Your Thursday Briefing – The New York Times

news7g09/08/2022

3 4 minutes read

Your Thursday Briefing - The New York Times

Europe says Putin’s energy influence is waning

Russian officials are watching and waiting for what they believe is the inevitable collapse of European resolve, as the economic pain of Russia’s gas shortage flares up. But increasingly, European leaders are signaling that, after months of preparation for this moment, they Ready for the challenge.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, European energy ministers and foreign officials have been trying to organize energy deals ahead of a potentially difficult winter without Russian gas. During that time, Russia dramatically cut supplies or suspended them for days at a time. Finally, last week, it stopped flowing through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that supplies Germany and much of Europe.

When the final blow came, it caused more ridicule than outrage among European leaders, who said they would now expect nothing less from Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president. , and they accepted that the era of cheap Russian gas was over, unthinkable. like that could have happened just a few months ago.

Market: After increasing 5% according to Gazprom’s announcement, prices are now lower than at the beginning of last week.

Can quote: For decades, since Soviet times, Moscow has asserted to Germany and other countries that it is a stable energy partner. Olaf Scholz, German chancellor, said: “Something that was true during the Cold War no longer applies. “Russia is no longer a reliable energy supplier. It’s part of the new reality.”

Challenges for Britain’s new prime minister

Liz Truss, Britain’s new prime minister, who is set to unveil a plan today to limit the sharp rise in energy costs, has no shortage of issues to deal with in a country facing crises. serious economic crisis. But the hardest challenges will come more deprived towns in England like Blackpoolwhere support for the Conservative Party could waver if energy bills skyrocket.

Truss’ new cabinet, announced this week, puts Britain on the one hand indisputable before many other European countries in the diversity of its political classes. But a significant number of its members were educated in private schools, as critics have observed – evidence that social class, not race or gender, may be the boundary. more evident in British politics.

The cabinet’s diversity can be traced back to a former prime minister, David Cameron, who, after becoming party leader in 2005, changed the Conservative Party’s selection process for potential lawmakers. That has forced local parties to choose more diverse parliamentary candidates.

Prioritized: Ethnic and gender diversity has not changed the policies of successive Conservative governments, which have grown tougher on immigration and often adopted tax cuts and government policies. Other economic policies tend to favor the wealthy.

Russia moves closer to China

In a televised speech yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, took on a defiant tone when he announce a scheduled meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Uzbekistan next week. The summit could help the Kremlin expand its relationship with China, which Putin called a “stable and reliable” partner in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The severing of economic ties with Western countries has pushed Russia into a rapid reorientation of its economy to Asia, especially China, making any meeting with Xi special. importance. In his remarks, Putin stressed that the West had failed in its “economic, financial and technological aggression” against Russia.

Although Beijing did not declare its support for the invasion, it echoed the Kremlin’s views that the US was the “main instigator” of the conflict. China has provided economic support to Russia amid Western sanctions, both as a supplier of everything from cars to smartphones and as a buyer of export energy that no longer needs. In western land.

Can quote: “We have lost nothing and will lose nothing,” Putin said. The Russian Defense Ministry has acknowledged hundreds of deaths in Ukraine, though that total has not been updated for months. Last month, the US estimated that 80,000 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in the fighting.

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The mysterious writer is missing

In 1926, mystery writer Agatha Christie went missing. The story of her 11-day disappearance – a plot as strange as any of her novels – is part of Lucy Worsley’s new biography.

After her husband, Archie, began an affair with a younger woman, Christie fell into a depression. While driving, she crashed her car down a hill and into a fence. The car was found, but she was not; She fled to a spa hotel, where she shared a false identity with her husband’s relatives. Finally, after more than a week, two musicians recognized her as the author of the famous missing song.

Molly Young wrote in a review of the biography: “Regardless of Christie’s true circumstances away from reality, the media had a field day. “Her book sales skyrocketed.”