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Nuclear arms control SALT treaties expire Feb 2026 - need for new negotiations as the treaties were obsolete, did not include China, smaller nuclear weapons, and weapons from space. The SALT arms limitation treaty was first signed in 1972 by Brezhnev with Nixon. These treaties went through a second version and were renewed. The US no longer thinks this is relevant as China is not included, and smaller nuclear weapons, ones from space are not included and new negotiations are the best way to conduct true arms limitation. An accompanying video in NYT by David Sanger goes into these aspects of talks. Rafael Gross, head of IEA International Atomic Agency, says- You wouldn’t negotiate the same treaty again. There are new technologies that are not covered by the treaty — hypersonic missiles, undersea nuclear weapons, space weapons. And there are many other countries that, for one reason or another, feel now as if they may need a nuclear arsenal of their own.” This is the reason. It also happens that in 2026 US and Russia could coordinate their efforts, so that new US weapons may be needed as other risks could emerge from other places. There are smaller nuclear powers and new nations that might develop nuclear weapons as the US nuclear umbrella may be seen as not fully dependable. This new thinking would be that US and Russia may not see themselves as adversaries but work together to prevent nuclear risks from other sources. This is also why the US (and Russia) may want to wind down smaller regional conflicts, reduce their reliance on their own alliances, so that nuclear cooperation between nuclear powers US, Russia, China, and India may lead to control of nuclear weapons in a larger sense from space and from smaller countries that might develop nuclear weapons as has happened in Iran, which might create new risks that cannot be managed. A belligerent North Korea could lead to South Korea and Japan developing a nuclear weapon. This is also why the Ukraine conflict has run its course and it is in no one's interest to let the Nordics or Britain continue the conflict. The US, Russia, China, India, Brazil should not let middle or smaller powers continue regional or historical conflicts, and promote settlement through peace talks of such conflicts, as it inevitably leads to damaging the interests of billions of people around the world in peaceful cooperation and tackling challenges that affect the quality of life. ...

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The actual text of the Feb. 1, 2025 Executive Order  from the White House and president DJT says about the flow of fentanyl that has taken the lives of more of America's young people than the wars- the Korean War, Vietnam War and the First World War combined. That is the astonishing story of what has happened to American society over the last two decades. "The influx of these drugs to our Nation threatens the fabric of our society.  The PRC plays a central role in this challenge, not merely by failing to stem the ultimate source of many illicit drugs distributed in the United States, but by actively sustaining and expanding the business of poisoning our citizens." What the US Supreme Court and Justices Roberts, Thomas, Scalia, Barrett, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, make of this one can only guess. One has only to walk from the US Supreme Court Building to the faces from the 1950's at the Korean War Memorial to get a sense of what the Justices have to be thinking.  ...

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Behind the deal Apple made to buy 100 million chips from TSMC's $165 billion plant near Phoenix is, yes, DJT Tariff exemptions. Yes, it took tariffs to get Apple and TSMC to invest in the US after much if not all of chip manufacturing was sent by Apple to China and Taiwan's TSMC. Was the Biden administration successful in getting Apple to invest in the US on a the scale that was needed? The answer is no. Even when TSMC agreed to invest in plants in the US under Biden it's management described the US as a difficult place to attract talent and build plants as reported in the WSJ at that time. There is a real element of truth in saying that it took a real effort such as the DJT tariffs move to change a situation in which most manufacturing was shipped out by US business to China. The Taiwanese had a condescending attitude that the US could not build advanced technology plants as evidenced in statements by head of TSMC, who was himself educated in the US technology institutions in the 1960's and 1970's. The US business shipped out its industrial and technological knowhow to Asia in a mistaken theory only found in textbooks that this was not going to affect US leadership and US dominance in the world. And with it the dominance of the scientific and industrial revolution culture of Europe and the US that enabled its free institutions of government and ideas of liberty of man. It is an astounding story of our times that this has actually been allowed to happen under previous administrations, technology elites, by economists, and governing elites, with some still clinging on to these ideas found only in textbook economic theory, when something entirely different has happened to neighborhoods, communities and factories now abandoned in the US. ...

