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Sempra Infrastructure is to build a new LNG terminal on the Gulf Coast in the US in early 2023. The first phase of the $10.5 billion Port Arthur LNG project in South Texas is underway. The project will add 13.5 million metric tons of LNG to world gas supplies and is the largest project for LNG approved in 2022. Germany's RWE, Polish and British companies have signed supply agreements with Sempra. 

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The details of the deal negotiated by the EU, Germany, France and other eurozone countries for a Single Resolution Mechanism, Single Resolution Board and Single Resolution Board in December 2013.

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The proposed EU financial transactions tax of 0.1% on stock transactions and 0.01% on derivative transactions gains support. It would generate about 100 million euros for Estonia and about $10 billion for Germany. It is designed so that any small job loss would be more than made up by job gains through badly needed infrastructure investment, at a time when EU budgets are tight.

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The number of countries visa free entry is the wrong way to give passport rankings as learning from other countries and cultures, learning about their scientific advances and manner of thinking is key to the huge changes that happened in Asia- in first Japan by 1900, South Korea and Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, by 1960's, China by 1990's and India by 2010- as the people of these countries interacted with Europe and the US. Interaction with Europe and the US is key for Asian nations.  This happened even earlier as Americans by 1880's interacted with Europe through ship voyages across the Atlantic in 7 days. This brought knowledge of scientific advances and ways of thinking from Europe to the US accelerating pace of industrialization in the agricultural economy in the US in the 19th century.  In 2025 the visa free access for US and EU to some of the advanced Asian nations, Japan and China is key to bringing back knowledge of scientific and other advances to the US and EU.  India and China should be compared. At Munich and other German EU airports China has the kind of visa free and fast track entry that does not exist either for the US or India. The writer experienced this on a recent visit in 2025 with a US passport denied entry to the fast track lane reserved for Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other travelers. India's bureaucracy, and US's lethargy, and the sheer lack of serious effort comparable to China and Japan in getting fast easy access to EU is to blame , particularly for the travelers who are most likely to gain from such interactions, the educated middle class and business people of India and the US. One could go so far as to say that one of the keys to China's advances is its ties to Germany and Hamburg and entry ports in Netherlands to the EU. EU is the source of technologies and of scientific knowledge freely available to China 1990-2025. For this to happen advanced logistics and ship- port building had to take place. India must do the same and much faster than anything that happened before 2025 at a pace as fast as China's if it is to reach it's potential in the world economy alongside the US and EU. ...

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Annalena Baerbock is leading the Greens Party in Germany to a new poll high. Almost all parties lost points in the poll for Bild Am Sonntag and the Greeens gained. Coming at a time when the German public is weary after the eurozone financial crisis, the migrant crisis and now the coronavirus pandemic Annalena Baerbock brings a fresh approach to issues in Germany. Her call for a broad tent and the solidarity in the party with co-leader Robert Habeck are getting a good response from the German people.  Greens are ahead by 2 percentage points to 28%, CDU/CSU down by 2 points to 27%, SDU down by 2 points to 13%, AfD and Left Party both down by 1 point, AfD at 10% and Left Party at 7%. Greens present the idea of a new departure for Germany to protect the climate, reduce inequality and start a new Europe. Annalena Baerbock talks about this in her campaign as chancellor candidate for the September 2021 German elections- "we must make changes to create a fair country." The German people are listening after years of disappointment with the SPD under Schroeder, the Merkel years when Germany tackled crises of eurozone and migrants with no new direction for a brighter future,  the AfD creating new divisions and waning in approval, the lockdowns leading to social divisions, rising inequality.  ...

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Germany's soccer coach Joachim Low spells out his strategy in the upcoming World Cup. Germany is trying to win a consecutive World Cup, a tough feat. Low says luck and outside influences can play a role, though planning will help. He describes the role of the coach in this report as a visionary, looking to the future, the contact person, special relationships with players. Kamilla Jarzina talked to Low for this interview.

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Jorg Asmusen, member of the executive board of the European Central Bank, and Jens Weidmann, president of Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, argue on opposite sides before the German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe. Weidmann says the bond buying of sovereign bonds of Italy and Greece by the ECB is unconstitutional, Asmussen defends the ECB's plan to lower the borrowing costs for Italy and Spain in 2012. Both Asmussen and Weidmann are students of Manfred Neumann, professor of Economics at Bonn University. Neumann says such action is unconstitutional. The Federal Constitutional Court takes public opinion into account in its rulings.

