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Category: Politics

Inside Chernobyl, workers toil in a single shift that now approaches 500 hours on the job at Russian gunpoint

Inside Chernobyl, workers toil in a single shift that now approaches 500 hours on the job at Russian gunpoint

The Wall Street Journal reports: It was 10 a.m., 16 days into Russia’s war on Ukraine, and a land-line phone rang inside the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The site of the world’s worst nuclear-power disaster had become an impromptu prison, and an increasingly dangerous one. The signalman on duty lifted the receiver and passed the call to shift supervisor Valentin Heiko, a veteran of the defunct facility. Mr. Heiko told managers on the other end of the line that the…

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Saudi Arabia considers accepting yuan instead of dollars for Chinese oil sales

Saudi Arabia considers accepting yuan instead of dollars for Chinese oil sales

The Wall Street Journal reports: Saudi Arabia is in active talks with Beijing to price some of its oil sales to China in yuan, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would dent the U.S. dollar’s dominance of the global petroleum market and mark another shift by the world’s top crude exporter toward Asia. The talks with China over yuan-priced oil contracts have been off and on for six years but have accelerated this year as the Saudis…

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Will Russia’s war against Ukraine spur Europe to move on green energy?

Will Russia’s war against Ukraine spur Europe to move on green energy?

Paul Hockenos writes: Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is sparking a wide-ranging revamping of energy policy in Europe with a bold new objective: to wean the continent off Russian gas — as rapidly and comprehensively as possible — and accelerate Europe’s green energy transition. In late-night sessions, Europe’s leaders have been drafting a spectrum of crisis strategies not only to pivot to other natural gas suppliers — as the United States, which imports much less gas and oil…

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Joe Manchin, the oil industry’s representative in the U.S. Senate, sank Sarah Bloom Raskin’s nomination

Joe Manchin, the oil industry’s representative in the U.S. Senate, sank Sarah Bloom Raskin’s nomination

Kate Aronoff writes: On Friday, an energetic Joe Manchin spoke to a room full of oil and gas executives in Houston. The following Monday, after long declining to state his position publicly, he came out against Biden’s nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin to become the top banking cop at the Federal Reserve, as vice chair of supervision. Like his Republican colleagues on the Senate Banking Committee—who boycotted a vote on all pending Fed nominations over Raskin’s professed willingness to incorporate…

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Chomsky is no friend of the Syrian revolution

Chomsky is no friend of the Syrian revolution

Yassin al-Haj Saleh writes: Just three weeks following my release after 16 years in prison in Syria, I started translating a book into Arabic. The book was “Powers and Prospects: Reflections on Human Nature and the Social Order,” by Noam Chomsky. It had taken me some time to realize that the leading linguist and the harsh critic of American imperialism was the same person. I saw this as a remarkable and much-needed example of the social and political responsibility of…

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Russians asking for food and money from China, U.S. cable suggests

Russians asking for food and money from China, U.S. cable suggests

CNN reports: The US has information suggesting China has expressed some openness to providing Russia with requested military and financial assistance as part of its war on Ukraine, a Western official and a US diplomat told CNN, and is conveying what it knows to its NATO allies. It is not yet clear whether China intends to provide Russia with that assistance, US officials familiar with the intelligence tell CNN. But during an intense, seven-hour meeting in Rome, a top aide…

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Why Putin is hell-bent on capturing Ukraine’s nuclear reactors

Why Putin is hell-bent on capturing Ukraine’s nuclear reactors

The Daily Beast reports: The world watched in horror as shelling by Russian forces set fire to part of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine. Immediate catastrophe was averted when the flames were put out, but the plant—which is home to six separate reactors—was captured by the Kremlin’s forces on March 4. Russia has also taken control of the nuclear facility at Chernobyl, which although inactive, still houses deadly radioactive materials. The situation at Chernobyl took a dramatic turn…

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Ukraine dents ‘America First’ thinking deep in the heart of Trump country

Ukraine dents ‘America First’ thinking deep in the heart of Trump country

NBC News reports: Here in the middle of former President Donald Trump’s Midwest base, in a state where a sense of economic malaise lands hard on rural and working-class voters, many Republicans see higher gas prices as a small price to pay to help defend Ukraine. “I don’t think we’re doing enough,” Mary King, an unemployed caregiver, said of President Joe Biden’s ban on Russian oil last week. She spoke while waiting for GOP Senate candidate J.D. Vance to hold…

