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Tony Hayward, a geologist who has headed BP for 3 years has made statemets to the media that erode public confidence in BP. One of these was that the oil spill is not going to cause big problems because the gulf "is a very big ocean." Another referring to lives lost when the oil rig exploded was "I'd like to have my life back."

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Rural America has the same percentage of Americans that are prone to fringe views as urban America about 27%, the rest are simply trying to find ways to meet severe health, educational, lack of investment in rural areas by government, and cost of living challenges, that other communities have, says Nicholas Jacobs, professor of Colby College. He knows rural America as he shows in his new book -The Politics of Place and the Disuniting of America. Jacobs lives in rural Maine and has both studied reams of data and himself lives in a rural area. Here is the truth he says- Rural America is suffering from chronic health conditions, health worker and hospital shortages, limited employment opportunities and infrastructure deficits, rural schools suffering from funding gaps and teacher shortages. Similar to urban, yes, yet even worse, and need understanding not recrimination. What JFK rightly called, a policy "to lift all boats," from his speech in Arkansas, saying rural Arkansas was as much the Nation, as Massachusetts. He warns Americans to be careful what they listen to about rural America in talk shows or in books written to get audiences from one segment of the population or the other, with gross mischaracterizations of Rural America and its so called rage, with condescending views about people simply struggling to make sense of all the change some of it for the worse going on around them- in this period of Beaverbrook television or internet media. Beaverbook television is after a press baron in the last century in Britain who saw it fit to take advantage of crises of any sort to sell tons of newspapers for a profit, along the way promoting any bias that he had regardless of whether it was proven right or wrong. At one point UK press barons including Beaverbrook, controlled 13 million circulation the most in the world in 1947. Today instead of newsprint it is in book, television, social media or the internet video formats. This can concoct narratives of people that do not exist by using polls that are inadequate, and superficial understanding, with no effort to look for credible answers to difficult questions, and no effort to look for solutions that "lifts all boats," in America and in the World. ...

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A live interview by BBC Hindi with Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of Delhi. In the interview Kejriwal says there are 55 deaths from the demonentisation by removal of 500 and 1000 rupee notes in India. When questioned about this and proof, Kejriwal says BBC is biased. The effort by the the Modi government to  remove these rupee notes is an effort to get people in the informal economy,  the deals in real estate, and people in other parts of the economy which pay little or no taxes to bring the cash to banks and pay the taxes due. This is intended to increase government revenue for investments in infrastructure and education, healthcare. services. The large scale of the shift has caused difficulties for ordinary people, and the upper classes, and the government is working to work through these problems. In India the black money as it is called is estimated to run to about 1 trillion dollars. It is also the result of corruption and has deprived the economy of needed investments and modernization. ...

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With 7 caps for Germany and winning the Bundesliga title for Bayern in 2005, Tobias Rau retired in 2009 after injuries. His next career- teaching sports and biology at the peter August Gasemschule in northwest Germany.

Gheerbrant of The Times of London talks to soccer players who decide to take the road not taken and branch out into different things. 

Rau says as a child he was lucky to have good teachers, and school was a part of life he really loved. With a wife and two small children he likes living in a small town. Werther the home town he came back to to teach at a Gasemschule.( a comprehensive with real mix of abilities and qualifications). He likes that he gets to spend quality time with his children, and does not have to deal with the high of adrenaline of competitive sports which can tax the body and system. He was 27 when he retired, quite young so that helps, as he could get back to university easily at that age. 

