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Border crossings and encounters have fallen to 83,000 under president Biden with unilateral action by Biden in the absence of the Republican Lankford Biden legislation that would have shut the Border down. Border crossings of 83,000 are close to the border crossings that reached 74,000 under president Trump even with the building of a border wall. This was achieved with the support of the Mexican president and with Biden's action to effectively close the Border. The best action would have been to implement the legislation that Republican senator Lankford negotiated with Biden by February 2024 and which was allowed to languish in Congress by new Speaker Mike Johnson under the advice of the former president, which is incomprehensible as it is the first time in decades both parties came on to the same page to slow or diminish migrant entry into the US and remake the asylum laws. Many Republicans and Democrats protested this action of the new Speaker. It was a historic and missed opportunity to fix the Border once and for all, and took the courage of Senator Lankford and Biden. For this action Lankford goes down as a senator who belongs in Kennedy's Profiles of Courage, a book of Congressional leaders since 1800 whose courage and leadership have made America the leading democracy and industrialized nation that has won the respect of the world. ...

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2014 Xi visits Gandhiji's Sabarmati Ashram as is shown in this picture in BBC News and is curious how the weaving is done by hand taking a try at it with prime minister Modi, both sitting on the floor Asian style. In 2020 China advances its troops in a part of Ladakh leading to a clash with Indian forces. What happened? India's resilience in the face of the pandemic and the bright future for its economy, greater integration with the American and European Union economies in its draft plan to 2030. A sense in China's leadership that India's modernization would follow in the same way that China's and South Korea's have followed Japan's modernization. A sense also that better relations with the US and the European Union would require better relations with India, as an indispensable condition. A sense also that the issue of Taiwan was a bigger issue and a core interest for China than the border disputes in the remote regions of the Himalayas. It just did not make sense to have a conflict with India in the priorities of China to 2030 or 2040. That India needed to be seen not through the lens of the British but as an ancient nation that had similarities with China and Japan from its Buddhist roots. ...

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Kamala Harris is profoundly influenced by the Gandhian ideal of public service coming from the influence of her mother Shyamala and her mother's father P. V. Gopalan, who was a leading civil servant in the transition to independence under Gandhi in India in the late 1940's. P.V. Gopalan was 31 years old during the Quit India Movement launched by Mohandas Gandhi in 1942. In this sense what even Martin Luther King Jr experienced about Gandhiji from a distance came to her directly in ways that may be inscrutable even to Kamala herself.  Robert Draper looks at Kamala Harris at different points of her childhood, university education and work as District Attorney for Alameda County, California, and Attorney General of California. He describes her as a daughter of highly educated yet stoic parents and one with a reverence for law and order, methodical and diligent, a caring and compassionate person to the people in the communities she lived in. As one who would experience disrespect as a woman of color many times she chose not to complain but to do something about it in bringing about a better life for all Americans. Not only did she do this, Kamala Harris also was always striving to do better for the people she served, putting all her energies into that task, always keeping in mind "We the People." ...

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About 105,000 airings of ads on immigration making up 42% of all Republican ads in battleground states are on the Immigration issue since Harris became candidate July 22, according to WSJ analysis. WSJ polling shows 59% of respondents favored the bipartisan Senate deal negotiated by Republican Senator Lankford with Biden which Trump rejected in February. This deal would have effectively closed the Border, added Border Patrol resources, and would have passed says Lankford in NYT if it came only 3 months earlier in December 2024 before Mr. Trump won the primaries. Mr. Trump rejected the deal preferring to run on it, leading to action by Biden to do this with executive orders and cut illegal entry. This means less advertising for discussing the Economy and less for Inflation, which is the top issue says WSJ polling, immigration coming in second.   WSJ cites the Congressional Budget Office on the number of legal migration in the Biden term as 4.5 million, and illegal entry at 4.5 million. Instead the Trump-Vance Republican campaign is using the figure over 4 times that for illegal migration of 20 million without saying why and makes less distinction between legal and illegal entry, says WSJ. And makes statements that economists say is not the case that this will solve the housing supply and cost crisis, and other cost of living pressures. ...

