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After campus protests on Gaza the US government to prevent antisemitism on campus took action to see that campus police can prevent student unrest. Columbia University president resigned and Katrina Armstrong was made interim president. Columbia lost $400 million in federal funding of the $1 billion it gets each year. Armstrong made an agreement with the US government last week to get strong campus police enforcement and after explaining this to faculty resigned. An Turkish activist on the Tufts University campus on student visa had her visa revoked and was flown to Louisiana to be expelled this week.

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This report in the WSJ provides details on the groundwork that was laid by the Trump administration as it worked to find a solution to the problems facing Venezuela with refugees and economic crisis, and months of protests. The plans were set in the days before Nicholas Maduro took office for the second term as president. The night before Juan Guaido, head of the National Assembly, declared himself president, U.S. vice president Mike Pence stated that the U.S. would support him if he took the reins of government from Maduro by invoking a clause in the Venezuelan Constitution that makes the head of the National Assembly take the office of president if the existing president is declared illegitimate taking office unlawfully. About 60 nations did not recognize the elections that gave Maduro a second term. On Jan 2 Mr Trump who feels deeply about the collapse of the Venezuelan economy and rising poverty, the suffering of the Venezuelan people, met with presidents of Brazil and Colombia. Colombian president Ivan Duque and Trump hinted at a plan to cooperate to help people fleeing Venezuela and respecting its democratic heritage. Mr Pompeo spoke to allies of the U.S. The National Assembly laid out its plans on Jan 15, for using a constitutional mechanism that allows the head of the Assembly to lead an interim government till new elections are held if the existing president is declared illegitimate. A leading Republican senator of Cuban origin Mr. Rubio supported the move. On the eve of protests in Venezuela Rubio and two other senators from Florida met Mr. Trump and Pence at the White House. Also present were Bolton, Pompeo, Ross and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin. Mr. Trump then decided to do it. He placed a call to Mr. Guiado  to tell him that if the National Assembly invoked Article 233 the U.S. president would back him.  The U.S. believes the rank and file in the military are with the opposition even though its leaders back Maduro. After the U.S. action, the governments of Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, backed the move for an interim government. The European Union called for free and credible elections. Russia and Mexico supported Maduro.  The State Department instructed the U.S. Federal Reserve about Guiado government as the sole representative for Venezuelan assets in banks. Sanctions could be placed on Venezuelan oil exports as backup efforts proceed to support the interim government. ...

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French president Macron fails to get president Xi of China to commit to changes in its policies towards Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Macron's visit as seen by the NYT only undermines the US policy and European Union policy that opposes the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. EU's Leyen also visits China at this time.  The relations between the US and European business with China expanded for two decades between 2000-2020. All three regions are heavily invested in each other. Decoupling is a gradual process and China sees the EU as an access point for technology and investment. The US has not decoupled from China even after moves in semiconductors and electric vehicles were made by president Biden. Apple and other American companies are heavily invested in China. The US and the EU are committed to building new supply chains. Their policies are intended to do this in a way that reduces the effect on their economies. The European Union depended on the US for its response to the Russian invasion and to protect freedom in Europe through NATO. By 2024 the European Union policies will be integrated with policy of the US. China is also trying to reduce the effect on its economy by decoupling in a way that maintains growth. ...

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Roger Cohen in the NYT says Macron has missed the public mood in France, the cost of living crisis and the social and economic problems left by the pandemic. FR24 says about two thirds of the French people think this is the wrong time to tackle the pensions issue. The change in the pensions is not an immediate solution as it will be phased in over a period of time stretching to 2030. Many solutions could have been put in place to tackle age discrimination and other problems to make it possible to work productively for longer. Macron needed to address these problems and come up with ways to lessen the burden of the cost of living crisis first before tackling longer term issues. This is a major misstep by Macron, and comes from his lack of experience as one of the youngest persons to become president of France at the age of 39. He was reelected but only with the help of voters who had supported  a socialist candidate Mr. Melenchon. Macron said after that election that he would listen carefully to the voting public that had elected him, even with reservations after the yellow vest protests about his lack of sensitivity for people struggling to make a living. ...

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Greg Jaffe and Patrick Marley tell the story of how the mask mandate in Michigan had the unintended effect of splitting the administration of a historically conservative Republican county in Western Michigan. Ottawa county in western Michigan is close to Grand Rapids and includes the cities of Grand Haven and Holland, with Dutch Calvinist roots. The mask mandate led to Mr. Moss getting into politics after it led to the closure of a Christian school that did not adhere to the mandate where his daughters studied. He founded a political organization Ottawa Impact with private donated funds that won the local election with eight of 11 seats in the County Board of  Commissioners. And decided the only way forward was to replace the entire civil administration in Ottawa County. Courts have prevented the firing of Ms. Hamble running the environmental division of the Health Department.  Ms. Hamble has many years of experience in her field and says she is acting professionally to protect health sanitation for the local community. The result is an impasse and much acrimony in a traditionally Republican county with unique Dutch Christian roots. This NYT report sees this as something that is taking place in many such places all across America- ideological differences turning into divisive discussions. ...

