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One needs to look at India -US relations over the long span 1900-2025  looking only at the long haul. In taking a look at the relationship in this way Gandhi's letter to FDR during the Quit India Movement from Wardha July 1 1941, and FDR's reply (with Churchill and FDR fighting Japan in 1941) ranks as memorable and long lasting, far likely to prevail as an idea that holds the imagination of it's peoples than the pulls and shifts of different administrations. Even in the  depth of the war against the Nazis in Europe, and the Imperial Japanese Army rampaging through China, Gandhi felt comfortable looking to America as a friend. Churchill was the antagonist at the time unwilling to let the British Empire fade, and FDR was a friend through the Second World War. Gandhi opens his letter to FDR saying "Dear Friend. I twice missed coming to your great country... I have profited greatly from the writings of Thoreau and Emerson..." And FDR writing back "I shall hope that our common interest in democracy and righteousness will enable your countrymen and mine to make common cause..." For India the powerful words of Cordell Hull his Secretary of State, were offered by FDR with unmistakable goals of freedom and democratic process for India. Eisenhower and Dulles support for Pakistan in the 1950's into 1970's, a period of China and India in the 1970's and 1990's shifting away from old economic arrangements, till India US under Biden 2020 where India as with FDR  was "the closest in the world" to the US, following China's shift to Communist rule and now competition with the US. Taking this long perspective India and the relationship with America will be determined by the 1.8 billion people of the two countries (with Indonesia 2.1 billion people), and the potential for this is vast and only growing by the year. There is a natural affinity and feeling that is only now coming into its own because of a shared responsibility, and a shared understanding, as parts of the former British Empire, separated in 1783 and 1947. And the mutual desire to build the modern world on the terms left by advances of science and technology combined with the ancient civilization of the Bible, Buddhism and the Upanishads. In this sense modern India is made with America and does not exist separate from America, and modern America forward is made with India and does not exist separate from India. ...

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This report in DW.com shows that Germany is only now coming to grips with Merkel's policy to China. A policy that had no idea where the relationship was headed and no grasp of its implications for Germany in the way that Merkel's policy shaped economic relations with Russia with an overdependence on natural gas supplies. It is left to the newly elected Greens-SPD coalition to face the consequences of that policy as Germany faces rationing of gas for the winter between industry and households. Annalena Baerbock, Germany's Foreign Minister says clearly that it is unacceptable that force should be used in international relations. Baerbock told a UN conference - "We do not accept when international law is broken and a larger neighbor invades a smaller neighbor in violation of international law- an of course that also applies to China."  Clearly China and Russia are different in their economies and industry. China is the world's largest exporter and depends on international law and freedom of navigation on the oceans as a trading nation that it has become with over 1 trillion dollars in exports in 2022. It is through freedom of navigation on the oceans and respect for international law that an exporting and manufacturing nation that makes for export is able to conduct its affairs.    ...

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A very relevant comment about the media coverage on Putin's negotiations in Beijing for supplying natural gas to China, by a reader of the WSJ, Frank Peel. He points out China and Russia do not share the same goals and Putin talked about the Chinese as tough negotiators after signing the deal. The price as a "commercial secret" is because its years, could be 5, before gas actually flows to China from Siberian fields. Russia, is a smaller oil based economy- having failed to make the transition to a diversified economy- and very susceptible to the economic conditions in Europe and the U.S., as the 2008 crisis showed with very steep drops in output. President Obama has also pointed to this. Russia also shares with Argentina the tendency for elites- in the case of Russia a newly created oligarchy of business interests under Putin and his predecessor- to shift capital out of the country, making it even more susceptible to loss of value of the currency, the ruble. Devaluation of the ruble experienced under Yeltsin was severely traumatic for Russia, and the head of Russia's central bank went on state television recently to reassure ordinary Russians that this would not happen. The rainy day sovereign fund of over $400 billion acts as a cushion for shocks in short periods, but sustained loss of foreign investment would damage prospects for future improvements in standards of living or economic growth....

