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This article in The Telegraph shows the debate in the House of Commons on Syria and comments by various MP's. It also reveals the impasse on Syria with Boris Johnson of the Conservative Party using it to score points against Jeremy Corbyn of Labor Party by calling for demonstrations by peace groups at Russian embassies, and Corbyn's response to this saying all parties embassies including the U.S. should be included. By October 2016 with about 100,000 children and 275,000 civilians trapped inside the Aleppo region in northern Syria, and Russian bombings of Aleppo, the situation is dire. With U.S. president Obama's inaction on Syria, the refugee crisis in Europe from Syrian refugees exceeding 2 million in the Middle East, the situation in Syria is at the point where lacking an effective option to setup a no fly zone at this late stage the political parties in Britain and in the U.S. trade charges against each other. German chancellor Merkel and foreign minister Steinmier visit Ethiopia and Nigeria to stem the flow of refugees from economic crisis at the source with aid and support, as Germany works on its own efforts. France's Hollande tells Putin a visit to France would have only Syria as topic for discussions and calls for Syria to be brought up as war crimes. Even the Telegraph's title is misleading as the article covers the debate in the House on Commons on Syria, but the title appeals to Telegraph readers critical of Corbyn when the debate is about Syria and what action to take about the bombings.   ...

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Increasingly complex political coalitions are away centrist parties of the establishment have maintained power in Europe. Traditional political parties on the right allied with business and working class parties allied with organized labour are replaced by a fragmented landscape with parties emerging at the far right and far left. This is also a result of the deep recession following the global financial crisis of 2009, changes in international trade and globalization that have increased inequality, and the migration crisis in Europe.  In Germany and Netherlands centrist parties have formed coalitions to remain in power. In France and Italy mainstream socialist parties suffered defeat, in France to a newly formed party by Mr. Macron, and in Italy to a party started by a comedian Beppe Grillo called the Five Star Movement which allied with the Northern League party at the far right. In Spain's general election in 2019 the Socialists showed a new trend of going back to their roots as working class parties. By addressing minimum wage and other issues relating to equality the Socialist party in Spain increased its share of the vote by 6% to 29% in 2019 elections. Previously in the last 2 decades the Socialist parties had moved away from their focus on equality towards economic efficiency. The tradeoff between equality and economic efficiency moved away from equality in Europe and the U.S. during the last 3 decades,leaving Socialist parties exposed to losing some of their working class base to new parties formed to address today's issues of fairness and social justice.   ...

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France lags behind Germany and other countries in competitiveness. France's share of European exports decreased from 15.6% in 2000 to 12.5% in the first 5 months of 2011, according to Coe-Rexecode, an economics consultancy firm. Germany has used the last decade to lower social spending and state spending, bring wage restraint, and making industry more productive. France has not experienced a similiar process. Competitiveness and growth is needed for France to improve public finances. After the rise in borrowing costs to Italy France's premium over Germany to borrow for 10 years went up to 71 basis points on July 13, it is now at 62 points. France's trade deficit is rising and was 7 billion euros in April and May, according to Societe Generale.

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Negotiations between Japan and China before the APEC summit in Beijing, Nov. 2014, lead to an agreement that does not explicitly state Japan's sovereignty over the Senkaku islands, but acknowledges the current position in which the islands have remained in Japanese control since 1880. It lets both sides agree to disagree so that trade and diplomatic ties can be improved. China's economy has taken a hit from a 50% decline in Japanese foreign investment in 2014, just as the economy is slowing for other reasons. Both leaders can show the international community they have moderated their positions. Prime minister Abe also can show his foreign and domestic policies are working as his high poll ratings have declined in recent months.

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The NYT editorial says the summit came up short on both the Stimulus that Europe was asked by the US to commit to, and the global regulation that the Europeans asked the US to agree to. The regulatory reform is not what it needs to be to address the many issues raised by this crisis says the NYT. And Germany it says needs to see that deteriorating conditions will require a strong stimulus. By committing to $1 trillion in funds to backup international trade and to help emerging countries fight the crisis, the summit did achieve its other goal of helping the vast majority of people in the world in the emerging countries deal with this crisis, including countries in the EU.

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Citadel, a large hedge fund headed by Kenneth Griffin is having problems, with its flagship fund down 35% this year. And the rumor mill saying some of its funds are down 60% and Fed Reserve officials are visiting the fund. Citadel is leveraged 3 to 1 and this is down from higher levels . Ironically Griffin has been known for buying other companies assets for pennies on the dollar, including E Trade and hedge funds Sowood Capital. And where did Griffin get started? He started trading in his dorm room at Harvard in the eighties. The hedge fund $1.7 trillion industry is facing a shakeout. It has already lost $180 billion in the August-October 2008 period and some hedge funds face collapse.

