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Biden's address to Congress after three years of the pandemic marks a turning point for America like Lincoln in 1962 and FDR in 1933. As Biden surveys the damage done to the country not just by Covid loss of 1 million lives, he sees the closing of factories and abandoning of communities that depended on them all over America, abandoned by administrations of either party. Which has led to a loss of faith in the fairness of the system and of democracy itself.  "And two years ago democracy faced its greatest threat since the Civil War. And today though bruised, it remains unbowed and unbroken. . . That's always been my vision for this country, and I know its many of yours. To restore the soul of this nation. To rebuild the backbone of America, America's middle class." Biden sees a complete rebuilding of America to bring back manufacturing, restore American leadership in manufacturing. And invest three hundred billion dollars for the effort that will create jobs and new opportunities.  "For decades, the middle class has been hollowing out, and more than- and no one administration, but for a long time. Too many good paying manufacturing jobs moved overseas. Factories closed down. Once thriving cities and towns that many of you represent became shadows of what they used to be. And along the way, something else we lost. Pride, our sense of self-worth. I ran for president to fundamentally change things, to make sure our economy works for everyone so we can all feel that pride in what we do. To build an economy from the bottom up, not from the top down. Because when the middle class does well, the poor have a ladder up, and the wealthy still do very well. We all do well." "Folks I've been criticized for saying this, but I am not changing my view. We're going to make sure the supply chain for America begins in America. The supply chain begins in America." "And when we do these projects- and again I get criticized for it but I am making no excuses for it- we're going to buy American. We're going to buy American. Folks, and it's totally consistent with international trade rules. Buy American has been the rule since 1933. But for too long, past administrations, Democratic and Republican, have fought to get around it. Not anymore. . . Folks my economic plan is about investing in places and people that have been forgotten. So many of you listening to me tonight, I know you feel it. So many of you felt simply that you've been forgotten. Amid the economic upheaval of the last four decades, too many people have been left behind and treated like they're invisible."   ...

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The US sees no contradiction to India looking for bargain priced oil from Russia to meet the growing needs of its economy and is actually furthering the goals of the G-7 by lowering the price Russia gets for its oil. It helps the economy of 1.2 billion people that like the rest of the world has struggled to fight the pandemic and has incurred the kind of heath costs that even China is now struggling to pay for. President Biden clearly understands and supports this. Democracies an only succeed if they fulfill the aspirations of their people. On this point Biden made clear in his State of the Union that he will generate what it takes from large corporations that paid no tax, to invest in America. Rather than fuel the profits of large oil companies India has increasingly chosen to use Russian discounted oil to invest in India. The Biden and Modi policies are identical generate savings and invest big time in trillions of dollars over the next few years to put democracies ahead in meeting rising aspirations that have been unfulfilled for far too long, which is where the real battles are being fought and will be won, and rightly so. US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources, Geoffrey Pyatt,  said during a visit to New Delhi on Feb. 16-17- "Our experts now assess that India right now is enjoying a discount of about USD 15 a barrel in the price that it is paying for its imports of Russian crude. So by acting in its own interest, by driving a hard bargain to get the lowest price possible, India is furthering the policy of our G7 coalition, our G7 plus partners in seeking to reduce Russian revenues."  Looking at the bigger picture the problem was created by Germany under Merkel who built Germany's over dependency on Russian oil to power a cheap fuel economy it thought was in Germany's interest. This is now being reversed by the hard work of Mr. Habeck of the Green party in the coalition government of Scholz in securing alternative supplies in record time for the EU to avoid a recession. In this sense the perception created early of India which has suffered itself from invasions in 1962 and incursions in the Himalayas more recently, it is not a problem India can solve by becoming energy short at a time when it has invested so much in fighting the pandemic. A similar problem was created by Republican and Democratic administrations of the past that concentrated the supply chain in one country. India lost much investment in the last 8 years as a result of the policies of Merkel's Germany and past Republican Democratic administrations in concentrating the supply chain in one country. ...