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China's breakneck growth was enabled by housing construction, and coal in a way that created problems of climate change. Now China's largest housing developers Evergrande and Country Garden together have a staggering $500 billion in debt and in serious financial trouble in or near default. How will China's government respond? It let Evergrande who had defaulted on debt payments build 300,000 apartments last year, just to protect home buyers. Now it's founder Mr. Xu is taken in for questioning and "illegal crimes." Making sure that the apartments on which people made deposits are built would cost another $72 billion, says Nomura. Yet suppliers, painters, builders and brokers are owed another $390 billion, in one estimate. And foreign creditors are getting together for complicated restructurings. Evergrande had entered wealth management promising 8 or 9% returns and has stopped making payments. All this is affecting public confidence in the future and China's growth story. For decades China depended on housing construction for high growth rates. Now the process is unwinding with both in financial difficulties. This NYT report says that after Evergrande's default, Country Garden failed to make a payment on $200 billion in debt last week and has 400,000 apartments that it sold but has not finished building. ...

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Kevin Roose explains the unique structure of Open AI which has 4 board members and is structured as a nonprofit with the overriding goal of safety and making AI beneficial to humanity. Ilya Sutskeyer is chief scientist and member of the board. He says Altman's ouster was necessary to protect OpenAI's mission of making Artificial Intelligence beneficial to humanity. Mr. Altman was asked to join a video meeting of the board on Friday 17th November and was immediately fired. Open AI started in 2015 as a nonprofit and in 2019 setup a capped profit subsidiary in which investors returns are capped in relation to the investment. It keeps the nonprofit in charge and able to fire the CEO of the profit subsidiary and keeps the mission as overarching for both subsidiaries. There are three other members who hold no shares in the company and who are bound to a fiduciary duty to "create safe AI that is broadly beneficial to humanity." Tasha McCauley and Helen Toner are the two other members who are members of the Effective Altruism movement who have raised concerns that AI could lead to the extinction of humanity. Adfam D'Angelo is the other member, he is CEO of Quora a question and answer site. ...

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WIth China reluctant to make concessions on agricultural imports at a recent Shanghai meeting of Mr. Lighthizer with Chinese trade representatives, the trade dispute with China has escalated. Mr. Lighthizer had little to show Mr. Trump at a meeting in the WHite House. After a 2 hour meeting Mr. Trump told his advisers that his patience was wearing thin. His response on what the U.S. should do- "tariffs." A tweet was prepared saying U.S. would place import duties of 10% on imports of additional $300 billion in Chinese goods. China responded by lowering its currency value to 7 to the dollar to offset the import duties. China also said it was suspending all agricultural imports of U.S. farm products. The U.S. designating China as a currency manipulator.  The situation today is that there is a level of mistrust between president Xi and his advisers and Mr. Trump and his team. The situation has taken a new turn with China saying the U.S. is supporting protests in Hong Kong. President Trump has stated China is waiting it out to deal with a new administration in Washington. Both sides do not see any solutions till after the U.S. elections in 2020. For China there is also the upcoming 70th anniversary of the People's Republic. ...

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Obama adminstration officials say Mr Obama did not call for the resignation of Mubarak because it feared creating a power vacuum at the top. The administration's fears include one about Egypt under a new government not honoring the 1979 treaty Egypt signed with Israel. In doing so- as Elliott Abrams, deputy national security advisor under President George Bush, points out in the Washington Post, the administration's attempt at denying liberty in the Arab world is "nothing short of a tragedy." Abrams points out that the protestors span all classes of society, from businessmen to housewives in Cairo and Tunis,, including moderates and human rights activists. It is a supreme irony of the times that the law school analytical processes of Obama have shunted out the very voices of the dispossessed and the oppressed that Obama claimed to hear in his first book, and of his sometimes poignant personal encounters in Africa. In doing so Obama has missed an historic opportunity to put America in a right standing with the people of the Arab world, and as Abrams points out made "engagement" ring hollow, as "engagement" not with the peoples of the Arab world and Africa, but engagement with dictators who have outlived their time and place. In a separate editorial the Wall Street Journal called into question the credibility of the US foreign policy establishment that was caught by surprise with the protests in Tunis and Cairo....