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Who will take up the difficult work in American childcare centers at $10-$15 per hour when retailers such as Amazon and Target are paying $20-$25 an hour during labor shortages in the US in 2021. As a result thousands of childcare centers in the US are closing and others are operating at a fourth or fifth part of their capacity. The result- less childcare and fewer women able to return to the workforce. Fewer men who can go back to work if caring for a child. This leads to further labor shortages. For a long time retailers like Amazon and Target were faulted for paying wages that made it difficult for workers to support their families. With the increase in inflation of about 5% in 2020-2021 it is even more difficult to pay for essential food and clothing. Another problem that America and Europe have lived through under different administrations in the last 2 decades is now getting even worse. Left to markets alone the whole system breaks down when one by one essential services such as healthcare, sanitation, childcare, transportation, cannot be provided. The US is facing an existential crisis not just in climate change but also in childcare, healthcare services. Both are caused by same source, a lack of emphasis on the right and essential national priorities. The causes go back to faulty capital allocation in America and Europe. $390 billion is allocated for childcare in Biden's plan in October, yet the Biden Families and Workers plan faces resistance. Gradually many of president Biden's programs for women including paid leave, child care and others are being shriveled into smaller and smaller amounts and the $3.9 trillion in spending for the workers and families plan is down now to $2 trillion.  The US and Europe face splits in society with one more urban and from the professional classes and the other more rural and in smaller urban communities and from the less educated classes each having different priorities. Only a clear resolution in the proper direction can bring relief for women, children and all segments of society, needed for a good society. ...

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The life of Giuseppe Verdi can resonate today as more people look for life outside large cities after the pandemic. Giuseppe Verdi, is shown on his farm in Italian hamlet of Sant'Agata near Parma in northern Italy, in this NYT article. Verdi stuck to his rural roots. He studied music and humanities in Bosseto, and moved back to his farm in Sant'Agata to write some of his famous operas. NYT's Tommasini travels to Verdi's Italian homeland to trace Verdi's roots in the Italian countryside. For most of his life Verdi lived there even as his classical music operas were performed all over European cities. Many of these operas showed the same longing for home as in "Nabucco." On government documents Verdi showed his occupation as "agricultore" or farmer. After ridiculous objections by censors or inept impresarios Verdi would say he was ready to dig up the fields and return to farming in the countryside near Parma.

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Roland Nelles gives 6 reasons why chancellor Merkel is likely to run for chancellor in 2017 and do well. Nelles says the alternative is a Greens, Left party, SPD coalition as in Berlin. But the rest of Germany is too conservative and the very idea of that coalition could bring conservatives together behind Merkel, including the CSU. It would give CDU voters second thoughts about switching to the anti-immigrant AfD party. Also important he says is that the immediacy of the refugee issue could fade as the German government better handles the refugee situation, including security, housing and integration. And as the agreement with Turkey is holding for controlling flow of refugees and turning them back. Also compared to SPD Merkel is still 8-10 points ahead in polls today says Nelles, so that there are still many Merkel supporters. In addition to what Nelles says, Strack in DW.com points out how Merkel's openness even showing emotions sometimes, about how the refugee crisis caught her and the German government unprepared, could help her in coming months. ...

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WHO estimates $1 trillion in costs from mental health issues, from depression and anxiety disorders each year in the lost productivity for the global economy. The cost of mental health productivity loss is huge. Here a knowledgeable researcher and expert tells us that psychological avoidance makes things worse. If we are trying to squash discomfort hastily we are avoiding. It becomes a crutch says Luanna Marques, author of several books and a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, a crutch that rather than alleviate anxiety exacerbates it. Understanding the patterns of avoidance its process is the first step. Science induced ways can help us sort this out. Reacting only makes things worse, it fuels the fire leading to even more problems like operating a pressure cooker without a valve. Replying hastily to an email that upsets us or raise our voices without considering the consequences. Retreating is an act of moving away or pulling back from anxiety inducing situations. This only tends to increase anxiety as the underlying situation is still there. Then there is Remaining which is sticking to the status quo to avoid the discomfort of change, such as clinging to a job or a relationship even when we know it is not good for us. Marques suggests three science based methods to fight all this, and fight psychological avoidance the powerful enemy. First Shifting by checking in with our thoughts, particularly when anxiety comes knocking. In these moments we often have black and white distorted thoughts when we are telling ourselves something is such and such. Shifting is taking off the dark, monochrome glasses and seeing the world in color again, says Marques. She asks one to challenge your thoughts, clean out your lenses. One says- I have a lot to bring to relationships, I have had successful relationships in the past. One can now sleep better at night and set you on a journey to follow what matters most to us. The opposite of avoiding she says is Approaching, which is not charging at your fears head-on, but taking a step that feels manageable. One asks oneself what is one small step I can take towards my fears and anxiety to overcome avoidance. Even the smallest step can rewire our brain. Aligning is living a values driven life, says Marques. The daily actions now align with what matters most to us- our values in life. In intense anxiety emotions not values dictate our actions. To lead a values driven life we need to first identify with our values, for health, family, work, or anything else. Then we dedicate time and effort to our values. In conclusion it is not about being fearless , but about not letting fear dictate our lives, says Marques in this excellent approach she has given. ...

