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Santorum on the eve of the Michigan Republican primary of 2012, says religion has a role in the public space.

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A number of issues came up at the Women20 Summit in Berlin. Annette Niederfranke, Director of the International Labor Organization, brought up the issue of family reconciliation as "one of the toughest challenges for working women worldwide," that in order to meet obligations women tended to work in "non standard forms of employment and in part time work linked to lower wages, lower social security, lower benefits, and fewer training possibilities." Childcare was also an issue that was prominent considering the lack of adequate childcare in many countries including in the European Union. With responsibilities for the elderly, babies, and small children women tend to be in the workforce for shorter periods leading to men taking up many of the higher positions. Angela Merkel pointed out that Gemany tended to take a narrow view of professions available to girls, saying- "So it is very very important that we take a broader view of things while girls are still at school." Merkel also supports a Africa compact that would help women set up small and middle size businesses in poor countries. The "Digital" aspects of this and other efforts for women were a major topic being discussed. One idea that came up was that more cooperation from men was needed to make things happen. This is the third Women20 Summit after ones in Turkey and China, and a sense of momentum was felt by women. ...

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Jane Spencer interviews Lenovo CEO, Bill Amelio. Amelio throws light into how a company can best operate in China and reach out to a global market. Consider the way Amelio recruits Chinese talent working in the local language, and how he works with Chinese managers who tend to be more reticent on issues and opinion. Amelio is unique in his approach to hiring Chinese managers and building a bench with deep talent. He has abandoned what he calls the "colonial approach" of hiring with expat executives interviewing in English for managers in emerging markets. He says its a good idea to leave the English filter out to get more talent. Instead he has English language classes for the hired managers to help them improve language skills. Amelio talks about Lenovo's approach to the U.S. and other international markets as it competes with the likes of Acer and Dell. Amelio headed Dell's Asian operations prior to this position. Lenovo is testing ideas for giving low cost access at $100-$150 to people in India and China. The way this works is for Lenovo working with Intel and Microsoft to reduce the cost by 50%. For the bank to have half the ownership and the customer paying for the rest. Customers would buy cards for 10 hours of computing, and buy the computer back from the bank through regular use. Lenovo's strategy is to go after small and medium size businesses and consumers to increase market share in the U.S. and Europe. To do this it is using soccer star Ronaldinho and basketball stars to give Lenovo visibility as a brand. In other areas, Amelio has brought Dell managers to Lenovo to improve the supply chain management, an area Lenovo needed to improve....

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The stories of Dylan Roberts, 32 years, in Rockford, Illinois and Alfred Butt, 42 years,in Hohenlockenstedt, Germany. Roberts lost his job at aChrysler plant in Belvidere, near Rockford, Illinois, and Butt lost his job a German auto parts maker. Roberts gets a $64,000 severance package, and 59 weeks of unemployment insurance, with apossible additional 13 weeks, with monthly check of $1426 that is 27% of his income of $64,000 a year when employed. attribute 33 weeks of the 59 weeks to the stimulus measures of President Obama. Butt has 4 months as atransfer worker at full pay, which can be as long as 1 year, then he has till May 2010 at 80% of his pay when employed full time of 2700 euros amonth. The transfer company gives job training and job hunting advice. He continues getting his medical insurance benefits which are provided by the state. Roberts loses his health insurance with his job, and hopes to pay his expenses for a2 bedroom apartment with his girlfriend who makes close to $1500 as an elementary school teacher. He will take a2 year electronic engineering course with a local college using $6000 from Obama's Dislocated Worker's Program. But he isn't sure if he can do his studies after one year when his unemployment benefits expire. Butt can afford to take a vacation to Cyprus and his lifestyle is not much affected he says. His wife works as a nurse at a rheumatism clinic. Butt is like the 64% of Germans who say the crisis is not affecting them personally. Roberts is like the 87% of Americans who say this crisis id hurting them in their persdonal lives. To pay for the state funded benefits the total wage tax burdenas a percentage of labor costs for Butt is 52% in Germany. FOr Roberts it is 30% in the USA. France is at 49% Spain at 39% and the UK at 34%. Germany's public expenditures for these labor benefits are 2.97% of GDP in 2006, the USA's are 0.38%. Spain and France are at 2.32% and the UK at 0.61%. This also explains why the impact in countries like Germany and Spain is not felt so badly as in the USA. In SPain there is also the lower mobility and the safety net of family support helping people cope making it possible to cope with 20% unemployment without serious distress and hardships. See the link to Spain's unemployed....