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A summary with graphs that show India US cooperation in five critical areas from trade and climate change to defense and manufacturing technologies, H-1B visas, in the Times of India. India has a trade surplus with the US and efforts are made to increase Indian exports and import new manufacturing technologies. In the Biden administration India has a serious partner as is evident in the discussion with prime minister Modi during his visit to US.

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In this look at China's One Belt One Road Inititative, DW.com analyst Siegfried Wolf is critical of the way it was put together. It has no institutional structure, and is mostly based on bilateral not multilateral arrangement, and lacks transparency. He says its will complicate geopolitics in the region. This is already evident with Japanese foreign minister Kono calling for Japan, Australia, India and the U.S. to come up with an alternative to OBOR. Wolf says the EU has concerns about corruption, exclusion of regions inside countries such as Pakistan in economic arrangements, and seeks free trade guarantees. His biggest criticism of the Silk Road Initiative is that being based on Chinese loans it will pose a severe challenge in terms of debt buildup for weaker economies. This was already evident with the effort to convert part of about $6 billion in loans to Sri Lanka, through a $1.12 billion lease to China of the port of Hambantota. Wolf says many of the projects inside OBOR were already planned before it was setup, and now put under OBOR as part of president Jinping's initiative.  ...

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Francesco Guerrera of the WSJ interviews Sergio Ermotti, CEO of Swiss bank UBS, and Andrea Orcel, the head of UBS investment bank. He asks Ermotti why the drastic restructuring at UBS, especially the downscaling of its investment banking operation. Ermotti says its because it was time to stop throwing money away on activity that did not cover the bank's cost of capital and the unhappiness of shareholders with the way UBS was operating. The string of bad news from UBS with legal settlements, trading scandals and huge losses have created a special situation at UBS which required drastic action. UBS was able to take the action also because of its successful wealth management business, which will become the core of its future business. Other banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley with large fixed income, currency and commodity (FICC) businesses, get more of their earnings from this unit and are less likely to follow UBS.

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Saudi Arabian deputy defense minister Prince Khalid says polls show Saudis younger than 30 years old favor improved relations with Israel. As a first step Israeli planes would be allowed to fly over Saudi Arabia and control over two islands in the region would be handed over to the Saudis.  President Biden as a candidate had concerns about human rights in Saudi Arabia. Following the war with Ukraine and improving Saudi Israel relations it now appears likely that this will have an impact in improving US relations with the Saudis. Prince Khalid visited Washington and William Burns has also visited the Middle East for the Biden administration as it seeks to get Saudi Arabia to increase oil production following the EU oil embargo on Russian oil.  Saudis under Prince Salman who heads the administration are pushing to modernize Saudi Arabia and build ties for a broader relationship with the world than the traditional ties in the Middle East of Arab countries.The Saudis are improving relations with India and India was the first country to ship vaccines to Saudi Arabia. UAE and Qatar have also improved relations with the Modi administration in India. With China  engaged in trade and technology friction with the US after US investment and aid to China during the last 2 decades and the long period of aid to China during the Japanese invasion, the US is building new relationships in Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East. The new Saudi US relationship would be different from that of the old Saudi relationship as Saudi remains a monarchy but under the new administration and a younger generation of Saudis sees itself as a modernizing influence in the region. Biden sees these new factors as it looks to rebuild relationships in Asia.   ...

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The first farmer in recent history to become president of the US, 1977-1981, Jimmy Carter ran a peanut farm in the southern state of Georgia. He also served in the US Navy under Admiral Rickover. Rickover hired Jimmy Carter for the US early submarine program in 1949. It was Jimmy Carter's loss to Ronald Reagan that made the Democrat a rare one term president. The Iran hostage crisis happened during the election year 1980 which may have shifted the election in the Republican Reagan's favor. The economy also suffered from high inflation and lower growth during this period leading to the loss of the presidency for Carter. The incidents leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall happened during the Reagan presidency. This led to the period of three decades when the free market, less regulation period led to the 2009 economic crisis and the earlier breakup of the Soviet Union leading to the economic crisis in the early period in Russia. It was during this period that 2 Democrats president Clinton and Obama tacitly accepted the Reagan era policies of free markets and less regulation. This period is now coming to a close with the pandemic and a reassessment of what has happened. During that period Clinton paved the way for China's admission into the World Trade Organization. The lack of regulation has led to Section 230 leading to a proliferation of undesirable content on the internet, with support for regulation in the Us Congress. US policy is also moving to support its own industries something the Reagan policies saw negatively, particularly chip manufacturing where the US has lost its leadership role. The period that ended the Carter presidency is thus an inflection point that is now reversing itself decades later with the sense that government staying away from the economy is not a desirable thing. ...