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Gerard Lemos writes from London about Chinese society today. He was visiting professor to Chongqing University of Business and Technology from 2006 to 2010. During this period he talked to many ordinary Chinese to find out what was on their minds -concerns that stemmed from China's one child policy, urban migration, health care needs, education and jobs were all uppermost in their minds. Lemos says even with the rapid industrial progress the lives of ordinary citizens are affected by fears and uncertainty about the future. The lack of jobs, lack of good healthcare, children who have migrated, are all part of their daily lives. For older people the one child policy in an aging society means the prospect of being alone in old age and the prospect of inadequate health care. For the young education and job concerns. Lemos points out that it is not about a choice between China's model and a Western model, it is more about a search for the Chinese soul, now that the basic material conditions are in place with the usual gaps and problems. At the same time it is a society prone to political sentiment such as the anti-Japanese protests....

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Raghavan reports from rural South African region around Venterdorp, headquarters of the white extremist Afrikaaner Reistance Movement or AWB in Afrikaans language. He describes the racial separation between whites and blacks in rural areas where 40% of whites live. Blacks and whites do not socialize or mix with each other and less than 40% of South Africans interact socially with people of another race, according to SA Reconciliation Barometer. Scars of Apartheid can still be seen in rural areas with whites fearing blacks, and blacks dependent on whites for farm labor and other basic jobs.

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German chancellor Merkel says leaders today are stuck in their own digital echo chambers and not doing the diplomacy and bilateral communication needed. Lack of diplomacy is worse than during the Cold War, says Merkel. "We live in a world where lack of speech is more pronounced than during the Cold War." She was gravely concerned by the number of conversations she had with world leaders who rarely speak to each other, and who become inward looking even as the global economic links bring countries and regions closer. This is happening with the situation in Libya and Germany has convened a conference of world leaders including France, Russia and Turkey, and both sides in the war in Libya to talk about the essential steps for peaceful resolution. Germany wants to prevent any recurrence of the situation that resulted in refugees fleeing North Africa in 2015. What were the mistakes made during that crisis? Merkel says "The mistake was not to have paid attention to create an environment where people can stay in their own country."  Germany has no intention to let that mistake be repeated in Libya. The Berlin conference of world leaders shows Germany is serious, and is getting world leaders Putin of Russia, Macron of France, Erdogan of Turkey, together with Mr. Trump's representative Pompeo of the U.S. to prevent any recurrence. ...

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As the U.S. economy continues to gain in job growth with unemployment at 3.8% in May 2018, wage gains remain low. Wage growth over the past year is about 2.7%. Labor participation rate is at 62.7%. Reasons given for low wage growth are the lack of wage increases for people who stay at their current jobs, the digital disruption lowering wages, decline of union bargaining, and low productivity growth. This gives the Federal Reserve more room to increase interest rates gradually.

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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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Uber built up about $30 billion in operating losses and burnt up huge amounts of capital with its access to capital from from financial markets in the US, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. 2023 is the first year for profits of $1.43 billon of which the larger part of it $1 billion is from equity investments. It went public in 2019. Lyft a competitor of Uber has not yet turned a profit. Contrary to the general impression these kinds of startups have burnt enormous amounts of capital, and diverted capital from essential needs such as education, healthcare services, and public transportation. Consider the case of lack of investment in the New York subway system that lags so far behind that in other cities such as Tokyo to make it incomprehensible. The New York Port Bus Terminal  needed to be replaced- the planning took 10 years and the new terminal building will not be completed till 2032. Essential investments that improve the lives of millions of people in our cities are neglected or delayed. The real crowding out of capital from essential public needs is a feature of the Reagan era economics that have created many of the problems we face today of underfunding where it really counts. The capital allocation system is distorted so that capital does not generate proper returns or benefit the largest part of the population. ...