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Get to your core- vision and team to execute in good times and bad, and get a good grasp of your customers. This is critical for setting the right foundations for a new company. Make sure your investors are the right kind who will help achieve that vision. And find opportunities to execute in better ways to achieve that vision as you go forward under different conditions.

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Neil Gorsuch, Supreme Court nominee, says at a Congressional confirmation hearing, that he is independent, has made no promises to anyone, and can vote against any party. On Roe vs. Wade Gorsuch made this comment- "I would tell you that Roe v. Wade, decided in 1973, is the precedent of the U.S. Supreme Court, and all of the other factors that go into analyzing precedent have to be considered." Earlier articles in NYT have said that Gorsuch appears to be independent. On precedent Gorsuch also said "its our shared family history as judges, as a good judge you don't approach that question anew as if it has never been decided."

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President Biden gives a rousing speech to the unions and the AFL-CIO, reminiscent of Lincoln's speeches as he debated Stephen Douglas in the struggle for the emancipation in the 1850's.

"Wall Street did'nt build this country, the middle class built this country. And the unions built the middle class. I'm not joking, without unions there would be no middle class. That's a fact."

Recalling the long lines for food during the pandemic-

"Ordinary people waiting in line for an hour for a box of food. And the policies in the past created more billionaires in the past than never before in our history." 

"Laying a strong foundation for the future of this country is more than having strong roads and bridges. It is about making sure, that here in America, folks who work hard can live their lives with dignity and respect."

 

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In a complete reversal of Chavez socialist Venezuela oil policy that led to underinvestment in oil industry and its gradual collapse with mismanagement corruption- the new oil law sets 15% tax and 30% royalty fees . This encourages US investment other than Chevron which is already in the country. Rodriguez, the interim president says "We're talking about the future. We are talking about the country that we are going to give to our children."  US Secretary of State Rubio cited this achievement in the interests of the Venezuelan people in the Senate hearing yesterday. Rubio is from Latin America, has a deep knowledge of the region and is interested in its future for the next generation, he knows what went wrong and what can be corrected for a better future for the region. For this reason the Monroe Doctrine is not about US alone, but the US helping the region prosper and improve the lives of people in the region. A very important point when there is misrepresentation of US policy in the region and the world, something Rubio never tired of pointing out in the Senate hearing yesterday. Once again in a country that was one of the best in Latin America Venezuelan oil can help Venezuela get back on its feet as a reliable and successful partner for America in the western hemisphere, a model for the rest of the region after so much suffering and mismanagement acting as a lesson for future generations in the western hemisphere. ...

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Captain Shubman Gill on India's win at Edgbaston in the Second Test cricket against England-

"I think all of the things we spoke about after the first game, we were spot on with all of those things. The way we came back with our bowling and fielding was tremendous.

"We knew with 400 or 500 we would be in the game, especially if we he held our catches. Both our bowlers bowled brilliantly with the way we were able to get through [England's] top order.

"Akash Deep bowled with so much heart and skilfully with his lengths. He moved it in both directions, which was tough to do. He was magnificent for us."

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This interview of David Westin with Katherine Tai at the Aspen Institute shows how this US Foreign Trade Representative reflects today's priorities based on an entirely different environment than what was faced before- after the pandemic, after concern about supply chains, the effect on workers, the domestic economy, and on democracy of trade policies, the effects of AI. Westin says "You are US FTR, you travel abroad cover the globe literally, it covers geopolitics.." Katherine Tai makes it clear from the beginning- "It is all about domestic, I do as much domestic travel as foreign travel. We sit at the interconnection of very very complex forces.Trade absolutely is about economics. The decisions we make in trade policy impacts the domestic economy. We are part of foreign policy, we are equally a part of domestic economic policy team. These two are pulling you in opposite directions. This foreign aspect has to be connected to what we do at home." Four pillars the Biden administration has for trade all relate to the domestic economy- for infrastructure, climate change action, workers and manufacturing at home, democracy and resilience. It is worker centric for workers in the US economy and the economy of its partners, Tai points out that it is in the interest of the other countries that trade with US to give fair wages and benefits to their workers, not something that they do for the US.     ...