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The top economic adviser to President Obama Lawrence Summers received more than $5 million from hedge fund D.E. Shaw. He was managing director of this hedge fund in 2006, before becoming economic adviser to the President and director of the National Economic Council. He also collected $2.7 million in speaking fees from Wall Street companies that received bailout money. At the recent G-20 summit the French President Sarkozy and the German chancellor Merkel had made regulatory reform and a global regulator a nonnegotiable point. Germany and France had insisted on strict regulation of hedge funds, something the Obama administration did not agree to. With the revelation of Summer's close ties to hedge funds, questions may be raised about the advice Obama is getting from Summers on the issue of hedge fund regulation.

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Now that the euro dollar parity is reached what happens next. This report in WSJ shows there is room for more downside because of the weaker European economy. It says Europe had less of the covid payments to lower income groups and smaller payments than in the US. As a result this shows up in consumer spending. The parity with the dollar does not reflect the event of a shutoff of Russian supplies of gas to Germany. If this happens it will impact the euro further.

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Andrew Higgins provides this exceptional account of how the political and administrative authorites in Belgium are so divided because of ethnic and poltiical reasons, that they are often paralyzed. It is described as the Belgian disease. Belgium is a country that has French, Dutch and German ethnic groups and languages. Divided along linguistic lines, all centralized authority is resisted, leading to parts of Belgium becoming a haven for terrorist activity. Terrorists from Molenbeek, a part of Brussels, carried out the Paris attacks in November 2015. The German and French media coverage now ridicules the way Belgium is run.

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The Guardian looks at high street, the small downtowns in urban areas across the north of England and the Midlands, coastal towns in decline, where Reform UK is offering an alternative to the decline.  Are Britain's best days in the past, and after the failure of Austerity, Brexit and the disappointment with Starmer, what lies ahead. If Farage wins and falters will this put Britain in a spiral of permanent decline? Boarded up shops, closed department stores and banks, with the rise of online shopping and online services, is creating a new situation on streets in mid and small towns in England. People see the decline all around them and this is creating anew mood in favor of trying something else after Labour and Tories have promised and things are taking a turn for the worse in the physical appearance of neighborhoods. Across the UK 34,000 shops closed in 2024, that is 37 a day, and this is true more for the north of England, the Midlands and deprived coastal towns, where Reform has come close to Labour in the last election. In one focus group in You.gov and other research a participant used strong words- that it was "soul destroying" to see the extent of the decline. Across Europe, in Germany as in UK, in France, the same sense of high street decline is evident. Underinvestment in transport, policing, healthcare, and social services. University of Warwick professor Fetzer  has studied this and the effects of austerity first under Cameron and Brexit under Johnson, the covid period, return of Labour but no lifting up program of large investments that would create a feeling of change, to replace the sense that somehow Britain was "going to the dogs," with half a million shoplifting offences in 2025, up 13% in 2025 over 2024, and the homelessness. ...

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Jens Weidmann, president of the Bundesbank, says central bank "independence is lost when monetary policy is tied to the wagon of fiscal policy and then loses control over prices." Weidmann and Merkel emphasize their continued opposition to euro-bonds. Merkel tells the German parliament on Dec. 14, 2011, euro-bonds "aren't suitable as a rescue measure." Italian prime minister Mario Monti, tells the Italian Senate: "the Italian government insisted heavily on euro bonds, which are not a back-door way to allow fiscal laxity but will boost growth." Monti says the euro bond proposals will be on the agenda for the EU summit in March. Italy auctioned its 5 year bonds at 6.47%, as German two year bonds had a yield of 0.29%, showing the widening divergence between the bonds of the two countries.

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German and Japanese auto exports to the U.S. are likely to surge in 2015 with a weaker euro and weaker yen.

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Germany's MAN truck and bus makes Poland the centre of electric bus production showing that even at a time when there are differences in the European Union, the work for lower emissions goes on. Polish firm Rafako, Skania, Spain's CAF and Volvo are other producers in Poland for electric buses. Poland now makes a third of all electric buses in Europe.