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As Ukraine war rages, Israel grapples with fate of oligarchs

As Ukraine war rages, Israel grapples with fate of oligarchs

The Associated Press reports: Israel is grappling with how to deal with dozens of Jewish Russian oligarchs as Western nations step up sanctions on businesspeople with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. A worried Israeli government has formed a high-level committee to see how the country can maintain its status as a haven for any Jew without running afoul of the biting sanctions targeting Putin’s inner circle. “Israel will not be a route to bypass sanctions imposed on Russia by…

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Roman Abramovich: New evidence highlights corrupt deals

Roman Abramovich: New evidence highlights corrupt deals

BBC News reports: A BBC investigation has uncovered new evidence about the corrupt deals that made Roman Abramovich’s fortune. The Chelsea owner made billions after buying an oil company from the Russian government in a rigged auction in 1995. Mr Abramovich paid around $250m (£190m) for Sibneft, before selling it back to the Russian government for $13bn in 2005. His lawyers say there is no basis for alleging he has amassed very substantial wealth through criminality. The Russian billionaire was…

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China pursues Afghanistan’s mineral wealth after U.S. exit

China pursues Afghanistan’s mineral wealth after U.S. exit

The Wall Street Journal reports: Following the American exit from Afghanistan, China’s move to claim the country’s vast mineral wealth is centered on a mountain south of Kabul. The mountain and the barren surrounding valley, in Logar province, a two-hour drive from the capital, contain one of the world’s biggest untapped reserves of copper. China is negotiating with Taliban authorities to start mining at the site, called Mes Aynak, according to Chinese and Taliban officials. Beijing is also in talks…

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Putin’s war is driving thousands of Russians into exile

Putin’s war is driving thousands of Russians into exile

The New York Times reports: They lined up at ATM’s, desperate for cash after Visa and Mastercard suspended operations in Russia, swapping intelligence on where they could still get dollars. At Istanbul cafes, they sat quietly studying Telegram chats or Google Maps on their phones. They organized support groups to help other Russian exiles find housing. Tens of thousands of Russians have fled to Istanbul since Russia invaded Ukraine last month, outraged about what they see as a criminal war,…

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Russia asked China for military and economic aid for Ukraine war, U.S. officials say

Russia asked China for military and economic aid for Ukraine war, U.S. officials say

The New York Times reports: Chinese officials have consistently voiced sympathy for Russia during the Ukraine war by reiterating Mr. Putin’s criticism of NATO and blaming the United States for starting the conflict. They have refrained from any mention of a Russian “war” or “invasion,” even as they express general concern for the humanitarian crisis. They mention support for “sovereignty and territorial integrity,” a common catchphrase in Chinese diplomacy, but do not say explicitly which nation’s sovereignty they support —…

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Kremlin views Tucker Carlson as ‘essential’ propaganda asset

Kremlin views Tucker Carlson as ‘essential’ propaganda asset

Mother Jones reports: On March 3, as Russian military forces bombed Ukrainian cities as part of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of his neighbor, the Kremlin sent out talking points to state-friendly media outlets with a request: Use more Tucker Carlson. “It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine,…

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U.S. won’t negotiate Ukraine-related sanctions with Russia to save Iran nuclear deal

U.S. won’t negotiate Ukraine-related sanctions with Russia to save Iran nuclear deal

The Wall Street Journal reports: The U.S. won’t negotiate exemptions to Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and could try to strike a separate accord excluding Moscow, a senior U.S. official said, a diplomatic effort complicated by an Iranian missile attack on Iraq that sent American troops rushing for shelter. With one of President Biden’s top foreign-policy goals imperiled, the U.S. official said Washington would start exploring alternatives to the deal over the next week…

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Ukraine war becomes a cudgel in Republican Party’s internal conflict

Ukraine war becomes a cudgel in Republican Party’s internal conflict

Reuters reports: The war in Ukraine has opened a new front in the U.S. Republican Party’s civil war, with party primary candidates vying to run in the November midterm elections attacking each other for past comments praising Russian President Vladimir Putin. In Senate and House of Representatives races in at least three states, Republican candidates have been put on the defensive over comments describing Putin as intelligent, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as a “thug” and Ukraine as not worth defending….

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