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Defense Secretary Gates does not see Russia as the threat it was in the Cold War, first because Russia's conventional forces are a "shadow" of what they were during the Cold War, and Russia has adverse demographic trends that will diminish Russia's ability in conventional forces. He sees the Georgian war in the context of Russia's seeking to exorcize, as he puts it, past humiliations. And Gates sees opportunities in the relationship with Russia. Such things as Russia's willingness to work with the US on Afghanistan. Evidence of this is Russia supporting the renwal of the UN resolution on Afghanistan. Another indication is that Russia he says is very worried about the drugs coming out of Afghanistan, and has been supportive to provide alternative routes for Europeans to get equipment and supplies into Afghanistan. These views come across in an interview on December 17, with Charlie Rose, a five time elected Congressman, for the PBS Charlie Rose show. They are also reflected in an article in Foreign Affairs journal's current issue. Gates was a CIA analyst and has some insightful observations. Gates told Charlie Rose that he does not see the Islamic radicals and violent Islamic extremists as a threat in the same way as the threat in the Cold War years. This threat is not as big as the threat to freedom during the Cold War. He says the failure in strategic communications was huge as agencies of the US government engaged in activities in other countries, like the Agency for International Development and the US Information Agency, were neglected starting in the in the 1990's. Communications in other countries of what the US represented and stands for was left to the Pentagon, a role the Pentagon was ill-suited for. He sees the Islamic terrorism as more of an ideological conflict. Speaking at a town hall meeting at the Balad Air Force base in Iraq, in December, Gates pointed to these communications failures as a real challenge for the new administration. But he now sees a huge opportunity in this past failure, and ways of addressing it creatively, in addition to commiting resources and people to this effort. Walter Pincus wrote this article, and its part of the fineprint analysis effort at the Washington Post in which speeches, reports, and other documents are examined by people like Pincus, to catch the really important things, uncovering the fine print that really makes the headlines. Another aspect of this fineprint effort is that there are a huge number of reports, and speeches and documents that had a tone reminiscent of the Cold War during the Georgia war and yet they do not correctly reflect the real situation about Russia, as Gates sees it from his analysis of what is actually happening. Gates has used Foreign Affairs, the Dec 17 Charlie Rose Show on PBS in which he was interviewed, and the speech at the Balad Air Force base in Iraq, to communicate his views and analysis. They are important to underline and emphasize precisely because they show that all that cold war hysteria reporting and speeches may be misleading and lead to improper conclusions and mistakes in policy, wasted effort, wasted resources, and lost lives. And just as the US strategic communications was starved of resources and effort, so also this necessary work to retrieve and give emphasis to the important things is neglected. One additional link to this is the speech, discussion, and QA session in Washington DC at the time of the G20 summit in which President Medvedev and the new administration's elder statesman and diplomat Marilyn Albright, former secretary of state, expressed their hopes and plans for a new era in Russian-American relations. ...

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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, says Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization in the summer of 2012 will be good for the global economy and for the U.S. It will increase U.S. exports to Russia from the low level of 1% of U.S. global exports. It will also set the right tone for improving U.S.-Russia relations and improving cooperation on global issues. She calls for Congress to change the Jackson-Vanik amendment and setting up normal trading relations between the U.S. and Russia. It is a smart investment in trade with Russia,and also a way to help Russia diversify its economy, setup an open political system and put its world trading relationships on a more transparent basis with clear tariff rates.

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This editorial in the Economist says Brazilians deserve a chance to vote in a new general election for a new government that will tackle problems- including overspending that hurts growth by increasing debt, and the deep seated corruption in the political system. But knowing the history of this parliament and the political parties it says this is unlikely. Brazil will be left to deal with the problems under a weak government that does not have the confidence of voters to take needed action. Eventually an election will occur and voters will have an opportunity to choose a new government. Voters should grasp that opportunity to opt for better governance.

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Asli Aydintasbas's thoughts on President Obama's visit to Turkey. He is a Turkish journalist for the newspaper Sabah. He says something useful. In Turkey's eternal identity crisis where the thinking is going on only in terms of opposites, either you are secular or religious, Kurd or Turk, European or Middle Eastern. Obama's visit and his careful remarks point to a more abiding truth he says, that Turks should remind themselves that they are all of those things, and much more.

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Blackberry CEO Heins is interviewed by the WSJ's Will Connors in January 2013 during the launch of the Blackberry 10 touchscreen smartphone.

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Immigration, welfare and membership in the E.U. emerge as issues in Britain's 2015 election, making it harder for the Conservative party under Cameron to get a majority. Polls show Labor running neck and neck with the Conservative party at 36%, and UKIP at 12%, the Greens at 5%. The Conservatives introduced proposals to make it difficult for E.U. citizens to get welfare payments, but this is seen as not enough action. E.U. rules allow free movement making it harder to curb immigration. Prime minister Cameron has higher personal popularity than Ed Milliband, and is campaigning on the theme of having set Britain on the right path to economic recovery after spending by Labor had increased the national debt.

