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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.        ...

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South Korea has tested about 300,000 people for coronavirus. About 20,000 can be tested daily for coronavirus through 40 drive thru locations. South Korea invented this method of testing. Another feature of the South Korean method is the tracking down of people who have come into contact with those testing positive for coronavirus. The South Korean government is able to do this because it can access the credit card and cell phone information of people in the country. This is possible through laws that were passed after the failures during a previous epidemic of MERs. The government then tracks down and isolates the people who came into contact with infected persons. This includes people who show no symptoms, an important aspect of the South Korean program which needs to be adopted in other countries once the production of test kits and testing is ramped up. The reason is that about 30% of people who tested positive in South Korea were not showing any symptoms but acted as silent carriers. This is similar to the figures for people in the Wuhan region of China. This testing capability is one of South Korea's key strengths, though Germany's Robert Koch Institute says it has a similar capability to test 160,000 people a week. The U.S. has tested about 30,000 people by comparison. The U.S. government is procuring 60,000 test kits under the Defense Production Act. South Korea also enforces social distancing though a $2500 fine and a 1 year prison sentence. Germany now has a 2500 euros fine in some states for curfew violations.  By comparison the fine in Britain is insignificant.  Another difference between China and South Korea with Germany and the rest of Europe, the U.S., is that in China and South Korea self-isolation is monitored, tightening the control over coronavirus spread at every turn.   ...

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Hannah Devlin writes about Jess Thom the Psychologist for Great Britain's Olympics teams. How Jess Thom gets British athletes to overcome self doubt, negativity and nerves as they compete in the most difficult of competitions. Here is what she tells athletes to do, which also applies in daily worklife in striving for excellence at work. “One of the most powerful things to understand is that it’s normal to have those unhelpful thoughts and feelings,” she said. “Even athletes have self-doubt at times. They get anxious or frustrated and still go on to win Olympic gold. Those thoughts and feelings don’t have to dictate how we behave.” Mindfulness is useful training of the mind. Yet accomplishing the required level of self-awareness still requires training, discipline and grit. “Notice your feelings, accept them, come back to the present moment. That’s the general strategy,” she said. “It sounds super easy on paper, but doing that in a high-pressure environment is impressive.” Thom tells athletes to think about their demeanor and how they think and act when they are at their best. If that means showing your style of athleticism at the start line, then doing that is fine. She encourages athletes to behave like you would when you have that real .strong confidence even if you’re not necessarily feeling that right there. What about negative thoughts. She gives them a name - Frank. And she says athletes can say- "Frank, not right now," to just set aside these thoughts. To control fears, athletes are told to write a “what if” list. It  serves as a backup plan for worst-case scenarios. This could mean getting a bad start in a race or going a set down in tennis.  Personal superstitions are included.   ...

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"The NHS is on its knees," says Starmer, one more reaon to ban outdoor smoking. Labor in 2007 put the ban on indoor smoking. Sunak had a plan for the Tories to ban smoking. Starmer is now following this to reduce the burden on the NHS and improve public health in the UK. The bill would gradually ban smoking for people born after 2009, an idea proposed by Sunak and the Conservatives. The bill would place new restrictions on outdoor smoking, including outdoor spaces at, and pavements outside, clubs and restaurants, as well as at universities, children’s play areas and small parks. Asked about this during a visit to Paris, Starmer said: “My starting point on this is to remind everybody that over 80,000 people lose their lives every year because of smoking,” he said. “That is a preventable death, it’s a huge burden on the NHS and, of course, it is a burden on the taxpayer. So, yes, we are going to take decisions in this space, more details will be revealed, but this is a preventable series of deaths and we’ve got to take action to reduce the burden on the NHS and the taxpayer.”  The prime minister said-“It is important to get the balance right, but everybody … who uses the NHS will know that it’s on its knees.” Dr Layla McCay, the director of policy at the NHS Confederation, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It is absolutely the health challenge of our time. It’s the leading cause of preventable illness in the UK, so we are heartened to see that progress is being made and that the intention is moving forward to really address one of Britain’s main drivers of health inequalities.” ...