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The Trump administration's early proposal for NAFTA moves away from campaign pledges to completely renegotiate the treaty, instead taking the approach of working to improve the U.S. trade position in relation to Mexico and Canada. It includes seven objectives for tougher rules for labor and the environment favored by Democrats in Congress, and it also has support from Republicans with its effort to update NAFTA for changes in technology and in other areas since the accord was signed during the Clinton administration. The area in which U.S. and Mexican business are wary is one in which the Trump administration still seeks to keep the option of imposing protective tariffs, and a border-adjusted tax to level playing field for differences in taxes, as well as other measures to protect American jobs and interests. Because any renegotiated NAFTA also has to pass both houses of Congress this proposal took into account the different constituencies and interests for this issue. Robert Lighthizer, trade representative under president Reagan is likely to become the next U.S. Trade Representative and lead negotiator. We first profiled Lighthizer in a group in Lyrarc for pointing to the need for a level playing field in trade. As early as 2010 Lighthizer argued in op-ed articles that globalization and trade practices should ensure a level playing field for the U.S., and was covered in Lyrarc. ...

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Efforts to control out of control oil production by the Saudis and Russia as oil prices fall to $22. President Trump says he is considering tariffs in this situation to raise the oil price. He is also talking to president Putin and Prince Salman in an effort to moderate the decline in oil prices. The U.S. seeks to protect its oil industry which needs a higher price to operate profitably. One way for the U.S. to do this is to use its own oil to help the U.S. oil industry and not to take in any foreign oil. Another way is for president Trump to get the Saudis and Russia to make cuts in oil production and reach an agreement on supply of oil into world markets. During the early weeks of the coronavirus health crisis the impact on the world economy and demand was underestimated by both Russia and the Saudis. Russia depends on oil exports for one third of its budget and the Saudis have to cut 30% of their budget for ministries because of low oil prices, imposing hardships in both countries. ...

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This report in DW.com shows pictures and podcasts from Africa's National Parks and Wildlife Centers. Africa's tourism industry brings in billions of dollars from international visitors with each traveler bringing in about $7000 to the local economy. Most affected are hotels, tour companies and small business. There is a sense that government could do more to protect small business in Uganda, Kenya,Tanzania, South Africa, Ghana and other countries. Also being considered is finding ways to shift focus from high paying foreign tourists to a a larger local visitor population in African countries. Today Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, Amboseli National Park in Kenya at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Kruger National Park in South Africa, Victoria Falls National Park in Zimbabwe, Sanganeb Marine National Park in Sudan, and Tassili n'Ajjer National Park in Algeria with Tuareg nomads in the desert deep in the Sahara, are some of the National Parks with few international visitors. Local are working in alternative occupations. There is a sense that a better focus would be to a less paying but dependable tourist influx from within African countries.  ...

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Kaname Harada, 98 years, was a Japanese fighter pilot during World War II. Here NYT's Martin Fackler provides this exceptional account of Harada's effort to remind each new generation since 1965 of the horrors of war, and why Japan should not forget the lessons of World War II. In 1965 Harada started teaching kindergarden children at a school he opened to help give a new Japanese generation the right values of peace. Since he retired he gives frequent public speeches on the values of peace, and how Japan has benefitted from the post war peacetime period. He reminds listeners about the horrors of war from his own experience shooting down 19 Allied aircraft from his Zero fighter plane, and being close enough to see the horror stricken faces of Americans in the other planes. Even at the age of 98, Harada's voice has vigor though he suffers from throat cancer. His message is that the best way for Japan to protect its children, and its children's children from war, is never to forget. He says the current generation of leaders were born after the war and have no idea what it is....

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This report cites experts in California that mask use was less than 50% in the state beaches and parks after it reopened. The medical officer of Orange County an affluent community near Los Angeles even resigned after mandating the use of masks in public after protests. On one day June 20, the day after bars reopened in Los Angeles County a WSJ report shows 500,000 people went to bars in the county. As of July 17 the state has 365,000 cases and about 10,000 a day. At one time it was much lower than Michigan at less than 50,000, adding to the complacency in California and a false sense that California had somehow come up with a new way around the virus. Michigan today is at about 70,000 cases, showing that careful attention to the process is important more than anything else, not some new strategy or approach that someone comes up with to beat the virus that does not meet the essentials and common sense. Even adversity can be overcome with sound attention to the basics, where complacency and a lack of fellow feeling can lead to disaster. ...

