A malaise is striking down Europe from within. Like doughty old women trying to turn back the clock, Europeans are battening down the hatches to keep out people, cheaper products and high-tech services from non-European nations, especially South Asia and Africa. At the same time, the EU continues to expect Washington to act as nurturing mother and nursemaid regardless of now irresponsibly its leaders behave to the detriment of American foreign and economic policy goals. Despite President Barack...

The world expectantly awaits word from its most powerful man, Barack Obama who delivers his State of the Union address on January 27. On that day, France’s Nicholas Sarkozy will make a keynote speech at Europe’s most prestigious annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland, of global political, business and civil society leaders. The only significant American personality at the World Economic Forum’s Davos meetings will be Lawrence Summers. This continues the Obama White House snub to the World...

“All I really need is love but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt,” said Lucy van Pelt of Peanuts. To that I’d add, “A little Swiss chocolate please, especially chocolate coated almonds that caress the tongue.” Is there really anything better than plain milk chocolate or truffles that melt in the mouth?. Not for me! And to my delight that is also where innovations are increasing. As many in the world race to adapt to speedy new technologies, a little nook continues a leisurely...

A surprising Swiss federal court ruling is forcing the government to gear up for a new battle against the US Internal Revenue Service, which is trying to punish rich Americans hiding their wealth abroad to avoid taxes. If it occurs, the Swiss resistance could derail a main plank of the Obama administration’s drive to choke foreign tax havens. The ruling also heaped trouble upon a former Swiss President who helped conduct tax negotiations last year. After Obama’s arrival, the IRS started a very...

President Barack Obama’s acknowledgement that “we have somehow lost the sense of direct contact with the Americans on their core values” may be too little too late in the world’s eyes. Obama has extended a hand of dialogue to many countries, including enemies, but they will grasp it only if they feel that his other hand has a firm grip on power within the US. Republican Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts is not just a political defeat. It is a symbol of Obama’s waning charisma and...

Even as the US and other countries batten down the hatches against terrorism and religious totalitarians, there are enough positive signs in other areas to expect 2010 to be better than 2009. The world’s nations have never done as much in the past to work together to share knowledge, technology and best practices to reduce poverty, environmental pollution, disease, violation of human rights and exploitation of children. The most positive aspect is that these efforts are led and performed by civil...

After nearly 30 years of on and off coolness, the Obama administration is resetting relations with the United Nations because no other organization offers access to dialogue with so many countries. Among other things, Barack Obama wants to be remembered as the President willing to talk sincerely to America’s enemies before imposing sanctions or picking up the gun. In 2010, the UN could be a useful facilitator of that legacy. Coolness began after Ronald Reagan came to power in 1981 and the UN, led...

Dealing with climate change may be the most important issue for human progress but 2010 is likely to see it move to the backburner because creating jobs is better politics in the US, Europe and elsewhere. President Barack Obama’s presence surrounded by 5 cabinet members, many senators and tens of top journalists at the recent Copenhagen conference failed to persuade major players like the European Union, China and India to accept his outstretched hand. The reason is a widening divide between the...

For West Asia, 2010 has not begun well. The mess in Iran is increasing by the day and holds peril unprecedented for the entire region. If the government, however reprehensible, falls into disarray the real possibility arises of a huge arc of violent political and civil instability stretching through Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Palestine to Israel. The possibility of a new American war is small but that holds little comfort. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Turkey are...

2009 was a disappointing year partly because President Barack Obama fell short of the hopes raised when he came to power last January following his inspiring electioneering. Perhaps we expected too much of just a man. Most of the world, even North Korea, expected a healer’s touch but Obama looks increasingly like a fly trapped in a spider’s web of political complexities. 2010 will tell whether he is mainly an orator or an incisive player thinking several moves ahead to win through masterly preplanned...

A two-edged sword lurks under President Barack Obama’s sudden decision to attend the Copenhagen talks on climate change. Just a few hours ago the United Nations Climate Change Conference seemed headed to muddle and failure. Obama’s presence on December 9 gives a welcome boost but it could also bring ignominy upon the President if he cannot knock heads together. The Copenhagen meet is the main stepping stone to renewal of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol in 2012. This is a hot button issue in the running...

President Barack Obama is weakening the legs of his policies to stabilize Afghanistan through missteps in the important relationship with India. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is trying to repair some of the cracks during the current State visit but success is elusive so far. The White House’s fixation on Pakistan’s troubles in handling its incipient domestic Jihadist insurgency is blinding it to the fact that India is by far the overwhelming military power in South Asia. Its competitor is China,...

