LyrArc Article Gist
Gordon points to Roosevelt's experience in 1938 when the Republicans did very well that year in the midterm elections, two years after Roosevelt's decisive wins in 46 states in 1936. The tendency for new administrations to get a lot of the legislative agenda done in the first two years, and the losses in midterms for Wilson, Roosevelt, Reagan and Clinton.

LyrArc Article Gist
Galston says the Republican establishment's support for Trump before the Republican primary in Iowa is shortsighted and a mistake.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Washington Post's veteran Middle East correspondent, Jim Hoagland, says there are some important lessons to take from the experience in Libya. The Arab rulers who entrenched themselves for decades wasted the bulk of their oil wealth. It was right for Palestinians to disassociate themselves from these regimes. The French took the brunt of the fight in helping Libya free itself from the Gaddafi regime. This is an understatement as without Sarkozy's initative and Cameron's unflagging support, without France and Britain's early support, Gaddafi's forces would have overrun Benghazi and ended the struggle for democracy in this part of the Arab world. U.S. President Obama and Defense Secretary Gates did little in the early days when there was dire need. Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel continuously resisted supporting France and Britain in Libya. The U.S. Obama administration and Turkey gave their support only after the perilous period- when the fate of the rebels fighting for freedom hung on a thread- was past. Hoagland calls Gates view of "feckless Europeans" shortsighted. Hoagland sees this as an opportunity for Europe to take a larger more active role. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This WSJ editorial makes an excellent argument of how the wrong conclusions can be drawn from Hamas, as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood gaining participation and winning of the elections in Gaza. It calls this a mistake in 2006, which does not affect the liberal democratic openings of the Bush administration in the Arab world. Hamas had an armed militia and rejected the 1993 Oslo records, so the necessary committments which are required for democratic processes to work were not put in place, primarily on the advice of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice who made an exception in this case. The Journal says the mistake was not about free elections, but elections before the proper groundwork had been prepared, which requires that anti-democratic parties cannot be part of a democratic system and elections- a lesson that goes back to 1933. If the Brotherhood in Egypt wants to participate in elections says the Journal, it has to promise to play by democratic rules , and work to establish religious and social pluralism, and honor treaty commitments. And the constitutional system has to setup a system of strong checks and balances that prevent an elected party from subverting the democratic process for future generations whatever its support at any particular time. This is significant as it puts things in the proper context and also clearly establishes a well established point- democracy can only work for democrats. And at the same time preserves what is best about America's heritage and core values in America's stance with the rest of the world, and in this case with the Arab world....

LyrArc Article Gist
A failed policy of the Obama administration in Syria leads to a situation in which chemical weapons are used by the Assad government without a response from the U.S. or its allies in Europe.

LyrArc Article Gist
Pakistan prime minister Nawas Sharif's friendly overtures to India. The need for improved trade and economic relations with India to improve Pakistan's economy and fears that the military and intelligence services or extremist groups could torpedo these efforts.

LyrArc Article Gist
Former U.S. Treasury secretary Robert Rubin talks to Charlie Rose about the August 2 Debt Ceiling and Deficit legislation. He says there are two constructive things about the legislation. There are no serious cuts in 2011 and 2012, so there will be almost no loss in demand as spending cuts do not affect the immediate 18 month period. Former Treasury Secretary Summers also makes this point. And that the cuts include defense and non-defense. He favors the approach of the Bowles-Simpson Commission. On the overall situation Rubin points out the importance of getting a real public discussion going about what this means, what the consequences of decisions made now. Especially important for Rubin is public understanding of the importance of setting up a serious deficit reduction program that sets the date of implementation a couple of years into the future to give time to get back on track, and the need for increased revenues. A useful point Rubin makes is that the question of jobs and the question of getting into a sound position fiscally are really the same question. He cites his experience in 1993 when he helped President Clinton setup and implement a deficit reduction program- which had half spending cuts and half revenue increases. Bowles-Simpson Commission recommendations for closing loopholes for tax expenditures and Martin Feldstein's similiar proposal for limiting the deductions and exclusions to 2% of Adjusted Gross Income offer an option that creates revenues without any tax increases....

LyrArc Article Gist
Robert Reilly, an assistant to President Reagan, former director of Voice of America, says don't underestimate the importance of what the younger Bush as president called "the vision thing." Efficiency experts like Hoover, and Republican candidates who had business and other professional experience but could not grasp the moral imperative in politics such as Alf Landon (1936), Wendell Wilkie (1940), Thomas Dewey (1944 and 1948) failed to convince voters. Democrats presented ideas like the Fair Deal, New Deal (FDR), New Frontier (Kennedy), Great Society (Johnson) and captured this "vision thing" to win. This is why he is skeptical about Romney as business and management consultant coming in and bringing change with a number of management consultants. Reagan also presented the choice in moral terms which were then translated into how the government would function to fulfill the moral imperative, says Reilly.

