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Lobbying by the American pharmaceutical industry and the Obama administration. Emails showing the negotiations between the administration and the pharmaceutical companies.

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The dollar has reached the mark of 86 yen by the begining of August 2010. Japanese analysts see the dollar at 90-100 yen as reasonable for Japan's export based companies. One factor causing this is the Chinese government increasing its holding of Japanese government bonds. By May 2010 China had accumulated 1.27 trillion yen according to the Japanese government. This rise of the yen will have a negative effect on Japanese exporting companies.

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The Alawite sect in Syria, a sect of Islam different from Sunnis and Shiites, consitutes only 12.5% of the 22.5 million population of Syria. Alawites live mostly in the mountainous coastal region near the Mediterranean. Under the French the Alawites who are open to foreign influences and western education, were used as a buffer against the majority Sunni population, with many Alawites joining the government and army. One of the Alawite military officers, Hafez Assad, took over Syria in 1971.

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The Mali conflict and the stockpile of arms from Libya that were not tracked after the collapse of the Gaddafi regime.

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The latest Commerzbank estimates show Germany and Japan, both with large capital goods industry, showing declining GDP of about 7% in 2009. That is a steep decline stemming from the lower demand in industrializing countries like China, India and other countries. The German government has only committed so far 88 billion euros ($120 billion) or 3.5% of GDP. To get some idea what the German government is thinking look at the GDP numbers from the government, which show only a 2.25% decline. Compare this with other estimates closer to Commerzbank's estimate- BNP Paribas shows 5.4% contraction, Deutsche Bank 5%, German think tank DIW 4-5% drop. And the government estimate scheduled date for revision is April 29. This may explain the gap between what the Obama administration is saying to the Europeans: you need further stimulus, and what the Chancellor Merkel is saying: we will be just fine. The French government is saying saying the same thing the German government is saying. But France with a smaller export industry is expected to see a drop of less than 4%, the USA 4%, by Commerzbank estimates. Experts say as German elections approach in September, Merkel is going to have to respond with larger stimulus amid large job losses. And sentiment may be shifting in France as job losses mount, as evidenced by large turnout across France calling on the government to help in recent demonstrations....

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Germany's chancellor Merkel draws attention to Russia's human rights record in a meeting with Russian president Putin in Moscow, Nov. 16, 2012. The German chancellor tells Putin not to be so sensitive to criticism from the opposition, saying before the meeting: "I ask that not every bit of criticism is seen as destructive. Open a German paper and read what is written there. If I were always getting offended, I would not last even three days in my job." Germany's special envoy to Russia, Mr. Schockenhoff, has been especially critical of Russian suppression of dissent and opposition groups. Russia's response is that it will talk to other countries as trading partners but not about its domestic affairs. The Russian government sees the two way trade of $120 billion between Germany and Russia as "an air bag" to prevent any significant deterioration in relations. Siemens signed a contract for 675 locomotives with Russian Railways during the Merkel visit.

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Problems with the July 2011 plan for Greece and other troubled eurozone economies include the lack of funding and powers for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). The contagion effects to Italy and Spain will require larger funding and powers for the EFSF for it to be able to deal with future crises. The bondholder debt haircut for Portuguese and Irish bondholders, and the sense that the crisis in Greece may have to be revisted yet again, are other issues that remain unresolved. Analysts sense that the EU's governance mechanisms are always a step behind in dealing with the repeated crises and EU leaders are doing only enough to get to the next crisis moment.

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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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This article by General James Jones is the second from the highest ranks of the Obama administration, saying the entire Middle East policy of U.S. president Obama was flawed and could lead to dangerous consequences. Gen. Jones, former National Security Advisor to Obama 2009-2010, says the situation today is worse than in 1991 when the U.S. launched Operation Provide Comfort to protect Kurdish refugees in Northern Iraq from Saddam Hussein, with an engagement of about 5 years and 25,000 Allied troops. Jones says the crisis in Iraq and Syria is of an order several times worse than 1991 and at any time since the 2003 invasion, as it involves the setup of a terrorist ISIS state in the heart of the Middle East. What went wrong? Jones says all the warnings from other Middle East nations about Maliki's corrupt policy and sectarianism used to stay in power turned to be true. Even Maliki's own advisors and colleagues say in a separate report by Matt Bradley that Maliki battled not for the Iraqi state but only to preserve his own power. Jones calls the U.S. president's decision not to act in Syria when the "red line" of use of chemical weapons was crossed, the failure to maintain a limited military training presence in Iraq after 2011, and not insisting that Mr. Maliki arm the Kurds, as having gravely aggravated the problem in 2014. Jones calls for arming the Kurds directly with sufficient weaponry for defending their region and providing immediate expanded aid to the Abadi government, appointment of a special envoy to ensure direct and immediate communications with Baghdad and with Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite leaders. He calls also for close air support of Iraqi and Kurdish operations, and an aggressive diplomatic effort to unify the Middle Eastern nations to remove ISIS from the region. Jones says this is the right thing to do in the name of all the Iraqi people yearning for peace, for the U.S. service personnel who made sacrifices in Iraq for 23 years, and for U.S. national security....