Trump's campaign chief Manafort and the issue of consulting work in Ukraine for ousted Ukrainian president Yakunovych

08/16/2016

Linked Articles

How Paul Manafort Wielded Power in Ukraine Before Advising Donald Trump

The New York Times 08/01/2016

Steven Lee Myers, Andrew E. Kramer

The New York Times 08/15/2016

Andrew E. Kramer, Mike Mcintire, Barry Meier

Governance, corruption and rule of law- new political dynamics and voter focus in Mexico in 2016-2017

06/10/2016

Public discontent with governance and rule of law are major issues in Mexico in 2016-2017

Linked Articles

Mexico’s Ruling Party Loses Gubernatorial Races in Several States

WSJ 06/10/2016

New York Times 01/04/2016

The Editorial Board, The, Editorial, Board

The failure of the U.S., UK, Canada and Australia to take in refugees from war torn Syria and other parts of North Africa- 1500 for U.S. , 166 for UK, 800,000 for Germany

09/04/2015

Ignatieff of the Kennedy School and Kristof of the NYT say the inaction of Obama, Cameron, Harper and Abbott, is deplorable considering the gap between the 800,000 Merkel and the German people have openly welcomed and the 1500 the U.S. has accepted, and 166 the UK has taken in. There is hardly any mention of the issue by the leaders of the U.S. and Canada in September 2015, even as the global media has covered this daily. In Hungary the Orban government faile to remember the Hungarian uprising of 1956 and the violent crackdown by the Soviets, leading to a wave of refugees reaching other parts of Europe and the U.S.

Linked Articles

Refugees Who Could Be Us

New York Times 09/04/2015

Nicholas Kristof, Nicholas, Kristof

New York Times 09/05/2015

Michael Ignatieff, Michael, Ignatieff

Errors made by the IMF, Syriza Tsipras far left government, leading to the third bailout program of 2015 for Greece

07/06/2015

Just when the first signs of growth in the economy were taking place in 2014 the IMF held back on a 7.2 billion euro payment to Greece which would have increased liquidity to the private sector for growth. The IMF hope to gain leverage with a future Syriza far left government. The first half of 2015 led to economic anxiety in Greece with a failed negotiating strategy of Syriza far left government focussing only on the debt and not on the economy. The damage led to about 85 billion in addtional financing needed following the closing of Greece's banking system in July 2015.

Linked Articles

IMF Warns Eurozone That Greece Needs Far More Debt Relief

Wall Street Journal 07/15/2015

Ian Talley, Ian, Talley

New York Times 07/06/2015

Gikas Hardouvelis, Gikas, Hardouvelis

China's debt at over 250% of GDP and the financial crisis in 2015- Harvard Prof. Rogoff and former Treasury Secretary Paulson on the reckoning with debt issues

04/20/2015

Linked Articles

A Warning on China Seems Prescient

New York Times 08/24/2015

Andrew Ross Sorkin, Andrew, Ross, Sorkin

New York Times 04/20/2015

Andrew Ross Sorkin, Andrew, Ross, Sorkin

What Greece won in the negotiations and what Greece lost in the failure of talks with the EU, capital controls, closing of banks and the referendum on July 5, 2015

02/27/2015

Major concessions were won by Greece on the most important issues of the surplus, and the size of the public sector with high unemployment. Compromise was being reached on the value added taxes and age for getting pensions, next down the list. Next on the list were pension cuts which undoubtedly would hurt pensioners but in the larger picture of the economy would come after the size of the surplus and dateline, and the size of public sector. The size of these cuts is small compared to the cost of 60 billion euros from the damage done to the economy, and the alternatives for pensioners and the rest of the country. under bank closure. For the EU this was seen as part of pension reforms and for left leaning Syriza compromising on behalf of pensioners.

Linked Articles

IMF Raises Referendum Stakes With Call for More Aid for Greece and Debt Relief

Wall Street Journal 07/03/2015

Viktoria Dendrinou, Viktoria, Dendrinou, Nektaria Stamouli And Ian Talley, Nektaria, Stamouli, And, Ian, Talley

New York Times 02/27/2015

Paul Krugman, Paul, Krugman

Resilence of the Russian economy in 2015-2016 compared to other emerging markets- (1) the decision to let the ruble float in Nov. 2014

02/09/2015

Linked Articles

Russia and Turkey Show Oil Prices Aren’t Everything

Wall Street Journal 01/25/2016

Richard Barley, Richard, Barley

New York Times 02/09/2015

Andrew E. Kramer, Andrew, E., Kramer

Deep differences in 2015 between Alexis Tsipras of Syriza and the Merkel government in Germany on debt forgiveness and the bailouts for Greece

01/26/2015

The deep differences between Greeks and Merkel operate at two levels. On the level of austerity policies Greece shares the view with other EU countries, the governments of Hollande in France and Renzi in Italy that austerity is not the best course for the eurozone. This view is also shared by people in Spain facing unemployment exceeding 20%, though the government of Rajoy in Spain like that of Samaras in Greece lived with the austerity policies with some changes. At this level there is also support from within Merkel's coalition government from Social Democrats. The other level of deep differences is on debt forgiveness and bailouts where Greece has to find its own way out in negotiations hoping that the EU and the IMF will agree to make concessions based on action taken by Syriza to ensure prudence in fianncial management. On issues such as minimum wage one would expect Syriza to be firm and make concessions where the hardship does not fall on the poorer and working class, winning support from the Social Democrats in Merkel's coalition. Beyond the symbolic moves and posturing the actual negotiations are likely to take into account the eurozone's need for help on the fiscal side desired by the ECB's Draghi to support monetary easing to fight deflation, and the need to keep the eurozone intact at a sensitive time. Syriza for its part is aware that a majority of Greeks favor staying in the eurozone.

