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Medvedev appears to have little role in setting policy in Russia, even though he has presented a different view of liberal groups and showed interest in pluralistic democracy and free expression of opinion. Putin has expressed a very different view about liberal groups, as representing foreign interests in Russia. The media remains tightly controlled in Russia, and elections are determined in the Putin way. A mayor picked by Putin won the Sochi elections even without campaigning, as many opposition candidates were disqualified or discredited before the campaign. He won with 77% of the vote. In this way elections take place in Russia but are conducted in a way which makes it very difficult for the opposition parties, and keeps media television coverage heavily pro-government.

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Richard Barrett, former head of overseas counter terrorism operations of Britain and now head of the UN AlQuaeda and Taliban monitoring group, in aspeech to the Washington Institute of Near East Policy, says Al Quaeda is a diminishing threat because a new generation of Muslims who have little recollection of the events and are less interested in religion. And CIA officials say they are having greater success penetrating Al Quaeda, because of vastly improved intelligence capabilities. In terms of intelligence and capabilities, the technical colllection, intercepts are much better, and overhead surveillance is much better. The human intelligence is much better and they have fewer competent people.

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The business model where hedge funds take in short term money from investors for a 2% fee and a fifth of profits, and invest it in longer term bets and sometimes illiquid situations, is breaking down. This happened to the investment banks and ended with the collapse of Lehman and Bear Stearns. With losses approaching 20%, many illiquid investments, and investors asking for their money, this model may lead to a rapid shrinking of the hedge fund industry, which now has about $2 trillion of investor money.

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The large infrastructure investments in the high speed rail network - estimated at $300 billon- have increased the debt of the railway ministry to about 5% of national GDP in the 1st quarter of 2011.The high speed rail lines are not likely to be economically viable, with revenues not enough to pay for operation and investment costs. With the higher fares it would take 9% of monthly disposable per capita income of urbanites or 555 yuan ($86) to pay for the cheapest ticket on the 300 mile Beijing-Shanghai high speed rail line. This makes high speed rail less affordable for middle and lower income people in China. The acceleration of the program in 2008 with stimulus funds and the moving up of deadlines for completion have led to corruption, stress on suppliers, and overinvestment. The program suffered from lack of good financial management and supervision in the rush to complete the program. Lack of equitable access and affordability to income groups from a majority of Chinese people have left the impression that it was for higher income groups. Higher tolls on highways and now the higher prices on highspeed rail have left the impression among ordinary Chinese that all income groups are not being served by the large infrastructure investments....

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Krugman coins the term weaponized Keynesians for those who say building new warplanes is a good idea because it creates jobs, but do not say the same about job creation for building bridges, and other infrastructure.

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The unemployment rate in Germany declined from 6.9% in November to 6.8% in December 2011. The average number of unemployed workers in Germany averaged less than three million for 2011, the lowest level since 1991. Changes in the German labor markets with the Hartz reforms under the previous Social Democratic government to introduce more flexibility and increase incentives to look for work have helped reduce unemployment. The German "Kurzarbeit" program of retaining workers in a downturn has helped reduced unemployment. Other changes include the expansion of the low wage sector.

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Total payments if a payout is triggered on credit default swaps on Greece is $3.2 billion.

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U.S. President Obama's effort to ramp up sanctions against Iran to force Iran to halt its nuclear program.

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10 year U.S. Treasury yields drop below 1.5% in June 2012. German bond yields in negative territory.