a boost. It says Hillary Clinton should be careful to formulate her own position in line with policy that has been pursued since FDR.

LyrArc Article Gist
U.S. president Obama called Libya and the policy of not following up on helping establish a stable democratic government in Libya his biggest mistake. Kristof of the NYT says people looking back would say Syria and not establishing safe zones is Obama's biggest mistake. He describes the 470,000 deaths in Syria as a huge tragedy that could have been avoided to a large extent by setting up safe zones. In addition the UN estimates that millions of refugees on a scale similar to the partition of India in 1947 were created.There is bipartisan opinion on this. Kristof cites General Cartwright's opinion in a conversation he had with Cartwright that this should have been done. Others who agree are Madeleine Albright, Bill Clinton's Secretary of State, who spoke at the Democratic Convention about how America helped change her life as a young refugee after Russia's invasion of Czechoslovakia following Prague Spring. Albright says force should be used carefully so as not to aggravate the situation but action taken where needed, something that was done successfully under Bill Clinton in the Bosnian conflict following Serbia's ethnic cleansing policy under Milosevic. Not only that, with the diplomacy of ambassador Holbrooke Clinton was able to negotiate the peace accords that hold till today- a huge achievement.  Kori Schake, director of defense strategy in the George W. Bush White House also agrees. This would have improved U.S. relations with Turkey as this was a key Turkish request. And it would have reduced the dimensions of the refugee crisis in Europe, which has hurt the European Union. The Brexit "No" vote many in Britain have attributed to ads showing refugees in endless numbers streaming across Europe's borders. Similar ads were used in Austria's elections. Kristof points out that Secretary of State Kerry's job of negotiating a peace is difficult in these conditions. Another issue raised by Kristof is the lack of Obama's leadership in helping the refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, as he points out only 41% of this is funded. David Miliband former British Foreign Secretary, who heads the International Rescue Committee , says 200,000 Syrian kids are growing up in Lebanon without an education. George Washington counseled against getting involved in the wars on the European continent for a young nation, this advice was not followed in the Reagan and other administrations without showing the carefulness needed before action is taken. As Hillary Clinton has once pointed out the situation has resembled a pendulum swinging in the other direction under president Obama, and former Defense Secretary, Panetta, has expressed similar views. Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta, Gates, Gen. Jones, served in the first term of the Obama administration, many of these mistakes were made in the second term by president Obama and his White House advisors Dennis McDonough, Valerie Jarrett who clearly lacked the deep foreign policy experience of Hillary Clinton, Leon Panetta (who served under Bill Clinton), and Gates who served under many presidents). ...

LyrArc Article Gist
France's parliamentary elections showed the Socialist party gaining 280 seats, with two allied parties getting 34 seats, giving the Socialists an absolute majority in parliament. Greens won 17 seats and the far left 10 seats. Former president Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement won 194 seats and allies 35 seats, for a total of 229 seats, down from 304 seats.The National Front led by Marie Le Pen won 2 seats. Marie Le Pen and Segolene Royal both lost their seats. The absolute majority gives Socialist president Hollande more room to implement his legislative program and make changes in eurozone architecture.

LyrArc Article Gist
A sense of indifference towards mainstream parties in Italy and enthusiasm for the maverick party of Beppe Grillo. Gillo appeals to younger voters who are looking for something that makes a break from the past in Italian politics.

LyrArc Article Gist
Polls show 83% of the German public support increasing the minimum wage to 8.50 euros an hour. About two thirds of the public support increasing income taxes on high wage earners. The Social Democrats talks with the CDU to form a coalition are likely to lead to CDU accepance of the condition for a minimum wage of 8.50 euros an hour, but not to the condition for raising the taxes on high income earners. The SPD sees the higher taxes as a way to pay for new infrastructure. A survey done for TV broadcaster ZDF shows 61% of Germans favoring a SPD-CDU coalition. In the 2013 elections the SPD gained 25.7% of the vote and the CDU-CSU gained 41.5%. The SPD is pushing for flexible retirement age, equal pay for men and women, a tighter financial regulation, and a growth and employment strategy in the EU.