Linked Articles

Greece’s new prime minister wants Germany to pay for Nazi war crimes - The Washington Post

Washington Post 01/26/2015

Ishaan Tharoor, Ishaan, Tharoor

Washington Post 01/27/2015

Griff Witte, Griff, Witte

The miscalculations and missteps of Russian president Putin in 2014 leading to a major crisis for the Russian economy in 2015

12/18/2014

A major miscalculation was totally misjudging Merkel and post-war German public opinion about policies that remind people about the period between the two World Wars- this is anathema to Germans who see the European Union as a way to build a new and different Europe. The other miscalculation was on how a foreign adventurous policy in Syria would affect Sunni world opinion, in particular Saudi Arabia. Just as Brezhnev took Russia into Afghanistan where Russia had no vital interest leading to eventual Soviet collapse, Putin risked alienating a key member in OPEC pricing moves and hurting Russia's economic interest. By not listening to Kudrin, the head of Sberbank, and other economic advisers from the first and second terms of the Putin-Medvedev administrations, Putin opened the door to two years of serious missteps, risking the very real accomplishments of the first and second term of creating a stable growing Russian economy with close economic ties to Europe. The only positive outcome of the crisis and low oil prices would be making the shift away from oil dependence, which was talked about but never seriously attempted in the Putin administrations. For this to happen major new investments would have to be made and technology links to the outside strengthened, both hammered by the missteps in 2013-2014. The irony of all this is that Putin gained the support of rural Russians in the countryside in the 2012 presidential elections by promising no return to the economic crisis conditions following earlier ruble collapses. Now by ignoring Kudrin and other wiser counsel from the first and second administrations he does just that.

Linked Articles

Putin’s Year of Defiance and Miscalculation

Wall Street Journal 12/18/2014

Gregory White, Gregory, White, Anton Troianovski, Anton, Troianovski

Wall Street Journal 12/18/2014

Alexander Kolyandr, Alexander, Kolyandr, James Marson, James, Marson

China and corruption under the Xi Jinping administration

12/02/2014

Transparency International gives China 36 points , a decline of 4 points in 2014. Since 2013 China has dropped 20 place in the Corruption Perceptions Index, only Turkey had a steeper drop in points in 2014. Transparency, independent judiciary, free speech, whistleblower protection, and accountable government are factors that determine ranking in the index.

Linked Articles

A Beijing House of Cards

Wall Street Journal 12/09/2014

Wsj Editorial, Wsj, Editorial

New York Times 12/02/2014

Didi Kirsten Tatlow, Didi, Kirsten, Tatlow

Abenomics advisers Yamamoto and Hamada, and Japanese prime minister Abe's decision in Nov. 2014 to challenge the Finance Ministry's views

11/20/2014

Abe calls for a snap election in Dec. 2014 after delaying the second increase in the consumption tax from 8% to 10% in 2015. About 53% of the Japanese public opposed the doubling of the consumption tax by 2015 in 2011 poll as the DPJ party Noda administration pushed for it on the advice of the Finance Ministry. Now after the 3rd quarter showed Japan in a recession over 70% of the Japanese public oppose a second increase in the consumption tax to 10% from 8% in 2015. Abenomics advisors Hamada and Yamamoto now say this increase in the tax (especially when wages are only gradually increasing) was never a part of the Abenomics.

Linked Articles

Japan’s No. 1 Reflationist Does a Victory Dance

Wall Street Journal 11/20/2014

Eleanor Warnock, Eleanor, Warnock

New York Times 11/20/2014

Martin Fackler, Martin, Fackler

Uncertainty for Libyan oil in 2014-2015

11/06/2014

Linked Articles

Libyan oil: A sticky problem

Economist 11/06/2014

Economist.Com

Wall Street Journal 11/06/2014

Christian Berthelsen, Christian, Berthelsen, Neena, Benoit Faucon, Benoit, Faucon

Bank of Japan's Kuroda adopts the ECB's Draghi's stance on the economy, saying "we will do whatever it takes" in Nov. 2014

10/31/2014

Efforts by Kuroda to reach the 2% inflation target in 2 years.

Linked Articles

Bank of Japan Announces Massive Stimulus Move

Wall Street Journal 11/01/2014

Jacob Schlesinger, Jacob, Schlesinger, Eleanor Warnock, Eleanor, Warnock, Takashi Nakamichi, Takashi, Nakamichi

New York Times 10/31/2014

Jonathan Soble, Jonathan, Soble