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Churchill came up with the idea of British restaurants that serve nutritious meals at reasonable cost so that no family would suffer from lack of access to healthy food at moderate prices. This would insulate people from the high prices during the war in the 1940's for food and energy. The Guardian shows these public diners in 1940's Britain. At its peak there were more British restaurants of this kind than McDonalds's or Weatherspoon's exist today. There is a need for this type of government supported food place that serves affordable meals serving quality food ethically produced as a new form of national infrastructure. Nourish Scotland is calling for reviving it today. It tackles health inequality and food insecurity. Abigail McCall, project officer at Nourish Scotland, says- "For other aspects of our wellbeing – water, transport, healthcare, even wifi – we have built the public infrastructure to ensure that everyone has quality, universal access. We are missing that in relation to food,” said Abigail McCall, project officer at Nourish Scotland. “Poor diets have overtaken smoking as the leading cause of preventable ill health for some time now. We need the government to make a bold intervention in our food environment, and invest in delivering what the market doesn’t: healthy, climate-friendly food in a convenient way and at an affordable price."   ...

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This report in WSJ shows how Mexico is planning to receive hundreds of thousands of migrants returned back to Mexico by the DJT administration in the US. The deportation program has led to a 90 percent drop in jungle border crossings across Panama into Mexico from Central and South America. Migrant entry from other countries is also expected to drop similar to this. Previous Mexican administrations allowed the flow of migrants through Mexico from Central and South America helping create the problem of illegal migration to the US of such large numbers of people, without carefully looking at the consequences of such policies. This happened also after World War II leading to president Truman appointing a Commission on this issue in the waning days of his administration and the Eisenhower administration putting the Attorney General in charge of the Operation Wetback in 1954 which returned about 1 million migrants back to Mexico. At that time as happened in 2024 the US was no longer able to cope with flow of such migrants across borders. US legislation has fallen behind the times in addressing immigration issues and this has placed an inappropriate burden on the American people. Bipartisan legislation has to be done as was agreed by Biden and Senator Lankford on the US Congress Republican side, with changes that DJT Republicans sought to have in that bill on numbers of entry and other points. ...

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Declan Walsh in another exceptional piece on the ground at customs offices in Torkham, Afghanistan, near the Khyber Pass bordering Pakistan in the southeast. He describes a network of corrupt officials that extends from border customs offices all the way to the central government in Kabul. It is so widespread that one minor customs official at the border paid $10,000 for a customs position where the salary is $150 a month, but money gained through unofficial payments and bribes is $4000 a month. At every step from the guard opening the gate for a truck to the border customs official, to the provincial department officials, to officials in the capital Kabul, there are payments involved for every truck entering Afghanistan. Upto two thirds of customs revenue is lost, and the $500 million of customs revenues collected amounts to 26% of the governments tax revenues.

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Andy Grove makes this passionate plea for the dignity of workers in America in 2010. It is worth reading in 2020 what this founder of Intel Corp and pioneering spirit of Silicon Valley has to say. Andy Grove of Intel says there is something seriously wrong when the unemployment rate in the Bay Area is higher than the 9.7% national average for the USA. American companies have added jobs like crazy in Asia, but things are sputtering back home. Hon Hai has 800,000 employees and makes most of the electronic and computer products for American companies. Grove says startups are not the answer, unless they scale up and create jobs the way Intel did starting back in 1968, with a $3 million capital infusion by investors. The move from the first production model to mass production is critical, as companies hire thousands of people. Innovation and scaling up have to go together. He makes his point clearly by pointing out that Apple has 25,000 employees. For every Apple employee there are 10 employees in China working on Apple iMacs, iPods, iPhones. And he adds that the same 10 to 1 relationship applies to other U.S. tech companies. And here Grove asks the tough question by first posing an answer. He says it sounds like- no big deal, we keep the high paying jobs, we keep most of the profits, but what kind of society are we going to have with highly paid professional workers and lots of people unemployed? And he doesn't mention that there are a lot more young people unemployed. He says the US has become very inefficient at creating tech jobs, and it would be a great mistake not to act decisively early on. And adds that the investments in such areas as solar power and electric car batteries have to be made early on to maintain leadership in these areas. Grove faults academics like Alan Blinder and others who say loss of manufacturing jobs and whole industries was no big deal. The U.S. has forgotten the value of manufacturing jobs. He wants to see America focus on jobs and rebuild its industrial base. And less of transferring engineering knowhow and new technologies overseas, technology that can help bring innovation and scaling up of factories at home. In his view individual companies doing their own thing, in a misguided fashion that jobs don't matter, is not the answer to the situation we face. The industrial economies of Asia, China at the present day, have focussed on jobs and technology, and scaled up. Grove reminds readers of the situation in America in 1932, when jobless veterans demonstrating outside the White House in large numbers were dispersed by soldiers with live ammunition and fixed bayonets. This makes him shudder at the very thought of it, and brings back memories of his early years in Hungary, as a young man in 1956. Are we listening? ...

