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Russian oil policy at work in towns like Kalyazin, 100 miles north of Moscow, and across Russia. Gasification program is being extended, plan is to increase coverage from 53% to 60% of the people in Russia in the 2005-2007 program. Increase prices to discourage wasteful use and promote energy saving technologies in cooperation with German companies so that more gas is available for export at higher world market prices, especially to the European market. Use profits to promote exploration and increase exports. Germany gets 45% of its gas from Russia and has built close relationships with Gazprom. See the article in BW, July 31, 2006, Jack Ewing, "The Lines that Bind" and references to German-Russian ties: 1) Gerhard Schroeder, former Chancellor, as managing director of the pipeline joint venture, the $5.7 billion North European Gas pipeline formed by partners Ruhrgas, BASF and Gazprom. Ruhrgas owns 6.4% of Gazprom, and its CEO Burckhard Bergmann sits on Gazprom's Board. 2) The survey by Berlin pollster Forsa shows that 75% of Germans support the pipeline project, 45% consider Gazprom a reliable energy supplier vs. the 26% who consider Saudi Arabia as dependable. 3) At an industrial fair in Hanover German business leaders supportive of Gazprom as follows. Klaus Mangold for Daimler management board member considers it " a totally normal market economic process" for Russia to have threatended to supply China with the same gas if European countries cultivate other sources of energy supply. Michael Gloss, German Minister of Economics and Technology, says its good thing to have a neighbor close to home as a supplier. Ruhrgas, Essen based, is a subsidiary of Dusseldorf company E.O.N., and Wintershall, Kassel based, is a subsidiary of BASF. Wintershall management Board member Rainer Seele, speaks of not just partnerships but friendships. 4) Interlocking ownership of assets between Gazprom and the German companies. Gazprom 35% ownership of the assets in the WinGas Joint Venture, Wintershall gets 35% of the equity and 25% of voting shares in the gas field that supports the pipeline. Ruhrgas traded assets in Hungary for 25% ownership of the same gas field. 5) The German relationship under Merkel changes little because she has no options, German suppliers have long term contracts with Gazprom. This article shows how the Russian policy is being shaped on the ground in small towwns like Kalyazin. The one on Gazprom about "The Lines that Bind," shows how the policy is to build relationships with German suppliers, interlocking ownership of assets, increasing the supplies to Germany from the current 45% to over 50 %. Using German investment in joint venture with Gazprom for exploration and development and building pipelines and securing long term contracts at higher prices. Note the reference in article "Can Gazprom Keep the Gas On?" by BW's Moscow Bureau Chief, Jason Bush, BW July 31, 2006- ironically the policy that caused a lot of controversy between Russia and Ukraine about Russian energy prices will actually provide Gazprom with more profits to put into exploration. Forecasts referred to by Bush show that it is expected to earn $20 billion on $62 billion in revenues. ...

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Denmark joins the European Union's common defense policy. Prime minister Mette Frederiksen had called a referendum on the issue. 67% of Danes voted to join EU defense policy in the referendum. Mette Frederiksen said- "With the decision we have made, we show that when Putin invades a free and independent country and threatens peace and stability, we will move closer together." Norway is part of the NATO alliance. Sweden and Finland have asked to join NATO. The entire Baltic region is going through a shift to common defense after the Russian invasion with popular support for strengthening security and defense. 

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British prime minister Starmer has introduced new legislation to "smash the gangs" that have people smuggling networks and made 150,000 illegal small boat crossings into the UK since 2018. Small boat crossings have started in 2025 with more people packed into small dinghies and 1098 making the crossing in January 2025.

The bill includes counterterorism powers to Border Force, police, National Crime Agency to target gangs. 

Migrants at sea in the Channel who refuse rescue by the French will face five years in prison as part of a new set of offences inthe bill- The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.

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Amitabh Kant reflects on his 6 years at Niti Ayog planning for development in India. He says energy transition is an important part of development for India. The integration of India as a major part of a new supply chain for the free world is a critical part of India's development. Kant talks about the aspirational districts program that covers transformation of the lives of 80% of India's people living in 112 districts. Moving India up by 79 positions on the World Bank Ease of Doing Business rankings is also one of the tasks he looks back at with a sense of achievement. Parmeswaran Iyer who headed the Swachh Bharat and Jal Jeevan Missions will now be new head of NIti Aayog, the organization that is driving India's development to 2030 and 2040. Niti Ayog stands for National Institute for Transforming India. Its pillars are- 1. Pro-people  2. Pro-Activity  3.Participation 4. Empowering 5. Inclusion of All 6. Equality 7. Transparency It has a maximum of 4 members. Suman Bery is vice chairperson appointed in March 2022. The members are appointed by the prime minister. It is different from the earlier Planning Commissions under Nehru in that it does the work of being a think tank yet the allocation of funds and decisions come under the prime minister and the finance ministry. ...

