Comparative Politics

Bakhmut, a city with a prewar population of 70,000, is critical to Russia's objective of taking the rest of the mineral-rich Donbas region. On battlefields in the rolling hills of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine, and near the Black Sea in the south, Ukrainian troops have tried to inch forward without losing control of territory. However, they face an opponent whose forces have been bolstered by inmates-turned-fighters and by Iranian drones.

Major hurricane Fiona affects Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. There are injuries and deaths, and power went out.

This is probably an example of how future natural disasters will look in the coming years across the world. It brings up the question of whether some of the more recent bills being passed to combat climate change will be effective or if it is too little too late.

Georgia Meloni, the leader of one of Italy's far right parties and quite possibly Italy's first female prime minister, is set to win her election this Sunday. With her probable victory, some Italians worry her and her party's leadership might mean a swing towards fascism.

It is interesting that this election had the lowest voter turnout thus far. It seems that many Italians do not approve of her politics.

Florida has begun evacuations to prepare for flooding due to hurricane Ian. They are also bracing for tornadoes, and Cuba is also bracing for impact.

It's very interesting to read this article after seeing how big hurricane Ian has transformed in just 2 days. I have some friends in Florida and they were telling me all about there preparations for the storm last night on a call. It's very sobering, especially when you look at predictions for future storms due to climate change.

Japan is holding a state funeral for Shinzo Abe, the country's longest-serving prime minister, who was assassinated in July at a political rally. The event has sparked controversy, however, with a protest of around 10,000 people today in Tokyo after a man set himself on fire near the PM's office earlier this week. The pushback is associated not only with the cost of the funeral, at around $11 million, but primarily with disagreement around giving such a high honor to a relatively unpopular political figure. Japanese state funerals have been historically reserved for members of the imperial family with only one other politician receiving a state funeral since WWII, back in 1967.

This is disappointing but not unexpected considering the elderly conservative demographics of Japan now. Abe has so much on his record that should have disqualified him from such an honor. At his core, he was a war crime apologist. His government had Japanese educational texts redacted to gloss over the crimes of the Japanese Empire in WWII, including the crimes of his beloved grandfather, who was nicknamed "The Monster of the Showa Era". He denied that Japan exported "comfort women" for their soldiers from conquered nations, and pressured the victim countries into silence. He refused to recognize the Ainu people - the indigenous people of the Japanese isles - until 2019. He tried to remilitarize Japan to bolster nationalism, thankfully unsuccessfully. The Japanese people and East Asia as a whole will be better off with his apologist mouth shut for good.

These nuclear "exchanges" between NATO and Russia are starting to seem much more like a Cold War #2.

Seems like Putin is getting very desperate, and a very real question as to whether he would take the bet on using the nuclear option in return for a chance at winning the war.

Given its potential implications for both Russia's advance into Ukraine and the safety of Russian land it seems hard to tell whether Putin is bluffing or not, but given his history the current situation is frightening.

Interesting how abortion has completely upended the midterms and seems to have almost shot the republicans in the foot, turning the elections from a sure-fire win to a 50-50 chance of them retaking the senate and house.

It's truly a waking nightmare in the RF right now; it has not been this bad since WWII. There's no way to encapsulate all the information in a comment like this, or even in an article like the one attached - that's just an overview. Russia is in a de facto total mobilization. There are no rules, every man 18-"50"(70) is eligible so long as the recruiters have quotas to fill. People are being detained and drafted at their jobs, homes, on public transportation and at the border. The number Vladimir Vladimirovich touted was 300,000 recruits; it's looking more like several million, from a nation of officially 140, believed to be 120 million people. Prisoners have been all offered freedom if they fight - no need to worry about the long term consequences after they come back. Needless to say society is in a state of collapse, but that does not at all imply the state is. The state is doing a-ok, barely bruised by the riots. State operatives will continue to perform their duties, because the second they slip up their replacements will send them to the front with the rest. What is Putin's goal? Who knows! The most sensible answer is that he's actually just having fun in his own degenerate way. I was born during the most democratic and economically promising period in recent Russian history. Putin and his court have brought it all the way here.