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Argentina's new president takes over a failing economy in 2019. Mr. Fernandez declared a public emergency until 2020. A legislative package recently passed includes tax increases on the wealthy, tax relief for the poorest, a 30% tax on foreign currency transactions abroad, and a currency cap of $200 per person per month imposed by the previous Macri administration.  About 70% of new revenues will go to social programs, including free food vouchers for two million of the poorest Argentines. About 40% of the people in Argentina are in poverty, according to the World Bank, a shocking figure for a country that should be doing better given its natural resources and agricultural resources. The economy is suffering from hyper inflation at over 50%, jumping external debt at 90% of GDP. Total debt is $332 billion including a $57 billion IMF loan. About half the total debt is in foreign currency and is hard to service now that foreign currency reserves have fallen from $66 billion to $43.5 billion. The debt restructuring strategy now is to delay as much of the $70 billion of repayments due before the end of 2020.  ...

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Exxon is looking for a big oil dealer in the shale patch in the US. It is considering the acquisition of shale company Pioneer Natural Resources with a market cap of $49 billion. Exxon wants to make use of its windfall profits of the last year to good use. An acquisition of Dallas based Pioneer would give Exxon a dominant position in the West Permian basin of Texas and New Mexico. Exxon made windfall profits of $56 billion in 2022 after the jump in oil prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Based in Irving, Texas, it is heavily invested in fossil fuel assets and its thinking is that fossil fuels are here for a long time as it has not made a significant shift to renewable energy. During the cutoff of Russian oil supplies Europe has depended on LNG supplies from the US and Qatar, and on Norway for increased oil and gas supplies. President Biden included drilling concessions in some of the legislation passed in Congress and Conoco plans to drill in Alaska. The transitional period has gained support in places like the US and Norway following the need to support the European Union and Germany in the crisis. This gives oil companies some time to sort out their future plans for renewable investments. ...

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In this WSJ column Russell Mead describes the Middle East as an opportunity when in reality it has done serious damage to the US and the European Union. With the shift to renewable energy and localized sources for natural gas and oil within EU and the US, the Middle East may no longer be relevant to the US and Europe. Afghanistan which has cost so much for the US and Europe in trillions of dollars that could have been invested in badly needed infrastructure is an extension of the Middle East. Iran is also part of the Middle East. These reserves of oil and gas in countries deeply imbedded with thinking and policy against modernization are more risk than opportunity for the US and European Union. The US and European Union need to look to bringing back manufacturing and renewing supply chains with India and Vietnam, the rest of South East Asia as an opportunity and shift mightily to renewables to fight climate change. This is the opportunity facing the US and the EU today. In a sense the chapter that started with the efforts of British oil companies in Iran in 1900 and Franklin Roosevelt's meeting with the Saudi King on an American ship during World War II is now coming to its closing and a new chapter has to be written on renewables and rebuilding US and EU strength in manufacturing in alliance with India and Vietnam, rest of South East Asia in what is called the Indo-Pacific.  ...

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The IMF loans of $18 billion approved in March 2014 are conditional on structural reforms in Ukraine which will be painful. This includes a 50% increase in the price of natural gas on May 1, tax increases and spending cuts, flexible exchange rates. About 10% of the state officals will be cut and decreases in pensions for judges. Higher taxes will be placed on alcohol and tobacco products. Prime minister Yatsenuyk, says without the reforms and IMF-EU loans the economy woud contract by 10%, with the package GDP would decline by 3%. Ukraine's 10 year dollar denominated government bonds had a yield of 8.94%. Years of large state subsidies for natural gas, mismanagement and corruption have left Ukraine's finances in bad shape. Ukraine now faces austerity measures similiar to that in other Eastern European countries and Greece, leading to continued political unrest.

