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Trust bank is rescued with a $530 million injection by Russia's central bank in Dec. 2014. The bank was taken over by the Deposit Insurance Agency which guaranteed the deposits of customers. As Russia raises interests by 17%, the ruble stabilizes with a 5% gain on Dec. 22, 2014. Alexei Kudrin, former finance minister and the architect of Russia's improved finances during Putin's previous terms in office, told a news conference that Russia now faces a full fledged economic crisis that will be painful in 2015. He expects a drop of 40% in imports, inflation at 12 to 15%, and decline in living standards. He also said Russia's credit rating could fall to junk status making it difficult to obtain financing. Kudrin was critical of the way the Russian government handled the crisis, saying action was slow and the government did not act as one team. He called for improved relations with western partners- "For a way out of the crisis, it is of high importance to regulate relations with our foreign partners- first of all with Europe, the U.S. and other partners."...

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Ben Hubbard of the NYT describes the problems created by the Russian bombing campaing in Syria for the civilian population, and the lack of any changes on the ground. Russia may soon be looking for a way out from its involvement in the region, says Hubbard, because of the costs of such an involvement over time.

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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) reduced its forecasts for GDP growth in Russia to 3.1% for 2012 and 3.3% for 2013. Moody's Investors Service warned that the Russian economy could contract 5% in the next 10-12 months and the ruble could depreciate by 30% if the eurozone crisis worsens.

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Mexico's domestic market is growing and compacts are about half of Mexico's 1.13 vehicle market. The San Luis Potosi plant will be able to make 160,000 compact cars a year, an investment of $650 million. Some of this could go to Mexico's own need for compacts in the domestic market. Also this could supply the U.S. market where GM needs compacts to compete with Japanese and Korean models. One of the reasons Mexico is able to compete with the Southern United States is is its high quality work force at a fraction of the cost. See the link to Mexico's turning out a large number of engineering graduates. When companies look at where to put a new plant, Mexico is starting to compete a lot more with Detroit, said Gabriel Renero, a consultant at Deloitte in Mexico City. They are finding a very attractive work force in this country. In the last year, American automakers have all introduced a variety of new models from their Mexican assembly plants. Being able to produce any kind of vehicle looks good in the global market, says Renero....

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Saakashvili, the President of Georgia who was elected in 2004 has spent a lot of time in New York, as a waiter, as a student at Columbia Law School, and was elected at the age of 36, and runs an administration with a lot of 30 year olds. He says he has "American va;ues". HE also ran for election in 2004 on the platform of taking back the two ethnic Russian regions of Abhkazia and South Ossetia. Note also that the mountains near Abkhazi border the region around Sochi where Putin goes for vacation and likes to ski in the mountains and where the winter Olympics are to be held in 2014. He has also had run ins when he has talked to Putin saying he has western support for his position and has met with disdain from Putin. See th link to other articles in the New York Times about Putin's perspective on all this and how the two men share a dislike for one another which may have exacerbated Russia's response still further.

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David Filipov of the Washington Post visits Sochi, site of the 2014 WInter Olympics, three years later to find a city that is bustling even in winter. Before the Olympics Sochi was popular destination for tourists. In 2016 and in 2017 about 6.5 million people visited this city on the Black Sea coastline. With the new facilities built during the Olympics Sochi has become a year round destination. Russian tourists visiting Turkey and Egypt find Sochi an attractive alternative after the road and rail links built into the mountains. Officially sponsored events are giving Sochi more popularity. During the Olympics the estimated $50 billion cost of building facilities was criticized for delays and cost overruns. The better management during the post-Olympic period is showing Sochi has a future as a popular tourist destination.

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How the new Russian economy is being built through consolidation to form world leaders in gas, oil, aluminium, aircraft manufacturers, automobiles, and other key industries. This is the story of building a world leader in aluminium.

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U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, and Germany's minister of defense Ursula von der Leyden, visit troops of the German-Dutch brigade in Munster, Germany, on June 22, 2015. Ashton Carter tells a German think tank audience on June 22, 2015. "We do not seek a cold, let alone a hot war with Russia. We do not seek to make Russia an enemy. But make no mistake: we will defend our allies, the rules based international order and the positive future it affords us all. We will stand up to Russia's actions and their attempts to re-establish a Soviet-era sphere of influence." The NATO readiness effort called "Operation Atlantic Resolve" is designed to meet Russian intervention in Ukraine and preserve the independence of countries in Eastern Europe.

