If the US presidential election is won by Kamala Harris, will American policies still follow the tracks set by current president Joe Biden? Harris served as vice president in the Biden administration, which gives reason to believe that there will be limited scope for big changes in American policy with Harris as Biden's successor.

Such a conclusion might be greatly mistaken as in many sectors, the policy lines drawn by Biden will shortly be needing revision and renewal. They are reaching - or have already reached - as far as they can be taken, especially in foreign policy. In the stand-off with Russia, in relations with China and even those with the EU (though here, the issues involved are on a totally different scale compared to the other two) if developments continue on their present course, the possibility of a war (cold or otherwise) becomes a realistic scenario. That would not be in the interests of the US.

Similarly, it would appear that the existing policy guidelines in sectors like immigation, economic management and the environment need updating.

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PLANS

Recently it was claimed that plans for the future have been prepared and are being prepared by government departments and agencies so as to ensure that there is in place a viable future strategy. In fact for a number of areas, documents have been published which present plans and proposals for future action. Not all are up to the same standard though all share a commitment to some form of long term planning.

However it might be the case that in all this, the cart is being put before the horse. For what we need above all is a general development plan regarding the economy and the society as a whole, covering all relevant sectors. From it would then proceed the sectoral plans and proposals.

Between the 1960's and the 1980's national development plans used to be published. Towards the end of the 1980's, the Fenech Adami administration declared that they were no longer of any use and since then, they haven't been prepared. This is a mistake.

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ARMS FOR ISRAEL

I have little to no sympathy for French president Emanuel Macron as a political personality, because of the decisions he takes and the way by which he takes them. Still I appreciated the manner by which in the ongoing war in Gaza, he was the first (the only one?) to take the bull by the horns: he stated that the Western powers should no longer blindly send arms and bombs to Israel.

The barbarous warfare that the Israelis are conducting, in breach of the international laws that define how military operations are to be carried out, is causing every day the deaths of scores and hundred of civilians. The bombs being deployed for this are made in the US and Europe. Meanwhile Israel has ignored all the warnings addressed to it, requiring that its military operations remain proprtionate and observe humanitarian rules. Macron's appraoch is correct, justified and should be implemented by all the Western powers.