World News Insights
1-3 Minute Gist
Search, personalize, or simply browse. Follow the world around you from gist and context to insights.
Who we are | Our Credo | Ways of using Lyrarc | FAQ | Send Feedback | First Letter From the Editor
Sign up. It's free and easy to use
Create an account
to personalize your feed of articles and topics.
Browse Articles or use Lyrarc's US patented "Groups" and "Links" for new insights. A Lyrarc Group of Articles on a topic gives insights into particular angles shown in the Group Title. A Lyrarc Link shows more specific insights for 2 articles.
All Topics Links
The huge contrast between Chancellor Merkel's approach and the approach of Obama and Cameron to the Syrian refugee crisis
08/20/2015
The German chancellor will be remembered in history for the way she handled the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015, and for the courage to say, "if Europe fails on the question of refugees, its close connection with universal civil rights will be destroyed." Reports in the Guardian newspaper say Germany is likely to accept about 1 million refugees in 2015. Chancellor Merkel says about 800,000 refugees will be admitted in 2015. Contrast this with the UK reports the Guardian which has 166 refugees admitted to the UK, and reports in the WSJ that about 1500 refugees have been admitted to the U.S.. Merkel has taken on the challenge in a spirited way as Europe faces anti-immigrant sentiment and rallied German society in a way that is remarkable. The withdrawal of the Obama administration from the Middle East led to the collapse of the fragile situation in Libya, Iraq and Syria, and the unravelling of these countries, leading to the current refugee crisis with about half of the Syrian population dislocated and large parts of the population of Libya, Iraq, and Kurdish regions dislocated.
Linked Articles
U.S. Pressed to Take More Syrian Refugees
Wall Street Journal 09/05/2015
Why some German universities will educate refugees for free - The Washington PostWashington Post 08/20/2015
The contrasting views about the Greece crisis in July 2015
07/18/2015
Linked Articles
Minister in Germany Discusses Greece Role
New York Times 07/18/2015
Austere? Your word, not oursEconomist 07/19/2015
The difficult dynamic between eurozone negotiator Dutch finance minister Dijsselbloem and Greece's negotiator Varoufakis that led to the collapse of talks on June 25, 2015- leading to the referendum and the Third Bailout program
07/02/2015
Linked Articles
Hopeful Start to Greek Debt Negotiations Quickly Soured
New York Times 07/02/2015
Eurozone Finance Chief Recounts Brinkmanship That Led to Greek DealWall Street Journal 07/17/2015
Brazil's debt crisis and economic slump in 2015-2016
04/03/2015
Linked Articles
Brazil’s coming recession: The crash of a titan
Economist 04/05/2015
Teetering on Junk, Petrobras Intrigues High-Yield InvestorsWall Street Journal 04/03/2015
The 39% drop in Russia's auto sales in 2015 with the economic crisis- withdrawal of GM and other manufacturers
02/10/2015
Linked Articles
GM to Close Russian Assembly Plant
Wall Street Journal 03/19/2015
Russian Car Sales Skid Lower Amid Economic GloomWall Street Journal 02/10/2015
Russia and global financial markets in 2014-2015- a disconnect between an economy connected to the global economy and separation from a postwar order of international cooperation within a global economy
01/29/2015
Linked Articles
Stopping Putin Without Firing a Shot
Wall Street Journal 02/11/2015
From Russia With No LoveWall Street Journal 01/29/2015
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
Wall Street Journal 12/09/2014
China Slips in Corruption Perceptions ReportNew York Times 12/02/2014
The struggle to rebuild Liberia's health system so that it can handle another epidemic after the Ebola Virus crisis
10/30/2014
Alongside the report by Helene Cooper from Liberia, Betsy McKay's report provides an exceptional view of the health system and people coping with the Ebola virus in the region.
Linked Articles
West Africa Struggles to Rebuild Its Ravaged Health-Care System
Wall Street Journal 06/05/2015
Liberia’s Ebola Crisis Puts President in Harsh LightNew York Times 10/30/2014
Africa's tragedy (1) - Liberia's Sirleaf in the Ebola Crisis
10/16/2014
Exceptional reporting by NYT's Helene Cooper and Heidi Vogt giving readers a feel for life on the ground in Liberia.