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Many of the 255 Comments on this article in the NYT say it is misleading or grossly misleading title. Michael Crowley of NYT quotes Wertheim for his conclusion that there seems to be a sense that the world is out of control, there is chaos under president Biden. This is subtly presented and clearly wrong. Wertheim is the author of a book that questions America's exceptionalism, and says "isolationism" was somehow concocted by policy makers such as Eisenhower and Dulles, both Republicans for a postwar world built on American supremacy. What Crowley and Wertheim do is put their very idea of asking questions about policy which is a part of the discussion into misrepresenting through misinformation about what happened. Biden has acted with courage to close wars no other president not Reagan/ Rumsfeld who started the conflict with Iran by arming Iraq's unprovoked war on Iran, not Bush who initiated the war in Afghanistan, not Obama and Trump who did not close the war in the mountains around Kabul that is a "graveyard for Empires" - the Maratha Empire in India in the 1700's that opened the door to British rule in India, not the British Empire wisely staying out of it, the Soviet Union beginning its decline there, and the US mired in it similar to the Soviets. Crowley/Wertheim are only making things worse- Netanyahu was emboldened by the former president and made a major security failure. Putin miscalculated in Ukraine, Biden simply acted in the way any wise American president would -strengthened NATO with Finland and Sweden, providing reasons for Russian restraint yet without escalating the conflict. To say this is chaos is to misinform and misrepresent, and favor the very Supremacy that former president Trump proposes as policy based on US power. By contrast Biden' approach is peace through strength from building close relations between partners in Europe and Asia, not provocation or supremacy. Wertheim is only one voice in a larger discussion not the authority he is presented as. For Wertheim to say "isolationism" was a bogey and point to 1950 as the point when it was created is simply wrong. It existed in some form from the early days of the Republic. Washington was an advocate of not involving the fledgling Republic in foreign entanglements of France even though it was an ally. It is not that response to isolationism is the cause of America embracing the role of leading the Free World as it is now. It is simply the situation leaders faced. Truman faced it when Soviets planned insurgencies in Turkey and Greece which would not exist as democracies today without Truman. And across Eastern Europe Hungary 1956 Ike acted cautiously. Czechoslovakia 1968 LBJ Johnson acted cautiously already in the wrong war with Vietnamese nationalism.  ...

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Russia faces inflation of 7%, and the central bank policy is to fight inflation by increasing interest rates to 7% in March 2014. The crisis in Ukraine and Russian intervention in the Crimea has worsened the prospects for the economy at a delicate time after Russia's growth rate was slowing rapidly in 2013. Capital flight in 2013 accelerated in the 1st quarter with the Ukraine crisis- with about $60 billion in capital outflows in the 1st quarter 2014. Speaking at an investor conference in Moscow, the former finance minister Alexei Kudrin, who strengthened Russia's finances in Putin's previous term continued to warn about taking risks with the economy and Russia's finances. He had earlier warned about higher defense spending. He now says the sharp economic slowdown expected with a possible contraction of 1.8% in 2014, is the price Russia is paying for an independent foreign policy. The policy is popular in Russia now with Putin's rating at about 80% in April 2014, but Kudrin says this does not reflect the situation if the contraction leads to falling real incomes. As investment spending stalled in the 1st quarter, only consumer spending supports growth for the remainder of the year. Russia's Economics Ministry favors stimulus to support growth, but the central bank is concerned about keeping inflation of 7% in check, and the Finance Ministry favors current policy of building up the rainy day fund from higher oil prices. As a result no stimulus is planned even as the economy slips into a risky contraction phase. For emerging markets in 2014 political problems have exacerbated slowing growth first in Turkey in 2013, and now in Russia in 2014, with the reverse taking place in India and Indonesia where elections and a change in government lead to more optimism....

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Reports from the Sixth China North-South Lung Cancer Summit meeting of 300 experts focusses on controlling tobacco use and promoting early detection and treatment of lung cancer. Lung cancer is now the leading form of cancer in China, with 22.7% of cancer deaths each year. Currently about 1 million die in China from smoking related illness each year. CCTV reports this is increasing by 26.9% a year. Causes cited are aging population, air pollution, and widespread smoking. About one in three of China's people smoke, or about 350 million. Awareness of the dangers of tobacco use is not high outside two or three major cities. China manufactures about 1.7 trillion cigarettes a year, according to CCTV, and tobacco contributes 7-10 percent of state revenues.

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Russia's exports to the USA only 3% of total exports, 21% to China, 19% to India, and 16% to Brazil. But does this suggest the Russian economy is insulated It exports natural gas to Germany, its largest trading partner. Are oil exports from Russia to the US so insignificant that they constute only 3% of total exports? This needs to be verified. Russia built the $478 billion reserves based on oil exports. If prices drop this will affect future increases in these reserves and affect foreign investment in the Russian economy, investment it badly needs to modernize. Russia is less affected relative o other countries, but its stock markets dropped 20% after the global markets reacted in cascading effect in January 2008. There is some insulation but not really that much and the case is overstated. Russia is starting out with a smaller manufacturing economy. It badly needs to build this up and the effects of a global slowdown will mean reduced investment than would otherwise occur.

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Factors making Russia different from other emerging markets are the foreign exchange reserves of $497 billion. From mid 2009 to the end of 2012 portfolio inflows were only 1% of GDP, according to Morgan Stanley. Problems in Russia include growth slowing to 1.5% and higher inflation with reliance on oil revenues. Russia is still dependent on oil and gas revenues and has not diversified the economy. Foreign investment is limited.

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How the Russian aircraft industry is being consolidated to produce a win-win relationship between Europe and Russia- markets, lower costs and R&D for Europe, advances for Russia's aircraft industry and new markets for Russian aircraft in the regional and cargo planes market.

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The ruble goes from a low of 80 to the dollar in Dec. 2014 to 50 to the dollar by May 2015. The euro also strengthens against the dollar with weakening economic conditions in the U.S. leading to a reversal in the strength of the dollar.