In this episode, I look at the state of German reunification thirty years later.    The reunification has - to a large extend - been difficult to pull off.  The Economic and quality of life gap is shrinking, but lingering inequality continues to impact both German society and its politics. 

In this episode, I look at Trump's highest-profile fans - in ideological support or specific policies and who won't be happy if he loses in November.  

In this episode, I will be looking at why the US Senate race matters.  The 100 member body is currently held by the Republican Party but many individual Senate races are wide open.  The results will have a profound impact on only on America but also on US foreign policy and other major issues with global impact.    I will look at just a few areas such as immigration, trade, arms deals, and climate change.  

In this episode, we'll be taking a closer look at AI and Regulations or I better be saying "regulating AI".

The drumbeat for regulating artificial intelligence (AI) is growing louder Not just in the United States and Europe but also elsewhere around the world. Earlier this month, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google's parent company, Alphabet, became the latest super high-profile Silicon Valley figure to call for governments to put guardrails around technologies that use huge amounts of (oftentimes personal) data to teach computers how to identify faces, make decisions about mortgage applications, and so many other tasks that previously relied on us - yes! human brainpower. 

A potentially deadly new coronavirus that can be transmitted from one person to another is now spreading across China. This new deadly virus is big news and very very serious.  Complicating containment efforts, millions of people are on the move across the country this week to celebrate the Chinese New Year with family and friends, adding to more fears about the spreading of the virus.   But this is not just a Chinese problem.

Almost two years after Donald Trump began its trade war against China, President Trump and Chinese Vice-Premier signed a deal in Washington. The full details are still not clear, but in this episode, I discuss the so-called  "Phase One" deal between the world's two most influential economies is expected to include, despite inevitable disagreements between the US and China about how the deal should be implemented and enforced,

In this episode, I review the most important events in the region and discuss the role of China and Russia in the region in 2020.

In this episode, I discuss the recent EU report about the “lost generation”.   And how the report waruns of a potential “lost generation” of migrants, people who enter Europe to build better lives but then find little chance of integrating into society. 

The destiny of Donald Trump will likely remain in the hands of American voters, not their elected officials. And the result of the next election is still more likely to be defined by the Democrats' choice of a presidential candidate, the state of the US economy in 2020, and the enthusiasm that each side's voters feel about the election than by anything now happening in congressional hearing rooms.