The World Blog by humble servant.

Global food insecurity has reached levels not seen since the financial crisis of 2008, according to Sara Menker, CEO of Gro Intelligence, a global company that uses artificial intelligence and public and private data to predict food supply trends. She told the UN that the world has about 10 weeks’ worth of wheat on hand. While addressing a special meeting of the Security Council on Saturday, she said that the Russia-Ukraine conflict was not the cause of the food security crisis but “simply added fuel to a fire that was long burning.” The expert pointed to widespread fertilizer shortages, supply-chain issues and record droughts as the major reasons behind the crisis. “This isn’t cyclical. This is seismic,” Menker said, noting that “even if the war were to end tomorrow, our food security problem isn’t going away anytime soon without concerted action She stressed that “without aggressive global actions, we stand the risk of an extraordinary amount of human suffering and economic damag...

The Russian ruble set another multi-year high against both the US dollar and euro on Wednesday, even as the central bank loosens capital controls. The ruble was trading below 58 to the euro, its strongest level since May 2015, and below 56 against the dollar, its strongest since February 2018. The quotes are according to Moscow Exchange data as of 07:15 GMT. The Russian currency gave up some of the gains later in the session. The ruble continued to strengthen on Wednesday even as the central bank loosens the capital controls initiated in March to protect it from Western sanctions. On Monday, ahead of this week’s tax payment deadlines for exporters, the Russian regulator relaxed its requirements for the mandatory sale of hard currency earnings. Exporters now must sell just 50% of their proceeds, down from the previous 80%. These sales were seen as one of the main factors behind the strengthening of the currency. Additionally, the central bank is expected to further lower its key int...

Moscow has warned against putting together an international naval coalition to make sure ships with grain leave Ukrainian ports amid a claimed Russian blockade in the Black Sea. Ships with grain have been unable to depart from Ukraine amid the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. The Ukrainian authorities and the West have been blaming Russia for blocking their passage, while Moscow has insisted that the logistical problems have been created by naval mines placed by Ukraine. The arrival of a foreign naval coalition “would seriously escalate the situation in the Black Sea,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said on Wednesday. The idea that “willing” countries should provide its warships and planes to “ensure that the grain supplies can leave [the Ukrainian port city of] Odessa safely and reach the Bosphorus without Russian interference” was proposed by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis during his visit to Great Britain on Tuesday. UK Foreign Secretary Liz...

On Monday, during his first official visit to Japan, US President Joe Biden announced the launch of a new project called the ‘Indo-Pacific Economic Framework’, which the White House claims to be an economic vision for Asia in an obvious bid to try and counter China. Thirteen countries have signed up to the agreement, including India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and all of the ASEAN members, excluding Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos (which are ostracized for being too pro-China). But what exactly does this agreement mean? And what does it offer and consist of? That’s a good question, and most people are wondering the same thing. The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) is not a trade deal, is not an investment agreement, not a treaty, and not an institution; it is an American slogan at best, a slogan which is really just focused on indirectly attacking China, rather than actually offering any serious economic commitments, a recognition that they have long lost the economi...

The US government has allowed powdered infant milk imports from the UK, the Food and Drug Administration announced in a statement on Tuesday, as the country is grappling with a severe shortage. British family-owned company Kendal Nutricare will deliver around 2 million cans of Kendamil brand formula to the US by June, the FDA said. According to The Guardian newspaper, 100 truckloads of powdered milk – which was used by the royal family to wean Prince Louis of Cambridge – will be sent. “We continue to do everything in our power as part of the all-of-government efforts to ensure there’s adequate infant formula available wherever and whenever parents and caregivers need it,” said FDA Commissioner Robert Califf. Roughly 40% of baby formula products are out of stock nationwide, data shows. Last week, the White House eased import requirements and announced an effort to transport baby milk from abroad dubbed ‘Operation Fly Formula’. The US normally produces 98% of the infant formula it co...

Joe Biden's popularity among American voters continues to slip, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll published on Tuesday, which revealed that only 36% of respondents favorably view his presidency. This is the lowest score since he took office. The poll, which gathered responses from a total of 1,005 adults, including 456 Democrats and 358 Republicans, suggests that more than half of Americans (59%) are dissatisfied with Biden’s performance as president. The approval rating of 36% was down by 6 percentage points in just one week from the previous 42% reading. Even Biden’s popularity among fellow Democrats seems to be waning, as his approval rating within his own party fell from 76% last week to 72% in the new survey. Meanwhile, another survey, conducted by Gallup over May 2-22 and also published on Tuesday, found that a staggering 83% of Americans think that the US has gone in the completely wrong direction, citing record high inflation, baby-formula shortages, record ga...

emonstrate to the US its determination regarding the self-governing island, a military spokesman said on Wednesday. The Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army held combat readiness exercises and other training operations in the sea and airspace around Taiwan, Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesman for the military command, reported. He said the drills were a “solemn warning” directed at the US regarding the issue of Taiwan’s proposed independence. Chinese troops are “determined and capable of thwarting any interference by external forces and attempted separatism” in Taiwan, the official added. The island was the last stronghold of nationalist forces during the Chinese Civil War, and has had its own government that does not answer to Beijing ever since. The Chinese government considers Taiwan to be under its sovereignty. The US has supported the island’s autonomy but adopted a ‘strategic ambiguity’ stance as part of its rapprochement with Beijing in the 1970s. For deca...

