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Japan's International Cooperation Agency plans to fill some of the gaps in western participation in accelerating African infrastructure building that have opened up in the last  two decades. Unneeded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan led to lack of attention and focus on much needed development in Africa by the US and Europe. This is changing and the JICA with its long history of participation in African development is also now taking on an important role to give Africa a new opportunity to accelerate economic progress after the pandemic.

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Disbelief at what happened in the Sydney cricket Test with the comments of Paine to Ashwin and the activity on the crease by Smith, as Indian batsmen held on to save the day. Readers comments are interesting. One reader says Brett Lee is the Australian bowler who should be the role model for Australia. Then again Richie Benaud from the sixties and seventies going far back is what the Australians need to go back to. Other readers say this is not just Australian cricket, it is cultural in Australia.

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Senators Grassley, Graham, Risch, Blount, are some of the senators on the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees of the U.S. Senate who believe that Special Counsel Mueller's investigation should stay on track and complete its job, even though texts showing bias between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page led to their removal from the investigation. The senators say Mueller is a very capable guy and he has fired the officials expressing the bias against president Trump. The mood in the House is different where Republican Congressmen have called for Mueller to be removed.

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This editorial in the New York Times points out that the new president of the ANC party -that runs South Africa and has a monopoly of power in the post Apartheid years, under Mandela, Mbeki and Zuma- faces a uphill task as the ANC remains deeply divided after supporting Mr. Zuma in office till the very end. Apart from the stagnant economy, there are challenges the ANC faces in the lethargy of the post Apartheid years, and the culture of corruption, and patronage management that led to mismanagement of state enterprises.

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This opinion in DW.com says the refugee camp in Calais, France, called the "Jungle" was ignored by the British who transferred border control to France and did nothing. The French government of Hollande also ignored the problem and the deteriorating conditions at the camp. Media attention and the election led to effort to disband the camp and find spots around France for about 7000 people. Because of the radical right in France the French government has not considered humanitarian help and providing certainty of status for the refugees.

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British prime minister Theresa May fires her Defense Secretary for leaking information on a review of the use of equipment from China's Huawei Technologies Co. in the UK telecom 5G network. May had agreed to let Huawei make some of the equipment for "less sensitive" parts of the UK telecom network, a decision opposed by Mr. Williamson and others in the Conservative Party. The U.S. has taken a strong position opposing the use of Huawei equipment in western telecom networks for 5G.

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The CDU suffered its worst result in 70 years of state elections with only 11% of the vote. The AfD party could lose all of its six seats. The centre left SPD party was up to 39% of the vote even after the Greens doubled their vote tally to 24%. The issues in the election were local relating to public transport, rental costs and climate change. Olaf Scolz the SPD mayor from 2011 to 2018 is now vice chancellor in the coalition government led by Merkel. 

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The snap elections called by Macron after National Rally party of Marine Le Pen wins 32 percent of the vote to Macron En Marche at 15% in the EU elections. Marine Le Pen has put Jordan Bardella, 28 years, of St Dennis suburb in Paris as the candidate for prime minister if NR wins the National Assembly election. Macron earlier made Gabriel Attal, 35 years, the En Marche candidate. This is the youngest in a major country for prime minister. This report in WSJ shows how Macron by reducing diesel subsidies for farmers has alienated rural voters at a time when farmers are protesting difficult conditions. Macron also faced union opposition over pension age changes, and before his reelection protests from Yellow Vest protesters on cost of living issues. Macron has survived each challenge, the last in reelection by getting support of voters on the left and right choosing stability over changes that National Rally might bring. The snap election was also intended to take Le Pen and NR by surprise. This has created new uncertainty with elections on June 30, 2024, soon after Biden and Macron met in Normandy for D- Day anniversary, and the upcoming G7 meeting in Italy June 13-15. ...

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Hilsenrath describes how the Federal Reserve missed the signs of the mortgage financial crisis of 2008, the bubble economy, and how low interest rates and other actions of the Fed to rescue the economy led to a situation which hurt savers. The lack of a serious plan for homeowner rescue as part of the actions by the government further hurt the working and middle class. The rescue also lacked credibility because the banks ended up becoming bigger than they were, and no action was taken in the U.S. which had been pushed by the U.S. in similiar situations overseas- for example on South Korean banks for overborrowing during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.  At the 2014 Boston Fed sponsored conference on Inequality, Fed chairman Janet Yellen described what she called the largest inequality in the U.S. not seen since the 19th century. The average net worth of the lower half of the distribution, said Yellen, of 62 million households, was $11,000, and a quarter of them had zero net worth. These were the shocking statistics that propelled two unlikely outsiders forward- Donald Trump to the Republican nomination for president, and Bernie Sanders who coming close to getting the Democratic nomination settled for a big part of setting the Democratic agenda supported by nominee Clinton in 2016. ...