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This and other WSJ, NYT, and other articles say Minnesotan Tim Walz started out as a moderate in a rural Republican leaning district, and shifted to being "liberal" and "progressive" using labels that have by 2024 lost meaning and lost common sense. Tim Walz is accused by the existing culture of being this or that label when he is simply following his instincts about what it means to live in the Age of the Enlightenment that marks all European societies and gave them a head start over Chinese and Indian feudal society during the 19th century Industrial Revolution. When one looks back at the period after Kennedy-Johnson in the sixties, American political economic social and culture has gone through a shift to turn its back on workers and families, turn its back on the "Enlightenment" itself under a culture shift. It happened under administrations both Republican and Democratic over 50 years since 1970. Under a Republican Congressman, and following this a Governor of California, a Texas Congressman and Texas Governor, and under Governors of southern states Georgia and Arkansas, a Congressman from Illinois, and a NBC television show personality. That culture shift has become so instilled at this point that labels such as progressive and liberal are attached in ways that make no sense, lack common sense. Do school meals have anything to do with politics, do you prefer poor family kids going hungry, is that your cultural thing? Is supporting college education for the depressed income groups have anything to so with politics? Only when one rejects the "Enlightenment" that accompanies the Industrial Revolution in Britain in the 19th century, the idea of modernity ushered in by the rejection of feudalism by the French Revolution,  would one reject the idea of giving access to education and through it to a better life for workers and families to all parts of society. ...

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Britain's economy shrank by 0.5% in the last quarter of 2010, according to Office for National Statistics. Unemployment went up to 7.9% and 2.5 million jobless. Inflation up from 3.3% in the year to November, to 3.7% in December 2010. Mervyn King, governor of Bank of England, says inflation will go up to 4-5% in 2011. The austerity plan is only now beginning to go into effect and creates a difficult year. The VAT, a consumption tax, goes up to 20% from 17.5% on Jan 4th, and public spending cuts go into effect in April. With consumption depressed, higher investment and exports are the two areas supporting growth. There is a risk that the Bank of England will have to raise interest rates, as it left interest rates at 0.5% in December 2010. Under these conditions not much of a recovery can be expected in 2011-2012.

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Unemployment in the UK reached 8.4% for the three months ending in January 2012, with total unemployed at 2.67 million. Youth unemployment for ages 16-24 reached 22%, with 1.01 million youth unemployed.

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The British pound recovered after the new coalition government announced its actions for the economy. It was $1.59 to one British pound at the beginning of August 2010. But problems for the pound remain with the economic outlook and monetary policy.

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It is only appropriate to bring up Aneurin Bevan in 2024 after the pandemic and as ordinary Britons seek to improve health and living standards, and their compatriots in the US also seek a better form of universal health coverage that works to provide better health  for less cost similar to Europe. In 1948 the National Health Services Act was passed into law with Aneurin Bevan having seen it through parliament as a member of the Labour party from Wales. The NHS was operational in July 1948. Clement Attlee summoned Bevan after winning in a landslide in 1948 and asked him to take the Housing and Health Ministry. Bevan was a coal miner's son who then used his skills in parliament to get passage of laws that created one of the most enduring  institutions of modern times. A docudrama by Prince about a visionary Welshman Aneurin Bevan as Health Minister who founded the NHS National Health Service of Britain. Michael Sheen plays Bevan.

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Talks at the White House between Macron of France and DJT on Feb 24, 2025. DJT says Russian president Putin will accept European and American troops in Ukraine to monitor a peace settlement as a peace keeping force. French troops were offered for such aforce by Macron. DJT says he asked Putin directly this question and the answer was yes for a peacekeeping force to end the war. Analysis by The Times shows Britain and the EU are coming to terms with DJT policy to end the war and Europe shouldering its defense  responsibilities and costs because America has challenges in the Asia Pacific with the rise of China. 

To get an idea of China's resources and capacity it now has over 50% of ship building capacity in the world. The US is only now ramping up its efforts to build ships and increase the effectiveness and size of the US Navy, and a major defense effort is underway.

