Point of snow return
Ukraine, Russia, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, the Americas, Turkey, and the Sahel.
Hello,
Here are the five things you need to know today:
UKRAINE. RUSSIA. Zelensky faces invidious choices as temperatures drop.
GERMANY. POLAND. War and identity divide Central Europe.
SWITZERLAND. A trade deal and a visit will bring relief.
THE AMERICAS. Trump’s hemispheric policies continue to confound.
TURKEY. THE SAHEL. A new player arrives where others have failed.
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UKRAINE. RUSSIA. Winter has come
Zelensky faces invidious choices as temperatures drop.
Volodymyr Zelensky visited the frontline in Zaporizhzhia Thursday after Russian breakthroughs were reported. The IMF and EU expressed concern after Ukraine’s justice and finance ministers were linked to a $100 million corruption scandal.
INTELLIGENCE. Zelensky has called for the ministers to be sacked but the alleged scam, involving an associate from his television career, will complicate attempts to raise morale when Kyiv needs it most. It will also give growing European sceptics an excuse to slow-walk aid, even as Brussels bromides continue about using frozen Russian assets (which remains unlikely). As winter sets in, with snow forecast for next week, the fight will only get harder.
FOR BUSINESS. Attempts to throttle Russia’s war machine, meanwhile, appear mixed. While sanctions are reportedly leaving a third of oil cargoes on tankers, separate reports suggest that Russia’s refining volumes have fallen just 3%, despite months of targeted attacks supported by Western intelligence. Natural gas prices have meanwhile hit post-2022 highs as China allegedly constructs its own shadow fleet and piped deliveries via Power of Siberia set records.
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GERMANY. POLAND. Pecking Oder
War and identity divide Central Europe.
Germany’s coalition agreed a compromise voluntary military service bill Thursday as the hard right AfD said Russia posed no more of a threat than Poland. President Karol Nawrocki said Donald Tusk was the worst prime minister since 1989.
INTELLIGENCE. Friedrich Merz may find governing with the centre-left Social