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Perpignan, France, is a small town at the foothills of the Pyrenees, near Spain. It was called Perpignan Catalan. Its mayor is Aliot who is from the RN National Rally party. It is one of the poorest regions in France. The RN was elected after several tries in which the other parties banded together against RN till it did not work anymore. This report in The Guardian looks a the change the RN brought and says it was about more police, cleanliness, and television. No structural changes have happened that would reduce poverty or bring more jobs and opportunity to the area, or improve the infrastructure and public services. As a result it is more visual but as one resident says I kept my doors open anyway, so that no real change happened. This change for the better has not happened under Macron and it is this frustration that led voters to give Aliot and RN a chance in Perpignan. Yet this report shows it has not changed much, that the poverty and lack of opportunity is real and other solutions than RN are needed. And still the LR and Macron's Renaissance party keep making derogatory remarks and labelling the alternatives from the Socialist parties as unrealistic even though the Socialist Alliance calls for investing $140 billion in infrastructure, public services and cost of living action to improve the lives of ordinary working people and families. ...

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Laurent Berger is the likely candidate for bringing together all social democratic and socialist parties in France.  French Socialist parties and leaders Melenchon, Glucksmann, and others in Greens party join together to contest the Assembly elections June 30, July 7. This means the socialist parties have finally made the decision to come up with ways to tackle the cost of living crisis, loss of manufacturing, lack of investment in infrastructure that can make a difference in the daily lives of working people. This was missing in Macron's plan as En Marche was built by Macron based on his detecting an opportunity during the last year of Socialist Hollande's term in 2017, not with a well thought out plan for renewal in France. The years of the presidential first and second terms did not work from a plan to tackle the issues facing working class families and benefitted as much from the alienation that had driven working class votes in different directions from the failures of Socialist or Social Democratic leaders. This happened in Germany with Scroeder, in Britain with Gordon Brown, and in France with Hollande, in the US with Clinton and Obama. The path that president Biden has taken to invest in infrastructure with bipartisan support, to invest in manufacturing with bipartisan support is what the Social Democratic and Socialist parties in France with bipartisan help now need to take up. ...

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BJP led by prime minister Narendra Modi wins a huge majority of 325 seats out of 405 in India's largest state Uttar Pradesh for the state assembly elections. The national opposition party Congress wins only 7 seats in what was once the main source of Congress support during the period of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. This will enable the BJP to push forward with the modernization program for infrastructure and roads, and other development. Opposition in the upper house Rajya Sabha and lack of support from states will not be a major hurdle in development now that BJP has won in states such as Orissa, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarkhand in recent state elections after its win in the 2014 national parliamentary election. This also gives credibility to the government's other efforts such as demonetisation to fight corruption in real estate and other areas. India's GDP is a fraction of China's and it is smaller than that of countries such as Indonesia, because of the poor administration and lack of development in India's 2 largest states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the northern Hindi speaking region. To double the GDP from its current level will require doubling the GDP of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Bihar's state government is run by a former BJP leader, who has also pushed for improving standards of living and economic growth.  ...

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As shown in other articles in the NYT Gen. Kelly is bringing some discipline and coherence to the White House. This includes bringing Jared Kushner the president's son-in-law into the chain of command, having him report to Mr. Kelly. At the same time as Kushner is seen less of in meeting with Mr. Trump, he is now more focussed on his own projects. He is also shown here to be more cautious as he realizes more now than earlier that the Mueller investigation is a thorough one, that is looking into all the details. Some insiders even say Kusher and Ivanka Trump look wistfully at going back to their lives in New York without all the chaos and tumult of the White House in 2017.

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A deal with Venezuela gives Eni Italian oil company 40% ownership in a block called Junin 5 in the Orinoco River belt. The $10 billion investment will be shared proportionally by the 2 companies PDVSA and Eni to expand production to 300,000 barrels a day by 2014.

