I've tested positive for coronavirus so I will probably not do an update tomorrow, as well as the regular day off on Thursday, and see how I feel then. I'll still be around the thread though, obviously.

Summary

News

Russian oil shipments to Europe have picked back up after a slump beginning in April. Europe's energy prices are reaching near-comical record highs, which is also causing industries like aluminium smelting to begin shutting down (as it takes a ton of energy to smelt aluminium). Ukraine's food exports have plunged by about a half so far this year, with only 50 million tons of grain projected total compared to 86 million tons in 2021. Erdogan says that Zelensky is troubled and has "people around him who deceive him a lot", though has refused to elaborate further. The Moscow Exchange has said that it will stop accepting US dollars as collateral. A poll of Russia's citizens about what they consider their national symbols has a variety of answers, with a plurality saying the flag and national anthem, "the people", and "home"; and 7% saying "Putin" (and 5% said "bears"). Some UK universaties are saying that annual tuition fees for British students, which have been frozen at £9250, must be increased for them to remain competitive with foreign students, who pay nearly triple that amount. The UK's National Grid has offered rebates to people who don't use energy-consuming appliances in the evenings. The Bundesbank has said that a German recession is increasingly likely. Uniper has been forced to fire up an old coal power plant to generate enough energy. Bulgaria's energy minister has said that they will likely talk to Russia about resuming gas deliveries from Gazprom. Poland says that the EU has "imperialistic tendencies", presumably because they're being told to give gay people human rights.

China's heatwave is posing a threat to autumn crops, as efforts are made to increase water efficiency and distribution. China has made a foreign investment pitch due to recent economic setbacks. Apple is planning on beginning production on their devices in India, rather than China, in November. China has shipped high-speed trains to Indonesia. Pro-China sentiment in South Korea has reached a low of 23.9%, compared to their positive view of the United States at 59%. There were a bunch of anti-US protests in South Korea recently but the western media uniformly ignored them all. Australian coal miners are expecting record profits this year.

Turkey has doubled their Russian oil imports to over 200,000 barrels per day. Pakistan's recently former prime minister, Imran Khan, has been arrested, which could either boost or sink his ratings as the election approaches and his party seeks to regain a clear majority. Kazahstan's oil pipeline flows have been disrupted yet again by necessary repairs at the Russian Black Sea coast. Russia, Iran, and Azerbaijan have struck a deal to simplify trade between them on the International North-South Transport Corridor.

The US's strategic oil reserves are at their lowest level since 1985 due to Biden releasing 1 million barrels a day for six months to attempt to calm markets. 72% of economists expect a recession by the middle of 2023. Dallas has been hit by a shitload of rain all at once after being dried out by drought, causing flooding.

Argentina's left-wing organizations have held a demonstration in Buenos Aires in which they held a funeral for the minimum wage, as inflation continues to bite into it.

OPEC+ is almost 3 million barrels per day below their production target.

Conflict and Climate

Moon of Alabam describes how the fighting in Ukraine is continuing, and looks to be the same process as before the pause: massive artillery barrages until you kill enough Ukrainian soldiers, then slowly move forward - except, now, there's significantly less western aid coming in. The US is trying to step up enforcement of its Russian sanctions, by... trying to persuade China. Thank god they haven't done anything to piss them off lately.

Dipshittery, Good Takes, and Hope

The Ukrainian government has come along to own Scott Ritter's estimates of ~80,000 dead Ukrainian troops; it's actually only 9000! Russian is facing millions dead, etc etc. Crimea is weak, etc etc. Putin has revived democracies around the world because he's a stupid idiot, etc etc. Putin would cause Chernobyl 2.0 in Ukraine because he's an evil madman, etc etc. Don't trust what the Kremlin says about Dugin's daughter, etc etc. Russia is gonna start mass murdering civilians tomorrow because it's Ukraine's birthday, etc etc. Ukrainians actually live better than Russians do, causing these simple, stupid Russian soldiers to they marvel at toilets, saying "Wow, this flushes! Back home, we all shared an outhouse!" Russia and China are actually getting owned because they have a trade surplus, as only good and cool nations have trade deficits. We have a very liberal individualist article about alarmism about covid and climate, which probably isn't worth reading unless you're bored.

Jacobin talks about the immortal science of Marxism, and how great it is (I agree!) They also bring up a Eugene Debs speech about how poverty is the great crime of capitalism (I agree!) Trader Joe's workers have won their first unions in America. Amazon workers in the UK are going on wildcat strikes as their wages aren't increasing nearly fast enough to keep up with basic necessities. Naked Capitalism speculates whether payment strikes - as we are seeing in the UK, US, China, and Mexico - will become the norm as our identity as "consumers" rather than "the working class" is still the major way that people think of themselves, for now at least.