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Rafael Nadal makes a remarkable comeback to beat Medvedev after losing the first two sets in the 2022 Australian Open tennis tournament. The match lasted 5 hours till 1 am the next day. Nadal says "Being honest one month and a half ago, I did not know if I will be back on the tour plying tennis again... you don't know how much I fought to be here." Nadal is one of the of the most resilient players in sports having comeback from difficult situations repeatedly, as he gives his all down to the last point regardless of the score. 

 

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A new study published in JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that quality of diet is critical to lose weight. It is also an intuitively sensible idea. The more you cut back on bad foods- lots of processed high sugar and high calories in processed or packaged foods- the better off you are. The more fruits and vegetable take its place, the more likely you are to lose some of the weight. It is also a sustainable strategy as the vegetables and fruits have other positive effects making it possible to permanently shift to better lifestyles as part of an overall cultural change that includes exercizing regularly. Nutrition experts at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University say this is the way to go. The strange thing is that such simple and basic ideas as restoring the proper role of healthy foods in our diet require such detailed studies. Packaged and processed foods of today are part of an industry that did not exist a hundred years ago. Common sense and intuitive ideas about what is good for us can lead us to the right action, including an awareness that food eating habits have simply deteriorated and become corrupted in today's busy world. ...

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The comparison by Goldsmith and Moyn has picked the wrong Roosevelt. Only Washington in the war of independence, Lincoln in the Civil War over slavery, and FDR Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the Great Depression and economic collapse, fall in that category and there is no one and nothing to compare with both the struggles they fought and the challenge to the survival of the US. On the next scale comes TR Teddy Roosevelt, and this is the Roosevelt to compare DJT with. TR was unconventional, TR spoke a different language and could be frank and outspoken. TR actions matched his words, as his days on the Indian frontier and with the Rough Riders. TR also had one term plus completing McKinley's term after his assasination. And TR like DJT did not like his successor and did everything to make the comeback denouncing the policies of his successor William Howard Taft in the 1912 election, which TR lost to Democrat Woodrow Wilson. All this is true for DJT in 2026. TR denounced the shift away from his "progressive policies" and the shift to corporate interests of Republican Taft. In this sense also DJT is similar as he denounced the shift to corporate interests of the Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama years. TR was no country club Republican and was willing to confront opponents in the politics to fight for the benefit of the working man, splitting the Republican party in the process. This is true of DJT. TR launched the rebuilding of the Navy, and announced he would reassert the Monroe Doctrine. DJT is doing the same and is reasserting the Monroe Doctrine. One could say that DJT feels the hidden TR in him and like Teddy Roosevelt is putting America in the place it once was. For TR the industrial revolution had distorted a country founded on the backs of settlers owning the land independent and rugged, as industry turned the country into corporate interests and workers in factories with few rights, and poor working conditions and wages. This TR even as a Republican fought to reverse. In DJT there is the Republican also of a different mould who fights to reverse the situation created by Bush/Clinton/Bush/ Obama over three decades since the 1990's when America has fallen to new lows when drug trafficking gangs in Mexico and Venezuela are able to run rampant over the western hemisphere, when elites in Canada and the US act impotent in the face of this, or living in their own world away from the streets and neighborhoods of America devastated by drug trafficking, towns and neighborhoods from Janesville to Flint economically deprived as elites shifted manufacturing overseas to China in complete indifference to the American worker and his family, and carried out wars in remote parts of the world such as hills of Afghanistan and deserts of Iraq no worker or farmer in America had even heard of or cared about since the American continent was settled in 1600. If there is a Woodrow Wilson around the corner who won in 1912, for the 2028 election, then it is someone who like Wilson will take policies to benefit the American worker and farmer and his family, and America as a Nation to a better place over the next decade. A passage from Teddy Roosevelt from his Autobiography about who TR was struggling against illustrates this point- "They favored Civil Service Reform; they favored copyright laws, and the removal of tariffs on works of art; they favored all the proper (and even more strongly the improper ) movements for international peace and arbitration; in short, they favored all good and many goody-goody, measures so long as they did not cut deep into social wrong or make demands on National and individual virility. They opposed, or were lukewarm, about efforts to build up the army and the navy, for they were not sensitive regarding National honor, and above all they opposed every non-milk-and-water effort, however sane to change our social and economic system in such a fashion as to substitute the ideal of justice towards all for the ideal of kindly charity from the favored few to the possibly grateful many." (Theodore Roosevelt, Autobiography, Chapter 5 title: Applied Idealism, 1913) ...

