LyrArc Article Gist
Indian Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal says India represents only 2% of overall global exports. This means there is a great opportunity today to double this even as global trade slows because of the small size it is now and the policy of resilient supply chains sought by the US and EU. A country India's size and technological capacity would in normal situation have 10% or 15% of global exports he said, so that there was a huge opportunity for growth.

LyrArc Article Gist
The US and the EU, China, poor developing countries are following diverging paths. The US in investing heavily in its infrastructure rebuilding under president Biden and its economy is growing, unemployment declining compared to Germany and China where the economy is slowing and facing hurdles. Poor and middle income developing countries in Africa and Asia, Latin America face the hurdles from high interest rates and rising debt burdens. India is also increasing growth by building  infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities.

LyrArc Article Gist
About 80% of Swiss voters supported the 15% corporate minimum tax that will bring an additional 2.8 billion dollars in tax revenue. If the Swiss had not backed it, the additional revenue from lower Swiss taxes of about 11% and the 15% would have gone to other countries. The Biden administration and many EU countries have considered this one of the most important achievements for fairness, and to support much needed state spending in their countries to maintain the quality of life.

LyrArc Article Gist
Sam Bowman, economist and editor of magazine Works in Progress, says one reason Britain is lagging behind other EU countries, is that it's insular political and media class are rarely serious about anything else except managing public opinion. They have lost sight of economic growth led by investment and productivity. Poland, Slovenia and South Korea may soon surpass Britain in GDP per capita. The productivity rate in Poland is expected to surpass British productivity, this report in The Times shows.

LyrArc Article Gist
Alas, economists and intellectuals such as Gita Gopinath of the IMF, just don't get it when they say the EU can increase growth by half percent meeting labor shortages using immigrants. As WSJ reports 50-60% of asylum seekers in Netherlands since 1999 are less skilled /less educated immigrants, are unemployed or on benefits.The new view across all parties is lets stop the immigration surges, its too overwhelming for the people to deal with, so that we can focus on cost of living and low wages for workers. Across Starmer's Labour in Britain, across Biden/Harris Democrats lined up with Republican Lankford in the US pledging to sign the legislation to close the southern Border, and in France Macron's premier Michel Barnier wants to do the same.   Mette Frederiksen of Denmark was a pioneer in the EU in showing that immigration acts as a distraction that hurts the working class as it distracts people from the key issues facing workers of cost of living and low wages, poor benefits. She was elected as a Socialist party leader in Denmark in 2015 and as prime minister in 2019. Sahra Wagenknecht, follows Mette Frederiksen, herself a daughter of immigrant, has formed her own party out of Socialist Die Linke in Germany which is now getting about 15% German voter support, 25% in the east, along similar lines to pause and stop immigration because it hurts the working class. In other parts of EU- France's Macron coalition has a prime minister who has called for a pause on immigration. US president Harris and Candidate Harris have pledged to sign bipartisan legislation drafted by Republican Senator Lankford to close the southern Border. The European Asylum Agency has the numbers at just over one million asylum seekers in EU in 2023 and agains in 2024 split by country- Germany 127,000 24% France 77,000 15%, and Italy and Spain 87,000 each 17% each Belgium, Netherlands and Austria 17,000 each at 3% each, Greece a bit higher. Some like the US and Germany with stronger economic base and industries can absorb the educated immigrants from middle class fleeing wars and strife, and less educated immigrants in construction and hospitality. The bigger danger is in creating support for parties that will use the issue to take whole economies and countries backwards by further depressing workers wages, benefits and rights, exacerbating social divisions around race and income that they say they will solve but have no economic policy to do this. All socialist and socialist democratic parties have grasped this in 2023-2024, some earlier by 2019. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The Modi administration's plans for clean solar energy and renewable energy production to reach 220 gigawatts by 2022, nearly doubling the capacity in 2 years from 135 gigawatts today. The message was conveyed at the inaugural address for the recent World Solar Technology Summit by the prime minister. The premier said that ISA is part of the "One World, One Sun, One Grid" project, which would be transformational for humanity.