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Bank of England minutes for the Jan 8-9, 2014 meeting show officials saying "they saw no immediate need to raise the Bank Rate even if the 7% unempoyment threshhold were to be reached in the near future." This comes as the unemployment rate average in 3 months to November 2013 was shown at 7.1%, according to the Office of National Statistics. The rate declined from 7.4% in the previous three months. In August 2013 Bank of England officials said unemployment would have to fall to 7% before raising the Bank's benchmark interest rate. The Bank of England has set the bechmark rate at a low of 0.5% and the size of the bond buying program at 375 billion pounds.

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The Washington Post's veteran Middle East correspondent, Jim Hoagland, says there are some important lessons to take from the experience in Libya. The Arab rulers who entrenched themselves for decades wasted the bulk of their oil wealth. It was right for Palestinians to disassociate themselves from these regimes. The French took the brunt of the fight in helping Libya free itself from the Gaddafi regime. This is an understatement as without Sarkozy's initative and Cameron's unflagging support, without France and Britain's early support, Gaddafi's forces would have overrun Benghazi and ended the struggle for democracy in this part of the Arab world. U.S. President Obama and Defense Secretary Gates did little in the early days when there was dire need. Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel continuously resisted supporting France and Britain in Libya. The U.S. Obama administration and Turkey gave their support only after the perilous period- when the fate of the rebels fighting for freedom hung on a thread- was past. Hoagland calls Gates view of "feckless Europeans" shortsighted. Hoagland sees this as an opportunity for Europe to take a larger more active role. ...

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Jacobs takes us back to a time in history when Winston Churchill, as colonial secretary for the British Empire, created countries and geographic borders simply by drawing this on a map. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire during the first world war provided the opportunity to create the borders and states that we know today- Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. This part of history is important to understand what we see today in the Middle East- as it was the first step in the evolution of British, French, and later American policy in the region. Britain's oil interests in Iran determined policies pursued first by Britain, and later by the U.S. in the region, and which reverberate to this day in how Iranians see the world.

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France and Germany remained far apart on approach to banking regulation in Dec. 2012. Germany does not support regulatory powers of the ECB over Germany's small and midsized savings banks which lend to small businesses and consumers. France supports regulation of all 6000 banks in the eurozone by the ECB. Germany also raises concerns about how the regulatory powers of the ECB can affect its powers in setting interest rates. Germany does not support the British position for regulatory powers over London based banks to remain in Britain. Coming up with a new banking supervisor for European banks with regulatory powers of supervision is needed for Spain to get access to additional EU financing. This is also part of the new financial architecture for the eurozone, including deposit guarantees, which needs to be set up.

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A practical solution to Iraq. Note that the Treaty of Sevres that made up states of Syria and Iraq was made by Britain and France after the First World War. And before the entry of Britain and France this was part of the Ottoman Empire.

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Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, is critical of the British government's cuts in annual rent subsidies by 8%, or $3.2 billon, by 2014-15. London Councils, the umbrella group for London's 33 local authorites, says that 82,000 households in London will become homeless as a result of these cuts. Johnson told the BBC that the cuts will push renters to the suburbs- as has happened in Paris- and he will not tolerate a Kosovo-style cleansing of London. A labor party lawmaker in Leeds says that 15,000 families in Leeds will be affected by rising rents.

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After meeting with Rishi Sunak, the Finance Minister and the Business Secretary Alok Sharma prime minister Johnson is keen on getting things to as normal as possible in the summer to save jobs. About 3 million jobs could be lost, some permanently if businesses cannot open by summer, especially in the hospitality industry. This could push unemployment up from 1.3 million  to 2 million. The Times reports that at one point in the meeting Johnson said "Christ!" In mid March after he had the virus and Britain saw a surge in cases Johnson made health a priority even quoting Cicero in Latin that the health of the nation was the priority. Now this is changing with the jobs situation becoming a major risk. Much of the loss of jobs is likely say experts in the red wall districts that Johnson took from the Labour party in the election, and the prime minister feels a special responsibility to these districts. Johnson also said at one point about youth unemployment 18 to 24 years that is bleak, that he wanted to have an apprenticeship for every young person. The critical R rate is higher in the northwest and the southwest of England, compared to London. In England overall it is between 0.7 and 0.9. It needs to be around 1 to avoid spreading the virus.  As part of the social distancing guidelines ministers are also discussing changing the distancing on public transport so that it is 1 metre instead of 2 metres, so that reopening to get back to close to normal can be done sooner.     ...