Moscow plans to make foreign debt payments in rubles, Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Wednesday. This comes after the US blocked Russia from servicing its debt to American bondholders Volodin added that the country has all the necessary monetary resources for payments. “The US and the satellites supporting Washington’s decisions should get used to the ruble,” Volodin said on his Telegram channel on Wednesday, citing Russia’s experience requiring ruble payments for gas shipments as an example of how settlements could work. Russia’s finance ministry also confirmed in a statement that Moscow will continue to fulfill its state debt obligations, despite the tightening of external restrictions. “The decision of the US Treasury Department to refuse to renew the license … infringes, first of all, on the rights of foreign investors in Russian debt instruments and undermines confidence in the Western financial infrastructure,” the ministry said. The statement added that...

The US Treasury Department announced on Tuesday that it would not extend the sanctions waiver that allowed Russia to make sovereign debt payments to Americans, in a move officials previously said would cause Moscow to be in technical default of its debt obligations. The general license waiver, which is set to expire at 12:01 on Wednesday, will not be extended, a notice posted on the Treasury website said. It was a widely expected move, reported as likely by several US outlets last week and all but confirmed by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Washington had blocked Russian accounts over the conflict in Ukraine, but issued a debt waiver because Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo argued such payments would divert funds from the military. Moscow’s payment of debts represented a “sign of success” for US sanctions policy, Adeyemo had argued. Russia also anticipated the move, with the Finance Ministry announcing last Friday it had made early payments – for a total of $99.25 million ...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has ruled out further discussion on a proposed EU-wide embargo on Russian oil, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Although other EU leaders insist a ban is close to being finalized, Orban has said that such a deal can’t be done without an “urgent investment” from Brussels. In a letter to European Council President Charles Michel, Orban reportedly said that a ban on Russian oil imports would cause “serious supply problems” in Hungary and deliver a “price shock” to Hungarian households and industries. Declaring the funding provisions in Brussels’ ‘REPowerEU’ plan inadequate to support a transition away from Russian fossil fuels for his country, Orban reportedly said that an oil embargo should not be discussed when EU leaders meet next week to deliberate on a sixth package of economic sanctions on Russia. “Discussing the sanctions package at the level of leaders in the absence of a consensus would be counterproductive,” the PM wrote. “It wou...

Washington doesn’t believe that it can swiftly disrupt the decades-long bilateral ties between India and Russia, US State Department spokesman Ned Price has outlined. During a briefing on Tuesday, Price was questioned about why groups, in which Washington and New Delhi participate jointly - including the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) of the US, India, Australia and Japan that held a summit on the same day - failed to put out a strong statement on Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. “India has a relationship with Russia that has developed over the course of decades,” while the conflict in Ukraine is ongoing for only three months,” Price responded, making it clear that it “We have never thought it realistic or possible to attempt to refashion or recontour a historic relationship that India has had with Russia – that has developed over the course of decades – in days, weeks, or even months,” he said. Bipartisan efforts made since the George W. Bush administration (2001-2...

An Iraqi citizen living in the US has been charged in a scheme to murder former President George W. Bush. He is accused of planning to help members of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorist group enter the country and assassinate the ex-president. An FBI terrorism task force arrested Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab, 52, on Tuesday for “aiding and abetting a plot to murder former United States President George W. Bush,” among other charges, according to the US Department of Justice. Shihab allegedly traveled to Dallas, Texas earlier this year to surveil Bush’s home, and accepted tens of thousands of dollars in late 2021 to help smuggle IS members into the country through the southern border while working with confidential FBI sources. The man arrived in the US in 2020 on a visitor visa obtained with the help of “a corrupt Iraqi American contractor at the US embassy,” the FBI claimed, and worked a number of jobs around Ohio and Indiana in the time since. Shihab appeared in federal ...

India “prevailed” in ensuring that a joint statement with the US, Japan, and Australia did not mention or condemn Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, former Foreign Minister Kanwal Sibal told RT. Sibal explained that the eyes of the ‘Quad’ should remain focused on the Indo-Pacific, and New Delhi has no quarrel with Moscow. The leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue issued a joint statement on Tuesday following a summit in Tokyo, Japan. The statement largely focused on security issues in the South China Sea and Asia more broadly, and Ukraine was briefly mentioned as a “tragic conflict” and a “humanitarian crisis,” which all four leaders discussed their responses to. The Quad leaders referenced “respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity,” but did not condemn or even name Moscow. Sibal, a veteran diplomat who served as India's foreign minister between 2001 and 2002, told RT on Tuesday that this was not an accidental oversight. India looks to scoop up divested We...

Speaking to a Russian prankster posing as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Former US President George W. Bush advised Kiev to focus on eliminating as many Russian troops as possible. Bush suggested that a military victory over Russia would see many of Ukraine’s issues “go off the table.” The undated prank phone call was staged by the Russian prankster duo known as Vovan and Lexus. They have made a name for themselves calling Western and Ukrainian politicians disguised as other officials to hear what they really think about various issues, often related to Russia. Some critics claim that the duo work for the Russian government. In their latest call, one of the pranksters reminded the ex-president of how his administration recognized Serbia’s Kosovo breakaway region as independent back in 2007. The caller went on to suggest that President Putin essentially took this straight out of Bush’s playbook when he recognized the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as independent in la...

Lawmakers in Moscow have approved the first stage of a bill, on Tuesday, allowing the authorities to provide a “prompt symmetrical response” to countries that restrict the activities of Russian media. The State Duma, the lower house of the country’s parliament, said in a statement that the legislation would give the prosecutor general the right to restrict or prohibit a foreign state’s media outlets in Russia. This power could be invoked in response to “a foreign state’s unfriendly actions against Russian media abroad,” according to the statement. Foreign media correspondents could lose their accreditation as part of the measures. “Thus the goal of providing a prompt symmetrical response to unfriendly actions against the Russian media would be achieved,” the authors of the legislation said. The bill also amends existing law by providing the prosecutor general’s office with the power to withdraw registration or to terminate the broadcasting license of any media in certain circumsta...