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Mette Fredericksen, Social Democratic party prime minister of Denmark has made it very clear that she believes who is hurt most by migrant families coming to Europe is the working class. Years of austerity policies and other policies that hurt working class families that struggled with the cost of living and loss of jobs shifted overseas were pushed by parties that were elected for opposing such migrants and migrant friendly policies.   Under Merkel there was with a migrant friendly policy the neglect of infrastructure, neglect of childcare and social goals to help working class families, and neglect of the needed action to tackle climate change. Only in the last 2 years of her administration did Merkel realize that this policy was misconceived and reversed it leading to a dramatic decline in such migrants coming to Germany. Policies were shifted to work with African countries to promote development and security, so that the conditions such as wars and economic crises could be prevented and managed in Africa. Countries such as China and India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, are living proof that development works and what is needed is not working class in Europe paying a price for failed policies in Africa but tackling the situation in Africa and parts of Asia with the right kind of development assistance where the migrants originate.  Mette Fredericksen was one of the first European leaders to lead a large delegation of Danish business and logistics leaders from companies such as Maersk that visited India in 2021, with the goal of expanding trade and business with India. Especially in upgrading logistics for a country of 1.2 billion that is promoting Made in India for the world. This is the kind of collaborative action that Fredericksen is taking in the international sphere that is helping world progress during the pandemic.   ...

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Britain's prime minister Boris Johnson and his negotiating team meet EU president Ursula Leyen for dinner in Brussels on December 8, 2020, to get over fundamental differences for a Brexit deal. This report in The Guardian describes the details of that dinner meeting.  Boris Johnson told parliament that the European Union was asking Britain to be the only country in the world not to have sovereign control over its own fishing waters. He said the EU was also asking that if the EU were to pass a new law that Britain does not comply with they would have the right to  automatically punish Britain or retaliate. On the issue of environmental and other laws that relate to the EU and Britain they are both at the same level today. The EU is worried that in future competition between Britain and the EU in trade and business Britain could relax environmental or other laws to gain an unfair advantage. Boris Johnson and his Conservative party back benchers insist that Britain should have sole right to make its own laws. France's Macron introduced the idea of automatic retaliation as a way to get Britain to keep a level playing field. Both sides see this as a negotiating tactic, hence the dinner meeting as a way to let top negotiators including the leaders to set an informal tone to the final stage of tough negotiating. Merkel made her own remarks to the German parliament saying she was willing to let the negotiations collapse if Britain rejected the EU approach. Merkel stated that if Britain insisted on certain conditions EU could not accept she was willing to let Britain leave without an exit agreement. This way if something went wrong Merkel would not take the blame.   ...

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A hard fought election in Brazil between Mr. Bolsanaro and an ex-president Lula da Silva. Voting is compulsory in Brazil for all those who are literate and between age of 18 and 70 years. There are 156 million registered voters. President and members of Chamber of Deputies are elected for a four year term. Elections also take place for 27 governors for 26 states and one federal district. If no candidate in elections for president or governors gets 50% of the vote the vote heads to a runoff on October 30 between the top two candidates. Bolsanaro is supported by evangelical Christians in a Catholic country, rural landowners, and business people. He was a deputy or member of parliament for the state of Rio de Janeiro for 27 years, who won on a law and order and anti-corruption platform in 2018. Lula da Silva is a former trade union leader who was president from 2003 to 2010. He was popular during a commodity boom in Brazil's soyabean and iron ore export boom to China that financed social support programs. A corruption scandal affected his successor from the Worker's Party leading to the change in government after the collapse of the commodities boom. After he was given a jail sentence under the Bolsanaro government he was released by the Supreme court decision in 2019 that declared there was a lack of due process in his conviction. Mr. Bolsanaro also as a program to benefit poor families that is called Auxilio Brazil to replacve Lula's Bolsa Familia. Payments to 18 million recipients were increased in August and a monthly stipend was added for taxi and truck drivers by Bolsanaro. The competing interests and the pandemic with the high toll of around 685,000 deaths have created a highly contested election. ...