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This graphical presentation, a fascinating look in the NYT shows how the different epidemics, natural disasters and other events compare over the world over the last century. It shows that using a normal mortality rate for a city the worst was Philadelphia in the 1918 spanish flu epidemic. How does this one compare with today's coronavirus pandemic would be a reader question. New York is shown at 5.8 X, Bergamo in Italy at 6.7 X and Philadelphia at 7.3 X. This means New York suffered about 6 times the deaths compared to a normal year. Fifteen thousand people lost their lives in Philadelphia in 1918. As one can see New York went through a lot. The race riots and curfews added to the difficulties the city has faced. When you get past 5.0 X it is only when there is famine or war that one sees this level of deaths. Bergamo in Italy suffered the worst in Europe. Madrid was hit hard at 4.6 X. 14,000 people died in Madrid in the month between mid March to mid April, with a normal deaths in the city at 3000 for a month. In Latin America Lima, Peru, did worse in the coronavirus at 3.99 X, that exceeded New York city in the Spanish flu virus of 1918 at 3.97 X. For New York city this means the coronavirus was at 5.8 X a bigger impact on the city for the mid March to mid April period compared to October 1918. More than 8000 people died in Lima compared to a normal 3000.  Guayaquil, Ecuador is at 5.50 X hit very hard. In Europe Paris is at 2.6 X, and London at 3.0 X, Barcelona at 3.0 X.  By comparison Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and it is at 2.4 X showing that what these cities in Europe went through was like a hurricane going through the cities.  ...

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Nokia's new hardware design strategy capitalizes on Nokia's strengths in design and manufacturing. Marko Ahtisarri, Nokia's head designer sees opportunity in coming up with phones that have more natural forms, and move away from the black, grey metallic rounded-corner rectangles. He wants to design a phone that would let users keep their heads up, so they can have contact with their environment even as they use their phones.

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There are serious issues facing crude oil production from Alberta tar sands which stem from environmental concerns, and the captal intensive, energy intensive, nature of production from tar sands. According to a recent RAND study energy production from tar sands causes 10-30% more greenhouse gas emissions. Add to that destruction of boreal forest, destruction of bird life, and the contamination of water supplies from the lake size tailings ponds used to store spent water from oil sands projects. Large amounts of steam are needed to separate the dirt from the oil in the tar sands. According to Environmental Defence about 4 billion litres of contaminated water leaked from these tailings ponds and this seepage is polluting rivers in Northern Canada. The technology for trapping and storing the carbon dioxide from the production process is still in the research stage. The other hurdle facing the tar sands development is the price of crude which is around $49 a barrel. While some older tar sands plants can operate even at $30 a barrel, newer operations need $60 or $70 per barrel for acceptable returns, according to Prof. Leach, a professor of environmental economics at the University of Alberta. For these reasons Canadian tar sands production which is now at 1.2 million barrels a day is not likely to go much higher or approach the 3.5 million barrels a day predicted for 2015. Petro-Canada said it would suspend 23.8 billion dollars of expansions in Alberta to tar sands projects, and Canadian Natural Resources is cutting its capital spending in half. ...

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The Mindfulness and Meditation aspects of yoga complement the postures and poses of yoga and the breathing rhythms. Yoga started in ancient India thousands of years ago. The Buddha's writings describe the four forms of Mindfulness vividly in the ancient language of Pali 2500 BC. What Four? The following is how it is described by the Blessed One, the Buddha, when he says it is the only way to find the right path and realize Nibbana, destroy pain and grief. In it a person lives with body contemplation of body, ardent clearly comprehending and mindful, overcoming the grief and covetousness of the world of the body. He lives with felling contemplation of feeling, ardent, clearly comprehending and  mindful, overcoming the grief and covetousness of the world of feeling. He lives with mind contemplation of mind, ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, overcoming the  grief and covetousness of the world of the mind. He lives with mind object contemplation of mind objects, ardent clearly comprehending and mindful, overcoming the grief and covetousness of the world of mind objects.  Practicing these four forms of mindfulness by saying this with full comprehension along with the poses such as the mountain pose and the balancing pose, in a natural setting, are ways to connect back with oneself, with one's real Self.     ...

