The World Blog by humble servant.

Republican Rep. Paul Gosar (Arizona) condemned the push from both parties in Washington to send billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine. “Crippling debt, inflation and immigration problems,” he declared, are not “Putin’s fault.” Gosar, an immigration hardliner and anti-interventionist, was one of 57 GOP lawmakers to vote against a $40 billion economic and military aid bill for Ukraine on Tuesday. While a number of Republicans have been vocal in their opposition to fueling a “proxy war” in Ukraine, the GOP establishment has shouted down these critics, with conservative talk show host Mark Levin on Wednesday referring to the anti-war contingent of the party as “Putin a**-kissers.” “Calling us names is not a logical position,” Gosar shot back, stating: “I have no principle to follow but the path of peace and non-intervention. My grown children have known nothing except American war and intervention for naught.” “Ukraine is not our ally,” he continued. “Russia is not our enemy....

Russia is expecting a bumper crop this year, including a record wheat harvest, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, citing preliminary data. “A good harvest is expected this year. According to experts – of course, these are preliminary estimates – grain harvest can reach 130 million tons, including 87 million tons of wheat,” Putin said, noting that “this can become a record [wheat harvest] in the entire history of Russia.” According to the Russian president, such a result “will allow not only to meet domestic needs with a margin, but also to increase supplies to the global market for our partners, which is very important for the world food markets.” Putin added that a number of countries are facing the threat of famine, pointing out that the blame for that lies entirely on “the Western elites.” Russia’s largest grain harvest was recorded in 2017, which came in at 135.5 million tons, including 86 million tons of wheat. In 2020, the figure was 133.5 million tons of gr...

Ten more European gas buyers have opened accounts in Russia’s Gazprombank, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing sources close to Gazprom. That has doubled the total number of clients preparing to pay in rubles for Russian natural gas in compliance with Moscow’s demand. According to the sources, a total of 20 European companies have opened accounts in the Russian bank, with another 14 clients asking for the paperwork needed to set them up. They declined to identify the companies. In late March, Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that buyers from ‘unfriendly states’ that have targeted the Russian economy with sanctions, pay for gas in rubles or be cut off, starting from the date payments are due for April. Under the new payment mechanism, clients have to open two accounts – one in foreign currency and one in rubles in Gazprombank. Buyers deposit their currency of choice in a foreign currency account, then the Russian bank converts the currency into rubles for payment to Gazp...

Sweden and Finland will lose part of their sovereignty while compromising their security if they join NATO, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned on Friday, referring to the two nations’ expected requests for formal membership in the US-led military bloc. Sweden and Finland have long been close to the organization but have maintained formal nonalignment with NATO since the Cold War. Both may soon apply for membership amid the ongoing security crisis in Ukraine. The Russian ministry warned that Sweden and Finland would not gain anything by moving forward with the plan. NATO membership “is unlikely to help build Sweden’s and Finland’s international prestige,” spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a comment released by the Russian ministry. She said the two nations will lose the opportunity to act as “conveyors of many constructive, unifying initiatives” as they did in the past. “Naturally the choice belongs to the authorities of Sweden and Finland. But they should realize the consequenc...

Moscow has warned that Finland joining NATO would pose a direct threat to Russia’s security and its acceptance to the military alliance would prompt Russia to develop measures to ensure its safety. That’s after Finnish officials confirmed on Thursday their commitment to join the US-led bloc and announced plans to pen a formal application later this week. “There is a current instruction from the president to develop a list of measures to strengthen our western flanks in connection with the strengthening of NATO’s eastern flanks,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov during a daily press briefing on Thursday, adding that the expansion of NATO towards Russia’s borders will not make the world or the Eurasian continent any more secure. He added that Russia regrets Finland’s decision to join the hostile steps taken by the EU and warned that Helsinki’s attempts to join NATO would serve as a reason to develop respective mirror responses. The statement comes after Finnish leaders announc...

The US is deliberately turning the situation “upside down” when it claims that the food supply crisis was caused by Russia's special operation in Ukraine and allegedly its actions in the Black and Azov seas, Moscow’s Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov told journalists on Wednesday. "The Kiev authorities are mining the waters of ports, preventing ships from delivering provisions and other goods to other states. At the same time, our efforts to coordinate the opening of humanitarian corridors continue to be ignored," he claimed, as cited by the Russian Embassy’s Telegram channel. The diplomat went on to say that Washington persistently refuses to take responsibility for its “foreign economic blunders.” "[US] claims that anti-Russian restrictions allegedly do not harm our food and fertilizer supplies do not stand up to scrutiny. Apparently, attempts to isolate the Russian financial system and undermine the transport sector capabilities do not count," he...