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Azimji Premji of Wipro is one of the few Indian business leaders with a strong bonding with Gandhi's ideas of personal responsibility for India's betterment and the betterment of millions of ordinary people in India. He says Gandhi influenced him only next to his mother who ran an orthopaedic hospital for disabled children for 50 years, and learned what it took to do this as well as the difference it made in people's lives. He quotes Gandhi as his own personal philosophy-  "Supposing I have come by a fair amount of wealth- either by way of legacy, or by means of trade and industry- I must know that all that wealth does not belong to me; what belongs to me is the right to an honorable livelihood, no better than that enjoyed by millions of others,. The rest of my wealth belongs to the community and must be used for the welfare of the community." Azimji Premji gives as three enduring parts of Gandhi's leadership- the pursuit of truth, the importance of means over ends, and empathy for all human beings. He cites a saying of Gandhi to be seen at Sabarmati Ashram and Gandhi Smriti- "I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man (woman) whom you may have seen, and ask yourself of the step you contemplate is going tobe of any use to him or her. Will he or she gain anything by it? Will it restore him (her) to control over his (her) own life and destiny? In other words will it lead to swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away." ...

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The Indian Budget speech by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman seeks to keep the fiscal deficit on a downward trajectory from 4.9% fiscal deficit in 2024, lowering it each year 2025-2028. The total expenditures for Indian Budget 2024 are $720 billion and the total government revenues excluding borrowing $480 billion, tax revenues $390 billion. To attract investment by foreign companies in India the corporate tax rate is reduced from 40% to 35%. And abolition of angel tax for startups. capital gains tax reduced to 20% for short term gains and 12.5% for long term gains. Simplification of the Income Tax Act of 1961 within 6 months. Lowering of taxes for personal income taxes to 30% above 15 lakh rupees. Exempt 25 critical minerals from basic customs duties to assist processing in India. Reduce basic customs duties on mobile phones to 15%. Customs duties to support domestic manufacturing, export competitiveness. Simplify and rationalize the hugely beneficial GST Tax, "a success of vast proportions, reducing the compliance burden and logistics cost for trade and industry." "The gross and net market borrowings through dated securities during 2024-25 are estimated at ` 14.01 lakh crore and ` 11.63 lakh crore respectively. Both will be less than that in 2023-24. 114. The fiscal consolidation path announced by me in 2021 has served our economy very well, and we aim to reach a deficit below 4.5 per cent next year. The Government is committed to staying the course. From 2026-27 onwards, our endeavour will be to keep the fiscal deficit each year such that the Central Government debt will be on a declining path as percentage of GDP." For the year 2024-25, the total receipts other than borrowings and the total expenditure are estimated at ` 32.07 lakh crore and ` 48.21 lakh crore respectively. The net tax receipts are estimated at ` 25.83 lakh crore. The fiscal deficit is estimated at 4.9 per cent of GDP. ...

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Slavery was banned by the 19th century in Britain and its Empire, it took the US till 1861 to do this and till 1961 to end racial segregation. By contrast Britain followed a policy in China throughout the nineteenth century that brought enormous pain and suffering to the Chinese people through the Opium wars and opening up of ports for opium trade in China. And the US under presidents Wilson, Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt, and the American people followed a policy of respect for the Chinese people during this period with the idea fervently America believed of a modern nation emerging from the chaotic period of Manchu monarchy's decline by 1900 and warlords civil war + Japanese invasion from 1900-1945. For Britain and the European colonizers Chinese and Indian people were for the most part "coolies." Joe Stilwell, FDR's Supreme Commander of American Forces in China was the ultimate free of racism. A order from the Republican Coolidge administration in the 1920's was for any American soldier to be courtmartialed for so much as laying a hand on a Chinese coolie. A modern nation did emerge as the American people hoped and fought for in China, and in India over the 25 year period in the 21st century, with Britain having failed to bring the same level of understanding that America had for the Asian people.  Britain's monarch Charles tells Commonwealth leaders his government is not paying reparations for slavery yet is determined to create anew understanding to work with other nations in the future, to discuss issues with openness and respect. There are 56 nations in the British led Commonwealth, the largest of which is India. It includes South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania in East Africa and Nigeria, Ghana in West Africa.    ...

