The Times (September 4)
“Russia was caught in the act in its attack on Leipzig airport and Europe’s reaction simply confirmed its increasing solidarity.” It is true that “Russia would be hard put to mount a major attack against Nato now” with “its strength drained by the war.” Still, “the threat from Russia is real. With decisive victory on the battlefield eluding him, and with the war’s effects now being felt across his vast domain, Mr Putin may, like many a gambler before him, decide to double down. If that happens, Nato must be ready.”
Tags: Attack, Battlefield, Caught, Decisive, Europe, Leipzig airport, Major attack, Nato, Putin, Reaction, Real, Russia, Solidarity, Strength, Threat, Victory, War
The New York Times (August 8)
“President Trump’s war against Iran has depleted U.S. weapons stockpiles to troubling levels, siphoning supplies from Asia and Europe…. The rapidly shrinking supply of air-defense missiles and other critical weaponry in Europe and Asia not only leaves the U.S. military less equipped, but could also leave Russia and China feeling emboldened should they contemplate a potential conflict with the United States.”
Tags: Air-defense missiles, Asia, China, Conflict, Depleted, Emboldened, Europe, Iran, Military, Russia, Shrinking supply, Troubling, Trump, U.S., War, Weapons stockpiles
New York Times (July 12)
“Russian spies appear to be operating right under the noses of the Japanese authorities.” Just 10 minutes on foot from the National Police Agency, Aeroflot’s office in Tokyo shelters the 20th Directorate, a military intelligence unit, which “finds the high-tech equipment that Russia needs to wage war.” Japan’s “weak espionage laws and flourishing high-tech industry have made it a crucial piece of the Russian war effort.” The Ukrainian government estimates that Japanese components are found in roughly 90% of Russian missiles and drones.
Tags: Aeroflot, Authorities, Components, Crucial, Drones, Espionage laws, High-tech equipment, High-tech industry, Japan, Military intelligence unit, Missiles, National Police Agency, Russia, Spies, Tokyo, Ukraine, War, War effort
Fortune (July 12)
“An energy crisis is already ravaging Russia’s economy, and a banking crisis may soon erupt as a mountain of debt weighs on consumers and businesses.” A European intelligence report indicates “the Kremlin has relied on banks to pump up the economy with massive liquidity, as its own budget comes under growing strain from Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.”
Tags: Banks, Budget, Businesses, Consumers, Crisis, Debt, Economy, Energy, European intelligence, Kremlin, Liquidity, Pump up, Putin, Ravaging, Relied, Russia, Strain, War
The Times (July 9)
“Every one of Russia’s ten biggest refineries has been hit at least once since the start of the war.” The images of panic buying and “colossal queues will raise spirits in Kyiv,” but the attacks have only seemed to harden “Putin’s determination to achieve victory in Ukraine.” Nor have “the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Russian men on the battlefields of Ukraine” moved the war closer to an end. Similarly, “there are few signs so far that fuel deficits will change Putin’s mind about a conflict that he views as existential for his country.”
Tags: Attacks, Battlefields, Colossal queues, Deaths, Determination, Fuel, Kyiv, Panic buying, Putin, Refineries, Russia, Ukraine, Victory, War
Wall Street Journal (July 1)
“Once one of the world’s main exporters of petroleum products, Russia has banned exports of gasoline and jet fuel for months as Ukrainian attacks intensified. On Sunday, Putin said he is considering a ban on exporting diesel.” Facing an uneven, but widespread shortage, the government now plans to begin importing oil. Lines for gas currently range from hours-long to overnight or even longer. One local government even “started providing portable toilets alongside mileslong fuel lines.” The situation will probably get worse since “the tempo of Ukrainian attacks” has vastly “outpaced Russia’s ability to maintain its refineries, a task already constrained by international sanctions that ban the import of needed equipment.”
Tags: Attacks, Ban, Diesel, Exports, Gasoline, Government, Hours-long, Importing, Jet fuel, Outpaced, Overnight, Petroleum, Refineries, Russia, Sanctions, Shortage, Ukraine
The Guardian (June 11)
“Since the historic Nato summit in The Hague one year ago this month, European leaders have pledged massive increases in defence spending in the face of increasingly acute threats of Russian aggression. Yet the reality is that key west European governments – especially the UK, France and Italy – are not putting their money where their mouth is for fear of undermining lenders’ confidence in their national debt.”
Tags: Assistance, Bitter, Conflict, Europe, Grim, Incalculable, Invasion, Milestone, Perished, Prove, Putin, Russia, Success, Suffering, U.S., Ukraine, Waver, WWI
New York Times (April 12)
Make no mistake “Trump’s war is weakening America,” but nobody should “root for this country to fail. We all have a stake in the nation that he leads. So does the rest of the free world. There are no other democracies with the economic and military strength to counter China and Russia. When America is weaker and poorer, as this war has made us, authoritarianism benefits.”
Tags: China, Democracies, Economic, Fail, Free world, Military, Mistake, Poorer, Russia, Stake, Strength, Trump, U.S., War, Weakening
Fortune (February 22)
“Four years after Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s economy has entered a ‘death zone.’” Former Russian central bank advisor Alexandra Prokopenko, currently a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, believes “the Russian economy is eating its own muscle to survive as Putin’s war on Ukraine destroys future capacity.” The economy might not be ”headed for an imminent crash, but GDP has stagnated, oil revenue has been halved amid Western sanctions, and the government’s budget deficit is rapidly draining reserves.”
Tags: Budget deficit, Central bank, Crash, Death zone, Economy, Future capacity, GDP, Government, Invasion, Oil revenue, Prokopenko, Putin, Reserves, Russia, Stagnated, Ukraine, Western sanctions
OilPrice.com (January 12)
“Regardless of how investable Venezuela will be in the future, the U.S. control over its oil industry would change the power balance in the oil markets, giving the U.S. more sway in longer-term supply. This would leave OPEC and the wider OPEC+ group including Russia and Kazakhstan with potentially diminished clout in influencing the oil market balances and prices.”
Tags: Clout, Control, Diminished, Future, Investable, Kazakhstan, Market balance, Oil industry, OPEC, Power balance, Prices, Russia, Supply, U.S., Venezuela