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Al Maktoum is prime minister of Dubai. He points out some important facts about the Arab world. About half of the 300 million people in the Arab world are under the age of 25. Unemploment is very high among these 150 million Arab youth. About 50% of the jobless are youth, according to the prime minister. About 65 million of the Arabs are illiterate, and 10 million children under the age of 25 are not enrolled in any school. He points out that with so little education, the Arab youth are especially vulnerable to propaganda that creates extremism and is hostile to the west and the USA. One of his key points is that the Arab world is the most militarized place in the world, and spending on conflicts in the Middle East in the last 60 years is about $3 trillion. And in the last 15 years he says the spending on education which is 20% of what the world's 30 wealthiest countries spend, has dropped to 10% of that amount. And very little is being done to educate girls and give them opportunities. As a result of these convictions, Al Maktoum, who is also the ruler of Dubai and from the royal family, has committed about $3 billion to various initiatives to provide schooling to children, especially girls, and education for young people. This makes him one of the more enlightened leaders in the region pushing for new directions. This also reveals the critical weakness among the Arab peoples and why they tend to be so radicalized. Improvements in education and more opportunities for jobless youth, and creating a peaceful region -with the US and the EU countries committing to policies that lead to much diminished military sales to Mideast countries and reducing hostilities in the region -would do more to reduce anti-American sentiment in the region and improve US security than any other policy actions. As Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the Muslims of India share the same characteristics as the Arab peoples, and the same cultures, the same is true of this region, actually more so. Education has been even worse neglected in the South Asian Muslim region than among the Arabs. It is the key to peace, does more than troops to ensure the peace. The need is for more schools to be built and run in the region, for essential services like healthcare and development, and financing of job creating industries. ...

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Challenges facing McChrystal, his blunt assessment, who says his troops are in the situation of apowerful but stupid bull lunging after insurgents. More important to protect the Afghan population he says to his troops tna to kill insurgents. But do the people think this way or do they simply wnat to be left alone by both the Taliban and the American forces if they could speak their mind. See Intelilinks for ground reports including Kearns Goodwin.

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A poll done by the International Republican Institute, a nonprofit affiliated with the Republican party, of 3500 people across Pakistan found a couple of important things. The Republican Institute's goal is to promote democracy in the developing world. 1. Popularity of President Zardari at 9% and Nawas Sharif's at 55%. The US resumed contacts with Sharif, and Sharif is seen as able to bring the Islamic moderates to the American side. 2. Economic issues are what concerns Pakistanis most. Refugees are approaching the 1 million number according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. 3. 81% said the country was going in the wrong direction, Zardari was never elected and is incompetent and this could be the reason. But military is still unpopular, 77% want democratic rule, possibly with Sharif or some sort of combination of Sharif, lawyers movement, and Islamic moderates in charge. 4. From alow of 9% in January 2008, now 37% are willing to work with the USA against extremism. Could Obama's election and US support of Pakistan's effort to heal itself be apart of this change of heart? 5. 45% support fighting extremists in the tribal areas and the Northwest Frontier Province. And 69% say having the Taliban and Al Quaeda operate in Pakistan is a serious problem. If these poll results accurately reflect shifting feeling in Pakistan, American help to help Pakistan pull itself up by its bootstraps economically and unify the country under a democratic administration of Islamic moderates and people from other areas like the lawyers movement, could work. It also improves the prospects of pulling out of Afghanistan after the situation improves, and setting up an administration that comprises Islamic moderates and tribal representatives that keeps out Al Quaeda, and works to rebuild Afghanistan after seemingly endless years of war. These efforts would require cooperation of Iran, India, Pakistan and the US, and assistance of countries like Turkey, in creating an atmosphere that promotes peaceful development in the entire region. ...

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McChrystal as one of the five best generals in the army today according to one general who worked with him in Iraq, and the perfect man for th job. He was chief of staff for an army task force during operations to overthrow the Taliban in Afghnistan so his work with Afghanistan goes back many years. He is a field and hands on kind of guy, and at the same time has the intellect and listening ability to coordinate things with others, which may be badly needed here.

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The WSJ editorial says Gen McChrystal may bring the qualities of flexibility and imagination, and intellect, the way General Petraeus did to the war in Iraq. It says Defense Secretary Gates did well with President Obama to bring achange of leadership to the American effort to bring security to the Afghan people from the Taliban militants. It was the leisurely way the NATO effort proceeded under Gen. McKiernan in building the Afghan army- the only remaining institution that commands confidence in the country - that WSJ faults for having gone on too long. The other institutions like the corrupt police, and the failing government of Hamid Karzai, along with the spread of opium farming in the south have led to further deterioration in security.

