Ukraine
Putin lashes out at the West during his SPIEF keynote and prepares Russians for a long fight
Putin lashed out at the West during his keynote speech at St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on June 17, claiming that it was using Russia as a scapegoat to excuse its failure to control inflation.
Ukrainians expect conflict to intensify – RIWI
Fresh data show that Ukrainians expect the fighting to intensify in the coming weeks. Russian internet users also expect the conflict to worsen, although they don't expect the escalation to be as intense as their Ukrainian peers.
EWDN: Yet another Ukrainian-founded unicorn: airSlate raises more than $50mn in the US
airSlate (formerly known as pdfFiller), a Boston-based business automation software publisher, announced it secured $51.5mn in a deal that values airSlate at $1.25bn on June 16, East West Digital News reports.
'Ukraine belongs to the European family,' declare EU premiers
Leaders of Germany, France, Romania and Italy announced their support for Ukraine’s European Union candidate status, but with qualifications, at a major meeting in Kyiv on June 16.
ASH: Welcome to the new age of inflation
The debate around inflation is centre-stage at present, with headline and PPI inflation soaring globally in response to a range of factors but including climate change/transition and Covid-related supply disruptions.
The Belarusian security threat – Part II
Since 2020, the Minsk regime has gradually made Belarus into a pariah state and the regime’s previous attempts to position itself as a regional security guarantor have been and are continuously being undone.
Europe's gas storage tanks already half full, but will it be enough?
Gazprom cuts supplies of gas as Europe races to fill its storage tanks. These crossed the halfway mark on June 7 and are now 51.12% full, as the EU seeks to replenish its supplies ahead of the coming winter.
All bang and no buck at Russia's SPIEF22
Russia's premier investment event normally attracts thousands of business people from across Europe to hobnob with the Russian elite, but this year a mere 115 Western companies chose to take part.
Turkey’s despair rating score is worse than war-torn Ukraine’s
Turkey is in a full-blown crisis and has an extremely high despair index of 93.8, even worse than that of sanction-embattled Russia’s 42.5. And if you don't believe the official Turkish statistics, Turkey's score is also even worse than Ukraine's.
Tokayev tells Russian TV Kazakhstan won’t break Western sanctions
Also says some people in Russia “misrepresent whole situation” by claiming that during January unrest Moscow “saved” Kazakhstan with troop dispatch and now country must for ever “bow at feet” of Kremlin.
Prime minsters of Albania and Montenegro visit Kyiv in show of support
With a critical EU Council meeting coming up next week, much of the discussion centred on the three countries’ prospects for EU accession.
The Belarusian security threat – Part I
While Ukraine isn’t afraid of an outright invasion by Belarusian troops, it still thinks that Belarus remains a military threat, and Minsk still has the potential to pose a long-term security threat to Europe in the years ahead.
Ukraine’s budget is underfunded and in need of Western help
Wars are very expensive and very hard to finance. Ukraine has been thrown into a conflict with a much larger and better funded adversary and it is struggling to raise enough money to continue its heroic resistance against the Russian invader.
Macron wants ‘accelerated co-operation’ for Moldova as details of EU ‘political community’ proposal leak
On Ukraine's border and with part of its territory controlled by Russia-backed separatists, Moldova is hoping for a positive answer to its application for EU candidate status.
‘Election mode’ Erdogan ain’t for budging over Finland and Sweden’s Nato applications
Turkish leader is staring down the barrel of tough national polls on horizon. Playing nationalist hardball will keep some of his remaining voters happy.
Calls growing for a price cap on Russian oil exports
Europe has been wrestling to get its members to sign up to a full ban on Russian oil products but a ban could send the price of oil up and make Russia even more money. Better to cap prices and starve the Kremlin of revenues.
COMMENT: How international supply chains are contending with the war in Ukraine
When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, international supply chains were still fragile after the massive impact of COVID-19. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is not causing quite the same pain, but its effects are being felt around the world.
bneGREEN: Kremlin set to deprive Russian climate activist Makichyan of citizenship
Russian climate activist Arshak Makichyan, a close associate of Greta Thunberg, is set to be deprived of his Russian citizenship as the Kremlin tightens the screw on anti-war protestors.
Ukraine’s despair index spikes, while Russia’s is already falling
Ukraine’s despair index, which indicates the amount of pain felt by the bottom third of society, has spiked in the last two months, driven up by soaring inflation, rising unemployment and increasing poverty levels, while Russia's peaked in April.
NEMETHY: The world continues to hurtle towards recession and potentially financial crisis
There is a widespread feeling of ‘business as usual’. There is very little sense of impending doom. This confidence is misplaced.