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Jaishankar on the connection between the Indian and Pacific Ocean region into one integral whole with the emergence of independent nations from the British, French, and Dutch Empires in the region, and the growth of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand. The growth of trade and use of sea lanes for supply chains, modern shipping and logistics, have created sea lanes that stretch from the Gulf and Suez to Hawaii and Seattle. India plays a critical role with the US, Australia and Japan to ensure international law and open shipping lanes for all nations in the Indo-Pacific. Jaishankar also touches on infrastructure developments such as the new Trilateral Highway that connects India's northeast to Burma and Thailand. This opens up ties on land between the three nations with connections into Malaysia and Indonesia. That would enhance the movement open people and goods, and cultural connect that would create a new northeast- southeast Asian connection. It restores what was the long lost connection that India once had with nations from Thailand to Indonesia, and Vietnam to Japan through China. This is the connection that brought Buddhism from India's north east in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to these countries.  Look East, Act East, the Quad, Indo-Pacific Economic Framework are all ways of saying the same thing of making the East connections the vital ones in India's social, economic and political, cultural life, restoring the connections in which India thrived and existed as one entity. It also brings life to the Gulf countries which are otherwise isolated in a sea of European nations on one side of the Mediterranean and Russia on the other side near the Black Sea that have different historical interests and cultures. This sees the central Asian connections through Afghanistan as being secondary and of less significance in the long history of nations such as India, China, Korea and Japan from the Buddhist era. That secondary connection brought an interruption of the long Buddhism and Vedanta civilization in India, intermittent wars, and the division of the country under the British Empire. It is a natural progression in a long history that seeks to restore the natural and intuitive connections to the Vedanta and Buddhist regions in the East that are part of the Indo-Pacific. These are now integrated with the settlers from Britain who sought to build better and fairer societies based on the rights of man in the new nations of Australia and America. This gives new life and meaning to this vast Indo-Pacific region. The British Empire and the other colonial empires simply bring back an orientation to the period of colonial wars of the nineteenth and twentieth century, which tore apart China and then Japan, and used resources in India for these wars, and which ended with the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These wars also leave behind memories in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan and Korea that can only be truly be put behind by looking at Vedanta and Buddhist Asia as it once was from India to China to Japan. And to the regions of Australia and the US that brought new meaning to the modern scientific period and the rights of man in settler societies away from Europe. ...

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The capitalist system has to be made and shaped to human purposes, by responsible caring human beings who care for their fellow human beings, for the world they live in and for the environment of earth, its air, water and trees. And there are consequences in not living in harmony with the natural and human world outside and the spiritual world inside us. Levin hads a son who was a teacher in the New York city schools helping disadvantaged and poor young adults who died in the violence that has become part of this school system. Could Levin with his knowledge and contacts in New York city done something for the very school system that has so much violence and poverty and difficulties with education, working with coworkers like Mayor Bloomberg,on improving the city environment of schools, homes and neighborhoods, as a way of healing the wounds and seeking redemption and quiet for the soul through others?