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A gradual deterioration in people's confidence in government from illegal activities was the threat XI Jinping saw early by 2013, after over 60 years of a single party running China. It has affected his entire outlook on what China's policy needs to be for its long term interest in modernization. A reminder is this account by Chinese state media that says Tomorrow Group run by a Chinese Canadian illegally collected $45 billion in deposits. Illegal collecting of deposits is connected to collecting on false pretenses money for investment or real estate without proper licenses. Shanghai Intermediate Court says $100 million was given to government officials. This company was dismantled between 2016 and 2020 and was run by a 50 year old Canadian Chinese businessman. It included 4 insurers, 2 trust firms, 2 securities firms and a futures company. Other such scandals including for stock manipulation were revealed by 2016. Xi Jinping was made president in 2013. He realized the danger to China of the extent to which the country's economy was exposed to illegal activity in business and what this could do to the country if the Communist party- the only party that China has known since 1900 and Japanese imperialist invasion other than the Nationalist Koumintang party-lost the confidence of the people and failed. The Nationalists party collapsed because of such illegal activities that profited a small group of business people and led to deep discontent in China in the 1930's and 1940's, the period when the Japanese overran most of China and setup puppet regimes. Corruption Control in Authoritarian Regimes- Lessons from East Asia by Cambridge University Press points out that this type of illegal activity led to the delegitimization of the Nationalists party which ruled parts of China not overrun by the Japanese during the period 1920 to 1949. This led to defeat to the Communists in the Civil war with little that even US help under General Joe Stilwell could reverse shown in Barbara Tuchman's book Stilwell and the American Experience in China. The US had not chosen to work with the Nationalists under Stillwell's leadership and Stilwell was even asked to resign by the Nationalists because he protested these illegal activities that undermined confidence in the government and made FDR deeply uneasy about the relationship with the Nationalists. Xi Jinping understood very well that this could happen again if these types of illegal activities were allowed to continue leading to policies he has pursued since 2013. He grasped that this would leave China without strong leadership at a time that was critical for its modernization. ...

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Mr. Trump has decisively changed the Republican party. Most Republicans support Mr. Trump personally, less the Republican party. Mr. Lindsey Graham, a senator from South Carolina, says of the Republican party before Trump that it had become a bit staid, that we looked like the banker next door who may foreclose on your house. Mr. Romney epitomized that in his view. Gone are the views on deficits, on wars, and on imports and transfer of technology to China as being acceptable.  Five years from 2015 when Mr. Trump came into prominence with his new style taking on the establishments of both parties with a fierce disdain for convention, both the Bushes and the Obamas and Clintons, the Republican party is completely transformed. Registered Republicans are now 60% non college educated in 2020 compared to 50% non college educated in 2016. The Trump policies on trade putting American workers first and America first have a resounding popularity with this audience- this should be no surprise after decades of job losses and factories shipped overseas under the previous administrations for 2 decades. Most of these workers are not college educated and are white and had enjoyed a good standard of living with a high school education in American factories till the shift of American manufacturing to China destroyed good paying jobs and impoverished the American working class.  Only 30% of college educated people are registered Republicans in 2020 compared to 40% in 2016. Overwhelmingly about 90% of registered Republicans are white.  They are majority male and older but there is a significant about 40% female and 40% young population under 40 years of age. This might resemble the party put together by Missouri Congressman Harry Truman as he led the Democratic Party in 1948 with a majority of non college educated Democrats, fighting for American workers and America first in the cold war with Russia. Truman also had a rough Missouri farm language and accent comparable to Mr. Trump's rough style and language disdainful of the old establishment and new tech establishment. Both were heavily disliked by the media and both did not let this bother them in any way. Both liked facing large crowds as Truman showed in campaigning by train across the country and Trump has shown in campaign rallies run in his own way. ...