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Scientific American says 8-11% impact larger emissions under the One Big Beautiful Act than the 61%-66% emissions cut under Biden IRA in 2035 over 2005. What is the reasoning behind DJT Republicans approach? 

Remember that the wealthiest House districts are now in the Democratic party and the working class, rural and poorer districts are now in the Republican party as shown in the recent WSJ analysis.  In this situation after  30-40 increase in the price of groceries, new and used cars, and housing costs 2019-2024 the argument is that American working families need relief. Another factor was the grasp of the fact that for climate change action to work China could not be allowed to build one coal plant a week (95GW of coal electricity capacity in 2024). In 2024 US represented only 12% of global emissions and EU only 6%, China, Russia, India, Brazil etc emitting the rest of 82%. 

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The difference between US imports and exports is down from $418 billion in 2018 to $280 billion in last 12 months (August 2024 to July 2025) showing the impact of tariffs and policies of the DJT administration to level the playing field and for getting out of the trade deficits that hurt American jobs, workers, and communities. Tariffs of 20% for fentanyl issue and 125% made it 145% for import tariff on China after Liberation Day. These were lowered to 30% after trade talks. This where it stands today. 

The figure of $280 billion is higher because of transshipping by China through Vietnam- for transshipping the 20% tariff on Vietnam goes up to 40%. Another aspect of the figure of $280 billion is that it is last 12 months which reflects 5 months of the Biden administration, and the surge in imports before deadlines when DJT tariffs would come into place. Battery imports are up, smartphones, toys and apparel is down.

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The significance of the economic relationship of UAE and India with the visit of prime minister Modi to Abu Dhabhi on June 28 on the way back from the G7 Summit from Germany. Under recent trade agreements trade with UAE will increase to $100 billion in 5 years. 8 million Indians live in the Gulf region with remittances of over $50 billion a year. During Biden's visit to the region there will be a meeting of a new grouping called 2I2U referring to Israel, India, US and UAE.

Mohamed Bin Zayed or MBZ is a clear proponent of a strong leadership by the US in the region and in Asia and maintaining peace in the region after so many disastrous wars.

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Biden nominates Gen. C. Q. Brown, US Air Force chief to the position of chairman joint chiefs. WSJ looks at Brown's record and the needs of the US Air Force during a period of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and following tensions in Asia over Taiwan and the South China Sea. A recent interview with a former Defense Minister of Japan on NHK television shows these tensions are affecting Japan's sense of lack of preparedness. WSJ also gives today an interview with Henry Kissinger about American's lack of belief in its institutions yet makes little effort to highlight the importance of correcting severe problems of literacy with only one third of eighth graders passing NAEP reading comprehension tests.

 

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Japan's military budget will become the third largest after the US and China and take on offensive capabilities, under the new plan of prime minister Kishida. More than half of Japanese now support Japan taking on this role in defense against China and to ensure an open Indo-Pacific. The military buildup calls for $320 billion in spending over 5 years to deter China, and includes missile deployment. The national security paper released in Dec 2023 says- "The strategic challenge posed by China is the biggest Japan has ever faced." To do this Japan's foreign and defense ministers met with their counterparts in the US this week, ahead of a meeting in the US between Kishida and US president Biden. 

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A cargo ship hits Francis Scott Key Bridge which crosses outer Baltimore harbour and the bridge collapses on March 27, 2024. Pictures capture the bridge actually collapsing right in front of our eyes, a reminder of the infrastructure building that was neglected for so long during a period of foreign wars in remote mountains and deserts of the Middle East, and a period of tech and other monopolies where corporations paid less in taxes than teachers, nurses and childcare workers, both depriving the government of needed revenues for nation building infrastructure, and needed investments in manufacturing, health, education, reversing climate change. A period of neglect and lost decades which president Biden and a bipartisan group of Congressman are only now reversing with no time to lose.