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One of the problems facing the Republican People's Party, the CHP, is how to connect with religious voters. CHP is the party that is most closely associated with modern Turkey's founder, Kemal Ataturk. CHP was the main party in Turkey till the recent dominance of the AKP Party in elections. AKP drew support from the more religious and rural population in the parts of Turkey outside cities such as Ankara and Istanbul. CHP rarely identified itself with street protest and remained aloof from ordinary people making it hard for it to contest elections against the AKP - winning Ankara and Istanbul but losing the elections in the last decade. The AKP also allied itself with Turkey's Ottoman heritage and appealed to nationalist sentiment against a conservative aloof CHP leading to a split in Turkey between the secular urban and the religious minded more rural people. CHP also did not work with minorities such as the Kurds to build a broader coalition. This is changing with the march from Ankara to Istanbul led by CHP leader Kilicdaroglu. The march came after the justice system appeared to be allied with president Erdogan, and a 25 year sentence was given to one of Kilicdaroglu's deputies. Erdogan now appoints the judges in the judiciary and the crackdown on the opposition since the failed coup of 2016, has led to a sense that Turkey is now run as a one party state. An estimated 1.5 million Turks participated in the rally in Istanbul, according to DW, showing that the opposition is forming to the arbitrary rule since the emergency powers assumed by the president. For the last decade Erdogan and the AKP Party formed the government. What changed since 2016 is the new constitution that gives new powers to the president and the arbitrary rule since the crackdown on the opposition that intensified after 2014, and which has increased since the failed coup in 2016.  ...

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A management shakeup takes place at Nike with the departure of several executives and the HR chief for inappropriate behaviour. Nike is described as having a boy's club culture in this report which shows some women left Nike to join rivals Puma and Adidas, and others conducted a survey about conditions for women at the company relating to pay inequity, and allegations of inappropriate workplace behaviour. Following the survey Nike CEO Parker conducted his own internal investigation leading to the management shakeup. Nike will now setup mandatory manager training so that it takes the steps to become a women friendly workplace.

Nike has developed an aggressive competitive culture in its competition with Adidas and other brands. This has added to difficulties for women at the company.

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Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves dropped to $2.9 billion in February 2023, says this report in the WSJ, enough to cover 2 weeks of imports and a fraction of debt servicing requirements. Under an IMF agreement that is being negotiated $1.1 billion will be given by the IMF, which would lead to further lending by other countries and banks based on IMF oversight. This includes putting $630 million in  additional taxes and increasing the price of electricity. Successive governments have decided to avoid the IMF conditions of increasing taxes and price of electricity. Donor countries such as Saudis and Qatar, UAE, would step in once IMF oversight is in place and invest in airports, power plants, oil and gas companies, and make loans to Pakistan once the IMF oversight is in place, says WSJ.   Sri Lanka faced a similar situation after it delayed an IMF program and loan, leading to financial crisis. The situation is now stabilized with the IMF on the verge of making a $2.9 billion loan and other banks making loans on the basis of IMF oversight. In Sri Lanka's case India is a serious donor, investor and supporter of Sri Lankan recovery. ...