Your comment is powerful, Slava, and your inside perspective on Russia is so informative. Thank you for posting this article and commenting so thoroughly.

Hurricane Ian strengthened into a Category 4 storm as it approaches Florida today (Wednesday), with the center of the storm on track to make landfall on the state's west coast during the late morning or early afternoon. Maximum sustained winds were near 155 mph, with higher gusts. That is just 2 mph away from being upgraded to a Category 5.

It's interesting to me how widely covered the hurricanes are but we don't look at the reasons why. The frequency of hurricane is abnormal and likely due to climate change but I rarely see it discussed.

Just reached Category 5 and made landfall in Florida, causing massive amounts of damage.

UN suspects Russia blew up two pipe lines and have vowed a united front to combat Russia's underhand war tactics.

I don't know about this one. The Nord Stream project cost the Russian state tremendous amounts of money. For the duration of the war, Russia has been tempting Germany, the primary consumer of Russian gas, with the proposition that if they stop providing aid to Ukraine, they will turn the faucets back on and let the Germans have gas. Now suddenly that diplomatic advantage is gone. For all the Machiavellian plans the Kremlin cooks up, this doesn't feel like their work. If the Russian pipeline was sabotaged, it would have been done by a faction opposed to Russian interests.

Has there been any news on this since Sept 22? All I've heard is about efforts to stem the leaks.

the EU proposed new sanctions on Russia in response to so-called "referendums" in four Ukrainian regions. more import bans on russian products. Expected to deprive Moscow of an additional $6.7 billion.

Interesting that they just passed this new piece of climate legislation and no one is speaking about it. Will eliminate chemical from all consumer and industrial products that is 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in our atmosphere.

I hadn't heard this.

UN envoy claims that Haiti's economic and political crisis has lead to a humanitarian crisis. Food aid warehouses are being attacked, which is destabilizing the nations food security. There is an increase in the rates of gang violence, as well as protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Also has info about Brazil's voting system.

Why do bonds suffer when interest rates rise? Is it still a good idea for the Federal Reserve Bank to raise interest rates? Why or why not? Good for who? These are all examples of questions that revolve around political economy.

This election seems like choosing the lesser of two evils for Brazil, whichever that may mean for them. Bolsonar has used far-right fiery rhetoric to denounce climate change, social reform, and the West, while Lula was unable to run in the last election because of corruption charges. Many analysts see this election as a tipping point for Brazil on many issues, including poverty, education, and environmental protection. Neither side was able to secure the win in the first round of voting, but Lula is in the lead and Bolsonaro came in at a much closer second than many pollsters anticipated. It will be interesting to see what the next 4 weeks will hold.

Brazil usually has a pretty high voter turnout (around 80%). I wonder if that will stay the same or if it will drop in this election.

Disrupting large events and especially important pieces of art has been a trend in climate activism recently, at least the most documented/reported. Although this tactic may get the conversation started, in my opinion, it drives away many people who could (but don't) climate activism.

Yeah, I agree -- it makes the climate movement seem irrational rather than scientific.

It's crazy/a little sad that this is what some people feel like they have to resort to in order to spread the word. I understand that they usually have the right intentions however this can also just be seen as something done for publicity/attention.

16 year old Asra Panahi was beaten to death by security officials who raided the Shahed girls high school in Ardabil on October 13. There have been many reports of this happening a lot but they are often covered up.

Interesting how Walker is attempting to harness feelings around safety and law enforcement to propel him to the senate.

President Vladimir Putin is "doubling down" the security across all of Russia, especially along the border. This is due to the counterattack from Ukraine which has taken some of Russia's own territory but also continues to attack Russian settlements along the border of the country. To carry out President Putin's decree, all regional governors have been ordered to set up "operational headquarters" which are ordered to "meet the needs of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops and troop formations"