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Somini Sengupta and Brian Frank provide this award winning quality of coverage in text and pictures of life in California's San Joaquin Valley, hit by wildfires and scorching heat in the middle of the pandemic. Shown are workers in the fields of one of America's largest agricultural regions fighting heat and the pandemic, struggling to survive on a precarious hourly wage in these conditions. During earlier periods from 1970 this was an almost picturebook place particularly in the cool and foggy winters, which stretched for miles with apricot, grape, almond and other fruit and vegetable fields. A dry valley using irrigation of fields with water from the surrounding Sierra Nevada mountains. Most affected are millions of workers of Hispanic origin originally from Mexico, who provide most of the labor for harvesting of crops. California with a good educational system and without the drought that hit the region, without the effects of Silicon Valley splitting the people of the state in opposite directions most on minimum wage with a concentration of wealth around major cities and spiralling property values, was a very different place in the 1960's and 1970's from what it is today. Increasing wealth concentrated in pockets and not spread out as it was in the early post war period after Truman and Eisenhower has impoverished large areas and segments of the population, creating what Dickens called in his day- "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times," depending on who and where you were. ...

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Julian Payne shares with us a day in the life of Prince Charles, now Charles III, in The Times. Charles is shown to be a person of boundless energy, who is keen to help on many efforts to improve life on the planet. He gets involved in the detail of conversations which run longer than usual. He is careful not waste resources and his shoes go through remending. He starts the day with a breakfast of seasonal fruit salad and tea, skips lunch and takes tea with fruit cake at 5 pm. The fruit cake is kept for use the next day and the next, so that nothing is wasted, such is his passion for no waste and using all resources carefully. Payne says he has a hatred for waste and gives much though to efficient use of resources. Dinner is at 8.30 pm and he works right into the midnight hour. His work day is relentless. And he loves the outdoors, his windows remain open. If you found yourself outdoors with the prince in winter, you may not be able to keep up says Payne.  Many say he has been highly underestimated. And his habits and his ways, his hard work, dedication, sincerity, and his sense of purpose may still surprise his country. ...

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Speaking at the Brookings Institution Biden senior adviser Jake Sullivan laid out the "foreign policy of America's middle class." What he means by this is "President Biden's core commitment- indeed his daily direction to us- to more deeply integrate domestic policy with foreign policy." "After the Second War the United States led a fragmented world to create a new international economic order. It lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. It sustained thrilling technological revolutions. And it helped the United States and many other nations around the world achieve new levels of prosperity. But the last few decades revealed cracks in these foundations. A shifting global economy left many Americans and their communities behind. A financial crisis shook the middle class. A pandemic exposed the fragility of our supply chains. A changing climate threatened lives and livelihoods. Russia's invasion of Ukraine underscored the risks of overdependence. So this moment demands we forge a new consensus." "When president Biden took office the coutnry from our perspective faced four fundamental challenges. First America's industrial base had been hollowed out. Second economic integration with a large non-market economy did not work out. Third, an accelerating climate crisis, and the urgent need for a just and efficient energy transition. Finally we met the challenge of inequality and its damage to democracy."   ...

