Comparative Politics

Donbas Region in SE, Luhansk, Donesk, Sevastopol, Black Sea

"Russia Leaves Snake Island; Why It's a Key Site in the Ukraine War | WSJ"

"Lysychansk"

Interesting that Putin has repeatedly accused Ukraine of committing genocide in Donbas- spreading misinformation to the public

Although the UK imports very little gas from Russia, gas prices are set globally and are now approximately 450% higher than they were this time last year.

At the end of this article, links to "Better Understand the Russia-Ukraine War History: Here's what to know about Russia and Ukraine's relationship and the causes behind the conflict. On the Ground: Russian and Ukrainian forces are using a bevy of weapons as a deadly war of attrition grinds on in eastern Ukraine."

Liz Truss was elected UK prime minister and is the UK's third female prime minister. She says she will tackle the UK's high cost of living and economic problems.

Yes, and the trick is in how? Truss faces an enormous challenge this fall and winter with the price of oil and gas. . . could raise heating costs by 80% over last year, whch would have a huge economic impact.

I'm curious to see how Truss continues to handle the Brexit situation if she can "ride out the storm" of Britain's present housing and energy challenges. While her plans to roll back or not add new taxes seem somewhat helpful to their present situation, in the long it does not seem like an incredibly new approach compared to Britain's last couple of prime ministers.

Britain's new PM is considered a foreign policy hawk, which could mean stronger relationship with US when facing challenges with Russia and China. Also has no apparent plan to solve economic issues at home, and much of her policy similar to that of Boris Johnson.

"She has pledged to deliver an emergency budget, and promised that there would be no new taxes on Britons." It's so tragically funny how she can promise to keep letting things get worse and worse. Hey, hopefully this means Northern Irish repatriation and Scottish independence in the coming years. The UK will keep rotting away unless the Tories are unseated.

Ouch, Slava! (And yes). The UK is in a perilous situation and, as with the Brexit vote a few years ago, the country is split between isolationists and internationalists. Seems like the more diverse Britain's urban population becomes, the more conservative those with a lot of wealth and the mostly anglo-ethnic people who live in villages and rural areas become. Similar to the US?

Record heat throughout the Western US. Power grid managed to avoid rolling blackouts among soaring demand, but some outages still happened throughout the Bay Area.

Climate change is beginning to rear its ugly head; will the terrible conditions not justa t home but abroad signal a rapid change in policy, or will it be business as usual?

Yes, and the fire at 35th Ave and 580 on 9/17; and rain coming through over the next few days?

It's truly the end of an era. In theory, they will hold a funeral, Charles will take the crown, and things will continue as normal. However, British interest in the monarchy has only waned in recent years, the royals are seen by many as out-of-touch parasites eating up public money - and they aren't not that. The people that still support the crown are mostly the older generations; according to recent surveys, only 31% of Brits under 25 believe there should be a monarch. There exists a possibility that the monarchy will end this decade.

I wonder. . . the largely powerless Monarchy also serves a uniting role. I wonder what the under-25s will think when they are 35?

Queen Elizabeth II has died today (9/8) after her 7-decade rule as head of the British Monarchy. The crown now rests on the head or Charles III, the late queen's son.

Indeed! One thing, Charles is her son. Her husband was Phillip, he died last year. Charles is already 73, so maybe he will pass the crown down.

I predicted that there would be a war of attrition along the Ukrainian front, and this is what it is shaping to be. The Russians are retreating because they have lost substantial amounts of manpower and supplies, which caused them to falter amid renewed Ukrainian counteroffensives. All they can hope to do is retreat and consolidate their power into the remaining territory, and hope that it is enough to hold out. Not that Russia is on the run, what will happen to the international community's committment to Ukraine's soverignty? Will the West provide the means to rebuild the nation and consolidate the liberated territory? Also, how will Russia respond in the end? During every conflict that has seen the loss of territory, particularly the Napoleonic Wars and World War II, The Soviet Union devoted itself to a scorched earth policy and razed entire cities to the ground to stop them from falling into the hands of the enemy. This could lead to a major humanitarian crisis, something that the West will need to help Ukraine recover from.

Talking about how zero covid is making it a lot harder for the large portion of migrant laborers to get a good job and move of the socioeconomic ladder. In my opinion, China's zero covid policy, while in part sensible due to their large portion of elderly unvaccinated population, is simply delaying the inevitable opening of borders at a terrible cost.

Agreed, Alec. Also, I am glad to see you reading The Economist!

As China enters an economic slowdown and Russia is being pushed back in Ukraine relations between the two, mostly China's support of Russia, have become complicated as the two countries become more defensive.

I, for one, hope the two countries' strategic friendship weakens even further in favor of their focusing on domestic issues. Both countries have huge internal chalenges.

This new president is the result of the first stable/peaceful election in decades for Kenya. At the beginning of the event, a stadium collapsed crushing and injuring 60 people, nevertheless, the event continued.

Oy. Progress in the developing world continues to be uneven. Why?

Immigration has been a very important topic for Swedes in these past five years, and many Swedes have grown very resistant towards letting in any more refugees from the Middle East. The Nordics are touted as these examples of equality under capitalism, and yet these results reveal a perhaps uncomfortable truth: Swedes believe the homogeneity of their country, not their economic system, is the origin of their success; they will vote for a neonazi-adjacent faction over the very party that created their welfare system if they believe the ethnic unity of Sweden is threatened.

"Swedes believe the homogeneity of their country, not their economic system, is the origin of their success;" Isn't it both--the social democratic system and the homogeneous population, until the last two decades? How might we use this article as a mirror for the US in the sense that, even now, a certain percentage of white Americans think that the US was better when white (and male) people were the only ones worthy of consideration in this country's social and economic contract?

They held their second ministerial dialogue in Tokyo on September 8th. Since China has expanded its presence into the Indian ocean in recent years, both countries are pushing back by conducting navy drills in the bay of Bengal.

Are we seeing a realignment of major powers? Also, "India Business Times" is your source. . . good job finding non-US perspective.

Japan has been hit by Typhoon Nanmadol, forcing 8 million people to evacuate from around 3.7 million households. Kyushu, Japan's southern island and the third largest, was predicted to get at least 20 inches of rain on Sunday- which is an amount that hasn't been seen on the island in decades. The possible danger was increased by high winds, exceeding 110 mph, which caused heavy waves. A small number of injuries have been reported, but no deaths. Damages haven't been calculated.