LyrArc Article Gist
This report by Peter Baker shows President Trump only reluctantly agreed to certify the Iran Nuclear Agreement. He opposed it in discussions with the Secretary of State Tillerson. It took the combined effort of Tillerson Dunford of the combined chiefs of staff, Defense Secretary Mattis, and of National Security Adviser McMaster, to get Trump to agree to go ahead with the deal. President Trump wanted a new strategy to counter Iran in the Middle East. The Iranian foreign minister Zarif has not yet met with Tillerson of the U.S. Zarif says Iran may withdraw from the deal if there is significant nonperformance by the U.S. Trump advisers are wary about the influence on Europe as the EU is not interested in taking a new look at the Iran nuclear deal. The EU sees things differently- that the issues of Iranian influence in the war torn Middle East is a separate issue from the nuclear deal, and that in any case a nuclear constrained Iran is better than one with nuclear weapons. Another factor is that the Middle East is now a complicated place with relations crisscrossing in different and even conflicting directions. The U.S. played a part on the Iranian side in the retaking of Mosul in Iraq with U.S. bombing strikes against Islamic State. In Iraq the U.S. is supporting the Abadi government which is mainly Shiite in its structure and is supported by Iran. The Trump position is that president Obama gave away too much in negotiating the deal and was not against the negotiating process.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Boudreaux and Bjork of the WSJ interview Mariano Rajoy, prime minister of Spain, in September 2013. Rajoy says he used to look at an app on the iPad hourly for changes in Spain's borrowing rates at the height of the banking crisis and found it a bit stressful. He hopes the current improvements in the economy will not stall the progress towards a closer union and setting up the financial architecture for the euro which puts the financial strength of the EU countries behind EU banks. Rajoy would like to see a banking union. He sees Spain's banking system not needing a bailout in 2014 and the changes having improved transparency, and capitalization of Spain's banking system. Other signs of improvement are increase in exports, a historic high in tourism revenues as a record is being set for the number of tourists visiting Spain in 2014, lower labor costs, and a current account deficit that reached 10% of GDP now in surplus.The 3rd quarter of 2013 brought an increase of 0.1% to 0.2% increase in GDP. If maintained this represents an annualized growth of 0.4% to 0.8% in GDP. GDP has declined 7.5% in the last 3 years. Rajoy expects GDP to go up 0.5% to 1% in 2014 and jobs being created but the progress only gradual. The government will consider further improvements for a flexible labor market. Increases in pension payments will not automatically be indexed to inflation for Spain's 9 million pensioners in 2014 as part of expected changes. Electricity rates will also not be indexed to inflation. Rajoy's main worry now is that there is a shortage of credit to increase household spending and the dire need for job creation....

LyrArc Article Gist
Spain's prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, accepts EU and IMF aid for recapitalizing Spain's banks. Rajoy tells a news conference in Spain on June 10th, 2012, "nobody pressured me," he did this because it would "help the credibility of the European project." The Partido Popular took decisive steps to improve Spain's competitiveness during the first 6 months of the new administration, but was caught by surprise by the problems in Bankia, a bank put together from failing cajas savings banks. The cajas savings banks were heavily involved in the housing bubble in Spain.

LyrArc Article Gist
German chancellor Angela Merkel took a lot of criticism during the height of the euro crisis in 2010-2012, but maintained her composure, sense of direction, and flexibility to a changing environment. She emerges from the leadership test more confident than ever during the 2013 elections for chancellor. Relations with Greece under president Samaras are also being mended after the riots in Athens during 2011-2012. She has also shown flexibility coupled with firmness in the setting of deficit targets for eurozone countries, and the courage to address issues of equity and fairness by calling for setting minimum wages industry by industry. On social and womens issues members of her cabinet have pushed for fairness. She will be remembered for her leadership, ability to learn from mistakes as time progressed during the eurozone crisis and taking firm action when needed, as the eurozone recovers from its financial crisis.

LyrArc Article Gist
The ECB's executive board's proposal is for 50 billion euros ($58 billion) in bond buying each month for the next 12 months. The ECB's executive board meets on Jan 20, 2015, to discuss the proposal.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Pirate Party, a party of digital activists favoring more transparency and sharing of information online has about 10% of voter support according to recent polls. The Pirate party concept started first in Sweden, but it is in Germany where it has gained political support. This party was founded in 2006 in an underground Berlin nightspot C-Base, where many digital activists gathered. In Sept. 2011, the German Pirate Party gained 9% of the vote, 15 of 249 seats in the Berlin state elections. This was repeated in the Saarland state elections, and now is likely to happen in elections in Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia. These votes are coming at the expense of the Free Democrats and the Greens. The Free Democrats are hurt badly, and may not make the 5% of votes needed to win seats in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Greens are seen as part of the establishment, giving the Pirate party support from people thinking outside of the establishment. The polls show the Christian Democrats having voter support of 35%, Social Democrats 27%, Left 7%, Greens 14%, Free Democrats 3%....