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A number of issues came up at the Women20 Summit in Berlin. Annette Niederfranke, Director of the International Labor Organization, brought up the issue of family reconciliation as "one of the toughest challenges for working women worldwide," that in order to meet obligations women tended to work in "non standard forms of employment and in part time work linked to lower wages, lower social security, lower benefits, and fewer training possibilities." Childcare was also an issue that was prominent considering the lack of adequate childcare in many countries including in the European Union. With responsibilities for the elderly, babies, and small children women tend to be in the workforce for shorter periods leading to men taking up many of the higher positions. Angela Merkel pointed out that Gemany tended to take a narrow view of professions available to girls, saying- "So it is very very important that we take a broader view of things while girls are still at school." Merkel also supports a Africa compact that would help women set up small and middle size businesses in poor countries. The "Digital" aspects of this and other efforts for women were a major topic being discussed. One idea that came up was that more cooperation from men was needed to make things happen. This is the third Women20 Summit after ones in Turkey and China, and a sense of momentum was felt by women. ...

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For the first time the public in Britain believes the Labour party under Keir Starmer can do better than the Conservatives under Johnson to improve healthcare, give respect and dignity to workers and families lost in the last two decades, improve incomes, and tackle the pandemic. Labour now is up by 4 points and Conservatives down by 3 points in a YouGov poll done for The Times. Following the lead of Scholz in Germany with the SPD in alliance with the Greens, and Biden in the US, Britain is faced with a real choice for the future.

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BYD's expansion in the EV market is a threat to established automakers in the US, Japan and Germany, says this report in WSJ. BYD making its own batteries means it can keep costs low. It made 1.8 new energy vehicles in 2023 through August and 83% increase over 2022. It is now the largest car brand in China overtaking VW and its product mix enables it to overcome a cut in EV prices. 1 in 3 cars in China are EV's giving China and BYD the experience and scale for world wide competition.

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Ajami cites his own memories of Egypt's Gamal Abdul Nasser, who had a way with crowds and rhetoric in the Arab world, as giving him an insight into the way Barack Obama found his way into the American imagination as a popular leader in 2008. He points out that the coalition of black people who put their faith in him as one of their own, of white educated professionals who liked his cool image, of Hispanics who had hope for better immigration policies, and working class Americans who set aside reservations of elitism to give their support, was put together on the basis of hope and charisma and the uncanny ability of Obama to let himself be seen as all things to all people. Because of the way it was put together it was bound to come apart, particularly for a candidate without enough experience, says Ajami. The aloofness of the president, reliance on Congressional leaders Reid and Pelosi, and relying on a very small circle of advisors whose eyes were focussed on reelection, made this more so. He cites as one example, the controversial decision on Syria's chemical weapons made on a walk with chief of staff Dennis McDonough. Ajami gives a picture of how Obama may be seen from the outside, especially in the Arab and Muslim world- from Turkey and Egypt to Saudi Arabia- a sense of illusions. A European and particularly a German perspective also may have similiar sense of illusions about having gone for the ride and believing the image put out by image handlers. The lack of sensitivity to German sentiments about the tapping of chancellor Merkel's mobile phone- herself a former East German resident of the Soviet backed GDR- bringing this out. A similiar sense seems to have taken hold in Brazil, after Brazilian president Rousseff cancelled a trip because of lack of sensitivity to the tapping of her phone, as she is a survivor of brutal dictatorships in Brazil. This is ironically a full circle, as happens in these situations of euphoria encouraged by politicians inevitably followed by disillusionment, because Turkey, Germany and Brazil were some of the countries where enthusiasm for the new president was highest. More so because president Lula of Brazil, Merkel of Germany,and Erdogan of Turkey were leaders Obama seemed to relate to the most. This acts as a cautionary note for the future....

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Putin's Russia year end QA sessions- "Direct Line" Marathon of 3 million questions. Two from the BBC. Answering the BBC Putin said "if you don't cheat us like you cheated us with Nato's eastward expansion", there would be no more war activity from Russia. Putin believes NATO and European leaders had promised no expansion to Gorbachev before the Soviet Union collapsed. Archives from 1950 show that NATO was formed as Soviets expanded after World War II. At the time Truman took up defense of Turkey and Greece from Soviet expansion. As Eastern Europe became part of the Soviet sphere the situation went on from 1950 to 1990 of 40 years with regional wars in Korea, Vietnam. The Russian leaders including Putin who set Russia on the path to economic recovery had a deep sense of loss of respect as Russia was treated as another European country by Netherlands, Britain and France, Germany former colonial powers that had difficult relations with Russia. It is this deep sense of loss of respect that these leaders felt after the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia suffered economic and political decline from 1990 to 2000 which was reversed by decades of economic growth. This was a period of economic growth in China. As China asserted itself in Hong Kong, Russia pushed back in Crimea and Ukraine regions that had long ties with Russia of language and culture. Had western leaders disbanded NATO and formed a new alliance with new goals with a vision for peaceful coexistence with Russia in the east the situation could have turned to be different. In 2025 the European powers Germany, France and Britain are not willing to see Russia gain points from the outright invasion of Ukraine presenting new obstacles to a peaceful settlement. Ukrainian sentiment is also a factor as giving parts of Donetsk would be unpopular.  ...