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Bolton warns that the policy of negotiating with Iran has failed. He points to the dangers of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia's intention to acquire a nuclear weapon in the rivalry between Shiite Iran and the Sunni led coalition led by the Saudis.

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The NYT's Sanger and Gordon give readers glimpses of what happened inside the negotiating rooms at the hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the outlines of the nuclear agreement with Iran were laid out. Wendy Sherman led the American negotiating team, and Javad Zarif led the Iranian side.

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Two professors from Northwestern University from Slavic Languages and Literature, and from Economics, look at the cultural outlook of Russians in the recent period of the Bolsheviks and of Putin, that takes on a attitude of ruthlessness in the Bolshevik period writings of Sholokhov and Lenin. They contrast it with the works of other writers in Russian literature such as Tolstoy, Turgenev and Chekov, which provide the basis of humanism and concern for individual suffering. Morson and Schapiro say Russia is different in that unlike the US and to some extent Britain and the Netherlands which are commercial societies based on a shopkeepers mentality of trade and commerce, Russia tends to look at the state in a different way. Individual interests are not paramount according to this view in Russia, it is the state that matters.  Yet this has limited use as theory because it is also true that a lot is shared by all human beings and societies. There is a English saying that "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Leaders start out differently and change over long periods of power, the power tends to isolate them and corrupt them. Mistakes are made after decades in power that can push back the country's development. The Russian president is no exception and may have understood history and literature in a Russian context but long periods of power may have led to the kind of isolation that led to the severe miscalculation in Ukraine leading to a prolonged war and so much destruction on all sides. This has extended to the effects of the war in countries that depend on wheat from Russia such as Turkey, Egypt and much of the Middle East and Africa.         ...

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Mr. Trump says he will wear a mask on a visit to soldiers at Army's Walter Reed Hospital. Trump says its "a very appropriate thing. I have no problem with a mask." As cases hit 3 million in the U.S., close to 1 million in India and Russia, Mr. Trump joins the movement for masks worldwide. Early on Mr. Trump  took up the issue of transmission from Wuhan by banning flights from China, failed to get WHO and China to respond quickly to the pandemic requests from U.S. by providing information and allowing a team to visit Wuhan quickly in January. A stumbling block appeared within the health ministry in the U.S. with poor leadership which Trump had to overcome by relying on Vice President Pence to lead the stop coronavirus team at the White House.   Trump's reopening decision came under criticism and he says he had to balance the damage to jobs and economic well being that also affected health. Some of the states and young people responded in ways that led to public gatherings that have led to surges in the south and the western states such as Calfornia. The WSJ reported that in Los Angeles County on June 20 half a million people went to bars after they reopened, showing that culturally even counties in states like California lacked what is accepted good sense. For instance Tokyo bars were paid by the Japanese government not to reopen, according to one report. By wearing a mask Trump is simply acknowledging facts about transmission - a German study shows 40% reduction in cases with face coverings. ...

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Efforts to clean up the French capital and restore what was considered normal, a clean capital. A dedicated police officer and sanitation agent for every Paris neighborhood starting in March 2025 - action by municipal authorites reports Le Monde.

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Iran Proposal that asks $2 million per ship to be split with Oman for opening the Hormuz Straits- April 6 2026. China, Japan can pay this amount to get the 90% of the oil they need from Hormuz, which would go to reconstruction of war damage in Iran. India would shift some of its purchase of oil and gas to the US and so will Japan over 2027-2028. This would result in a shift away from the Persian Gulf dependence to renewable energy and to buying oil and gas from US+Venezuela as more reliable sources. European Union and Britain would also make this shift as shown in the adjoining article by Prof Geoffron of Universite Paris Dauphine in Le Monde. The proposal also requires US and Israel to commit to no future attack on Iran, and Israel to stop its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. The US and DJT call the new regime under a Speaker of the Iranian parliament, an elected president who had to respond to people sentiment in the election, and a grandson of Khomeini, one that is easier to talk with than the earlier regime. The problem remains nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles development that the US has as its sole objective which is what the war is about than Hormuz as the US and DJT say Hormuz is China and Japan's problem where for some strange reason these industrial powers import 90% of their oil from Hormuz and have done this after 40 years of disruptions, a mystery they can solve on their own. ...

