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Former Defense Secretary in the second term of the Obama administration, Chuck Hagel, says U.S. president Obama hurt his credibility when he failed to act on his own comments of a "red line" being crossed following the chemical attacks in Syria by the Assad government. Hagel was critical in an article in Foreign Policy magazine of the way the national security advisor, Susan E. Rice, ran discussions on foreign policy issues, with too many meetings and discussion followed up with deferring difficult decisions.

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This Times editorial questions whether Mayor Bloomberg did the right thing in the manner in which he ousted protestors from Zucotti park in the financial district of New York city. Now that the protestors have been forcibly removed from the park, it is the responsibility of the Mayor to keep his promise to let the demonstrators continue their protest against income inequality, says the editorial. The concern is that the end of the protests at Zucotti park could end up quashing the entire protest movement, which serves to draw attention to serious issues in a democracy.

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Sectarian conflict in Iraq between Shiites and Sunnis following the U.S. withdrawal. Efforts by former Baathist party members and officers in the Saddam regime to aggravate sectarian tensions.

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An attempt to keep Iraq together as one nation even as it splinters into 3 with the Kurdish north and the Shiite south containing all the oil fields, by having a oil council at the central government which work with oil governmental organizations in the Kurdish north and one similiar to be setup in the Shiite south. Does it give Sunnis some hope for a share in the revenues and incentive to work within a national framework which increasingly is agoal only of the US and Britain only and possibly only given lip service by the elected government as the mostly Shiite government also prepares in the background to US presence for an eventual partitioning of the country. Remember many of the Arab states were creations of he British and French empires in the 20th century, and not necessarily natural divisions. Culturally and by religious beliefs parts of Iraq that are Shiite are brethren to western Afghanistan round kandahar and to the Shiite centres of religion ad culture in Iran, and have been so for centuries before Europeans had a presence here in the 19th and 20th centuries, and this won't simply go away especially when the post war modernization that occurred in Iraq whatever its appearance was of the worst type that exacerbated religious tension and did not bring communities together....

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The household debt to income ratio is 1.62 in Britain compared to 1.42 in the USA and 1.09 in Germany. Britain has a record 1.4 trillion pounds of debtor about $2.8 trillion more than the country's gross domestic product. Ther is a culture of debt financed spending in Britain which older generations are not familiar with. Even the USA which has seen a debt financed spending spree is behind Britain where the spending culture is really prevalent with borrowing at its height to support consumption. Personal debt in the USA including mortgage debt is $13.8 trillion slightly less than the $14 trillion GDP. A decade long housing boom and strong economic growth has created consumer confidence and a virtuous cycle of investment in infrastructure, higher consumption, low unemployment and better incomes and growth. Now this virtuous cycle may be coming to a close. Interestingly Germans were much more reluctant to be the free spenders than the British. The average Briton has 2.8 credit or debit cards more than the other countries in Europe. And the home equity and borrowing on home equity with rising home prices, easy credit card debt, and low interest rates all have created a false sense of security which may not last long with rising rates and declining home values, and tighter credit conditions....

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India US relations are critical, and the human element with 4.4 million Indians living in the US is a critical part of this, Jaishankar and Blinken, foreign ministers of India and the US, told a gathering of students in Cambridge, Massachusetts today. This has completely transformed the relations between the 2 countries. "Students, researchers, academics and professionals who have contributed to America's progress even as they remain a bridge between our two societies," Jaishankar told the students. Yet this is not enough as a close understanding between the young Americans young Indians has to be built. "Your appreciation of a civilizational state and a democratic and fellow polity that is overcoming enormous odds is essential. After all we are natural partners when our people have a strong sense of connect," Jaishankar told the students. How many young people in America understand the enormous odds in a democratic country to vaccinate over 1 billion people or meet the basic needs for food and essential medicines for every person in the country of 1 billion. Yet this has been achieved in 2020 to 2022. America has a strong inward sense and insular attitude, and for this reason India needs to take the initiative to reach out to America. India's new education policy puts great emphasis on collaboration with America and European Union in education which has huge potential to build close understanding. To do this Jaishankar and Blinken together launched the Working Group for Education and Skill Development for the US and India. ...