Incredibly, President Barack Obama’s in-depth Afghanistan review is underplaying the evident peril that arming unruly warlords empowers them to use American war techniques to scuttle his agenda and settle mutual scores with more lethal force instead . It is fast-forwarding two great dangers. First, it is ensuring that Afghanistan can have no central government in Kabul capable of enforcing discipline on the entire country through monopoly of arms and police work. Local warlords armed by America...

A misunderstanding of the meaning of victory in asymmetrical wars is a main reason why the US remains stuck in the bloody quick sands of Afghanistan and Iraq. Since military power is unable to deliver a sustainable peace, alternative strategies deserve consideration. As President Barack Obama seeks world esteem for US leadership during top-level talks in New York and Pittsburg this week, it is worth remembering the clay feet of military power. The US spends more on its armed forces and spy apparatus...

In Afghanistan, the US is heading towards futility if not defeat mainly because no policy maker in Washington or its allied European capitals is willing to notice the bull in the china shop obvious to others. Washington and its NATO allies are focused on the awful recent elections. They are running in circles trying to establish democracy and rule of law in country where the lifestyle of rural folk dominated by clans and tribes has not changed significantly in 1000 years. What is obvious to non-Americans...

Governments and international agencies are taking a big risk by playing down the potentially lethal effects of the H1N1 flu pandemic, earlier called “swine flu”, because most information during the last 11 months has come from the world’s rich countries. People affected are expected to double every three to four days for several months but in rich countries they are generally well nourished and access to medical care is easier. So they recover quickly and often suffer little more than symptoms...

In these dismal times, there is a piece of good news for over three billion poor people around the world. An effective public private partnership is required to make it work but the methods are quite easy and low cost. According to the World Health Organization and several other expert groups, it will prevent the loss of nearly one percentage point of GDP on average caused by health deficiencies. The loss occurs because of low productivity and high health care costs associated with vitamin and mineral...

Iran is pushing ahead with its covert nuclear weapons program while Israel bangs its head against a wall because of a change in Washington’s security posture that is already taking place. Hilary Clinton’s so far informal offer of a security, including nuclear, umbrella, to its friends in the Middle East is an admission that Washington is unsure of stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons. It is becoming increasingly clear that Clinton and President Barack Obama think the only practicable...

India launched a 6000-ton nuclear powered submarine a few hours ago joining a select group of countries– United States, Russia, France, Britain and China – with the knowhow to do so. The 367-foot sub made with Russian help will become operational after trials lasting three to five years and will carry missiles with a range of about 450 miles. It will be able to fire nuclear warheads. This is both good and bad news. India lives in a tough neighborhood and almost all of its territories are...

Even as he asserts his desire to reset relations with Russia in a positive direction, President Barack Obama is sowing early seeds for a new Cool War if not Cold War with Russia and its satellites. The latest act was Vice President Joe Biden’s clear and full backing to Georgia, which is being interpreted there and in East and Central European capitals as an informal military guarantee of protection against Russian aggression. The specter of Cool War lurks in Biden’s repeated promise of full...

The White House is misreading the signals from Iran’s turmoil and may find itself in a box by the September deadline President Barack Obama has set to intensify pressure if Teheran does not offer cooperation. Following the street demonstrations contesting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s election, Iranian domestic politics have changed fundamentally and the country has entered a backstage civil conflict among powerful groups of ruling clerics. Unlike the George Bush administration, Obama is willing to...

The current month-long Indian elections, whose results emerge on Friday and Saturday, hold more jeopardy than almost any in the past for both domestic policies and likely impacts on India’s attitudes towards the West. First, let’s note that India and its democracy are inspirational for the world. This country of nearly 1.2 billion has over 714 million voters of whom about 350 million voted. Over 52% actually cast ballots in 828,000 polling stations across 543 constituencies secured by over 6...

The recent stock market rallies around the world hold peril because they are encouraging governments, especially in Europe, China and India, into thinking that the worst is over and reforms are less urgent. The toxic assets of major global banks are far from being on the path to purification, mostly because of policy confusion. This is despite the nearly 3 trillion earmarked by the US, Europe and China for domestic spending over three years to bail out banks, remove their bad debts and provide economic...

A deepening sense of disappointment is sweeping over the main European countries as the dust settles over President Barack Obama’s first trip to Europe. Coming weeks may demonstrate the unthinkable: that the bubble of Obama-mania in Europe has sprung enough leaks to start bursting soon. The people’s love affair with him continues albeit with added caution but specialists find few substantive changes in US positions on key issues, as they sift with rested heads through what his team actually...

There are growing murmurs in Europe that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has overplayed his hand under advice from the Americans, setting off the slow demise of Pakistan not only as a democracy but also as a governable country. A nightmare is shaping up on the streets of cities big and small in Pakistan. Pity its people battered between the hammer of military dictators and the anvil of civilian despots and Islamic totalitarians, blind to their struggle to feed and raise children in safety. The...