Summary:

News:

Ukraine wants a new IMF deal. Mariupol's ex-mayor claims that there is a cholera and dysentry outbreak in Mariupol. The territory that Russia occupies in Ukraine is trying to sell grain to other countries, prompting accusation of Russia stealing Ukraine's grain. There's a new bridge on the Russia-China border, which shortens the distance Chinese goods need to travel. The Russian Foreign Ministry says that Zelensky is beginning to nag and pester and bite his foreign masters. Russia brings down their interest rates from 11% to 9.5%, which is probably not enough. Lavrov says that the West is breakdancing alone. The Netherlands faces obscene gasoline prices (nearly $10 per gallon unless I'm incompetent at math). There's a heatwave in Spain, bringing temperatures at or near 40 degrees Celsius. There will be a 3 day rail strike in the UK, which will cost the UK $125 million. Macron, after facing much criticism, says that he's actually unwilling to make any concessions to Russia and wants Ukraine to get its territory back. He also increased the number of homeless people in France, after promising he wouldn't do that. Italy starts picking up oil from Venezuela. Germany's officials start warning that the autumn and winter will be very difficult, though they continue to fill up their natural gas storage. The US and Germany dare Serbia to ditch Russian gas and to sanction Russia, and then call Serbia lame when it refuses.

Japan sets up a giant ocean turbine, which doesn't generate much power by itself but is one step towards harnessing Japan's tidal energy, which could potentially meet the country's energy needs if all of it is collected. The US tells India to stop buying so much Russian oil, as Moscow now has more money than before the war. At the same time, India is racing record power demand, which means there could be blackouts soon. Relations between India and Iran are generally improving, while Muslim countries are very pissed off at India for making derogatory comments about the Prophet Muhammad. Indonesia's citizens face high costs for food and energy.

The US proposes a new alliance against Iran called DEFEND, because fuck it, we need an alliance against every country we hate and they all need to have stupid names. Pakistan's textile industry is on the verge of collapse due to daily power cuts. Pakistan wisely responds to these hard times economically for its citizens by significantly increasing its military budget. Turkey's economy is kinda screwed, and Erdogan refuses to raise interest rates, instead focussing on reducing the number of dollars in deposit accounts and fixing Turkey's overreliance on imports. The US decides that they don't really give a shit about Khashoggi, and say that they'll forget about the whole affair if Saudi Arabia comes back to them. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia cuts some oil to China, though China continues to buy oil from Russia. Israel boasts about disabling the Damascus Airport.

The founder of an African think tank discusses the future of climate mitigation in Africa, discussing the crossroads of either investing in renewable energy or letting the West extract all the fossil fuels it possibly can from the continent. Algeria is no longer friends with Spain (and, probably, Russia is its new best friend). Tribal leaders in Libya blockade oil export terminals due to disputes in who should be the leader of Libya. Zimbabwe is being completely fucked over by the economic and food crises. Tanzania's government continues oppressing and shooting native peoples because they want to build a giant hunting ground for UAE royals.

The United States' inflation is not, in fact, at its peak. The average gas price goes above $5 for the first time, and Americans have never felt this bad about the economy. Energy prices go up by a third and Americans owe a total of $22 billion in late utility bills. It turns out landlords increasing rent was the single largest factor in May's inflation; perhaps the parliamentarian temporarily paused the Wage Price Spiral Incantation. Biden, who is supposed to be the most powerful person on the planet, politely asks that Exxon pays its taxes, and also asks if there's anything they can do to increase the amount of oil being refined. Texas' energy grid is being put under pressure due to rising temperatures and rising need for air conditioning. Drag queens dressed like Marilyn Monroe protesting climate hopefully confuse Biden. The Summit of the Americas starts off well, with police brutalizing protestors.

Military:

LPR claims that 400 Ukrainians are trapped in the Azot plant, as time is a flat circle. Ukrainian losses are pretty bad. Ukraine attempts another attack on the Kherson front. NATO says while they were being perfectly fair and law-abiding from 1997 to the present, NOW they're gonna start breaking the rules and building permanent NATO bases in eastern Europe. Spain wants to send some tanks to Ukraine, which will apparently do... something? to change the outcome of an artillery battle that Ukraine is losing badly. Lukashenko says that they might have to go in to western Ukraine if the West goes for it.

Climate:

Countries, shockingly, aren't following their climate pledges. Meanwhile, Antarctic glaciers are melting at the greatest rate in over 5000 years.

Dipshittery:

Putin's bodyguards apparently collect Putin's shit when he takes a dump on foreign visits so that other countries can't analyze it. Obama returns to comment on Ukraine, at the request of nobody. Zelensky thinks that time is on his side, as his soldiers are turned into a bloody goo. Putin wants to remake the Russian Empire, apparently, but also wants to remake the Soviet Union? I don't know. Orban blames George Soros for the world's misery.

Bloomer:

Forbes publishes an article suggesting that maybe, just maybe, dollar hegemony is why the world sucks so much. Jeanine Anez gets 10 years in jail, and Jacobin speculates if this is a real labor upsurge or if it'll be a temporary pulse of life before a massive corporate repression.