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Leon Panetta, former Defense Secretary in Obama's first term, and president Clinton's chief of staff, says president Obama made a series of poor decisions for Iraq and Syria. Not following up on the "red line" of use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime has damaged U.S. credibility, says Panetta. The failure to lead in budget fights, on health care, is seen in foreign policy for Iraq. There Panetta points out Obama failed to lead to ensure that Maliki had to agree to a residual troop presence in Iraq, for without this the hard won gains under the previous Republican administration could easily be allowed to slip away. Sectarian tensions, and rise of ISIS could have been controlled by having U.S. troop presence, according to Panetta. White House centralized power under Tom Donilon, chief of staff, and John Brennan, counter terrorism advisor, to th detriment of input from the Defense Secretary and the Secretary of State, says Panetta. Panetta says Obama lacks fire and too often does not take the lead as a president should. A similiar complaint is made by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, who covered Nixon and Watergate, after observing Obama's dealings with the Republicans and Congress up close in the first term....

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American journalist, John Foley, beheaded by ISIS Islamic State insurgents in Iraq following American bombings near Mosul dam and Erbil to push back the militants attack on Kurdish Northern Iraq. John Foley survived a 44 day ordeal after being captured in Libya in 2011. He went back to cover the Syrian conflict and was captured by ISIS in 2012. He is shown with a helmet covering the war in Aleppo, Syria, in November 2012. His father John Foley in Rochester, New Hampshire, says Foley was as much a humanitarian as a journalist. He graduated from the Medill School at Northwestern and saw the covering of the Middle East as bringing a voice to the powerless and the helpless in the region.

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The breakdown of railways in Iraq. A major contribution of the European powers was the rail systems built throughout the Middle East and Asia. Iraqi Railways which once connected farflung provinces in the Middle East in Syria, Iraq and Turkey, is now in a dilapidated state after years of wars and conflict. Tim Arango visits the Baghdad Central Railway Station as a new Chinese built train leaves Baghdad for Basra. Most of the rest of the country is now not reachable by train. Mosul and the north is in a war zone with the ISIS and Kurdish army engaged in battles. A project manager at the station shows plans for a $60 billion new rail system that connects all of Iraq's cities.

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The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq by one estimate have already cost 1 trillion dollars. By comparison World War II cost 4 trillion dollars in inflation adjusted dollars. The figures are from the Congressional Research Service, and show the pressures to control spending. The reason that civil society is not very disturbed even as these wars cost so much, is that so far these costs in 2008 for example were 1.2% of GDP, creating the danger that these wars can be carried out by a political leadership without the nation feeling the strains of the war. This may change with higher unemployment, and the feeling that not much is gained, that this money can be used in better ways to rebuild the US economy and infrastructure.

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Theresa May, the new British prime minister, announces her choice for cabinet positions- Liam Fox is new minister for International Trade, David Hammond is the new Chancellor of the Exchequer replacing Osborne. Hammond was Foreign Secretary under Cameron and helped negotiate the Iran nuclear accords. David Davis, a former minister for Europe, is in charge of a new ministry created to arrange Britain's exit from the EU. Boris Johnson replaces Hammond as Foreign Secretary. Johnson was Mayor of London and was a key figure in the Leave campaign. Michael Gove is out. David Davis and Johnson were in the Leave campaign and are now given responsibility for working on Brexit, a move that puts to rest any doubts about steps to be taken for Brexit, and is an effort to reunite the Conservative Party. With Osborne out, a principal architect of the austerity budgets of the 6 years of Cameron's government is now replaced by Hammond, who will now reflect the desire of Theresa May to come up with policies that "benefit everyone" and fight "burning injustice" to use May's first words as she assumed office at 10 Downing Street.  ...