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Germany's DW.com says in this report- "However, economists have pointed out that the US benefits from having large trade imbalances with the rest of the world, as the dollar is used in most trade, and offers major tailwind effects to the US economy." Which economists one must ask? Most of these economists had turned their back on the working people in factories in America, on their wages turned into a downward spiral, on their jobs, their factories lost for three decades. Today the American people have a sense of the true cost of this colossal failure to protect American workers and small towns across America depending on manufacturing. The pandemic exposed the risks of supply chain shocks and inflation by overly concentrating manufacturing in China.  The US has 1 trillion in trade deficits each year and it is completing the destruction of manufacturing in the US. Half of this is with China as China exports through Vietnam and Mexico, third countries, in addition to 295 billion dollars of trade imbalance the US has with China. China, Mexico, Canada and Vietnam are the largest offenders. No country can long endure with such a loss of its manufacturing base. The US Navy itself is in danger without the manufacturing to compete with China that has taken up over 50% of shipbuilding, and soon will not be able to protect the free world if these types of economists and self serving German or other foreign interests drive a false narrative. Without the US Navy in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans no one is safe, not Germany, not the EU, not India or the rest of the world. ...

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Lindner met with senior FDP leaders in Potsdam to plan breaking away from the Scholz government 2 months before it happened on November 5. Lindner was fired that day by Scholz after making unacceptable demands including scrapping climate action targets, and reducing investments in infrastructure. The supplementary budget passed by Scholz was to reidirect 60 billion euros of unspend Covid money to needed infrastructure and climate action projects. The German Constitutional Court declared it unconstitutional. 

The FDP is polling 4% which means it is headed to the situation a decade back where it had no seats in parliament. Which explains Lindner's actions seen as a betrayal by the Scholz government. The greens had advocated investment 4 years back which never happened because of Lindner and FDP opposition hurting the German economy's resilience.

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The terms of the Greece bond deal with private bondholders of March 2012, in which Greece's bondholders (mostly French and German banks) took about 53.5% loss from the face value of exisiting bonds. The deal was accomplished through a swap of new bonds with extended maturities of 10-30 years for bonds with shorter maturities and by reducing the face value of the new bonds.

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French president Hollande's approval ratings dropped to a new low of 12% in a survey by TNS Sofres. In 2013 Hollande's approval ratings dropped to 26% before increasing to 30% after the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks in Jan. 2015. The recent terrorist attacks, France's high unemployment rate, his appearance of being indecisive, and the new labor law, have increased Hollande's unpopularity. As a result his colleague in the Socialist Party, prime minister Manuel Valls, now plays an important role in the administration. Middle class workers 35-49 years are the group where Hollande does poorly. Former president Sarkozy's rating never dropped below 30%. Compared to Hollande, Merkel of Germany has an approval rating that is far better at 54% and Obama in the U.S. of 56%. Merkel has achieved this following the differences in Germany over letting in large numbers of immigrants, and Obama after 8 years in office and differences in the Democratic Party on trade and economic policy. Trudeau in Canada has an approval rating of 63%. ...

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This report in the NYT shows a grim reality that about 70% of 15400 nursing homes offering a place for the elderly in America are for profit and some owned by private investors who seek to turn a profit on the operations. With competition from home care support and assisted living facilities the investors were having a hard time turning a profit on the operations resulting in deterioration in quality of operations and care. 

 Japan, Scandinavian countries, and Germany, other countries have a better system for quality of life as people get older.

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A Chinese diplomatic envoy goes to France, Germany and Russia to discuss ways to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. The US also looks for ways to bring a settlement to the war. Avril Haines, US Intelligence head, tells Congress she does not see Russia making concessions as it sees an advantage in a war of attrition in Ukraine. Ukraine gets continued support to use a counteroffensive to make some gains in the Kherson and other regions that could give it and Russia a chance to come to the negotiating table.