LyrArc Article Gist
Politics in Britain as Britain prepares for a general election. The UKIP party polls 13 percent and Conservatives 32 percent and only an alliance could beat the Liberals and Labour, Greens combined. So why is Boris Johnson not embracing UKIP and Farage. Boris Johnson top adviser Cummings is said to have kept Farage to a minimum in display during the EU elections, causing resentment. Farage has doubts about the Conservatives and has rejected an alliance. Conservatives see him as playing populist politics and having little interest in the Conservative Party's ideas, somewhat like a Salvini in Italy or Orban in Hungary. Conservatives see Farage as preventing them appealing to moderates.  Boris Johnson hopes to work out new spending to support working class voters in an effort to win broader support for the Conservatives. He also hopes he can go back to voters saying only he could deliver Brexit if given a solid mandate, in dealing with the EU and in dealing with parliament.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
In the light of the Irish No vote to the Lisbon treaty for a closer political union in the EU region, and the response from from propornents of the Lisbon treaty that this would delay the process of extension of the EU towards the parts of Eastern Europe still outside the EU, what does this mean for these countries that are looking to join the EU at some point? A new World Bank study says the future for countries that remain outside the EU does not look good. Lack of competition and contacts with the outside world keeps productivity low, poor education systems and an ageing work force, and millions of people in backward regions being left out. An economist at Poland's biggest bank sees closer ties to the eastern countries outside the EU including opening up their labor markets and free trade in goods and services as a way of reinforcing the Eastern partnership that Poland and Sweden and the Czech Republic have supported for closer ties to the EU with Ukraine and other Eastern European countries outside the EU. This means bringing some of the same benefits that have helped integrate Poland into the EU....

LyrArc Article Gist
Video presented by Gen. Dan Caine on how the Fordow site strike was done in real time. Dan Caine explains why the strikes were effective as Bombs Unit 57 were designed specifically for Fordow and the effort at Fordow is a project of the Threat Reduction Agency in the US War Department, doing this since 2009 when Fordow was being built.

Defense Secretary Hegseth points out that in the media's haste in reporting it had missed a key event at NATO meetings in The Hague, Netherlands. For the first time all EU nations had decided to shoulder their defense responsibilities for Europe. Germany and other nations will put 5% of the budget into defense of Europe.