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This editorial in the WSJ says the resignation and downfall of Boris Johnson in Britain comes from the dissembling that resulted in loss of confidence in his Conservative party, but also in a larger sense from the failure of his agenda to revive Britain.  Not much has happened in the promise to invest in and revive the failing economy and social setting in the north of England. Inflation was hitting British households hard with inflation at close to 9% in 2022. Home electricity and natural gas prices spiked 54% in April and are expected to go up 40% in October. Johnson raised the payroll tax 2.5% to fund the NHS. Corporate tax rate was to go up to 26% from 19%. Green taxes helped energy prices go up, and Johnson did not cut the consumption tax or green taxes on gasoline or diesel or household energy says the WSJ, and kept the household income tax brackets the same even with inflation so households would see a large tax increase. In this sense Boris Johnson with his exuberant personal style and enthusiasm promised a lot after taking Britain out of the European Union with Brexit. Yet as the months dragged on and after the worst of the pandemic found there was little he could show that would convince Britons of a brighter future. Not for the North of England, not for Britons in other parts of England and in London, and with high inflation and lacking the investment that could change Britain, not much to show for infrastructure improvement or plans for the future. The dissembling and eroding credibility led to the situation that only half way through his term in office his absolute majority in the 2019 election could not keep Boris Johnson in office, and the Conservative party was losing the confidence of the British people.  ...

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On World Soil Day DW.com provides this reminder about how important soil is to our life. It is a reminder too of the all things that are really important during the pandemic. Few remember the words of FDR in 1937 during the Dust Bowl days in America when overplowing and displacement of prairie grasslands that anchored the topsoil reduced once-fertile plains to parched, barren wasteland that were swept by dust storms. This was brought to life in Steinbeck's novel Grapes of Wrath. American president Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) said in 1937 that "a nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself."   This is true for India and all parts of the world, now more than ever. The promotion of ancient grains by Mr. Modi in India helps in the way that crops can be varied so that the soil can regenerate itself, and is not drained of nutrients with one or two crops such as rice and wheat. A 2015 study by University of Sheffield in UK showed that one third of the world's arable land  was lost to pollution and erosion in the last 40 years. That study says it takes 500 years to form one inch of topsoil. Countries like India cannot afford land degradation and Modi's emphasis on improved practices in agriculture away from pesticides and careful use of chemical fertilizer, with natural substitutes in traditional agriculture taking precedence, cannot come at a better time. Healthy soils also create carbon sinks storing greenhouse gases and reducing climate change. A square meter of soil can contain 10,000 different species of worms, insects, bacteria and fungi, with a single gram home to a billion bacteria. Rich fertile earth that nourishes ecosystems is a world apart from the dust storm swept land that led to crop failures in Depression period America, leading to farmers migrating and poverty, Some of the agricultural practices that promote biodiversity are more labor intensive, and suited to India, and can actually increase agricultural production. With the added advantage of produce being organic. It can increase crop yields through better biodiversity, to yield 2.3 billion metric tons of additional crop yields per year worldwide, worth 1.24 trillion euros, (imagine that) according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, cited by DW.com. For Indian farmers this is a great opportunity in agriculture to improve agriculture and increase incomes. It is also an opportunity for farmers everywhere, in Europe, America, other parts of Asia, Latin America and Africa. ...

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A 850 megawatt solar project, the largest in the US outside of Las Vegas runs into opposition from environmentalists concerned about the effect on views and on tortoises other endangered species. The planned project on top of Mormon Mesa would put over 1 million solar panels 10 to 20 feet tall in the Nevada desert. Across the US 800 utility scale solar projects are under contract for generation of 70,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for 11 million homes, for more than Texas. Over half of this solar capacity is going into the southwestern US, with its sunshine and open land. For the first time the ardent advocates of renewable energy such as the Sierra Club are now opposing such projects. Solar made up one tenth of one percent of US energy in 2010, in 2020 it made up 4.5%. It is growing very rapidly because costs are going way down. Even before government subsidies solar is now below the cost of natural gas. Projects near Martha's Vineyard on the Massachusetts coast took 12 years to get sate and federal approval for wind energy. These battles are similar to ones being fought in Europe. The US is better positioned for solar because of vast desert spaces in the American southwest. President Joe Biden plans to use this advantage of solar and wind to get to 100% renewable energy by 2035. ...

