Japan growth slower than forecast; The risk in offending Russia; Oprah Winfrey and retail racism

1 Japan growth slower than expected (BBC) Japan's economy expanded at a slower pace than most analysts expected in the second quarter. Gross domestic product grew 0.6% in the April to June period, indicating an annualised increase of 2.6%, according the latest government figures. That is down from the 4.1% annual rate in the first three months of the year. Analysts were expecting growth of 3.6%.

Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has been trying to revive the economy after years of stagnation. His policies, known as Abenomics, include boosting the supply of money in the economy and raising government spending. So far those moves have helped to weaken the yen and boost profits for Japan's exporters.

"The results show that 'Abenomics' has succeeded in boosting consumer sentiment and spending but it has yet to encourage companies to spend more and raise wages," said Takeshi Minami from Norinchukin Research Institute Tokyo. "As such, it remains unclear if growth could be sustained in the long run." The worry is that one of the aims of Abenomics is get consumer prices rising again as it encourages business and people to spend. However, if wages do not keep pace then household incomes will not rise.

2 The risk in offending Russia (Eric S Margolis in Khaleej Times) Behind the chill is America’s ‘superior’ mentality. The single most important national security imperative for the US is to maintain correct relations with Russia. It’s not Al Qaeda, NSA, China, North Korea, or any other issue. That’s why President Barack Obama’s cancellation of his planned meeting with Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, during the 5-6 September Group of 20 meeting in St. Petersburg is so dismaying.

Russia has over 3,000 active nuclear warheads, the majority aimed at North America. The US has a similarly powerful nuclear arsenal, primarily targeted on Russia, or in reserve for a second strike in the event of all-out war. When two men are holding loaded pistols to each other’s heads, keeping cool, calm and polite is imperative. But that’s just what Washington has not been doing, exposing Americans to an unnecessary national security risk for no apparent gain.

Behind this Big Chill is Washington’s ongoing treatment of Russia as a second or third-rate power. The US lectures and hectors Russia and affords scant concern of Moscow’s strategic interests or spheres of interest. Europe gets much the same treatment. Whenever Russia refuses to go along with US policy – Syria being a good example – it comes in for barrages of criticism over human and political rights in America’s state-influenced media and Congress.

President Putin is no angel: he’s tough as nails and brooks no opposition. But that’s what Russians want. Putin has raised Russia off its knees. Now, President Obama has made clear he is boycotting his planned meeting with Putin because of human rights issues and Syria. The 800-lb gorilla he did not mention is Edward Snowden, now in temporary Russian exile. Given that Washington is in bed with numerous rights violators – think of Uzbekistan, Mubarak’s Egypt, Azerbaijan – its squeamishness over Russia rings hollow.

Obama, under blistering attack from Republicans over the deaths of three Americans in Benghazi, Libya, is offending Putin and indeed all Russians. This is foolish, shortsighted and sure to worsen US-Russian relations as well as scuttling chances of an arms control pact in the next few years. Or, in simple English: President Obama, don’t kick sand in the face of a man holding a gun to your head.

3 Oprah Winfrey and retail racism (Heidi Moore in The Guardian) Oprah Winfrey is a successful billionaire with an empire worth $3bn, a woman whose public reputation has been built on self-empowerment. She has been frank about the stresses in her life – racism and sexism figure often – and about her struggles with her weight.

It is this last aspect that may be the hardest to deal with. Oprah's thyroid condition makes her weight problems unavoidable. She has to deal with the rebellion of her body. She may find sympathetic tailors and fabulous shoes, and accessorize brilliantly, but she likely knows what all women know: shop assistants won't be kind to women over a size 10, and that is especially true of woman of color.

To find something nice for Tina Turner's wedding, Oprah walked alone into Trois Pommes in Zurich last month, an upscale shop. A shop assistant refused to show Oprah a $42,000 crocodile handbag. Here is the incident in Oprah's words: “I was in Zurich the other day, in a store whose name I will not mention. I didn't have my eyelashes on, but I was in full Oprah Winfrey gear. I had my little Donna Karan skirt and my little sandals. But obviously, the Oprah Winfrey Show is not shown in Zurich. I go into a store and I say to the woman, 'Excuse me, may I see the bag right above your head?' and she says to me, 'No. It's too expensive.'”

Race is tied with socioeconomic status struggles; so is weight. There have been some studies of a link between a woman's size and her socioeconomic status, showing that women with low incomes tend to be of higher weight. There are many theories on this – because of unsocial working hours, lower availability of healthy food in poor neighborhoods, and other factors that may affect food choice and metabolism. On the other side of the scale, anorexia and other eating disorders tend to be more common in people of higher socioeconomic status.

The common bias of tying socioeconomic status with weight is just bad business. The saleswoman who made that assumption about Oprah was wrong – and her shop not only lost a high-value customer, but is also paying a steep price in the very public wrath of a billionaire scorned. Maybe clothing retailers should learn that a woman's cultural, economic and social power is not solely discernible at a glance – either by her skin color or by her weight. It might help their bottom line if they stopped judging those of others.