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The WHO, World Health Organization, comes under criticism for failing to warn about the pandemic. President Trump says the U.S. finances the WHO with $450 million but the WHO has opposed some of the basic common sense approaches to the virus such as early quarantines and suspension of flights from virus hotspots. Including opposing the U.S. action taken by president Trump on January 27, 2020 to close all passenger flights between U.S. and China. A 14 day quarantine was put into effect for Hubei province. About 8.5 million passengers visited the U.S. from China in 2018 according to the U.S.Transportation Department. Reports show Chinese cities deserted on NYT January 30, but infections only 1300 a week earlier going up to 12,000 and only 259 deaths. President Trump says the world was misled by the WHO on the extent of the crisis developing in China, as he sets up a review of the WHO's role in the crisis and on funding by the U.S. President Trump says the crisis in the U.S. would be much larger if some of the 8.5 million passengers from China arrived in U.S. cities. He also says the decision was his own intuition about what was happening with health experts not realizing the extent of the crisis as there was very little data on the crisis. Most of the experts Mr. Fauci and Dr Birx were also not aware at the time of the gravity of the crisis, and some leading epidemiologists at American universities even called it an emotional reaction. ...

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The chief political reporter for the German daily The Bild, says Ursula Von der Leyen EU Commission president's performance on ensuring vaccine supplies is a disgrace for the EU and Germany. For once Brexiteers are proved right he says with having negotiated a better deal with vaccine suppliers, not being stingy like the EU officials, paying good money and securing supplies as early as April.  He says the EU's bureaucracy, its sluggish response, miserly attitude is now being confirmed in this health crisis and Germany is not looking good at all. Tiede says Leyen failed at the German Defense ministry and like other ministers in this situation was shifted into the EU Commission bureaucracy,only to fail again. He suggests Merkel and the heads of France, and Italy, Spain take over negotiating directly from now on with pharmaceutical companies. The EU officials are under severe criticism in Europe, shown here for different EU countries. Leyen is shown to have blundered further by creating a spat with Astra Zeneca- either she did not read the contract or was ignorant of what it meant, say critics. The EU's deal with Astra Zeneca was not with binding provisions, making EU officials at fault. Der Tiegesspiegel called EU's failure to admit its mistakes "jaw dropping" and bordered on "shamelessness." Der Spiegel calls it the worst catastrophe of Leyen's career. This now means Germany will have only 70% of its population vaccinated by September 2021, say experts. ...

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The US Federal Trade Commission is changing its focus after two decades of letting monopolies grow in many industries. It is now headed by Lina Khan, a 32 year of student of anti-trust and its role in US history to preserve the negotiating power of individuals and groups with large corporations. For decades since the breakup of large companies including oil and energy by Theodore Roosevelt at the start of the 20th century, anti-trust has followed a clear road that said large companies could not monopolize business in industries. This only changed with Reagan in the 1970's leading to the situation today where large corporations are seen as insensitive to what the public wants and what is good for the country. Apple can do most of its manufacturing overseas when communities in America have lost factory jobs for 20 years. IT companies can pay little in taxes by offshoring manufacturing and headquarters to places outside the US. The models simply don't work because they are outdated from a different time. Not just pricing but negotiating power has to be considered. Taxes to fund infrastructure are part of the overall goal that society needs to pursue. In this situation anti-trust is to be redefined in a much broader context. Does it regulate the structures of business in a way that does not affect the national interest to be competitive in technology, independent in supply channels, to keep manufacturing jobs, build infrastructure, improve public services. Antitrust, taxation, administration, all have to work together to achieve an overall goal of improving the living conditions of the people. ...