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One negative effect of the trade war with the U.S. is an increased emphasis on energy security and increased use of coal in China. After China committed to goals for climate change coal use declined in 2014, after reaching a high in 2013. The attack on Saudi oil facilities showed risk in its reliance on Saudi oil. China's import dependency for oil reached an all time high of 72% in 2018, according to BP 2019 Statistical Review. Gradually the commitment to climate change and lower use of coal has changed since 2016 with the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Initially after the U.S. withdrawal under president Trump China made bold commitment to lead the fight against climate change but has since wavered. In an October 2019 speech Premier Li Kequiang called for the development of the coal industry to ensure energy security.  As China's economy slowed in 2019 in the face of U.S. tariffs and a trade war with the U.S. efforts are being made to increase infrastructure investment which has driven coal use higher. China's steel output reached a record of 750 million metric tons in 2019. The amount of coal fired capacity under construction in China now exceeds the rest of the world combined, much of it from plants permitted before 2017, according to Global Energy Monitor. China is also expected to become the world's largest importer of natural gas by 2020. Even the Russian gas fields from Siberia supply only a fifth of China's energy demands in 2020.  China has made large strides in renewable energy helping it meet its Paris Agreement targets. Renewable energy is about 10% of China's energy mix, but its use showed growth of 29% in 2018, making up half of the world's growth. China's use of coal in the energy mix has dropped to 58% in 2018 from 72% in 2008, according to BP 2019 Statistical Review, as a result of renewable energy investments. At the Madrid Climate Conference China renewed its commitment to the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Now it is a balancing act keeping in mind energy security and economic growth along with the need for clear skies and better air quality. ...

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How the situation in Georgia is viewed in Prague which saw an invasion by Rusiian tanks in 1968. The experience of the former eastern european countries like East Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Baltic states and their suffering during the soviet occupation is balanced against the humiliation the Russians say they feel after the collapse of the Soviet Union and Jiri Schneider has a point here, she is from the Prague Security Studies Institure a private research group where she is director. She says she is concerned about the mentality which is tolerated or the notion that we should understand that this is somehow the natural reaction to the Russian humiliation after the end of the Cold War. Why not make a fresh start? And it certainly has not helped that some in the western countries and some in Russia cling to old cold war type rhetoric, when Russia which has a European outlook and culture is better off integrating with the rest of Europe even after outbursts that ocurred with the Georgian crisis about humiliation. It is said that Sashkavili played into Russian hands when he attacked the South Ossetian capital Tshkinvali, it could also be said that Russia is playing into Georgian hands when it with larger interests than that of Georgia in the world, including economic goals and integration with the rest of Europe would let Georgia and its politics determine its future in Europe and the world. ...

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The WSJ provides an excellent guide to working at home, how to overcome the struggles and get some of the benefits from working at home. A large part of the struggles in working from home is not being able to unplug, and working like you are in an office. Working from office is different because of meetings and office distractions, and one gets less done, maybe 4 hours of decent work in a workday. So that in solo work one would say work 5 hours and accomplish what one would have done in 8 hours at the office.  At home consistently working 5 or 6 hours at a stretch can get a person exhausted and isolated.  Don't look at the clock for it to say 5 pm. Take breaks early, if one reaches ones limit or gets restless it is time to take an extended break or get outside for a walk, or do some stretches, yoga, or something else. Loneliness is another part of the struggles. Important to setup some video calls to make sure you get human interaction. Get some chance to refresh and talk to humans, get some interaction.  Leave stuff such as clearing inbox and less brainy tasks for the evening. Set top 3 priorities for the day or week so you have an idea of progress in a larger task. Time theming is a way to set aside certain days or time periods to get specific things done. Staying physically fit and mentally rejuvenated is the big challenge.  Exercize routines, stretches, yoga, meditation early morning, help keep ones mental and physical health. They are most important. They form the basis for the whole day and lay the foundation for getting things done. This is where the process sets the tone and helps get the best results. Once this is established one can let the ebbs and flow of work motivation and feeling ready to work happen, seeing them as natural, without concern that one won't get done what needs to be done to be effective. ...

