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See the piece by Paul Pillar because it says something at the heart of the problem- one of the biggest paradoxes in the rationale for the counterinsurgency. And it is this: the Pakistan government you are trying to help is assisting the forces that threaten it. At the heart of this paradox is the fact that the Pakistan government, military and intelligence services are not all acting together and there are clandestine and some open elements in each of these institutions that support the Taliban. And the official elelments also are hedging their bets and are willing to make adeal with the Taliban if necessary.

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Could it be that Russia apart from its support for South Ossetia and Putin's dislike of Sashkavili also had other goals in mind. If alternative supplies were available of natural gas to be shipped from the Caspian area countries to western Europe would this give Europe some independent sources of natural gas, when at this time Gazprom is the major source of natural gas to Western Europe. By acting decisively against Georgia Russia pretty much kills off the idea of additional pipelines that compete with Russian supply and Russia could build its own pipelines and ship the region's natural gas by buying it from these countries. There may be much more to the Russian action than mere cold war type moves because Russia is keen on building itself up economically seeing the growth in the Asian countries.

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American cartoonist Charles Schulz and his creations Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Schulz says he drew children because that is what editors liked.

In a 1977 BBC interview Schulz says-

"I'm talking only about the minor everyday problems in life. Leo Tolstoy dealt with the major problems of the world. I'm only dealing with why we all have the feeling that people don't like us."  

Charles Schulz drew every cartoon himself from 1950 to 2000.

He says he described the human condition. He once said- "I am dealing with love and hate, mistrust and fear and insecurity."

The cartoon strip was put in 2600 newspapers worldwide.

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Spencer Jakab provides this balanced perspective on Buffett's performance as an investor. Breaking the past 25 years into five periods gives a sense of how Buffett has fared in recent years compared to his performance in the early years. In the latest period since 2010 Berkshire stock has outperformed the market by a mere 0.9% annually. In the period 1995-1999 Berkshire performance trailed the S&P 500 significantly, making up for this in the next 5 years. As Berkshire became larger it was harder to generate results of the period around 1975. In that year returns were 129.3%. In 2015 Berkshire had to take big stakes in large companies such as Kraft. Gains for 2009 were 2.7%, 2010 21.4%, and 2011 minus 4.7%. Showing that Buffett's principles and approach remained intact- invest in what you know and be careful to respect what you don't know, invest in companies and their prospects for the long run (an option not easily available to mutual fund managers who are judged yearly), invest in companies generating large cash flows. Yet as Jakab points out performance has gradually declined over the years....

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The top 1% of billers get 17.5% of the payments from the U.S. Medicare program for 2012, according to the Medicare agency's reports. The Medicare agency released data with details of payments to 950,000 doctors, medical providers, certain health care companies, the second year this information is being released. This covers $90 billion of payments. Astonishing as it may sound the transparency comes late, after large increases in medical costs and the increasing U.S. deficit. It happened only after the long and persistent effort by the Wall Street Journal to overturn a 1979 ruling that required such records to be kept secret. By intervening in that suit in 2011, the WSJ's parent company Dow Jones was able to convince a judge about the need for transparency, leading to reversal of the injunction in May 2013. The WSJ and the media has used this information to monitor the waste and fraud in the Medicare system, a vital role only the media can perform to protect the public interest.

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Under the McConnell-Biden fiscal cliff deal of Jan. 1, 2013, $620 billion is raised for deficit reduction over 10 years. This is made up of $395 billion from raising the top marginal income tax rate to 39.6% from 35% for the top 1% of filers who make $450,000 for couples or 400,000 for singles. Raising the top rate on capital gains and dividends to 20% from 15% raises $55 billion. Limiting the personal exemption and itemized deductions on incomes over $250,000 is a key component as it raises $150 billion. This reduction of tax expenditures was recommended by Simpson-Bowles deficit commission and Republican advisor Martin Feldstein, with more money raised under their proposals than the current proposal which follows the Pease format. Under the Pease limits named after a Congressman who proposed this in the 1990's, 3% of the amount above the threshhold income is deducted from the total deductions. Feldstein's proposal limited deductions to 2% of adjusted gross income. Romney offered a plan to limit deductions to $25,000. Finally, increasing the estate tax to 40% from 35% raises $20 billion....

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Sale of 10% of Pakistan's largest oil company OGDCL for $813 million to international investors is a sign of confidence in the Pakistan economy and confidence in the whole South Asian region for sustained economic growth in the next 20 years. India's growth rate in the next 5 years is expected to reach 10% - see related piece on this estimate by Finance Minister Chidamabaram.

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Toxic chemicals in black spatulas used in cooking. Flame retardents are found in household plastic items that are toxic. These chemicals were added by companies unaware of the risks to reduce chance of fires. A professor of environmental health at a major university says it can come to bite us a second time when banned chemicals are found in household items.

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Keir Starmer of Labour in the first parliament QA after Mr. Sunak assumes office as Conservative's PM following Liz Truss. Keir Starmer asks about Conservatives out of touch with working people and families across the UK and false promises of leveling up the North of England.

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The Biodiversity Summit COP15 in Montreal in December is covered in this report in the Guardian. It was meant to be held in Kunming, China but was shifted to Montreal, Canada, because of China's zero Covid policy. China, US, EU, India and other Asian, African, Latin American nations are strong supporters of restoring biodiversity on the planet.

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The Indian government has received bids of Rs. 1.49 lakh crores for 5G spectrum auction from companies led by Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Adani. The 700 megahertz band important for coverage for distant and remote locations also received strong bids which is seen as a positive development. Previous auction in 2015 raised 1.09 lakh crore rupees making the 1.49 lakh crore rupees auction in 2022 a significant advance.

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President Obama's new rtegulatory reforms in final form as they go to Congress for passage. Exrtensive preparatory meetings with financial firms and industry participants, legislators, and consumer agencies and otehrs between Summers, Geithner and their aides and these firm's executives and leaders before the reforms were worked out.

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How to do the disposal of 99.1 million old television sets, that the EPA says sit in closets unused throughout the USA, in an ecologically friendly way is a challenge. State laws in 18 states and in New York CIty make manufacturers responsible for recycling electronics. Similiar stautes were introduced in 13 other states in 2009. When states like Maine and Washington have made it easy for people to take their old electronics PC or television sets to dropoff points the response has been very good. In Washington the drop off is free of charge, and there are 200 collection points in the state, with 15 million pounds of electronic waste collected since January.

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P&G CEO Lafley, says the company will shed about 90-100 smaller brands that generate about 10% of sales so that it can focus on the bigger brands such as Tide, Pampers, and others. Era, Cheer laundry detergent, Metamucil are some of the smaller brands. Lafley says its not size alone but whether its the preferred brand of shoppers. One such sale was pet food brands for $1 billion. About $8 billion can be generated in this way. At the same time P&G is moving into related brands such as the adult pamper business.

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The FBI and the IRS were working on the same investigation of FIFA from different directions and began working together since Dec. 2011, as they found that the same people were involved. Richard Weber of the IRS, says another round of indictments can be expected. The IRS case starts with investigation into tax fraud and one discovery leads to another in the case. By 2013 Chuck Blazer had pleaded guilty to tax and corruption charges and agreed to cooperate with the IRS and the FBI, leading to the breakthroughs that followed. Enhanced cooperation between the Justice Department and international banks since the indictments against banks for illicit operations has made banks willing to cooperate with investigations fully. Once the case was built up getting FIFA officials at one place for the meeting in Zurich made it easier to make the arrests.