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The Economist looks at real estate markets in the U.S., Canada, Britain, Germany, Hong Kong, India and other countries in May 2013. It looks at price to disposable income and price to rent ratios and sees if these ratios are higher than historical averages to determine if prices are based on sound foundations. Canada's real estate market looks set to face problems of a bubble bursting. The U.S. recovery is seen to be based on firm foundations. Property prices are undervalued in Germany and set to rise.

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ECB president Mario Draghi tells a newsconference on April 14, 2015, that the bond buying program is "proceeding smoothly." He said that he does not see scarcity in the bond market. The ECB plans to continue its purchases of government bonds and other debt at a rate of 60 billion euros a month through September 2016. He said the program of very low interest rates for a very long time "is fertile terrain for financial instability imbalances," but he did not see evidence of systemically large financial imbalances at this time. The ECB approach would be to tackle the risks by using its power as a bank regulator, not by changing monetary policy, said Draghi. He was optimistic about the initial results, saying "more accomodative monetary policy is being translated into better credit conditions, which is something we have not seen before." The euro is down to $1.06 and low oil prices have helped improve economic conditions, as well as ongoing structural reforms pushed by the EU and ECB. Draghi's forecast for economic growth in the eurozone is now up from 1% to 1.5% for 2015....

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GM is looking for ways to be able to provide more loans to buyers. Its working with lenders and financial institutions to be able to offer more loans to increase sales. GM continues to work with the old GMAC, now called Ally Financial Inc, but it is looking for new partners to expand financing to car buyers. It has studied the options of regaining control of GMAC's auto lending business or starting its own finance company. For now it is looking at working with other lenders to reach buyers who are at the lower end of the income and credit scale.

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The closure of the Kiel Canal in March 2013, because of of dilapidated and old locks, has focussed attention on Germany's neglect of infrastructure. German investment in infrastructure each year is less than the depreciation for the infrastructure. About 100 billion euros in backlog for infrastructure spending exists at German municipalities, according to KfW bank. And the investment of $39.5 billion euros in infrastructure spending for 2012 was down 9.5% from 2011. The government has restricted itself to high profile projects such as renovation of Stuttgart rail station, neglecting schools, roads and bridges.

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Turkey increases security at its borders limiting the flow of refugees and to control terrorism.

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The steel and chemical industries are bright spots in the Russian economy, helping Russia weather the economic downturn of 2014-2015. Costs denominated in rubles have fallen much further increasing profits for companies like Severstal.

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In a shift from statements at earlier summits which focussed on fiscal restraint, the Camp David summit continued the "firm committment to fiscal consolidation," yet emphasized jobs and economic growth as "imperative." There is new flexibility to address needs for economic growth and no specific timetables for fiscal balance as in previous summits. Obama had many one to one encounters with the other leaders. He discussed the euro crisis with Cameron while working out on a treadmill, and watched the Champions League soccer final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich with Merkel and Cameron. Each leader of the G-8, Harper of Canada, Monti of Italy, Hollande of France, Medvedev of Russia, Cameron of Britain, Noda of Japan, Merkel of Germany, was assigned a cabin in the rustic wooded setting of Camp David's mountains. A special effort was made to see that Germany's Merkel did not feel isolated in the setting because of the growing sentiment that austerity policies pushed by Germany are not working. On Iran, Obama stated that he was "hopeful that we can resolve this issue in a peaceful fashion that recognizes their sovereignty, but also recognizes their responsibilities."...

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Private companies such as Reliance Power and Tata Power control only 27% of India's power generating capacity of 205 gigwatts. The government controls most of the capacity in this sector for generation and transmission of power and has failed to invest enough to keep up with growing needs. The government has failed to achieve even modest expansion goals for power generation. A target of 78.7 gigawatts of additions to the national grid were planned for the five year period ending March 31, 2012, but only 70% of that target has been met. China during the same five year period added 418 gigawatts. State utilities sell power at discounted rates resulting in large losses, making it difficult to invest in upgrades in transmission technology and facilities. Rate regulations make it unattractive for private investors. Another problem is the shortage of coal, with coal production concentrated in one state owned firm Coal India that has failed to invest in new technology and improvements. The result is the kind of massive outages from overload of the national power grid in July 2012, affecting most of northern and eastern India....

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Some startling statistics on U.S. wages and incomes and the increase of part-time workers, by the publisher of U.S. News and World Report, Mortimer Zuckerman. He cites the Pew Research Center reports that show one third of Americans identifying themeselves as lower class or lower middle class compared to one quarter before 2008. This affects social mobility with the increasing gaps in incomes, education and social behaviour acting to reinforce each other and leading to even lower future mobility. Industries that are showing growth are in low wage occupations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows growth in future in industries noted for low wage part time work- health care, social assistance and retail, with some jobs lacking minimum wage and overtime protections. Revealing in this respect is that in the last 2 years fully 43% of net employment growth is in the 1.7 million jobs added in low wage work in food service, retail and employment services industries. The number of Americans working full time declined by 5.9 million since Sept 2007, part time workers increased by 2.6 million. The effects of higher part time workers and job recovery predominantly in lower wage industries is likely to affect consumer spending and slow growth....