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Ko Bo Kyi spent years in prison after protests over the army annulling Burma's 1990 elections. Pages of a magazine article on Mandela's autobiography were smuggled into Burma's Insein prison where he was jailed. A song about Mandela sustained Kyi and fellow prisoners in prison. He escaped to Thailand in 1999 after a second prison term and quickly obtained a copy of Mandela's "Long Walk to Freedom."

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Shavit, a senior columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, says the conditions for peace in the Middle East exist in the changing political and social landscape after the Arab Spring and the social protests in Israel. This was reflected in the emergence of a new party with popular support in the recent Israeli elections. Both movements are focussed on internal changes within society- Arab societies and Israeli society. This creates new opportunities says Shavit for a quiet movement and contacts betwen the people in the Middle East to improve living conditions and democracy. This is more firmly grounded than past efforts because it is based on popular sentiment, and less dependent on failed negotiations between the leaders in the Middle East. He points to failures in decades of such negotiations and finds a more promising atmosphere in the general feeling in the Middle East that focusses on the region's problems in inequality, jobs, infrastructure, and opportunity.

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The Swiss National Bank made the decision on September 6, 2011, to set 1.20 Swiss Francs to the Euro as the support level for the Swiss Franc. The Swiss National Bank will buy euros in "unlimited quantities" whenever the Swiss Franc falls below the 1.20 francs level. The purpose of the move is to protect exporters and the tourism industry, which are a critical part of the Swiss economy.

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The British Embassy in Tehran is stormed on Nov. 29, 2011, by protesters from the student wing of the Basij militia, a volunteer militia organized by the Islamic government to protect the governing party loyal to Ayatollah Khamanei. This comes after Britain joined the U.S. and Canada in sanctions against the Iran for nuclear weapons development. The sanctions will keep Iran's banking sector out of the U.K. financial system.

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Calls for accountability of the regulators. A week later Judge Rakoff raised the same question in calling the SEC $33 million fine to Bank of America for Merrill bonuses something that lets the SEC look good and the Bof America protest overzealous regulation. Quoting Oscar Wilde he said acynic was one who understands the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Experts on the side of the public interest say that the people will have to kick and scream to make sure regulators do their job. Prof. Kane at Boston College calls for inspectors general for each agency charged with regularly auditing the performance of regulators, and checking for corrupting influence on regulators.

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Germany and the European Union are improving their defenses as the conflict drags on. The US position DJT has articulated is to bring an end to the war to end the daily loss of lives on both sides. Looking back was it worth loss of hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides and the damage to the economy, to housing from bombing, and the millions of refugees many older people, just for the Association Agreement with the European Union in 2013-2014. This has been completely mismanaged by all sides, the EU officials responsible, the governments in Europe including Russia and Germany, and Ukraine's political parties and their appeal to the people, and by the administration of Obama in the US. DJT and administration officials have long made it clear that they don't want this war, the war in Ukraine. A conflict that has been going on in some form or other between parts of Ukraine in the west and Russian influenced regions in the east as governments changed before and after protests in Kviv in 2013 over an agreement on association with the European Union long before the current war; some favorable to Putin and some not like the current government. So it is surprising that Medvedev would make remarks about DJT and the US to draw a confrontation between the two powers US and Russia in this way in X, remarks DJT calls "inflammatory."  Especially when the US is trying its best to negotiate and end to the war by pressuring both sides. It's defending of Ukraine only to stop the missile attacks on it's cities to give peaceful resolution a chance, not to aggravate the conflict.   ...

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The pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong take a new turn as the pro-democracy supporters in the Hong Kong legislature adopt a different strategy. After 14 months of protests and unsuccessfully trying to get the Beijing government to allow free elections without the government vetting candidates, the supporters of free elections have adopted the position that it is better not to change the current system till genuine elections can be held. A vote on the Beijing election plans led to a walkout of 34 legislators supporting Beijing's position, and the remaining 36 legislators voting 28 against the Beijing plan and 8 in favor. Under that plan a pro-Beijing committee would have vetted candidates for free elections depriving voters of free choice. The current system may actually offer more room for voters to make a choice as the election is held for chief executive from 1200 business and political leaders, than the Beijing plan of a few candidates vetted by a pro-Beijing committee. This realization led to the historic vote in the legislature and a sense that staying with the status quo was desirable in the current situation....