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The decision to replace Gen. McKiernan with Gen. McChrystal and to have Lt. Gen David Rodriguez as his deputy, was made by Defense Secretary Gates and Jt Chiefs chairman Mullen, after thinking about this during the transition to the new Obama administration. The failing war effort in Afghanistan with the Karzai government controlling only pockets of Afghanistan and Kabul and leaving the countryside to the Taliban has alot to do with this. Gates feeling is "we can and must do better." That it took so long, with the Taliban only 50 miles from Islamabad, Pakistan, and the question of Paksitan's nuclear weapons falling into thier hands vexing the adminstration, shows that things slowed down with the transition and the economic crisis. The decision was not adifficult one considering that McKiernan had little to show for his efforts, and the rapidly deteriorating situation by all accounts. McKiernan was a senior officer who spent his entire military career commanding conventional forces, serving in the Balkans and the Iraq war in 2003, and has the wrong midset and background for counterinsurgency warfare. McChrystal has experiences suited to counterinsurgency warfare, having commanded commando teams that took out leading insurgents. He is also director of the Joint chiefs of staff, so known to Mullen for his abilities. Rodriguez commanded the 82nd Airborne Division in eastern Afghanistan, is seen as aleading expert in counterinsurgency warfare. He is also Gates's senior military advisor so known to Gates for his abilities. The new strategy is to go with counterinsurgency warfare to turn this thing around. This puts 2 commanders with this kind of experience in Kabul, and close communication with Gates and Mullen because they worked together before. With additional troops, and shift in resource acquisition at the Pentagon that Gates is trying to secure for this kind of warfare, this creates the kind of combination that could help the US in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and achieve more modest goals. See the links to Gates's and Petraeus's more modest goals....

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The government of Hamid Karzi released Mr Dastagir from jail 2 months ago even though he was aTaliban commander in an area near Turkmenistan. This fuels feeling among ordinary Afghan people that the corrupt or criminal can get themselves out of jail. In this case the tribal elders who advocated his release may themselves have faced threats from the Taliban and argued for his release. He was killed in a US pinpoint bombing raid.

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The Economist points to ways in which the effort in Afghanistan might see success. More troops on the ground to avoid civilian casualties from air attacks and bombings which can antagonizepeople and create more young militants exposed to religious extremist propaganda, huge investment in development, piecemeal arrangements with the local tribes and powerbrokers including the Taliban, help to Pakistan and concentrating its mind on the effort in its frontier areas so close to its capital Islamabad. At the same time building support inside Pakistan for a liberal state that remains Islamic but keeps religion out of the state, and builds alasting peace in South Asia without getting mired in conflicts like Kashmir which it calls "intractable disputes" that may be bypassed for an overall peace.

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David Brooks on the ground in Wardak province of Afghanistan, points to the efforts to restore the indigenous government and community structures that will be so important to restoring to Afghanistan what was lost in years of war, and which has left a vacuum in which the insurgents flourish.

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Bret Stephens of the WSJ puts the -question what is Pakistan? And looks at possible answers. Starting with Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who he says had aquite different idea from that of the Taliban. He quotes Jinnah 'you will find that in the course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus, and Muslims cease to be Muslims , not in the religious sense, because this is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State." His idea was of religion as apolitical identification of the state as opposed to asecular idea like that of India, not of a religious state in a religious sense.This Bret Stephens says is why a majority of Pakistanis have rejected religious parties at the polls but still find the idea of political religion identification appealing. He sees these aims as immodest or overreaching in the modern world of technology, mass communications and economic deveopment. Only by remaining backward can such aspirations be supported because economic development, technology and mass communications can only supplant such religious politcal identification with aspirations for higher standards of living. Witness the current general elections in India with 730 million people voters. The common driving force for all parties is how they can deliver on the economic aspirations of people for better living standards, better infrastructure, and better services such as health care and education. And communal parties like the BJP also have to shift their focus to delivering on these aspirations to get support. So Bret Sephens makes the point quite effectively when he says that the threat to Pakistan is existential, so he would like to put the point existentially - just accept simple countryhood, or face nothingness. ...

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Instead of going through layers of executives before speaking to the CEO, quality chiefs at Toyota now speak directly with the CEO. Mr. St. Angelo who heads the Quality group at Toyota for the American region met directly recently with Mr Akio Toyoda. There are in all 6 Quality chiefs for six regions worldwide. Akio's questioning during a Congressional investigation appears to be a turning point and he is determined to shake things up. He choked up at the National Press Club in Washington while thanking employees and dealers for their support. See the links to Akio Toyoda for Akio's education and experience in the U.S., which may have better prepared him for this challenge than his more parochial mindset predecessors who lacked this type of background.