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Arango takes a look back at the history of Iraq- the 400 years of Ottoman rule and the role of Gertrude Bell in defining Iraq's current borders under British rule. Saddam Hussein, Maliki and Islamic State pitted Sunnis against Shiites and Sunnis against Kurds for the last 40 years, leavig a divided country. The current effort to put Iraq together as a country with different faiths and communities under prime minister Abadi will take many years after so much bloodshed. Northern Ireland shows that it can be done after much pain and loss, when all realize putting the past behind is the only way forward.

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Prime Minister Trudeau suffers a dent in its open, decency image after the scandal involving closing an investigation of a Quebec engineering company SNC-Lavalin. There was increasing pressure on a minister to close an investigation and demotion to a lower position of the minister who did not close the investigation.

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Prince Felipe uses Catalan in a visit to Girona. He praised the Catalan language saying Catalan "is in a permanent, sincere and enriching dialogue and co-existence with Spanish." Under the Spanish constitution following the Franco period divisions, the king is thrust into the role of "arbitrating and moderating" between institutions. The Partido Popular of former premier Anzar and current premier Rajoy, is seen as performing poorly in interaction with regions such as Basque and Catalonia. Spanish public opinion, as reflected in a 2014 poll of the newspaper El Pais, show 75% of Spaniards supporting the king playing a role in creating a dialogue and facilitating agreements between politicians.

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Lego A/S CEO, Jorgen Vig Knudstrop, talks to the WSJ's Jens Hansegard. Lego is based in a small town in central Denmark. Lego's sales revenue has tripled since 2007, and net profit increased by 35% to about $1 billion for 2012. The building block segment in the toy business is growing rapidly with growth of about 20% in the last year. The overall global toy business is stagnant, with declining prices, difficult economic conditions and competition from the consumer electronics products. Lego is not affected by this because it is able to price products for sets of bricks and figures at a premium, and stays ahead by coming up with innovative products. Lego has 85% share of the U.S. building-block market. Lego is a family owned company started in 1947 which faced difficulty in 2004 with a fall in sales. Under Knudstrop's direction it has recovered and shown strong sales growth, especially in the U.S. with 26% growth in 2012. His approach was to focus on nostalgia themes, Hollywood themes, and come up with innovative products for girls. This includes the Lego City, Lego Star Wars, Lego Friends themes. Lego invests heavily on R&D and plants. About 60% of revenue in 2012 was from launches of new products. The new Lego Friends theme for girls tripled sales to girls, creating a remarkable sales opportunity. Knudstrop's philosophy is to remain humble and aggressvely pursue new opportunities....

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British prime minister Boris Johnson is looking at options to increase investment by Britain in domestic telecom companies so that they can  compete in the 5G technology market. The idea is to create a new international alliance of partners including South Korea, the U.S., India. This is part of a wider effort to regain leadership in this area for an alliance of western companies partnering with some Asian countries. It is also intended to reduce reliance on Huawei.

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Chinese president Xi Jinping has set strict carbon emissions targets for 2021, in his commitment to achieve peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. Power cuts for industry are put in place to meet the targets. A 56% rise in coal prices is also making it less profitable for power plants to generate electricity. This will further reduce Chinese GDP growth. Banks have cut year over year GDP growth for quarters three and four to 4.7% and 3%.

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The International Energy Agency sees a shortfall of 12.5 million barrels a day when it compares the needed 37.5 million barrels a day by 2015 with the planned supply increases showing 25 million barrels a day. A lot depends on the assumptions and what the 37.5 million barrels a day is based on. Does it account for a slowdown in the world economy and a drive for fuel efficiency and conservation habits by 2015? How much of this is reflected in the numbers? And on the planned increases of 25 million barrels a day- does it account for increases that may be planned in 2009 and 2010 in response to prices above $150 a barrrel which is expected? The IEA has a team of 25 analysts working on the forecasts but it gets no cooperation from Saudi Arabia about its individual fields production, and Venezuela, Iran and China also keep their information a secret. This makes supply forecasting a difficult business. IEA uses IHS Inc a data provider, USA Geologic Survey, oil and service companies information and national petroleum councilds information....

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India's largest oil refiner, state owned Indian Oil, had a loss of $4 billion in the June 2012 quarter. Analysts say prices have to go up by 26% for sales to be profitable. The government mandates fuel prices at below market rates. Below market prices for diesel are estimated to cause 60% of the loss at refiners.

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The more pro-European faction within prime minister Theresa May's Conservative Party is reluctant to push for a vote at this time to avoid what it sees as "political suicide"- a massively disruptive departure of Britain from the European Union without an agreement. This gives May another 2 weeks to come up with a solution. 