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There are 5000 heavy truck charging stations in the US, mostly in depots and warehouses. And just five, only five public charging stations for heavy trucks. Imagine taking billions of tons of emissions from the heaviest polluters heavy trucks when very few only 2% of electric heavy trucks are sold today. New emissions rules that restrict the amount of emissons in a truck manufacturers product line would mean that 25% of heavy trucks and 40% of medium trucks will be electric by 2032. This includes school buses to cement mixers, and includes 100 types of heavy vehicles that cover tractor trailers, RV's, ambulances, garbage trucks and moving vans. The infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act provide government aid- $7.6 billion electric charging infrastructure including heavy trucks, and $5.6 billion for zero or low emission buses. Another $1 billion for electric trucks and $40,000 as tax credit for companies buying electric trucks. For cars the new EPA rules from the Biden administration target an all electric or hybrid car population in the US by 2032.  This will be done by focussing on the two thirds of heavy trucks that go for less than 250 miles a day and trucks like moving vans, school buses and garbage trucks that drive less and go back to the same depot point to recharge. Volvo Trucks, Kenworth, BYD and Nikola, and Cummins engine are manufacturers who are working on new technologies and manufacturing. The bIden administration has changed the curve to make most of the gains to be done after 2030, in 3 years 203-2032 to achieve goals.  ...

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See how dysfunctional today's politics have become in the way the Speaker in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. president expressed utter disdain for each other and their opposite political parties at the State of the Union gathering in the U.S. Congress. Trump focussed on the economic gains for the U.S. in trade and the economy, and sees impeachment efforts as unfair as not rising to the level of high crimes and demeanors defined for that in the U.S. Constitution. Pelosi and Democrats see Trump's style and manner as violating norms for politics followed earlier.  Harry Truman, a president in the fifties never got much respect from Republicans who saw his style and manner as too rustic and Missouri farmlike. Andrew Johnson a Republican during the early post Civil War period after Lincoln, without the education of the upper class was treated with disdain by Democrats. Interestingly both were chosen by icons Roosevelt and Lincoln. This time the focus of attention is a president who comes from outside, motivated to run in politics as he said in his speech in Congress by the wrongs the U.S. suffered from other nations in business and trade. Truman got attention from Roosevelt through the hard work to cut the extensive cost overruns and mismanagement in production for the war effort. Johnson for his loyalty to the Union from a Southern state, Tennessee. All seemed to shrug off the disdain without much discomfort and Truman was known to say- "The Buck Stops Here." ...

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DJT plans to sign an executive order making English the national language of the United States of America. It is move that the founding fathers, Lincoln, TR and FDR/Truman would consider basic to the cultural literacy of the Nation. Over the years under Republican administrations from Bush and Democratic administrations under Clinton, Obama, the US has drifted away from the national language to an extent that is incomprehensible and presents an attack on the national language by allowing the proliferation of languages to languages that people have never heard of. It is destroying the cultural literacy of the US that efforts were being made even in the 1980's to restore after it was felt that it was weakening at that time. “We have languages coming into our country. We don’t have one instructor in our entire nation that can speak that language. These are languages—it’s the craziest thing—they have languages that nobody in this country has ever heard of. It’s a very horrible thing.” JD Vance had introduced a bill with Senator Cramer of North Dakota in 2024 for the English Language Unity Act, for conducting all official business of the US government in English, and for a national testing standard for pathway to citizenship. This is parallel to and follows the effort in the 1980's to bring education in line with cultural literacy in schools and education in the Nation, that is becoming more and more relevant to today.     ...

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Gerald Seib of the WSJ describes the huge wave of young supporters who helped Labor party leader Corbyn in Britain's 2017 general election. He cites an analysis by the Financial Times that shows young people backed Labor over the Conservatives by 51 points more than the national average. People over age 65 backed Conservatives by 32 points more than the national average. This points to a staggering age gap of 83 points, said the Financial Times. Young people failed to turn out in large numbers during the Brexit vote, and this was a large factor in the pro Brexit win. One exit poll shows turnout went up by 12% in 2017 compared to the 2015 parliamentary election. Only 26% of voters in a WSJ/NBC poll for ages 18-34 years say they approve of U.S. president Trump's performance, 64% disapprove. Seib says the movement of Corbyn is similar to the Bernie Sanders movement in the U.S. and has implications for a similar surge of support showing up in the U.S.

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Paul Ryan says in May 2016 that he will not endorse Donald Trump as the nominee of the Republican party for president of the U.S.