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Problems that may be unfixable for the Afghan national army, and for which no increase in foreign trainers could make a difference. About 3% of the army recruits are from the Pushtun south, the main part of the country, where the Taliban are strongest. Officers from the northern areas have to use translators in the Pushtun south, a bad sign. And there is a shortage of officer talent. Gereral Caldwell who is working on training the army, says he was appalled at the emphasis on quantity not quality- the Afghan army has reached 134,000 in numbers. The ratio of instructors to recruits ranges from 1 to 80 to 1 to 466. It will cost $11 billion to maintain compared to an estimated $1 million per American soldier each year. Even if training problems are fixed, having 3% of recruits from the major Pushtun part of the country where the fighting is being done, simply makes the overall problem unfixable. See the group - Defense Department biannual report on Afghanistan, for related insight.

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Afghan warlord of a previous era Hekmatyar is proving difficult to buyout or win over, a strategy pursued with Iraqi insurgents. Younger Taliban insurgents are even harder to convert or buyout. THis raises questions about the chances of this kind of effort succeeding in Afghanistan, especially considering the "allergy" to foreign presence or foreign boots on the ground among Afghan people and the part religious fervour plays. Religious fervour was much less of a factor with Iraqi Sunni insurgents. Add to this the terrain differences, between desert and high mountains, makin the kind of house to house searches and securing of areas extremely difficult.

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Jim Dwyer discusses proposed legislation in the New York City Council in November 2011, to set a "living wage" of $10 per hour, plus benefits, for workers at new developments receiving more than $1 million in public money. Under this legislation employers who do not include benefits would pay an hourly wage of $11.50. Discussion in the City Council has led to questioning this legislation on the grounds that the developments would not be built under the new rules. Dwyer points to San Francisco, which has set the minimum wage at $10.24 for January 2012, plus mandatory contributions to health insurance funds. The number of low wage workers in New York City with some college education has increased by 70%, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute. Wages at the bottom were $10.85 an hour, adjusted for inflation in 1990, in 2010 the wages were $10. What this does is further increase the income disparities and inequality in the U.S. Because of the demographic changes in America with Hispanic children representing a large proportion of young children, and the high rate of dropouts from highschool in the Mexican American community in New York, this means more children in New York City growing up below the poverty line....

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By acquiring Vodafone Japan Softbank CEO Son brought competition to the industry and challenged the duopoly of DocoMo and KDD telecom providers. After acquiring Sprint Son is taking a hands on approach to shakeup management at the company, which has lagged behind T-Mobile in building its subscriber base. After years of losses Sprint now faces the prospect of a complete makeover from the old way of doing things. Sprint is based in Overland, Kansas. Son says Sprint is like Japanese lords in feudal Japan who controlled everything in their lands, and said Sprint is a Kansas Daimyo. Masayoshi Son has asked executives to fire all the ad agencies and start over, at one point asking executives if they were stupid. Son has established shadow offices at San Carlos, California to monitor weekly progress at Sprint.

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Frenchman Christophe Weber, 47, is head of Glaxo's vaccine business. He is the next CEO of Japanese pharmaceutical manufacturer Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. He will succeed President Yasuchika Hasegawa. Weber will join Takeda in April as chief operating officer and become president in June 2014. Hasegawa will continue as interim CEO for one year and Weber is expected to succeed Hasegawa, 67, at that point. Hasegawa has run the company for 10 years. During this period Takeda has expanded internationally. Takeda acquired Swiss drug company Nycomed in 2011. Executives were hired from western companies. Francois-Xavier Roger, of Luxembourg's Millicom International Cellular SA was made the chief financial officer, and Phillip Duncan of Novartis joined as chief procurement officer. Hasegawa sees new talent from western companies as useful in penetrating emerging markets. Weber also headed Glaxo's Asia/Pacific operations. Hasegawa told a news confernece: "We're no longer in an age where decisions are based on whether a person is Japanese or foreign." ...

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Lisa Klauser, vice president of consumer and customer solutions at Unilever NV, says its seeing recession period habits becoming a part of the normal shopping behaviour. With some consumers living from paycheck to paycheck, she says Unilever is seeing sales pickup in the first week of each month for lower priced items like Suave shampoo, Skippy peanut butter and Ragu sauce. See the link to P&G about the shift to address this change in consumer behaviour.

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Galston of the Brookings Institution says globalization has hurt workers in manufacturing with job losses and declining incomes. It has produced outcomes that have favored some industries such as tech, and not others such as automobiles which in the past helped create the broad middle class by offering good paying jobs to people with less than a college education. Immigration has created an issue that political leaders outside of the main parties have appealed to in France, the U.S. and Britain. The result is a polarization in the voters that has rarely been seen to this extent before. The middle class in the period from the 1950's to the 1980's is not the middle class that we see today in Europe and the U.S. The 2008 financial crisis added to the problems with the slow and uncertain recovery for some groups such as white men, the less educated, students, and people on minimum wage.