Most observers believe Theresa May is simply using a strategy of running down the clock to the March 29 deadline. By not extending the deadline she is seen as planning to hand out to the British Parliament two starkly different options- a massively disruptive no-deal Brexit causing Britain's departure from the European without any agreement and the option of accepting the agreement the prime minister has negotiated with the EU which protects Ireland and Northern Ireland peace and open border trade flows called the Irish backstop.

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Matt Vela responded to Shailen's comments on this article on the BW site. Comments were on NYTimes columnist Tom Friedman's remarks, about the dangers of overdependence on Mideast oil vs. GM and Ford's efforts to simply move cars off the lot. A quick reading of reader comments about 5-6 (all comments) shows a huge perception and marketing gap for Ford and GM if this is even anywhere near a representative sample, because they were heavily negative. Friedman said in the NYT, that "GM is more dangerous to America's future" than any other company, that "its like a crack dealer" addicting Americans to SUVs in the face of higher gas prices- by offering buyers of its least fuel efficient SUV's gas capped at $1.99 per gallon. He also said GM is in cabal with Ford and DaimlerChrysler to buy votes in Congress. BY May 2006 compared to 2003, in just 3 years, once popular midsize SUV's like the Ford Explorer, Chevy Trailblazer, and Dodge Durango saw a sales plunge of 50%. And this after the gas promotions such as the Ford one for free gas upto $1000 with aprepaid Master Charge debit card, enough for 6000 miles. Add to this zero percent financing. GM offered rebates of $2500 to $3500 per SUV. In this manner the whole profit structure of SUV's is being lowered, and no new strategy is being developed to deal with changing conditions and changing consumer preferences, and a changing global situation....

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With better control over the coronavirus than U.S. and Europe, South Korea is not rushing to buy the vaccines developed by Pfizer or Moderna. It is waiting to see how the vaccine rollouts work in other countries before buying the vaccine. South Korea is also looking at getting better price from manufacturers after the rollouts in the U.S. and Europe. South Korea is moving cautiously and has said it wants to get 10 million doses through the Covax initiative the main global effort to provide broad access to vaccines. Another 20 million doses would be secured from private companies. This is in contrast to the approach in Japan where the government has signed deals for purchase of 290 million doses for 145 million people for its population of 126 million. The money allocated is $6.5 billion and the goal is to vaccinate everyone by first half of 2021.  If it works this would prepare Japan for the Tokyo Summer Olympics to open in July, after 1 year delay. South Korea has the freedom to do this and wait to see what vaccine works best with least long term effects because their are relatively fewer cases there. A total of 313 new daily cases on November 18, lower than daily cases in a single county in the state of Michigan in the U.S. Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use anew kind of gene based technology that has never been approved to prevent infectious diseases. Other competition is the vaccine from Oxford and Astra Zeneca which uses an existing technology that is used in existing vaccines modified for use in coronavirus. The Oxford vaccine and a vaccine from Johnson and Johnson are expected to have a lower price. Because life is functioning very close to normal South Korea is in the unusual position of saying that its people have no reason to be anxious for vaccine procurement, as indicated by its deputy director of Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Only three fifths of the population is the target for vaccination by fall of 2021. ...

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India's goal in generating 20,000 megawatts of electricity from solar energy by 2020. The falling price of solar panels is giving a large boost to solar energy companies in India in 2011-2013

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The real estate bubble in Canada with the average price of a home in Toronto in May 2012 reaching C$516,787, increasing by 6.5% from 2011, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board.

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A decision by management of the Ginori porcelain tableware company near Florence, Italy, to compete at the low end leads to its bankruptcy. Ginori was considered a prestigious maker of porcelain tableware since 1735, and hired top designers. The decline in formal dining led to a decline in demand. The decision to move to the low end is considered by workers to have been a mistake as low end Chinese imports have dominated the market in Italy. The difficulty of competing at the low end and the need to come up with a product and technological advantage that commands a higher price is a challenge facing Italy's manufacturing industry.

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Queen Elizabeth's words on April 5, 2020 during the depths of the coronavirus pandemic will always be remembered, when she said reminding one of of her words in 1940- "We will meet again." "I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge. And those who come after us will say the Britons of this generation were as strong as any. That the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humored resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterize this country. The pride in who we are is not of our past, it defines our present and our future." "And though self-isolating may at times be hard, many people of all faiths, and of none, are discovering that it presents and opportunity to slow down, pause and reflect, in prayer or meditation. "It reminds me of the very first broadcast I made in 1940, helped by my sister. We, as children, spoke from here at Windsor, to children who had been evacuated from their homes and sent away for their own safety. Today once again, many people will feel a painful sense of separation from their loved ones. But now, as then, we know deep down, that it is the right thing to do. While we have faced challenges before, this one is different. This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavour, using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal. We will succeed- and that success will belong to every one of us. "We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return, we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again."   ...