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After 2 years of the pandemic's devastating effects on health, governments around the world decided to protect ordinary people from the effects of higher prices for staples and food with the increase in inflation. This WSJ report takes a detailed look at different countries and how they after coping with the effects on total debt and debt servicing needs of moves such as subsidies and tax cuts. The situation is exacerbated by the Ukraine war which affects wheat exports from Ukraine and Russia, and the high oil prices as a result of the war. The effects shown by country are- China- consumers are protected from high oil prices by regulated retail gasoline prices. As oil prices keep going up state owned refineries will bear a disproportionate share of the burden of high prices. India- The government has set aside $40 billion in aid as subsidies for oil and fertilizer. This will support farmers and consumers for fiscal year to March 2023. It will make it harder to cut the budget deficit from 6.9% of GDP to 6.4%. Pakistan - A subsidy of $1.5 billion was given for diesel, gasoline and electricity by the Imran Khan government. This did not have IMF approval and talks are taking place on the IMF program between the government and IMF for it to continue. Rampant inflation has led to reduced popularity of the Imran Khan government. Argentina- A new program to refinance $44 billion in debt with IMF assistance is being affected by the subsidies for oil and electricity. About 800,000 tons of grain are being diverted to the domestic market from exports. Agricultural producers such as Argentina have better protection from higher food prices. In Argentina 40% of the people are living below poverty and the country has 50% inflation.  Malaysia and Indonesia- Both countries are exporters of commodities and higher prices could provide additional revenues to meet higher import prices, says the WSJ. Egypt- higher prices for wheat imported from Ukraine and Russia where Egypt gets 70% of its wheat needs have increased cost of subsidies by $1 billion. Kenya- Fuel subsidy costs will increase by $500 million over 2 years. Europe- In France 400 million euros relief package and in Spain 500 million euros relief package for energy price increases. In Germany cash payments to taxpayers, heavily discounted transportation tickets, and price caps on gasoline and diesel.   ...

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Opec cuts by 2.2 million barrels a day on December 17, 2008, and forward curve for Nymex crude oil prices which goes up $10 to $50.64 for the May 2009 contract and $70 from late 2012, offers liitle support in terms of higher oil prices. Some of it is explained by costs of storing oil on tankers and some of it by higher credit costs, and prices beyond 6 months do not have as much significance as the situation is uncertain. With Russia needing oil revenues and Iran and Venezuela also in the same situation, it looks increasingly unlikely that the strict reduction in production will hold. And things like higher inventories with a steeper downturn in 2009, can keep prices down for a long time.

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President Biden faces three potential crises this month -one in Ukraine with a buildup of Russian forces for potential invasion, Chinese actions with Taiwan, and potential collapse of Iran nuclear talks. Biden also convenes this week world leaders of democracies in virtual talks on how to respond to actions of Russia, China, Iran and other countries. Biden's goal is to ensure the US and its allies remain strong without provoking crises.

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China plans to merge te Baosteel Group Corp. with Wuhan Iron and Steel Group Co. or Wisco. The new company will be close to the size of ArcelorMittal SA. The head of Wisco, Ma Guoqiang, says megamergers are not the best way to achieve true restructuring. He says cutting capacity is needed. In the past this was planned but not implemented as steel prices rose. New plans call for cutting capacity by 45 million metric tons in 2016 and 150 million metric tons in next 5 years. Problems are that U.S., Japan and South Korea's steel mills are increasing return on assets and productivity. Nucor in the U.S. for instance has 4.7% return on assets, by comparison at a Wisco subsidiary this was -3.5% in 2015. One of the problems is that local governments continue to keep even highly polluting steel mills in operation to preserve jobs after shutting them down for a while.

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Farming vegetables causes less greenhouse than livestock production. Climate experts say people should eat more vegetables for better health and for slowing greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

Consider that studies show farming and other land use account for about a fourth of all greenhouse gas emissions, and about half of methane gas emissions are released into the atmosphere from cattle and rice fields. Meat in particular has more greenhouse gas emissions. 

Climate experts say the nutritional value of wheat grown in higher CO2 areas is 6% to 13% less for protein, and 5% to 8% less for iron. Another problem aggravating the situation is that drought has grown 1% a year between 1961 and 2013, IPCC researchers have found. This is a result of the growing climate change issues. Drought and nutrition is a major problem in India and Africa.