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This is what Vice President Harris said from the South Lawn of the White House today about president Biden for an event of the NAACP- "In one term, he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who have served two terms in office. And I first came to know president Biden through his son Beau. We worked together as attorneys general in our states, and back then, Beau would often tell me stories about his dad. He would talk about the kind of father and the kind of man that Joe Biden is.

The qualities that Beau revered in his father are the same qualities that I have seen every day in our president, his honesty, his integrity, his commitment to his faith and his family, his big heart and his love, deep love of our country. And I am first-hand witness that every day our president, Joe Biden, fights for the American people, and we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation."

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Average refund was $3642 for 100 million households in the US, above the $3116 in 2024 tax year by 10 percent. The IRS had sent out $241 billion by April 15, 2026, 14% higher than the $211 billion by April 15 2025. For people in the low wage restaurant industry it makes a big difference. One couple, a chef and a waitress took the no tax on tips and the car loan deductions from the "Big Beautiful Bill" of DJT, and instead of owing $12,000 as in 2024 got a tax refund of $26,000 for 2025 tax year. This family an immigrant from Spain says- “They’re not able to pay us a livable wage. ... If we were only taxed on our wage, not tips, that makes so much more sense for the cost of living here in New York.” 23 million households took the overtime tax deduction. Seniors qualifying got a $6000 deduction to get an additional $1320 in refunds.

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Donald Trump, has consistently tried to capitalize on the changing demographics and economic conditions in the country during the primaries by embracing a neglected white working class on issues such as trade, wages and jobs. He now has taken on the issue of law and order. In his acceptance speech Trump once again used a canny ability to sense the public mood, in the summer following the Orlando shootings, the Nice attacks, and the Baton Rouge police shootings, by calling himself "the law and order candidate in this race for the White House." He touched on the police shootings and terrorism by making the centrepiece of his speech- "Our convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation. The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our way of life."  The speech ended by Trump saying "I am your voice." By embracing the major issues in a way a skilled politician would do using his years of experience on the Apprentice television show with catchy slogans and phrases; long before the other candidates had caught on, and using the language of ordinary people, on trade, wages, jobs, terrorism, Trump has galvanized this portion of voters. He also made an appeal to Bernie Sanders voters. The distance between working class voters and other candidates who feel neglected on issues of wages and jobs, and are also most open to issues of law and order and terrorism, was the story of the Republican primaries. Whether this carries over to the broader electorate- as less than 20% of the eligible voters in the Republican primaries voted to give Trump wins in the primaries- and how well Hillary Clinton has held onto traditionally Democratic white working class voters that Trump is appealing to, will affect the 2016 elections. As this piece in the Guardian points out Trump has it well on touching on all the right buttons for which he has a canny ability, but will the American voters look for more in terms of experience and other factors, and Hillary's own fighting spirit, may affect this unusual election.   ...

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A woman CEO, Phebe Novakovic,  at American defense company General Dynamics says in an interview says she is patriotic and shares her experience growing up in Europe during the Cold War, as the daughter of an Air Force officer.  She also talks about her first job interviews  when she was turned down for jobs after being 7 months pregnant. Women are now CEO's or hold senior positions at defense contractors Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing,in four of the five largest U.S. defense companies. Most of them including women in the Pentagon are low key and private in their conversations. On the divisiveness in the U.S. Novakovic has some direct comments. She says she wories profoundly about this, especially the part that means there is no national narrative, just conflicting angry opinions that are corrosive and cancerous. This is because democracy requires shared values and a strong nation requires its own national narrative. She points out that in this way you can destroy yourself faster than an enemy can destroy you. About tech companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon not wanting to work with the U.S. government she says she is alarmed because this shows an ignorance about where they think their freedom comes from, where their platform of innovation and technology comes from, which is the strength and vitality of the U.S. as a nation.  ...