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US plans to keep up with Russian advanced artillery and rocket systems in the invasion of Ukraine by sending its shorter range MLRS rocket system to Ukraine. The MLRS has a short range system that extends for over 40 kms. compared to its long range that goes 186 kms. The US sees the sending of the shorter range MLRS as feasible and not the longer range. Denmark is sending its Harpoon system of rockets that would complement Ukraine's own Neptune system to protect a key Black Sea port of Odessa. US policy is designed to keep Russia from making any serious gains in the war which the US and European Union see as a unprovoked invasion. Popular sentiment in US and EU has backed up the Biden administration.

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In this analysis of Keir Starmer's speech at the Labour conference inLiverpool in October 2023 The Guardian looks at the scale of the task ahead. Starmer faces the task of the 1997 style decline of public services, the need to channel the Harold Wilson mission to modernize the economy in a time of change, and the Clement Atlee 1945 imperative to build a new Britain "out of the trauma of collective sacrifice." Starmer told delegates- "In 2024 it will have to be all three." Such is the task facing Britain and Starmer in 2024. Something similar is taking place in the US with Biden and Modi in India in 2024, in three of the largest democracies in the world, and two of the oldest.

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Macron faces parliamentary deadlock in France after efforts to pass legislation on a bill by bill basis and use of an unpopular mechanism to ram laws through without a vote. This led to months of street protests for a law that increased the age for pensions. These moves by Macron have now left the government with no way ahead except by talking to opposition leaders. The US is making major policy changes under Biden and expanding its economy, Germany under the Schultz government is following similar policies, Britain looks to major changes under Keir Starmer's Labor party, in France the rest of Macron's term appears headed for a period when no constructive changes can take place in the economic and social condition of France.

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The effort by the Tories in government in Britain to consign railways to managed decline during the green transition shows how little they understand the potential of rail. In Germany rail passes have cut the cost of traveling by Deutsche Bahn and created new interest in rail travel. Britain not only lacks such a plan, rail is being pushed into decline by the plan to cut 1000 ticket offices. About 90 percent of 750,000 comments about this plan were negative during the consultation period. It is now being scrapped. The Guardian says now is the time to create a renaissance for rail and Labour needs to lead the way just as president Biden has done for revitalizing Amtrak with $91 billion in planned investment. 

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Indian prime minister says on the lawn of the White House that India does not want to replace China in manufacturing, it wants to see India as the world's manufacturing centre in diversified supply chains where there is no overconcentration in one country which happened before the pandemic. Biden does not favor free trade agreements because in addition to undermining American workers and the environment, it also has the effect of shifting manufacturing to China because of loose agreement clauses about sources of manufacture and because many of the countries in the free trade agreements depend on China for manufacturing. India and the US are at a unique inflection point because both countries are gearing up for  new relationships in manufacturing and in the supply chains.

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The $3 billion proposed by president Biden is the first time in history that money is being allocated to tackle elder homelessness. This WSJ report shows how older boomers holding onto larger homes for retirement and aging in these homes is worsening the supply of housing. Including for younger boomers who are in their 50's and who because housing is less affordable or because of a life event or healthcare costs are facing a high rate of homelessness. WSJ's report says $3 billion is unlikely to get thorough this Republican Congress but it is not enough to tackle the problem -because people should not be destitute in this way such as these younger boomers in America as an advanced developed Nation.

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There are 34 Senate races of which 23 are in states traditionally controlled by Democrats. Jacky Rosen is leading in Nevada, and Senator Ted Cruz will have trouble defending his record in the Senate. Senator Rick Scott a Republican from Florida will also have difficulty holding onto his seat. Republicans will gain the seat of Joe Manchin in West Virginia. Democrats could hold onto seats in Montana and Arizona. It all depends on messaging the facts about inflation, confronting immigration head on by saying the Republican Lankford legislation agreed with Biden will be signed into law by Harris, listing tough cost of living action limiting rent increases to 5%, and limiting price increases for groceries and other necessities. Infrastructure projects completed in red as well as blue states.