LyrArc Article Gist
This Editorial Board article of the WSJ says the EU's embargo on Russian oil raise the cost for Putin's invasion of Ukraine and demonstrate Europe's resolve. The new round of sanctions by EU will ban the imports of Russian oil by sea as well as insurance for shipping companies that transport it globally. About two thirds of Russian oil comes by tanker. Germany and Poland will also stop pipeline oil imports from Russia, only Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia will continue with Russian pipeline oil. The result- an effective embargo on 90% of Russian oil imports by the end of 2022. How effective is this if Russian oil is rerouted through other countries to reach China, Western Europe and the US? The WSJ says don't underestimate the impact especially when it is combined with the ban on insuring ships that carry Russian oil. The higher insurance rates and costs of shipping will limit Russian oil exports. Europe makes up half of Russian oil exports and WSJ says the rest of the world can't use up all that oil. Russia exported $180 billion of oil in 2021, a large amount of this will no longer be available to Russia to finance the war. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
At Lyrarc we pointed out how US president Harry Truman had to persuade the US Congress to get aid to Greece and Turkey bills passed to prevent an imminent Communist takeover with Soviet bloc aid in 1948. Paul Krugman points out that this happened before when FDR had to persuade the US Congress to pass bills for Lend Lease agreement aid to Europe in 1942. Much of that aid was in food and other non military aid because the US arms manufacturing was beginning to ramp up.  Krugman also corrects the former president's statements regarding Ukraine aid that the European have done less. Counting all assistance to Ukraine he says the EU has done more than the US. It is because the arms production in the EU has to be ramped up and the US has arms production factories better prepared in military aid the US has done more in military aid, not overall or in other aid. He also points out that $13 billion FDR got from Congress for Europe in 1942 was 10% of US GDP, whereas Ukraine aid is only one fourth of one percent of US GDP, and much of it going as Mr. Biden pointed out, going into investment in American factories and jobs to supply Ukraine. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
French voters turned to parties outside the mainstream left Socialist Party and the right Republican Party for the first time in a run off presidential election. The National Front's Jean Le Pen made it to the runoff in 2002, then lost to Chirac of the Republican Party who won 78% of the vote. This time the Republican Party candidate Fillon had about 20%, the Socialist Party candidate Hamon won just 6% of the vote with the rest of the socialist vote going to a far left candidate Jean Luc Melenchon who had 19.6%. The winners were Emmanuel Macron, a former Economy minister under president Hollande of the socialist Party, getting about 24% and Marine Le Pen, the daughter of Jean Le Pen of the National Front, getting 21.5%. Compared to the U.S. the situation is slightly different in France because of the very high unemployment rate for young people- younger voters supported the National Front, and people especially in rural areas in the north, north east, and the south of the country around Nice and Marseille supported the National Front. Macron's movement En Marche, centrist party drawing support from centre right and centre left without clear ideology except to renew France and pro-EU, was strong in urban areas, among more educated people, especially in Paris and the area around Bordeaux and Toulouse in the south east of the country. Fillon did not do well in some traditional Republican Party areas including Nice, with inroads from Le Pen, who defined the party around anti-immigration, closed borders, and withdrawal from the European Union. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Prime minister Monti of Italy played a key role in getting Germany to accept short term measures for the eurozone crisis. This includes having the European Financial Stability Facility, the eurozone's bailout fund, buying govenment bonds of Spain and Italy directly in private markets to reduce the unsustainably high yields on these bonds. The plans proposed by the EU include setting up a European banking regulator.

LyrArc Article Gist
Dutch parents sue TikTok for 1.4 billion euros for not protecting the privacy and safety of children and for its content. The SOMI group represents 64,000 parents in Netherlands and the EU. Young people under 16 can easily create a profile without permission of their parents, and risky games plus content endanger children's lives, is how the app is seen in Europe.

LyrArc Article Gist
As costs increase to handle tourists many EU countries are turning to tourist taxes as a part of the social license to continue tourism. Taxes on tourism accomodations range from $1 to $3. About 20 of 30 European countries have tourist taxes which are becoming increasingly seen as a way to finance ways to cope with tourism, so that local residents can live normal lives.

LyrArc Article Gist
The cooperation between France and Italy helped persuade Germany to move forward with massive aid to the EU countries during the pandemic. Scholz, the new SPD chancellor of Germany sees the European Union with more voices from southern Europe, from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece as a good thing. Northern European countries are also moving in a different direction with Social Democrats governments elected in Denmark and Sweden, working on policies to reduce inequality, bring together different sections of society in a shared future, and the dignity of human beings.

LyrArc Article Gist
Vaccine passports play an important role in tackling the pandemic. France and other countries in Europe have increased the percentage of people getting vaccinations by requiring EU vaccine digital certificate for entry into pubic transportation, restaurants and large events. Vaccine digital certificate helps reduce the the need for lockdowns. Us president Biden has also moved in this direction with the new vaccine mandate in the US requiring all federal government employees and employees of companies with more than 100 workers to get vaccinated and show digital proof of vaccination.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Guardian looks at Iran's role in the Hamas attack on Israel, and its intentions to prevent a deal betwen Israel, Saudi Arabia and the US that was being negotiated this month. It looks at the situation in the Middle East and the role of Egypt, Turkey, UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the crisis,  their historic role of supporting Palestinian rights and how their national interests have shifted over the last three decades to seek friendly relations with Israel, the EU and the US.