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Experts in the U.S. say the U.S. made a mistake in not supporting the idea of a new financial institution to meet the urgent needs of development and infrastructure financing of Asia's developing countries. India, Australia, S. Korea, Britain, Germany, France and Italy are joining as founding members in 2015. China has offered leadership in providing resources for the new bank. Jane Perlez says China is looking for the best talent worldwide to help write the charter for the bank and to run it. It is a project pushed forward by China's president Jinping, and was discussed at the 2013 G-20 meeeting in Moscow as a critical part of the agenda. Laurence Brahm, who supported Chinese premier Zhu Rongji in 2001 for entry into the WTO, says it is natural for China to look for ways to use its extra capacity in steel, concrete and pipes to build projects in other parts of Asia, which would mutually benefit China and the region. Paul Haenle of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center in Beijing, says the U.S. lack of support is shortsighted, as the existing U.S. sponsored institutions World Bank and the Asian Development Bank are sorely lacking the resources to deal with the huge infrastructure challenges in Asia. China's Finance Ministry is looking for the best talent worldwide to write the charter and run the bank. Natalie Lichtenstein, a lawyer with 30 years experience working at the World Bank will write the bank's founding charter. ...

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Orhan Pamuk, internationally known Turkish writer, gives a photographic story about walking around in Istanbul seeing the natural yellow light along the streets and shops in different neighborhoods. This is before the shift to bright white light from new light bulbs changes the look of the streets. Orhan Pamuk has a humility in his writing, touching so many readers. So much like America's Walt Whitman, to whom we owe the name Lyrarc, formed from the first three letters of two constellations Whitman saw in the night sky over the St Lawrence river in northern Quebec in 1880. Pamuk describes the changes in these neighborhoods, in places that he walked through in the 1980's, 1990's and today. For the first time walking through difficult poorer neighborhoods made possible by a body guard assigned by the government. He sees the social transformation of the European parts of Istanbul in winter walks that started in 2016. Gives us this photograph of a Syrian immigrant woman looking for help on a street in Istanbul. Istanbul remolded by Syrian and other Arab immigrants, by nationalist sentiment. He writes so much like Whitman about Brooklyn and New York,  that beguiling feeling that he got from the nightscape in Istanbul during his brisk walks in the city, that curious energy to which he felt closer during these walks. Much like Whitman writes in Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (1891) about the hundreds and hundreds of people crossing by ferry boat being more curious to him and being more in his meditations than they would ever suppose. Orhan Pamuk is a real human ambassador for Turkey in today's chaotic, confusing Middle East. He was the 2006 Nobel Prize Winner for Literature.  ...

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The 2016 Republican platform is written to express the ideas in the Republican Party for family values, child rearing using the Bible and traditional values, calling pornography a "public health crisis."  The Family Research Council and tradition or family focussed groups played an important role in writing it, with Mr. Trump playing less of a role. Instead of "physical barrier" with Mexico, it says "a wall"  should be built in a taking up Trump's idea, but in general it is a clear expressing of traditional family values that Republicans have supported for years and expressed frustration with the movement of social lives in an opposite direction. The same sex marraige decision by the Supreme Court and transgender debate were not present in 2012 election, so in that sense the Republicans see the country as moving in a different direction. More of the pendulum having swung too far in another direction is how Republicans perceive it, and their response is to go back to how things used to be and the world they knew, based on what they see as positive outcomes for the whole of society. Hence language that encourages teaching of the Bible in public schools, condemning pornography as a menace particularly for children, and insisting on "man made laws being consistent with God given natural rights." A good understanding of the Bible is considered "indispensable for the development of an educated citizenry."   Amendments opposing gay and transgender are being added. ...