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Tether is a cryptocurrency based out of the Virgin Islands that is pegged to the dollar 1:1. It has $120 billion in assets mostly safe US Treasury bills, and gold, bitcoin. It made $6.2 billion in profit for its owners more than Black Rock largest American asset manager fund. What does this mean? It offers an outlet for trade in oil for Russia and other countries such as Venezuela. At the same time it is useful to people in countries with high inflation such as Argentina and Turkey  where people use it to protect their assets from inflation erosion. When its use is widespread this also results in diversion of funds away from the Treasury as in Venezuela where an oil minister was toppled, says this WSJ report. And at the same time it gives protection to Venezuelans from extreme inflation. How it works- Tether Holdings issues virtual coins to a select number of direct customers, mostly trading firms, who wire real world dollars in exchange for Tether.  Tether buys US Treasury bills with these dollars to back Tether's value. Who runs Tether? Tether's cofounders included a plastic surgeon Giancarlo Devasini. All co-founders sold out to Devasini, who runs it from an enclave in southern coast of France. The company was founded in 2014. Interest was slim in a stable token backed by US Treasury bills. Then in 2020-21 bull run in the stock market traders started using it to buy and sell out of risky bets. It's market capitalization exploded from $4 billion to about $80 billion.  Tether says it avoids illicit transactions. WSJ report says 2713 wallets or about $1.2 billion were blacklisted, this out of $153 billion provided by Tether to its 2 popular blockchains. Rest of the funds already sent on, says WSJ. ...

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Three NBC reporters talk to people in areas in southern France, including Cogolin, which voted in a National Front mayor. This report describes the contrast between the National Front under Jean Le Pen and his daughter, Marie Le Pen. Marie took over the party leadership in 2011, and has downplayed her father's more racist ideology, even calling her self Marine dropping her last name. About 22% of French women are expected to vote for Marine, according to Elabe polling agency. In previous elections only 12% of French women had supported Marine's father because of overt racism. Yet recent remarks by Marine about Vichy regime shootings have revived some of the old memories of the National Front among some women. High unemployment and sense of neglect has led to a search for alternatives, and the terrorist incidents in Nice and Paris have added to the momentum for the National Front that calls for tougher measures. The Republican Party candidate Fillon, now has the support of Alain Juppe of Bordeaux, and former president Sarkozy. Fillon is also advocating tougher measures, and it is not clear how many votes would shift from Fillon on the right to Le Pen.  ...

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Ackman fund Pershing Square Holdings raises $3 billion through its IPO on Euronext exchange in Amsterdam. Offering price of $25 dropped 8% to $23.01 in early trading. German online shopping site Zalando traded at 16% below its IPO offering price in Frankfurt, and shares of German internet company Rocket were trading at 17% below IPO offer price in Oct. 2014.

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German views on Trump's economic policies are described by DW.com's Jeffrey Michels. German business sees a Trump presidency increasing the uncertainty affecting the global economy, a kind of second hit after the hit from Brexit. There is concern about the $114 billion euros in exports made by Germany to the U.S., because of Trump's increasingly protectionist policies. Trump could move to the centre, but so far these populist policies have helped Trump win in the primaries, and this is unlikely to change in the election campaign,  says DW.com.  Trump opposes the TTIP trade agreement with European Union, and because of opposition in Germany, these negotiations are likely to flounder. Even under a Clinton presidency there is little support for more trade agreements, and economist Krugman points out that most of the gains from free trade have already been made. 

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The India-Pakistan-Afghanistan issues are still framed in the old way in terms of communalism, cold war then and the war on terrorism now. These policies were a legacy of the colonial policies of an earlier empire designed to preserve foreign rule, with a policy of perpetuating divisions between communties on religious and other lines. Modernization, the spread of mass communications that makes possible the reduction of prejudice and division by assimilating different values and beliefs into acommon aspiration for progress and better living standards, and the spread of education, commerce, and technological progress, create the conditions that should put this behind us. Put behind us communalism, and the political and military structures of communal states. Pakistan needs to be transformed from a communal state with a military structure designed to preserve that state - resulting in conflicts with its neighbors- into a state that represents a community and a religion, but in all other ways seeks peaceful coexistence and economic integration with the rest of South Asia. A good example of this is Mexico with its own culture, language and religion (Spanish Catholicism), and Canada with its own bilingual French-English heritage and British political structures and allegiances, both arriving at an arrangement of peaceful coexistence and economic integration with the USA with its different political structures and culture and sporadic conflicts with Canada and Mexico. This has promoted the peaceful development of the North American region. The US involvement in the region can then be seen as a misguided effort that continued framing the region's differences in the old British way or in a cold war stereotyping, first with John Foster Dulles in the India-Pakistan conflicts, and then with Reagan in the Afghan anti-Soviet war. This has worked to exacerbate the conditions that led to slow progress in the drive for economic development, infrastructure building and modernization in all of South Asia. Just as in Europe, as in North America, the processes of economic development work best when a policy of inclusiveness and integration of different communities and people is followed. ...