Linked Articles
Liberia’s Ebola Crisis Puts President in Harsh Light
New York Times 10/30/2014
In Liberia, U.S. Soldiers Race EbolaWall Street Journal 10/16/2014
Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide and the Justice Department's investigation of Countrywide in 2014
08/22/2014
Nocera and Morgenson of the NYT on the Justice Department's delayed 2014 investigation of Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide which was at the center of the 2008 mortgage financial crisis in the U.S.
Linked Articles
An Unfinished Chapter at Countrywide
New York Times 08/23/2014
Lessons Not LearnedNew York Times 08/22/2014
China, the U.S. and Japan- the task of reestablishing peaceful cooperation in the Pacific region after the missteps of 2011-2013
07/09/2014
Meetings for the sixth round of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Bieijing between the U.S. and China, and Japanese prime minister's address to the Australian parliament in Canberra, at about the same time in July 2014, showing how the path of peaceful cooperation will have to be actively pursued to remain a reality. Underpinning the hopes of China, Japan and neighboring countries in Asia is the U.S. will and purpose for maininting the post war peace and stability for the benefit of all, that at times has been missing in the words and actions of the Obama administration. Lack of peace in the region would seriously affect China's effort to bring better incomes to the large majority of people still in the countryside and leave China stuck in middle income status of countries like Mexico, damage the prospects of improving incomes of billions of people in India, other parts of Asia and Latin America. In this sense the Japanese people have shown the wisdom of keeping the conditions of peace that have prevailed for the post war period, and the U.S. with undiminished will and purpose in its post war role can affirm the hopes of the people of the region, including the hope of people in China, India, Japan, S. Korea, and Latin America.
Linked Articles
U.S., China try to emphasize potential for cooperation - The Washington Post
Washington Post 07/09/2014
Abe's Constitutional Reform Push SlowsWall Street Journal 07/09/2014
Questions about whether justice and accountability were accomplished in the U.S. Justice Department's settlement with Credit Suisse
05/19/2014
A WSJ editorial and a separate piece in the NYT question the assumption that justice and accountability were achieved in the U.S. government's settlement with Credit Suisse. The nagging question- is Attorney General Holder simply burnishing his image after failing to establish accountability and justice following the 2008 global financial crisis, which dealt a serious blow to America's middle class. Collective wrongdoing starts with individual actions, and holding individuals responsible establishes accountability, so that the public is protected from future actions of this nature. Somewhere since the crisis this principle has been lost in the Obama administration. A churn in management for failures is considered healthy for other American companies, and healthy for free enterprise, readers are likely to wonder why this is not so for the banks.
Linked Articles
Credit Suisse Pleads Guilty in Felony Case
New York Times 05/19/2014
Holder Convicts SwitzerlandWall Street Journal 05/21/2014
BaFin, German federal financial regulatory authority, and the problems at Deutsche Bank- regulators slow to act on information
03/28/2014
Eyk Henning of the WSJ points out the slow response of regulator BaFin to information about problems at Deutsche Bank that suggest a broken culture in a report on March 28, 2014. This comes 6 years after the WSJ first reported the LIBOR rate manipulation in 2008 leading to British and U.S. regulatory investigations. In April 2015 Deutsche Bank made a legal settlement for LIBOR rate manipulation of $2.5 billion with U.S. and British regulators. As the time when regulatory authority passes to the European Central Bank, and after a period of 7 years since the 2008 WSJ report, BaFin finally sends its report on the broken culture at the bank. A month later the two co-CEO's at the bank resign.
Linked Articles
Germany Blasts Deutsche Bank Executives Over Culture
Wall Street Journal 07/17/2015
German Financial Watchdog Bites BackWall Street Journal 03/28/2014
Trump's casinos and Griffin's Citadel hedge fund- risky financial investments and path from collapse to recovery
08/04/2015
WSJ reporters Grant and Berzon on Trump, and Copeland on Ken Griffin of the Citadel hedge fund provide an inside look at the financial dealings and maneouvring of Trump, the huge risk and leverage taken on at Citadel by Griffin. In doing so they provide insights into the manner of operating and personality of the two businessmen.