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Jeannie Rice, originally from Seoul, South Korea, is a 71 year old marathon runner who runs the marathon in 3 hours 27 minutes and 50 seconds. She holds the world record for her age, after 3 failed attempts. Average pace is 7:25 per mile for 13.1 miles, which is something people aspire for at 30 years age. She runs 4 to 6 marathons a year. Her routine is to run 10 miles a day on average for 7 days a week with long runs on the weekend. She lives in Ohio and runs in the winter in Florida. The way she does it- take a day off before the race, keep several pairs of sneakers and change them every 3 months. She doesn't crosstrain much, preferring golf. She eats a lot of carbs, rice even white rice, pasta. She starts with a pre-run snack of a small banana and half tablespoon of natural peanut butter, coffee. Post run it is a bagel with avocado. Lunch is green salad with avocado. Dinner may be rice with shrimp and vegetables. Experts say training programs are highly individualistic. A fit person takes about 3 months to be ready for marathon running. Long runs are crucial. A 12-18 hour rest period after a marathon is suggested to allow tissue healing. Proper footwear and several pairs of sneakers are critical to avoid injury. ...

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Iraq is Iran's most promising market for gas exports. Iraq needs the gas for its power stations now that Islamic State has been decisively cleared from Iraq. Yet Iraq is having difficulty making payments to Iran for gas supplies because banks are not ready to handle the payments with the reimposed tighter U.S. sanctions and restrictions. The deputy head of media at the Electricity ministry in Iraq, Sadoun Shehan, told WSJ that transfer of money by Iraqi banks is prevented because of U.S. sanctions. U.S. sanctions were reimposed by the Trump administration after they were lifted in January 2016. The new sanctions prohibit gas exports from Iran. Iran had hoped to make the sales and also export to the European Union when sanctions were lifted. Iranian exports of gas that started in 2017 were itself delayed for 4 years by the war from Islamic State.  Iran has the second largest reserves of natural gas in the world. The Trump administration's sanctions have led to a drop of Iranian crude shipments by 29% in 3 months and added to upward pressure on oil prices to take prices to $80 a barrel. This issue has implications for India and China, particularly India as it faces both higher prices for oil and the tight restrictions in purchase of Iranian oil. ...

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Empty storage tanks and empty supertankers and idle storage terminals are to be seen in the area of Cameron Parish, in coastal Louisiana. This is where Cheniere Energy opened a $1.4 billion liquefied natural gas terminal recently. This was part of a $7 billion construction of 8 new LNG terminals over the last 5 years around the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast. Only a year ago this seemed like an attractive investment as LNG supplies to the USA appeared to be on the rise. But that is not the way it turned out. By October its estimated that the USA will have in storage 3.1 trillion cubic feet of gas, about 1 trillion less than the full storage capacity.This is after the summer use and reduced LNG imports. This is 1 trillion feet of idle unused capacity or about 25% idle capacity. What has happened is that with a nuclear plant down in Japan because of an earthquake and drought conditions in Spain limiting hydroelectric dam electricity prices these countries pay has jumped and LNG tankers have been diverted to these places instead of the USA. Because natural gas prices unlike oil prices are set on a regional basis, prices in other regions and countries are several dollars higher than the US price of $11.80 per thousand cubic feet, which is itself up from $7.50 per thousand cubic feet at the beginning of 2008. The reason for all this unused capacity is that imports are 40% of what they were for last year and capacity has been doubled. Producers have also put more supplies on the spot market and less on long term contracts to make higher profits thus raising prices even higher. Some analysts believe that it was a bad thing for the US not to import more as 3.1 trillion cubic feet of gas in storage will not meet expected demand in the winter heating season of 2008-2009. And with global demand up and global supplies not coming up fast enough gas prices may increase still further. Demand is growing at about 7% in the developing world, and about 2.6% worldwide so demand in the USA is not increasing at this time. The new refineries and petrochemical plants going up in the Middle East and Asia will increase demand further for natural gas. The whole issue has not been prominent because the US meets only 3% of its natural gas needs through LNG. ...