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FR24 gives this video of the televised national debate in France between Macron and Le Pen. Macron took up the challenge of not enough attention being given to Le Pen's ties with Russia and her position of skepticism when it comes to the European Union and climate change. "You are dependent on the Russian government and you are dependent on Mr. Putin. When you speak to Russia, you are speaking to your banker." Le Pen says she had taken that loan from a Czech-Russian bank only because French banks refused to lend to her. "I'm absolutely and totally free woman." The candidates also clashed over Le Pen's proposal for banning Muslim women from wearing headscarves. Le Pen described the veil as "a uniform imposed by Islamists." Macron sad that such a plan would violate France's secular rules and would trigger "civil war" in a country that has the largest Muslim population in western Europe. The Fench colonoized parts of North Africa during the period after 1830, with French colonies in Algeria, Morocco and other parts of the region, leading to immigration from this part of the Arab world. After a series of terrorist incidents the French public lost patience with Islamist tendencies leading to a general swing to the right in French politics including Macron. Yet mainstream parties such as Macron's continue to support France's secular values. The traditional parties from the period before Macron such as the Le Republicains of the De Gaulle period in the sixties and the Socialists from the Mitterand period (1981-1995) both failed to win more than 5% of the vote in 2022 showing the many changes happening in France.  During the Macron period as president Yellow Vest protests brought up the issues of working families having a hard time making ends meet. Macron has responded to such protests with some aloofness but also with a tendency to organize town hall meetings to listen to people express their frustrations.  France has established a stronger welfare state than the US and Britain, and for this reason issues related to the dislocation of smaller towns because of the shift of manufacturing to China are part of the general trend that had affected both the US and western Europe, requiring a more unified response. This now takes shape with the renewal of manufacturing in the US and all the western European countries. Candidates with platforms such as Le Pen's to provide relief for the current surge in the cost of living could offer temporary band aid solutions but not address the root causes that require a renewal of French manufacturing and bringing good jobs home or closer to home. The will and aspiration to bring a next generation industrial revolution to France and Europe is the kind of solution that is needed, one that would revive towns and communities across France and across Europe. Much of the technological capabilities are there in Europe, needed is the will and aspiration.  ...

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Osam Bin Laden is killed in a U.S. special forces attack on a compound 40 miles from Islamabad. The area known as Abbottabad is also the location of a Pakistani military academy. One Pakistani helicopter and 2 American helicopters were involved in the attack. Experts say this changes the dynamic of the war, with the U.S. keen on a disengagement in Afghanistan, and Pakistani concerns about the expanded U.S. footprint in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region working in the same direction. This also comes at a time when the Middle East is no longer what it looked like a decade ago. Democracy protests have changed the way ordinary Arabs look at the world. In recent months Pakistan's relationship with the U.S. has grown tense. Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that top civilian and military leaders of Pakistan met with the Afghan government leaders in Kabul recently. At the meeting Pakistan's leaders suggested that it would be better for Afghanistan to move closer to Pakistan and China, and distance itself from the U.S. The Pakistani leadership must be aware of domestic politics in the U.S., the changes in the Arab world, the desire of Americans and the U.S. government to wind down America's military involvement, and decided that the removal of Osama would give give America less reason to continue its military presence....

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US president's sweeping powers to use tariffs as a tool for policy when American people's jobs, communities, health, is threatened by fentanyl and concentration of manufacturing jobs in China, unfair trade by EU and Japan, is the issue presented to the US Supreme Court. The US president presented it in this way- tariffs as a foreign policy tool, not a way to impose economic policy in the form of a tax on American importers or buyers which is the power allocated to Congress by the US Constitution. Justices who mentioned these powers called them sweeping powers but would not say the word fentanyl or look back at the recalcitrant behaviour of Asian nations Japan and China when it comes to unfari trading practices, where the US could literally negotiate forever and get no result, or to the enormous concentration of manufacturing power and supply channels in China that not only ships out American jobs but leaves Americans at the mercy of foreign powers for cost of living. Nowhere was this more evident as during covid years and now in rare earths export restrictions from China. The Justices assumed it was just alright to ignore this or leave it unsaid.  The cost to American buyers is small because most of the tariffs are borne by foreign suppliers in China, Japan and Germany, who as in the case of automobiles unfairly benefitted for decades and are now bearing most of the cost of tariffs. The large business in the US have increased their margins so much in the 2020-2024 period that they are now bearing some of the cost of the tariffs, as reported in WSJ. So that inflation in the US is at 3.0 % in the US less than anticipated, when average tariffs are at about 10% overall, not what the headlines say of 15-20% because of the product exceptions made in the tariffs for each nation. Justice Roberts may be right when he says more care should be exercized in the placing of a tariff, but even Roberts and Justices Barrett, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and others know that the US has used this as a last resort, as a policy tool to protect the American people. Sweeping powers need care and caution as Justice Roberts stated- “power to impose tariffs on any product from any country in any amount for any length of time. It does seem like that’s a major authority."   ...