Linked Articles
Trump and His Debts: A Narrow Escape
Wall Street Journal 01/04/2016
Citadel’s Ken Griffin Leaves 2008 Tumble Far BehindWall Street Journal 08/04/2015
Manuel Valls of France and Dutch finance minister Dijsselbloem- two perspectives on the Greece crisis following the referendum of July 5
07/09/2015
Linked Articles
Eurozone Finance Chief Recounts Brinkmanship That Led to Greek Deal
Wall Street Journal 07/17/2015
Greek Plan Accepts Austerity to Get Debt ReliefNew York Times 07/09/2015
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
A Veteran of the Financial Crisis Tells China to Be WaryNew York Times 04/20/2015
The response of financial markets to Russian intervention in Ukraine 2014-2015, as arms aid to Ukraine is seen as not a good option
02/11/2015
Linked Articles
New York Times 02/11/2015
Stopping Putin Without Firing a ShotWall Street Journal 02/11/2015
The cost of the crisis to Russia exceeds $200 billion- a story of wasted opportunities to diversify away from oil and gas and integrate fully into the competitive global economy
01/29/2015
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 01/29/2015
Russia Lifts Crisis Cost EstimateWall Street Journal 01/29/2015
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
Russian President Vladimir Putin Seeks to Reassure on EconomyWall Street Journal 12/18/2014
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
With Bad Economic News for Japan, Abe’s Magic Seems to EvaporateNew York Times 11/20/2014
The fragility of China's financial system in 2014-2015 as cited by Standard & Poors and the IMF
10/17/2014
With total debt to GDP of 250%, (and 100% of this since 2008), according to the Economist, the risks to China's financial system continue to grow.
Linked Articles
Economist 10/17/2014
Chinese debt: The great hole of ChinaEconomist 10/17/2014
A shift in opinion towards vigorous discussion about austerity for the first time since 2010 when the eurozone crisis began- Valls, Gabriel, Asmussen, Renzi, Draghi, Lagarde join the debate
10/09/2014
Linked Articles
Germany, France Tap Economists for Advice to Avoid ‘Lost Decade’
Wall Street Journal 10/14/2014
Merkel Hints at Economic Policy Shift in GermanyNew York Times 10/09/2014
Obama's second term- (5) the U.S. president's foreign policy failures in Syria and Iraq seen up close by Clinton and Panetta
08/11/2014
A Defense Secretary and Secretary of State in the Obama administration describe up close president Obama's failure to act at key moments in the crisis in Iraq and Syria. This has badly damaged the U.S. credibility and what it stands for in the Middle East and the rest of the world.
Linked Articles
A Rift in Worldviews Is Exposed as Clinton Faults Obama on Policy
New York Times 08/11/2014
Former Defense Chief Panetta Criticizes Obama in New MemoirWall Street Journal 10/07/2014
More women without jobs in 2014 compared to 2010, and the 20% of U.S. households in 2014 either underwater or with less than 20% equity in their homes
05/19/2014
Most parts of the Democratic base badly damaged in the Obama administration's policy decisions in the housing and mortgage crisis of 2008-2009. A delayed economic recovery with weakness in consumer spending as one of the predictable outcomes of the policy decisions taken for homeowners.
Linked Articles
Economic Recovery Yields Few Benefits for the Voters Democrats Rely On
New York Times 05/19/2014
Mortgage, Home-Equity Woes LingerWall Street Journal 05/20/2014
The deteriorating situation for the U.S. long term unemployed and workers seeking fulltime but stuck in part time low paying jobs
04/04/2014
By March 2014 about 6 years after the 2008 financial crisis 7.4 million workers could not find full time work.
Linked Articles
It's Still Bad for the Long Term Unemployed
New York Times 04/04/2014
The Decline of WorkWall Street Journal 04/05/2014
We took a different way to help millions around the world build educated informed mindsets that affects and shapes their lives. For a future that is open, global and digital, with everyone having access to high quality information. We believe in the renewal of America, renewal of Europe, the renewal of India, the rest of Asia, Latin America and Africa. The renewal of our supply chains, health, education, infrastructure, as we rebuild our countries after the pandemic. Literacy and knowledge we believe cannot thrive and grow in a world of web bots, web crawlers, or AI. This requires human curiosity, human learning, and human imagination. We take as inspiration the saying- “One has to be free, and as broad as sky. One has to have a mind that is crystal clear, only then can truth shine in it.” Every contribution whether big or small is precious- in this crisis and ahead.
Support Lyrarc from as small as $1
Terms and Conditions | Copyright Policy | Privacy Policy | Contact Us