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Winfield House in  central London where DJT spent the night on his state visit to the Royal family. Compare this to Blair House in Washington DC home of the publisher Preston Blair during the 1830's which serves as the residence of foreign guests to the US. Winfield House sits on many acres compared to Blair House near the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue in its modest appearance on the street itself. A contrast between two nations. Winfield House is used as ambassador's residence by the US Ambassador and has 35 rooms compared to the few rooms in Blair House. Blair House has more historic significance as residence of Harry Truman, and it is where Blair as Lincoln's emissary offered Robert Lee the command of the Union Army after Fort Sumter surrendered, marking the start of the Civil War.

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Following the executive order by U.S. president Trump reversing Obama administration policies on climate change and clean energy, BBC correspondent points out that the strategy of the Trump administration and Republicans is to change the narrative to job creation and with court challenges let the Clean Power plan be delayed. This would be followed by a different plan with less regulation of the coal industry. The clean energy policies were unpopular in states where Republicans had support.

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This report by James McCauley of the Washington Post, points to the uncertainties in the French presidential election. About one third of French voters are undecided. Le Pen and a surprise candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon are pulling in voters on the far right and the far left. There are questions whether Macron's effort to pull together centre right and centre left voters will work in such an environment. McCauley says the gist of Macron's approach is summarized in a line in his 2016 book- removing "the obstacles on the road," making equality of opportunity a reality in a land of elite government and business running the country, and key being " renewal of ideas and men."  It is not exactly a way forward, more about renewal in French society. His opponents are pitching exiting the European Union and different visions of a protectionist welfare state. Macron is pitching continuity with renewal and changes to bring more opportunity to young people by investing in vocational education, recreate French schools, and expand health services, lower residency taxes. A lot depends on centrist voters coming out to vote as happened in the recent Dutch election, and undecided voters looking for renewal instead of the uncertainty of drastic changes. ...

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Under an obscure rule called "deminimis" any packages less than $800 coming from China or other Asian countries are not counted in official trade statistics, This could easily understate imports from China by about $50 billion as 800 million such packages enter the US annually mostly from China. When this and other corrections are made and with the surge in imports during the pandemic the US trade deficit may not bave budged much even after Mr. Trump made this Priority No.1, says this report in the WSJ. At stake are manufacturing jobs in America, factories and workplaces all across America that made it what it was and whose fracturing has led to the fracturing of America.

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Victoria Azarenka won the Australian Open tennis championships twice in Melbourne then lost in the first round of the Australian Open in 2018. She struggled for two seasons with a foot injury, personal challenges off the court and a child Leo in 2016. Her slump took her to 208 in the world rankings. She had to fight her way back- "I have never really learned to struggle before, so it's a lesson." She says it required hard work, and changing her mindset, conquering her anxiety to return to the semifinals of the Australian Open. Another approach that helped her was to be open minded and to try new things and see what happens.

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China's population decline and fewer working age people is likely to reduce the high capital accumulation that sustained rapid growth in the past. China's dependency ratio- population of children and elderly relative to the 15 to 64 year old age group went up to 46% in 2021 from 34% in 2010, says WSJ. This means less savings accumulation, and less of the enormous pool of cheap capital of the last 2 decades that led to fast growth. That period is ending. This makes the subsidy based approach to push key industries such as chips and solar panels in the past much more difficult in the future, says Nathaniel Taplin in the WSJ. 

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German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht says Germany will send anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine. She said "we are working together with our American friends in training Ukrainian troops on artillery systems on German soil." 

The decision by Russia to launch a new offensive in the south and east of Ukraine after the stalling of the Russian forces near Kiev, has led to a shift in American policy to decisively counteract the Russian moves into Ukraine with weapons and training assistance. WIth both Republicans and Democrats determined to support president Biden in this decision, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Foreign Minister Blinken visited Kviv and then landed at Ramstein Air Force Base to coordinate the efforts from Germany.

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China is building a new hospital in Wuhan the center of the coronavirus outbreak, to contain the outbreak. The plan is to build it in just 6 days. China has taken a new approach to tackling this health crisis, isolating the area and speeding up action to find solutions to the virus. A shortage of hospital beds and resources in Wuhan led to the decision to build a new hospital rapidly. China's rapid response is the first high speed response and could be a model for future outbreaks. Before this during the SARS crisis in China, and other health crises worldwide, action was taken gradually by hospital and government authorites leading to more deaths and wider spread of disease.