Sanctions are working — whatever Putin claims

Sanctions are working — whatever Putin claims

Owen Matthews writes: Don’t believe Vladimir Putin’s hype. The Russian economy is not OK. With western sanctions jeopardising up to 40 per cent of the country’s GDP, Putin’s assurances of an economic pivot to the East are a sham. And his weaponising of gas supplies to Europe is the financial equivalent of strapping on a suicide vest. That, roughly, is the message of a major new study published last week by the Yale School of Management about the impact of…

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Red America should love green energy spending

Red America should love green energy spending

Liam Denning and Jeff Davies write: The standard political color code for renewable energy holds that green mixes with blue but clashes with red. A detailed look at local realities says otherwise. Enersection, a new company based in Houston specializing in data-driven insights on the US energy system, has presented them in compelling charts and other graphics (you can access its site here). Bloomberg Opinion partnered with co-founder Jeff Davies to take a deep dive into the energy and emissions…

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The secret history of the U.S. government’s family-separation policy

The secret history of the U.S. government’s family-separation policy

Caitlin Dickerson writes: During the year and a half in which the U.S. government separated thousands of children from their parents, the Trump administration’s explanations for what was happening were deeply confusing, and on many occasions—it was clear even then—patently untrue. I’m one of the many reporters who covered this story in real time. Despite the flurry of work that we produced to fill the void of information, we knew that the full truth about how our government had reached…

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In turbulent times, Xi builds a security fortress for China, and himself

In turbulent times, Xi builds a security fortress for China, and himself

The New York Times reports: Over informal, private meals with American leaders, China’s Xi Jinping let his guard down a little. It was a decade ago, relations were less strained, and Mr. Xi, still cementing his power, hinted he worried about the Chinese Communist Party’s grip. Speaking privately with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, Mr. Xi suggested that China was a target of “color revolutions,” a phrase the party adopted from Russia for popular unrest in the…

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Banned Russian oligarchs exploited UK secrecy loophole

Banned Russian oligarchs exploited UK secrecy loophole

BBC News reports: Sanctioned Russian oligarchs from Vladimir Putin’s inner circle exploited a UK secrecy loophole left open by the government. Arkady and Boris Rotenberg – judo partners of the Russian president – used a type of company that was not required to identify its real owners. Ministers have acknowledged concerns that these companies, known as English Limited Partnerships (ELPs), have also been abused by criminals. A joint investigation by the BBC and Finance Uncovered has discovered evidence linking a…

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The geometry of life

The geometry of life

The New York Times reports: In June, 100 fruit fly scientists gathered on the Greek island of Crete for their biennial meeting. Among them was Cassandra Extavour, a Canadian geneticist at Harvard University. Her lab works with fruit flies to study evolution and development — “evo devo.” Most often, such scientists choose as their “model organism” the species Drosophila melanogaster — a winged workhorse that has served as an insect collaborator on at least a few Nobel Prizes in physiology…

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State legislatures are torching democracy

State legislatures are torching democracy

Jane Mayer writes: As the Supreme Court anticipated when it overturned Roe v. Wade, the battle over abortion rights is now being waged state by state. Nowhere is the fight more intense than in Ohio, which has long been considered a national bellwether. The state helped secure the Presidential victories of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, then went for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. Its residents tend to be politically moderate, and polls consistently show that a majority…

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Her team helped beat back Kansas’ abortion ban. Here’s what she wants other states to know

Her team helped beat back Kansas’ abortion ban. Here’s what she wants other states to know

Rolling Stone reports: Ashley All wasn’t sure she wanted her three young daughters — 12, 10 and seven years old — to come to Tuesday’s election night watch party. There was a chance it could be a deeply depressing night. For the last eight months, All had been working, as part of Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, to defeat an effort to strip the right to abortion from the state constitution. Hard-right lawmakers in the Kansas legislature passed the amendment back…

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Don’t expect Alex Jones’s comeuppance to stop lies

Don’t expect Alex Jones’s comeuppance to stop lies

Kevin Roose writes: It would be too simple to blame (or credit) Mr. Jones for inspiring the entire modern cranksphere. But it’s safe to say that many of today’s leading conspiracy theorists have found the same profitable sweet spot of lies and entertainment value. It’s also probable that we’ve become desensitized to conspiracy theories, and many of the outrageous falsehoods that once got Mr. Jones into trouble — such as the allegations about Sandy Hook parents that were at the…

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Democrats are running as the opposition party

Democrats are running as the opposition party

John J. Pitney, Jr. writes: In a typical midterm election, the party not holding the presidency casts itself as a check on the incumbent administration, even more so when the president’s party controls both chambers of Congress. The elections of 1994, 2006, 2010, and 2018 all started with unified government and all ended with the out-party winning control of the House (and the Senate in 1994). The in-party has never been able to wear the “check and balance” mantle—until this…

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‘Absolute evil’: Inside the Russian prison camp where dozens of Ukrainians burned to death

‘Absolute evil’: Inside the Russian prison camp where dozens of Ukrainians burned to death

The Observer reports: Screams from soldiers being tortured, overflowing cells, inhuman conditions, a regime of intimidation and murder. Inedible gruel, no communication with the outside world, and days marked off with a home-made calendar written on a box of tea. This, according to a prisoner who was there, is what conditions are like inside Olenivka, the notorious detention centre outside Donetsk where dozens of Ukrainian soldiers burned to death in a horrific episode late last month while in Russian captivity….

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Taiwan says China making simulated attack on main island

Taiwan says China making simulated attack on main island

The Guardian reports: China’s military has pressed ahead with its largest ever military drills, targeting Taiwan with what the island’s government called a simulated attack, including further incursions over the median line and drone flights over Taiwan’s outlying islands. Global pushback on China’s live-fire drills, launched in response to a visit by the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan earlier in the week, also continued, with condemnation from senior US officials and foreign ministers from Australia and Japan. Beijing…

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How climate breakdown is supercharging toll of extreme weather

How climate breakdown is supercharging toll of extreme weather

The Guardian reports: The devastating intensification of extreme weather is laid bare today in a Guardian analysis that shows how people across the world are losing their lives and livelihoods due to more deadly and more frequent heatwaves, floods, wildfires and droughts brought by the climate crisis. The analysis of hundreds of scientific studies – the most comprehensive compilation to date – demonstrates beyond any doubt how humanity’s vast carbon emissions are forcing the climate to disastrous new extremes. At…

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China halts climate, military ties over Pelosi Taiwan visit

China halts climate, military ties over Pelosi Taiwan visit

The Associated Press reports: China announced Friday it was ending all contact with the United States on major issues — including crucial climate cooperation that led to the international 2015 Paris accord — as tensions and public rebukes ratcheted higher over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. China’s move to freeze key lines of communication adds to a rapid souring of relations from Pelosi’s visit and from the Chinese response with military exercises off Taiwan, including firing missiles that…

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