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Most people may not realize that for the average Chinese Jimmy Carter was the benevolent American. This report overs Carter's effort to bring China into the world economy and world relations during the Jan 1979 visit of Premier Deng Xiaoping.

Carter said in his dairy that day- "It was a pleasure to negotiate with him."

He later wrote in his diary the trip was "one of the delightful experiences of my Presidency… to me, everything went right, and the Chinese leader seemed equally pleased."

This was the start of the American journey with China that has resumed between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in California after the Covid pandemic and is still being navigated today.

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President Richard Nixon was named by a grand jury in 1974 but was never charged with a crime says WSJ. By the time he left office Nixon's reputation had suffered severe damage. NYT reports that this is different with Mr. Trump who seeks the nomination of the Republican party in 2024, raising a whole new set of issues of what is and is not appropriate behaviour for the office of the president of the US or for that matter any high office in the United States of America. Ultimately new standards will be set and the past few years make be looked back on as an anomaly in the history of the US.

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This NYT report shows how Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, decided to first put off any indictment a year ago because he was not convinced about the evidence being strong enough in other areas. It was after hiring a new team, bringing in additional prosecutors and resources, and studying different areas of evidence on different issues that he settled on the one related to the hush money payments to a porn actress. It is at that point that the information for the indictment was put together for the grand jury, a year later. 

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Republican Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell has differences with Mr. Trump. He made this clear in recent years on many issues and has remained silent on the Trump indictment. He is the senior senator from Kentucky.

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Most of the issues important to Republicans such as immigration, crime, cultural issues, and national security are well articulated by Mr. Ron de Santis of Florida, without the distraction presented of a sordid affair at a time of cost of living crisis for average Americans, says this report in NYT.

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FR24 points out that it is not that unusual to see prosecution of French former presidents and prime ministers for campaign financing irregularities or putting political party officials on public payrolls. It shows that this happened to president Chirac, president Sarkozy, and prime minister Fillon. In fact former prime minister Fillon was doing well in the elections after the presidency of Socialist president Hollande. The revelation that he had put his wife on public payroll as parliamentary assistant with little work led to Mr. Macron taking his place as the leading candidate. No jail terms were served for these charges under French law. Here it is important to note that French law limits spending on election campaigns to 22 million euros and Sarkozy exceeded that number. In the US and India there are no such strict limits. So are France's leaders that much worse than the American leaders who spend and collect money lavishly? Or in India where the campaign financing has the result of making it hard to build the infrastructure desperately needed by a young aspiring population. Framers of the Indian constitution including Gandhi and Nehru intent on getting the British out never realized that political parties would look to public funds as ways to finance their campaigns, leaving less for the intended purpose of building roads and bridges making the country a poor place to invest in and entrenching underdevelopment and poverty.  In the US tech companies in Silicon Valley or banks in New York and Silicon Valley, pharmaceutical companies and companies in other sectors, are able to gain monopoly positions or favored regulatory setups for their industries by funding election campaigns for Congress. When this results in egregious behaviour such as the 2009 financial crisis or the current banking crisis this behaviour causes severe damage to ordinary Americans much worse than what Mr Chirac or Sarkozy were prosecuted for.  South Korea has a long history of prosecuting former presidents. Three presidents have been prosecuted so far. One president served as much as five years for a jail term. ...

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Florida Governor Ron de Santis is critical of Mr. Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, for indictment of Mr. Trump. Yet he also says-"I don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. I just can't speak to that." The Republican party for the most part sees the situation differently now. 

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Leaks of conversations Mr. Trump had with leaders of Mexico and Australia early in the Trump administration resulted in the effort to protect sensitive discussions on a separate high security server. This is now the subject of inquiry in the impeachment inquiry by Democrats in the House of Representatives into president Trump's discussion with Ukrainian president Zelensky. The impeachment inquiry stems from the call with the Ukrainian president in which Democrats say Trump asked Ukraine to look into corruption at a company in which Democrat Joe Biden's son was a board member, and storing this information on a top security server.