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This personal portraiture of Sarkozy reflects Sarkozy as a man, but it says little about some changes he brought, which could be regarded as his singular achievements. One is his courage in discontinuing old colonial policy in Africa and the Middle East. Sarkozy took the initiative in Libya and Tunisia, and Libya owes much to Sarkozy. Sarkozy also worked to build closer European ties, something he came under much criticism, such as his ties to chancellor Merkel. Pictures of Sarkozy and Merkel on the beach in Deauville, France, come to mind. This is a path Hollande is also likely to take, except that he would bring to bear the French viewpoint, which is a good thing. It would still benefit from the idea that Sarkozy gave the German viewpoint a good hearing before it was fairly rejected in France on its merits and economic good sense.

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One reason Republicans and Democrats are looking at taxes paid by business is that some corporations are paying very low taxes. This report in the WP cites GE's annual filing showing GE (General Electric) paid a low of 4.2% in taxes in 2013. By plugging tax loopholes U.S. president Obama's budget proposal for 2015 would raise $276 billion in higher taxes from these large corporations for overseas earnings over the next decade.

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Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Trade Representative, makes a passionate plea for the dignity of work in America, the founding principle for the society of opportunity that America has been and the reason it was settled by immigrants from Europe over 200 years. He points out that trade policy is not about geopolitics or about efficiency as others perceive, it is about what kind of society we want to live in. Is it about a society of opportunity? This is the foundation on which this American continent was settled by settlers from Britain and Europe, and the basis of the growth over two hundred years till the last four decades. From 2000 and China's entry into the World Trade Organization under president Clinton to 2016 the U.S. manufacturing base has shrunk with the loss of five million jobs, two million jobs lost to China in the period 1999-2011 alone. And 350,000 automobile manufacturing jobs to Mexico since 1994, one third of all U.S. automobile jobs. Without the initiative and hard work of Mr. Lighthizer both American workers and Mexican workers would be stuck in low paying jobs. The USMCA he negotiated changed all that by giving Mexican workers fair wages and American workers and manufacturing the opportunity for revival.  This view was also expressed by Intel founder Andy Grove, a founder of one of the first pioneer companies in Silicon Valley. Grove asked the question after seeing the outsourcing of production out of America and the condition of the American worker- he said for him it was about what kind of society he wanted to live in. It was all about the dignity of the American worker long ignored by economists who live in a world of theory and the elite that has lived for so long apart from the places where the fabric of American workers and working life was torn apart. It was a question that touched Andy Grove's heart just as it does for Robert Lighthizer and others who are fighting to make America a society of opportunity for the American worker and opportunity for the American people, for dignity in America. It also charts a new course for the French worker, the British worker, the Indian worker, as other countries learn from the American experience. We have covered Grove and Lighthizer from the early days of their leadership and wise reminders to the people of what America is and stands for. Lighthizer points out one huge error that makes the thinking of these economists and elite that have not listened for so long, more than a bit crazy, reckless and callous. He says there about half of 250 million adults who lack a college diploma in America. Historically manufacturing has provided stable well paying employment. Even if with investment in education they were taught to write software code, there aren't enough jobs for them. The combined total of jobs at Apple Google, Facebook and Netflix is 300,000 jobs. Never has so much been at stake for so many and defended by so few. ...

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Critics of the nuclear agreement with Iran reached in April 2015 say the verification under a UN agency will be weak, and the "snap back" of sanctions in the event of failure may not work in the real world.

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Obama makes an effort to reach out to Turkey and the Muslim world. He said the U.S. would seek broader engagement based on mutual respect and mutual interest. And added "the US has bee enriched by Muslim-Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their family, or have lived in a Muslim-majority country. I know, because I am one of them." Obama spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, and had a step-parent from Indonesia.