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The Dutch government of prime minsiter Mark Rutte resigned on January 14, 2021, after a parliamentary report showed that 26,000 families were wrongly accused by the tax authority of claiming child allowance since 2012. 10,000 families were asked to repay the amount leading to bankruptcies, divorces. Mr. Rutte admitted that there wa a breakdown "at all levels of the state." The opposition Labour Party social affairs minister at the time in the government resigned over the affair. The parliamentary investigative committee chairman says that the problem was pervasive at all levels of the government, including civil servants, bureaucrats and judges. There was he says systematic racism as people with foreign sounding names were singled out. Experts from think tanks say there is little political cost to Rutte and  ministers from his People's Freedom and Democracy Party. New elections are to be held soon and Rutte will continue with a caretaker government. Polls show he has 30% support twice that of the next party the anti-Islam Freedom party of Geert Wilders.  The government has set aside 500 million euros in compensation, 30,000 euros for each family. ...

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This podcast in the WSJ by Sarah Randazzo shows how 15 months of the Theranos trial have revealed ways in which Silicon Valley startups raise cash. It shows the culture of creating hype and so called buzz behind startups that was lauded in business culture but has led to massive capital misallocation away from essential needs of society for infrastructure, health services, and education, investing in new technologies at home and fighting climate change. Many such situations are recorded in the pages of the WSJ, of hype and huge losses for investors in the last decade when some of the most egregious behaviour happened. Along with this was the acceptance in the business culture of shipping jobs and technology overseas, then shipping products halfway across the globe what could be easily be made in the home country- leading to a loss of control over the future and with it a loss of hope. The WSJ says the trial was a referendum on how Silicon Valley startups raise cash, with the jury finding Holmes guilty on 4 counts. The pandemic has led to rethinking and going back to basics, discarding all the unessentials or self-harm behaviours.  ...

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Chancellor Merkel has shown exceptional leadership during the coronavirus health crisis in Germany, leading to increasing popularity for her government. Her approval ratings are the highest of any coalition government in the last 23 years. The government says this report in DW.com has appeared level headed in its actions, and Merkel has paid careful attention to advice from Germany's Robert Koch Institute, the German public health agency. Merkel also shared important facts for tackling coronavirus in an effective television address. By listening to the expertise of RKI public health agency the government has maintained calm and better handled the crisis. In the U.S. a similar process is taking place with the heads of the public health agencies, Dr. Fauci and Dr Birx playing a similar role, and president Trump paying careful attention to health experts. DW.com says doctors, nurses, police officers, and people working at supermarkets and pharmacies, are being applauded by the public, with people taking to the balconies to applaud. This is also happening in Spain. The hope expressed by DW.com is that going forward these professions will be better paid and public health become a top priority. ...

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Researchers at Gottingen University in Germany analyzing data from a study published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases monthly journal say countries around the world have only discovered on average about 6% of all coronavirus infection cases. The true total of infections could be tens of millions worldwide. Why this is important- the recurrence of the virus is a real danger even after it appears that it is under control, making relaxation of essential guidelines for prevention very risky.

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This NYT editorial on June 26, 2015, says the arguments of the plaintiffs before the U.S. Supreme Court for the Affordable Care Act were specious, based as they were on a reading of four words phrase in the Act leaving ambiguity about what exchanges were covered by health care subsidies. It says the plaintiffs with strong emotions on the subject decided to pull their argument out of thin air. That only one Justice acted as the swing vote, Justice Anthony Kennedy, shows the Supreme Court like the rest of the nation is not above emotion- Justice Scalia called the 6-4 decision based on "jiggery-pokery" and not "honest jurisprudence"- and needed Chief Justice Roberts to provide the larger view in 2015 as he did in 2012.

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Wipro buys Enabler, Portuguese IT firm. Enabler's origins are in the IT department of Portugal's leading retail company, Modelo Continente, and specializes in the retail sector. It will provide Wipro with experience and a customer base in the European retail sector.