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President Trump outlines a plan for Afghanistan that increases the U.S. troop presence from about 8500 with an addition of 4000 more troops and advisors, in addition to a counter terrorism force. To war weary public in the U.S. he says: "I share your frustration over a foreign policy that has spent too much time, energy, money- and most importantly, lives- trying to rebuild countries in our own image instead of pursuing our security interests above all other considerations." About his criticism of the war when president Obama was in office as a huge costly waste of resources Trump said: My original instinct was to pull out, and historically I like to follow my instincts... I heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk at the Oval Office." After resisting the advice of his own advisers Trump decided to fire Bannon who had supported use of American private security contractors for the war in Afghanistan, and used parts of the media to question national security advisor McMaster's views on this. Gen. Mattis, completed a strategy review that showed the mistake of creating a vacuum would repeat the situation of Iraq where president Obama withdrew forces in 2011, leading to a sequence of negative events- with Russia, Iran and Islamic State moving into the vacuum, making American intervention in the war necessary, increase in terrorist incidents worldwide, and a flood of refugees into Europe. Ironically clearing the path for an outsider's bid for the White House, with Brexit in which refugee fears and uncontrolled immigration played a part, and the news of terrorism and the war in Syria-Iraq creating a sense of insecurity. A key difference in the Trump approach with Obama's approach is that "conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables will guide our actions from now on," in line with Trump's criticism of Obama's approach. The military in the U.S. has long maintained that the best approach would have been to insist on U.S. presence in negotiations with the Iraqi government under the sectarian prime minister Nouri Maliki. Gen. Mattis was head of Central Command under the Obama administration and must have pushed the view of the military to president Obama to no avail. Failure to do so led to the growth of Shiite militias and the alienation of Sunnis in Mosul, leading to the fall of Mosul to Islamic State thus creating the current crisis. Gen. Mattis and Lt. Gen McMaster are intimately aware of the problem and must have convinced Trump that this is what really happened, that a repeat would waste the sacrifices of American soldiers in the twin wars. Trump gave this as his reason when he said in his televised speech to the nation- essentially a criticism of Bush that he expanded the conflict too quickly, and Obama exiting too quickly to create a void. Trump call his policy "principled realism."  The roots of the crisis are in the India-Pakistan conflict. Like the conflict in South East Asia the conflict in South Asia extending from Iran to India and Pakistan, may take a generation to overcome. A rapprochement between India and Pakistan, beginning with trade and economic relations, is not only in America's interest, it also provides the basis for a realistic American withdrawal. ...

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Pope Francis takes an open attitude to listen before making up his mind in his meeting with Trump at the Vatican in May 2016. Landler and Horowitz describe the visit by Trump and his family including Ivanka, Melanie and Jared Kushner, accompanied by Tillerson and McMaster. The pope handed out rosaries and said before the meeting: "In our talk, things will come out, I will say what I think, he will say what he thinks, but I never want to make a judgement without hearing the person." 