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Biden gives a rousing call to the Nation, on what he has achieved for America and its workers and families, for the people of 51 states, and what the tasks are for the future to 2035. It surpasses the State of the Union address 2024 in the vigor and importance of his message, 76 days before a national election to decide the future of the Nation and the World. Key parts of the speech selected by Lyrarc, on Infrastructure above and Manufacturing here with 800,000 new Manufacturing jobs created. "Because of you and so many electeds out there, American manufacturing is back. Where the hell does it say we wouldn’t lead the world in manufacturing. Eight-hundred-thousand new manufacturing jobs. Our Republican friends and others made sure they’d go abroad to get the cheapest labor. We used to import products and export jobs. Now we export American products and create American jobs, right here in America, where jobs belong. With every new job, with every new factory, pride and hope is being brought back to communities throughout the country that were left behind. You know you’re from it, many of you. You know what it’s like when that factory closed where your mother, your father, your grandmother, grandfather worked. And now you’re back, providing once again, proving that Wall Street didn’t build America, the middle class built America, and unions—unions—built the middle class.  It’s been my view since I came to the Senate and that’s why I’m proud to have been the first President to walk a picket line and be labeled the most pro-union President in history. And I accept it. That’s a fact. Because when unions do well, we all do well.  ...

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Britain and other parts of Europe from France to Netherlands take another look at the racism during the period of British, Dutch and French rule in India, Indonesia and Indochina, as well as in British East Africa, French West Africa, South Africa where Gandhi began his Satyagraha before coming back to India.

Gandhi's Story of My Experiments With Truth is an autobiography that provides glimpses of life in South Africa and his life from childhood to 1921. It was published in Gandhi's journal Navjivan from 1925 to 1929. It also gives one a real feel of how he experienced the impact of the British Empire and ideas he derived from John Ruskin during the period he spent in London, and the gradual evolution of his philosophy of preserving the dignity of the individual in the context of the ideals of Vedanta and the Indian Upanishads.

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China and Huawei lack the manufacturing capabilities needed to make some of the component parts that go into 5G systems. The U.S. Commerce Department in May restricted chip makers globally who use U.S. technology from supplying semiconductors to Huawei. This means Taiwan's Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company which uses U.S. technology in manufacturing 5G component parts cannot supply Huawei.

This gives the U.S. and Japan, South Korea to catch up with initiatives of their own to match China's state subsidies model that finances its semiconductor companies and 5G companies. 

U.S. Undersecretary of State Keith Krach says "We've utilized the strengths of semiconductor equipment companies and electronic design software companies to eliminate Huawei's access to the necessary sophisticated chips to build 5G systems and their most sophisticated smartphones." Huawei he says is a security threat to the U.S.

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China is gradually getting back to normal. With few new infections from coronavirus, factories are starting production again, and stores are reopening, people gradually coming outdoors.

For factories there is one problem- as Europe and the U.S. battle the coronavirus and impose their own lockdowns demand has evaporated. Factories are seeing canceled orders and having to operate with smaller number of workers.

All the graphs shown in this report for Beijing traffic congestion, Guangzhou subway rides and property transactions show the curves for 2020 way, way below the curves for 2019.

This also gives some idea of what the road ahead will look like in the U.S. and Europe. That the recovery will take time and patience after a difficult period ahead tackling the coronavirus state by state. Lost jobs, diminished confidence and fallen income will take time to recover.

 

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Senator McCain and Senators Lieberman and Graham say the U.S. is squandering goodwill of people in the Middle East by not taking action to to help the democracy movement in Syria in its struggle with the Assad regime. They say this is a unfair fight as the rebels are lightly armed and face the artillery, helicopter gunships and fighter aircraft of a brutal regime. The lack of active U.S. and European support only prolongs the struggle and cost in human lives.

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A look at the history of the founding of Pakistan and the 60 years since, looking all the way back to Muslim League's activities in the 1930's under Jinnah, and the failure of politicians and the military to help build Pakistan and improve the lives of its people. One by one the generals and the politicians, including Ms Bhutto and Sharif, have all failed and the dim prospects that it would be different this time with a new elected government.