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The People's Bank of China says that it will track the value of the renminbi against a basket of currencies, not just the dollar as it has done previously. It did not say when this would happen. Experts say this shift would lead to a weakening of the currrency relative to the dollar. This follows the decision by the IMF to add the renminbi as one of the leading currencies with the dollar, pound, yen and euro.

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Rockets fired by Iran close to the U.S. aircraft carrier U.S.S. Truman in December 2015 could lead to a shift in sentiment in the U.S. following the nuclear deal with Iran in 2015 by the Obama administration. Ballistic missile testing was one of the issues in the negotiations leading up to the nuclear deal with serious differences between Congress and the Obama adminsitration on the issue. Recent ballistic missile tests by Iran may reinforce differences on this issue.

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Some political experts such as David Plouffe, campaign manager of Obama's 2008 campaign for president, do not take a Hillary win over Donald Trump as a given. They cite the average of negatives for Trump at 63%, but Clinton's are high too at 54%, and this campaign season has shown Clinton has vulnerabilities in the way she has lost in some of the primaries to Bernie Sanders. Sanders like Trump is leading a voter protest against establishment candidates.

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The bomb attack that destroyed the Foreign and Finance Ministries in Baghdad. after a lorry inched upto the ministries following the removal of concrete barriers that prevented such attacks. Prime Minister Maliki loses support from fellow Shiite party members, leading to a new slate for elections under the Iraqi National Alliance which will now compete with the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. This creates a situation where there is no clear leader in post American withdrawal Iraq.

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Microsoft will make a $300 million investment in Barnes & Noble's Nook digital book and college text unit. Microsoft will get a 17.6% stake in a new subsidiary for thsi business that values it at $1.7 billion. A Nook app will be included for Windows 8. The investment is useful for Barnes & Noble as it had to invest aggressively in its digital book business, leading to a loss before interest, taxes and depreciation of $94 million for fiscal third quarter.

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The comparison of China with Japan as stress builds up from overexpansion of credit in the banking system. The sharp increase in credit following the 2008 financial crisis has built up stress in China's banking system. Japan went through a period of low growth and insufficient lending by banks. Banks refinanced bad debts to zombie companies in Japan leading to a long period of low growth. China faces a similiar period of low growth after a credit expansion binge.

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Ahmed Karzai the brother of President Karzai is suspected of being involved in the heroin trade in Afghanistan but Karzai has resisted doing anything about it and also resisted doing anything about the invovement of ministers and officials in his government in the heroin trade. his is leading to a loss of confidence in his government. The British ambassador alluded to this when he talked about loss of trust in the government and the corruption and deteriorating conditions there.

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Scott Anderson of the NYT provides an indepth look at the Arab World and its fragmentation through the eyes of five people from each part of the Arab world- Egyptian, Kurd, Syrian, Iraqi and Jordanian. He says the countries that fell apart are precisely the ones that were formed by the British and the French, and Italy, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire  using divide and rule policies- Britain in Iraq, France in Syria, and Italy in Libya- without much thought given to setting up viable nation states. This is why Iraq has a Sunni-Shia divide, Syria has similar divisions, and Libya with a largely tribal based structure, never really held together after the colonial powers left, and were held together only by strong dictators. Today's problems trace back to these historical events. This is complicated by the largely young demographic and restlessness of the people for change coupled with problems of underdevelopment in education, tribal loyalties, religious loyalties, and lack of political and social structures that could keep the countries together as change and transition to democratic processes took place. The role of the military further complicated matters in Egypt. Even Iran experienced these divisions because of the intervention of the great powers including Russia in Iran since 1900, leading to swings between liberal governments, foreign power supported governments, and a swing back to religious leadership as at present. This is one view of the region, others are presented by Ramadan (Oxford),  Bernard Lewis (Princeton), and leaders in Qatar and Emirates, other experts, some of whom point to the failure in leadership and the elites to find solutions to the problems of underdevelopment, in education, health, infrastructure, and aspirations for a voice in their governance. As the same divisions left by colonial powers affected Asia- in India, China, and Korea, but a larger vision of progress prevailed through crises and difficulties.        ...