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Policy on China in the second year of the DJT Administration- shift from adversary positions to cooperation. A shift in policy after the meetings with Chinese leaders Xi and Wang Yi at Busan, South Korea in 2025. WSJ Analysis looks at what happened in the first term of DJT, the Biden Administration that followed and in 2025 in US-China relations and how the posture changed, how Xi and his team built rapport with DJT and his team over the tumultuous period in 2025. US turned to Xi in getting Iran to the table for negotiations in Islamabad meetings after the month long effort to take out Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program infrastructure. This was arranged in the early hours of Tuesday April 7th 2026. Throughout the US air campaign in Iran China pursued the policy it had set at Busan of not letting it affect US- China relations and the DJT visit to Beijing believing it sets the basis for the future course of US- China that affects the whole world beyond regions such as the Middle East where little headway has been made in bringing about peace. China US, EU, India, Brazil, Latin America, Africa, Indonesia, make up most of the world's population and China remains focused on ensuring the US and China can through their cooperation maintain peace in the world overall. This is reflected in this statement of China's Foreign Ministry on Busan meeting as the beginning of something new and big for the world- "Over the past seven decades and more, we have been working from generation to generation on the same blueprint to make it a reality. We have no intention to challenge or supplant anyone. Our focus has always been on managing China’s own affairs well, improving ourselves, and sharing development opportunities with all countries across the world. And that is an important secret to our success. China will further deepen reform across the board, expand opening up, and promote higher-quality economic growth while achieving an appropriate increase in economic output, and advance well-rounded human development and common prosperity for all. This will also expand the space for cooperation between China and the United States." This relates to China's worst fear, worst nightmare - that before it can become a fully developed economy for 1.4 billion people it would find itself in the situation that faces Japan of an aging society and weak growth something Japan faces as a fully developed economy much smaller of 120 million people. Japan per capita GDP is at $36,000 2.5 times China's at $14,000 and about a fifth of Germany's at $64,000, about a seventh of the USA at $92,000. So that if China does not continue along the path of development it has followed since 1990 working with the US and EU it faces the prospect of losing forever the prospect of joining Japan and fall into lower than middle income status when large parts of the interior of China a third of its economy that is rural are still living in poor economy status with per capita GDP of $3500, which is 8% of the GDP per capita of the poorest state heavily rural state of Mississippi in the US. Even Shanghai and Beijing with about $32,000 per capita GDP are only about 58% of the per capita GDP of Louisiana in the bottom one third of US states. Xi Wang Yi, Lifeng are doing what China must do to compete with advanced US and European economies and Japan- continue to work with the US on the development model that has worked the best for China since 1990. It is not about supplanting anyone China is serious when it says here- "Over the past seven decades and more, we have been working from generation to generation on the same blueprint to make it a reality. We have no intention to challenge or supplant anyone. Our focus has always been on managing China’s own affairs well, improving ourselves, and sharing development opportunities with all countries across the world." ...

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German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul thinks the Putin Zelensky meeting is unlikely. He is on a tour to Japan. Wadephul talks to DW Germany in this interview explaining his perception of the war in Ukraine and prospects for peace through high level summit meetings when both sides are far from agreement on basics.

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A new California law Assembly Bill 5 is designed to provide legal protections to workers at independent contractors, including Lyft and Uber ride sharing companies. California Gov. Gavin Newsom says "the hollowing out of our middle class has been 40 years in the making and the need to create lasting economic security for our workforce demands action." This could lead to gig workers being classified as employees, or if renegotiated would enable gig workers to organize as unions to negotiate with the companies. Lyft and Uber have proposed as an alternative to raise the minimum wage to $21 an hour, and a fund to pay for sick leave.

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Vice president Harris is interviewed by Barnes and Jackson on their All the Smoke Productions You Tube Video channel. This will be broadcast on October 1, the day before the Walz-Vance debate. In it Harris recalls how in the 2006-2007 season she took the Bay Area Rapid transit to games at Oakland's Oracle Arena. “That was a very special time. I mean, it was electric. This is the thing I love about sports in general — but I’m going to say, ‘My Warriors, our Warriors’ — is that it was about bringing all kinds of people around the Bay Area — and the Bay Area’s a melting pot, right? — all coming in. And that team, you guys were the best of the best, legendary.” Harris says she admired the Warriors so much. That year the No.8 Warriors used the theme "We Believe" Warriors to win over the No. Seeded Dallas Mavericks. That year Harris was San Francisco's District Attorney.   ...