Poverty now afflicts a staggering 57% of Argentina’s 47 million people, and annual inflation surpasses 270% — a level unseen in a generation.

Austerity for the people, MMT for wealthy and corporations has never had desirable outcomes for anyone but the wealthy and corporations. When the people relearn this lesson, we have to be diligent with reminding ourselves and communities.

Thanks. I’m glad Russia is seeing some sort of balance in the situation.

Ah okay, thanks. Do India and China buy at capped prices?

No justice, no peace.

Russia also wanted to avoid a price cap. The Group of 7, the European Union and Australia had restricted companies from providing insurance and other services in cases where Russian crude oil was sold above $60 a barrel, a cap the European Union and Britain have since dropped even lower. So ships affiliated with Russia began to use sketchy insurance or none at all. They started to fly third-country flags and to send false location information to cover up where they had loaded their cargo. By making it harder to tell if oil had come from Russia, they created an air of plausible deniability for oil buyers… he shadow fleet comes with an even more obvious drawback. It has “limited the cap’s efficacy,” America’s Government Accountability Office concluded in a report this month, keeping money flowing into Moscow’s coffers and helping it to fund the war in Ukraine. That doesn’t mean that the sanctions are a mistake, supporters say. Ben Harris, a former Biden administration Treasury official and an architect of the price cap, pointed out that the sanctions, even if imperfect, cost Russia. It’s expensive to ship oil to India or China and to build up the shadow fleet. “Enforcement is the real challenge,” he said. For now, countries are applying even more sanctions to combat the shadow fleet…

What are the odds the unstated goal of these sanctions is specifically to force Russia into practically giving away valuable natural resources to oil-thirsty capitalists, to mark up exponentially to make it look like it was acquired within the rules while also being able to whip up the common people about both energy prices and accidents, or anything else they can blame on Russia?

Al Gore, the chairman of Generation Investment Management and former US vice president, says China’s supremacy in the energy transition is now leading “many nations” to consider closer ties with the country. He describes America’s retreat from transition technologies as a “tragedy.” China manufactures about 80% of the world’s solar panels, supplies some 60% of the planet’s wind turbines, 70% of its EVs and 75% of batteries, all at a lower financial cost than the West.

I think Biden recognized this, albeit a bit late and hoped to play catch up, but that wouldn’t have been profitable for the right people, so we have whatever this shoot-ourselves-in-both-feet strategy, now.

They do that here rurally, too. But snakes, feral cats, birds of prey and rats tends to balance out. Was a bit sad to see the barred owl dead in the street, probably from having a collision with some sort of motor vehicle. Maybe another will move into the neighborhood soon.

Iono, living rural is nice, until I need something. But watching nature is it’s own kind of meditation, even the kills.

Wtf

I certainly didn’t know, or forgot it if I did!

As they say in Germany: press thumbs! 🤞

I won’t say this will be the end of the EU, but I’m wondering if Macron won’t be a thorn in von der Leyen’s side on this issue, maybe more? I know it’s probably 90% wishful thinking, but is it outside the realm of reality?

Yes, I refrained in mentioning it in a recent thread elsewhere on grad, as did others. I think it’s glaringly obvious to everyone with a working memory of last two winters, among myriad other pragmatic concerns.

Hope so, and that it shakes out well, for more good for everyone.

I think Macron is more aware than he can politically say. He also called US diplomacy unacceptable, which is a diplomatic way of saying “bat-guano insane.” I’d eager the rest of Europe is waking up. They remain dependent on and cowed by the US. I would imagine they are meeting on as big a sly as possible to figure out how to extricate themselves from the trap they so eagerly entered decades ago, although I obviously can’t know.

The interview is worth reading. Macron is walking a political tightrope, and I find plenty that’s not up to my personal preferences, but a -1 is the idea of a UN peacekeeping force, which invites USA soldiers, not to mention the usual problems that accompany UN peacekeeping troops. Not sure if a regional coalition is better though.

+.5 for not outright rejecting Zionism, but saying disagreement with the Israeli regime is not antisemitism, and crazy making.

But overall, this is the most hope that governments are starting to actually rethink policy in the region, and while it’s minimal, it’s a lot better than in recent memory. A toe in the ocean, but closer to the ocean than recent out-of-the-atmosphere proximity to the ocean.

No I haven’t and I just found and bookmarked it. Thanks!

🫨

Thank you! 🫡

Count me in!