Baby formula supply shortages in the US have started to have an effect on Canadian families, which are now struggling to procure breastmilk substitutes. A baby-food crisis recently hit the US as already existing supply chain issues were exacerbated by a major product recall by Abbott Nutrition, which voluntarily pulled from shelves three of its brands of powdered baby formula after reports of bacterial infection and illness among infant consumers, including two who died. In the US, nearly 40% of infant formula is now out of stock in over 11,000 stores, according to reports by online retail analyst Datasembly, which has led to increased demand for the product, as some retailers have even introduced rationing to combat hoarding. While major Canadian retailers say they haven’t been experiencing widespread shortages yet, smaller store chains have reported issues with stocks. The national spokesperson for the Retail Council of Canada told local media that some stores have struggled to m...

The US has developed rules on sharing intelligence with Ukraine that would give Washington plausible deniability while providing Kiev with as much information as possible to attack the Russian military. This is according to the Washington Post, quoting unnamed officials, on Wednesday, after days of media claims about the extent of Americaninvolvement in the conflict. The US is giving Kiev real-time information about the location and movement of Russian forces, including satellite imagery and intelligence from “sensitive” sources, US and Ukrainian officials told the outlet. One Ukrainian described the information as “very good. It tells us where the Russians are so that we can hit them.” Last week, however, the anonymous officials apparently shared a little too much with the media, crediting US intelligence with the – alleged – Ukrainian missile strike on the Russian cruiser Moskva in April. On Friday, NBC News reported that President Joe Biden personally told both the CIA and the Pen...

Russian nationalism is a mortal threat to the world and the West must do to Moscow what was once done to Nazi Germany, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote in an opinion piece published by Britain’s Telegraph newspaper on Tuesday. He left out the part that ‘denazification’ of Germany came after its military defeat but said “deputinization” of Russia must start “immediately”, warning that the Western “soul” would be in peril otherwise. Morawiecki is one of the most vocal critics of Russia and President Putin, whom he has compared to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin on many occasions. The new article made the same equation, but focused on the brand of Russian nationalism that, according to Morawiecki, Moscow uses as the rationale to pursue malign and highly dangerous policies. The Polish official has a grim view of the Russian worldview, he explained. The so-called “Russian world” is an imperialist ideology, “the equivalent of 20th-century communism...

Oil giant Saudi Aramco eclipsed Apple to become the world’s largest firm by market capitalization, media reports, citing data from Refinitiv. Aramco’s market valuation reached just under $2.43 trillion on Wednesday against Apple’s $2.37 trillion, data shows. Apple’s shares dropped more than 5% during trading in the US on Wednesday, while losing nearly 20% since its $182.94 peak on January 4. Investors are promptly selling off technology stocks amid the unstable economic environment, with hiked interest rates, soaring inflation, and supply chain problems. Energy stocks and prices, on the other hand, have been rising, largely amid fears of supply disruptions due to Western sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. This gave a boost to the energy giant’s value, with Aramco’s stock currently up roughly 27% in 2022. At the end of the fiscal year 2021 in March, the company said last year’s profits more than doubled on the jump in oil prices.

he Russian ruble has eclipsed 31 major currencies in growth since the start of 2022, becoming the globe’s best-performing currency, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. According to the publication, the ruble has strengthened against the US dollar by more than 11% since the beginning of the year. On the international currency market, the ruble exchange rate has shown even greater growth of about 12% so far. During trading on the Moscow Exchange on May 12, the exchange rate dropped to 65.07 rubles against the US dollar and 68 rubles against the euro – its strongest against the latter since January 2020. The Russian currency overtook the Brazilian real in terms of dynamics, which also showed significant growth of almost 9%. Third position in the best-performing currency ranking is occupied by the Mexican peso with a growth of 1% against the greenback. Ukraine to seize Russian banksREAD MORE: Ukraine to seize Russian banks The ruble dropped to historic lows against both the dollar and th...

Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Thursday that it currently supplies gas for transit to Europe via the Sudzha entry point. The application for pumping through the Sokhranovka transit point has been rejected by Ukraine, according to Gazprom’s official spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov. The company said that the volume of the gas for transit via Sudzha amounted to 50.6 million cubic meters as of May 12, which was “confirmed by the Ukrainian side.” The volume is almost 30% lower than the average, Gazprom said. Transit through the vital Sokhranovka station, which handles up to 32.6 million cubic meters per day, or about a third of the Russian gas that flows via Ukraine to Europe, was shut down by Kiev on Wednesday. The Ukrainian gas transmission system operator said it had decided to suspend operations at Sokhranovka because of “interference by the occupying forces.” Natural Gas Runs Through Ukraine. © The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies Gazprom said it saw no reason for the disrupti...