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With Britain preoccupied with Brexit, and the U.S. in a trade dispute with China, Chancellor Merkel remains the only western leader to visit and hold extensive talks with Chinese leaders Li Keqiang and Xi Jinping. She also visits other Chinese cities such as Wuhan and gives a speech at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, in which she commented on the social credit system being implemented in China about the social creditworthiness of individuals and businesses.  Merkel sitting next to premier Li Keqiang in Beijing advocated "that conflicts be resolved without violence and that anything else would be a catastrophe." She called for a peaceful resolution of the situation in Hong Kong and for Hong Kong's rights to be "guaranteed." This is significant because the close cooperation between Germany and China is critical for China today to tackle the economic problems created by the trade disputes with the U.S.  Merkel has a close relationship with Chinese leaders and has visited China many times, giving her the confidence to talk to Chinese leaders without arousing any sensitivities about internal affairs of China. She is the only leader who can speak her mind to Chinese leaders, without offending them. When she used the word "catastrophe" she chose it carefully. It took decades for China to build the trust and relationships with Europe and the U.S. that it has.  Trading relationships matter for both China and western nations and are built on trust and good relations. With the Shenzen region growing faster than Hong Kong, and thinking like Beijing, China could tackle the situation in Hong Kong over a long period. ...

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U.S. healthcare spending of about $3 trillion comes with poor results. The cost per person is about three times that of countries such as France, Britain, yet the results show U.S. doing extremely poorly. The author points out that less spending on healthcare and more on social services in areas such as education, nutrition, housing and other services would improve the outcomes and results. It is this missing factor that is helping other countries in Europe, Japan and China achieve better outcomes and returns per dollar spent.  Social spending can affect such things as nutrition, exercize levels, lifestyles, housing and result in dramatic improvements in obesity levels for instance, or inflammation levels in the population that play a role in many diseases. The idea is prevention. This is not happening because higher health dollar spending has lobbies to support it. Social spending also is a dollar expense that shows up immediately whereas results are spread out into the future as a longer term benefit with healthier populations that need to consume less healthcare and treatment. Elizabeth Bradley, president of Vassar College is an expert on this subject. She says social services spending gives more bang for buck  in health outcomes.  The point is relevant also for countries in South Asia and Africa that have taken some on some aspects of the U.S. health system resulting in health care spending that does not deliver the most for the dollar spent, and ignores the critical role of prevention.  The solution lies in moving these health care dollars out of the health care spending and into education for health outcomes, lifestyles, exercize habits education, and into social services that enable prevention and better health. ...

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Affordability should be a major factor in figuring out what is the best place to retire. Climate gets Arizona and Florida the top two spots. Yet considering today's higher cost of living and smaller retirement savings in the U.S., Britain, and European countries, and the higher cost of living in India, China, and other Asian, African, and Latin american countries, affordability should play a much larger role so that savings stretch out and one can afford a better standard of living, more travel and room for better choices in food and other things.  Bankrate for instance gives 40% importance to affordability in its retirement assessment of locations. Climate gets only 15% in this assessment of location. Places which are friendlier, with which you are familiar ar attractive for other reasons. Bankrate gives Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri top ratings in this commonsense approach.  Also important after affordability, are access to healthcare, weather, culture and crime. Bankrate analysis gives affordability 40%, wellness and healthcare 25%, culture 15% weather 15%, and crime 15%. Access to healthcare is a factor that is also included in Affordability as the premium in Florida for Medicare Supplement, is $286  month vs $90 a month in Nebraska. Using a similar approach places in India, China, other African, Asian and Latin American countries countries that are in high demand and have rising cost of living may not be the best places to retire. Using Affordability, wellness and healthcare, culture, and friendly atmosphere and familiarity with having lived there for a time, may be the best criteria with less importance to weather. A better standard of living and access to better things in life with one's dollars or rupees or whatever currency one uses stretch is important.   ...