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This is Zelensky's second visit to Germany, after the first visit in February 2022 just days before the Russian invasion. Meeting German president Steinbrenner is important as the SPD leaders Steinbrenner and Scholz were seen as closer to Russia during the Merkel period. Scholz visited Ukraine in June to see first hand the damage to civilians with Macron and Italian prime minister Draghi. A settlement to the war in Ukraine could depend on Ukraine making gains with its counteroffensive with German, UK and American military assistance. Germany UK and US have expanded their assistance to Ukraine. Before the trip to Germany Zelensky visited Pope Francis. China has also sent its top diplomat to France, Germany and Russia to come up with a solution. 

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Turning Open AI into for profit after starting as a supposedly altruistic tendency venture has opened new fault lines in the company with many people leaving. The AI is now becoming a kind of gold rush with companies putting huge price tags on talent and committing some of the nation's limited capital resources into directions that lead to the massive waste that led to economic crises in the 1930's. It is reported that it will put major stress on the grid and on electricity resources and that Tech companies do not want to pay for this. The government needs to act boldly with its own "bold persistent experimentation" to find solutions where the Nation keeps its edge in many emerging technologies yet does not waste resources, or divert resources from other purposes that are vital to the better lives that all Americans aspire to. These needs are in housing (3 million new homes), in small business uplift, in renewable energy and climate change action, in education to lift NAEP scores, in early childhood education, and in healthcare. ...

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Indian finance minister Sitharaman announces a new stimulus package "Atman Nirbhar Bharat." This includes an effort to incentivize creation of employment opportunities for people making less than Rs. 15,000 a month ($215 a month), called "Atman Nirbhar Rozghar Yojana, for a period of 2 years. Sitharaman cited stock market rebound and foreign reserves reaching $560 billion to show that along with the government efforts and planned infrastructure the economy would make a robust recovery. Because of India's large informal economy help to street vendors and other small retail is critical in the Indian economy. The finance minister cited the "One Nation, One Ration Card" which allows street vendors and other retail merchants to access foodgrains from FPS of choice in 28 states and union territories in India. This is part of the effort to build demand and upward mobility in the economy. The names given for these efforts or yojanas are unique- PM SVANidhi stands for PM's Street Vendors Atmannirbhar Nidhi. Atmannirbhar is the overall plan for self reliance in the economy and the prime minister Modi has pushed for buying Made in India, to promote jobs and technology + capital accumulation in Indian manufacturing. India took a blow from the coronavirus with close to 9 million infected by the virus and lockdown in March. By September 20 the daily cases reached 100,000, and by November 10 the daily cases have dropped to 44,000. Social distancing and mask wearing are widely accepted in India. India has other advantages in the large pharmaceutical industry and access to drugs at government regulated and low prices as part of the planned effort after independence in 1947. Other aspects of Indian life are cultural preference for vegetables and fruits in the diet, and spices, herbs in cooking, yoga practice, which are anti-inflammatory and promote healthy living.  With the largest population in the world the region in the Indian ocean comprising the countries of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Burma and Indonesia, former parts of the British and Dutch empires, is a region where the coronavirus posed a great threat to human life. An early carefully orchestrated lockdown by prime minister Modi  helped with the message in March that India faced a singular choice - between going back 21 years in development or controlling the coronavirus in 21 crucial days. The setting up of the direct transfer of money to bank accounts  of farmers, urban street vendors and lower income people in rural areas by giving everyone a bank account under a government plan early in the first term of the current administration enabled it to send aid directly when coronavirus hit the country. Other schemes included cooking gas for women in rural areas who depended on firewood for cooking. These schemes and sanitation infrastructure setup under the Clean India campaign, helped India build an element of resilience when coronavirus hit.  The government plan to remove interstate barriers to commerce and integrate tax system collection at the federal level, bringing parts of the informal economy into the formal economy, have increased revenues that now finance an infrastructure plan that hopes to match the one in China over the next decade.   ...

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Like the rest of the restaurant industry British pubs are affected by staffing shortages, inflation, higher energy bills, and supply chain problems. The UK lost around 3250 pubs and bars between March 2020 and September of this year. During lockdowns most were closed, as they reopen they face higher costs and are struggling to survive. New hires that earned 27,000 pounds now are offered 32,000 pounds, with few applications as people look for better work and working conditions than offered in the restaurant industry.

Fewer people are going to pubs for lunch as they work from home more. Older people are staying at home from virus related hesitancy. Pubs are passing on price increases of food of 20%. Once seen as part of Britain's cultural fabric this also is changing as people look for other sensible options.