LyrArc Article Gist
Over the last ten years average growth in real per capita income has averaged 1.6%, with declines only in two years of the last twenty years, 2008 with the global financial crisis, and in 1991 a year before President George H.W. Bush lost the election to Clinton. A forecast by Mark Zandl of Moody's Economy.com shows real disposable income per capita is expected to increase by 0.4% by the end of the third quarter of 2010 from a year earlier. This will show up in consumer spending and will weaken the recovery. It is also likely to be reflected in elections in the latter part of 2010.

LyrArc Article Gist
This piece in Der Spiegel points out that Brexit may be an opportunity if European leaders recognize that there can be different levels of unity, and that different countries in the EU can advance at their own pace with Germany and France providing a core group. There is no longer the need for continual enlargement of the European Union as has happened before. It also offers a time to take some deep breaths and reflect on the progress so far and where it has come short, what to do about it, such as the bureaucracy that has grown in Brussels, the different views on immigration, and public sentiment. Actually the whole progress towards the European Community, and then the European Union has evolved over time. In the immediate postwar years, after one setback Adenauer once said during the difficult negotiations in 1951-52 between France and Germany to set up the European Coal and Steel Community, predecessor of the European Community and the European Union- "arme Europa, arme Europa," (poor Europe, poor Europe). The Dutch and Belgian delegates had strong differences for the headquarters for the ECSC- Turin was rejected, Liege and Brussels were proposed, until Monnet was made head of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community with headquarters in Luxembourg. Monnet himself considered stepping down a couple of times because of differences, and the Editor of Le Monde described Monnet's plans for European integration as "a leap in the dark." This was the first of many difficult steps in the evolution of the European Union. Nationalist feeling was nothing new, as the Gaullists opposed Monnet's drive for European unity when it differed from their ideas. Still Monnet persevered and progress took place every ten years as it must now.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Ukraine president Poroshenko tells a news conference in Kiev in September 2014 - "the doors of the E.U. are open to us; I am absolutely convinced of this. Events in Kiev and Brussels gave us a firm hope, a belief, that we will soon get the prospect of E.U. membership." Poroshenko plans to repeal a 2010 law barring Ukraine from membership in any military or political alliance, so that it can apply to join NATO. Clearly Mr. Putin's remark to EU president Barroso that Russia could reach Kiev in 2 weeks has stiffened resolve all over Eastern Europe from Lithuania to Poland, and changed perception in Germany and France about Mr. Putin. The German response from Merkel was to have "a consistent presence" in the Baltic Republics, so that the consequences of threats in Eastern Europe would be made clear to Mr. Putin. Poroshenko says he is in constant communication with Putin about settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine, showing the costs recognized by all sides to prolonging the conflict....

LyrArc Article Gist
Forsythe describes the process by which the Chief Executive is elected in Hong Kong from a group of 1200 individuals mostly pro-business and loyal to Beijing. This was done under the Basic Law drafted in 1990, a mini-constitution that was the basis of transfer from Britain to China in 1997. In 2007 China's People's Congress promised Hong Kong a "one man, one vote" election for 2017. On August 31, 2014 changes were made to this planned election process to limit candidates to persons approved by Beijing, that was considered unacceptable by the protestors from civil society and the universities.

LyrArc Article Gist
Jack Welch, former head of GE (General), says there is something that does not add up in the Labor Dept numbers for unemployment in Sept. 2012 showing that the unemployment rate declined from 8.1% to 7.8%, because experts estimate the economy has to generate more than 150,000 jobs each month just to keep up with population growth. The number of jobs generated for 2012 are lower than this number. Another measure of unemployment which shows the underutilization of labor in America, which the U.S. Federal Reserve's Bernanke looks at because it is ameasure of how effectively the U.S. is using the productive resources of the country, is U-6. U-6 covers people in parttime jobs who cannot find full time jobs and this has remained unchanged at 14.7% for Sept. 2012 according to the Labor Department.

LyrArc Article Gist
Journalists shot and wounded in the violent police crackdown on protesters in Cairo on August 14, 2013.

LyrArc Article Gist
The anti-corruption bill for creation of a Lokpal agency passed the lower and upper house of the Indian parliament in December 2013. It was stalled for two years after the efforts of political activist Anna Hazare's protest movement for passage of the bill. With national elections approaching in 2014 and the ruling Congress party's image bruised badly in state elections of Dec. 2013, party leaders decided to support the bill. In the elections in the capital Delhi a anti-corruption party, Aaam Aadmi (for the common man), created only recently, won a major part of the seats. In India corruption hurts not only at the national and local level as in China, but affects the daily life of the common man as bribes are required from ordinary people for anything to get done that requires approval from the huge government bureaucracy. In that sense it takes a toll on economic development and affects the quality of services received by the vast majority of people, which is why the party calls itself "common man."...

LyrArc Article Gist
The talks for a peace settlement with the Taliban hosted in London in Feb. 2013 by Britain's prime minister, David Cameron. The talks were between Cameron, Pakistan's president Asif Zardari, and Afghanistan president Karzai. The effort is designed to prevent a civil war after the NATO and U.S. withdrawal in 2013-2014.