It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, March 27, 2022
Gas prices: Middle-class 'impacted the most,' says economist
While high gas prices are a heavy burden on low-income consumers—it's the middle class that's being impacted the most from rising fuel costs, says one economist.
"There's this narrative or understanding that higher gas prices disproportionately impact low-income people. And it certainly is a heavy burden on them," Tim Quinlan, Wells Fargo senior economist, told Yahoo Finance Live.
"But the group that actually is impacted the most—the ones that spend a larger share of their disposable income on gasoline — is actually the middle class," he said.
"The way to rationalize that is that lower income households are actually taking the bus or walking to work," said the economist.
"Middle income houses may have the benefit of a second vehicle, which of course requires more gas," he added. "So the outlays on the middle class are actually larger even adjusted for the size of their income."
The average price of gas in the U.S. currently sits at $4.24, according to AAA. California's gasoline is well north of $5 per gallon.
U.S. West Texas intermediate (CL=F) and Brent (BZ=F) have been volatile amid the Russia-Ukraine war. WTI is currently sitting above $111/barrel while Brent hovers above $117/barrel.
Western nations imposed sanctions against Russia, a world crude exporter. The U.S. and U.K. also implemented a ban on Russian oil imports.
Pioneer or squatter? YouTuber’s cabin sparks fight over Canada’s wilderness
Leyland Cecco in Toronto
THE GUARDIAN Sun, March 27, 2022,
As much of North America was locked down during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Matty Clarke was in a boat full of supplies, motoring up the Yukon River. He was searching for wild lands where he could strike it rich.
“Getting myself a goldmine,” he told viewers on his YouTube channel. “Everyone’s heard about all this gold up there. You must be curious yourself – what’s actually going on up there? Can I just show up with all this stuff and end up having a goldmine? I think so.”
For the last two years, Clarke has battled the bitter cold and relentless mosquitoes of the boreal forests as he set up a new home in Canada’s northern hinterlands, chronicling his survival in regular YouTube updates.
But he now finds himself squaring off against a new foe: a frustrated government trying to evict him from his homestead on Ensley Creek, south of the town of Dawson City. Interactive
The Yukon’s most famous poet once described the region as “unpeopled and still”, but despite its vast scale, the territory’s government says people can’t just show up to a clearing in the forest and build homes without permits.
Since last year, officials have been trying to get Clarke and another self-styled pioneer, Simon Tourigny, to leave. The territory says they are illegally occupying public land and have defied orders to vacate. They are now petitioning a court to intervene.
Originally from Newfoundland, Clarke operates a popular YouTube channel called “Skote outdoors”, which documented his 2020 journey up the Yukon River to stake a mining claim and a real-life tutorial on building a log cabin. In the videos, he is seen felling trees and chopping notches into the logs.
“This is the real dream for me here now,” he says in one video as he speeds along a snowy landscape on a snowmobile. “It’s a good life out here. Everyone told me it was going to be a real struggle. And it was … But the hard times are vastly outweighed by the good times.”
His videos often receive nearly 10,000 views – and the government has used them and his social media post as their evidence against him.
The territory alleges that Clarke had errors in his mining claim and permit – and says that officials saw no evidence of mining by the YouTuber.
“Even if Mr Clarke had honestly and properly staked the Claim, doing so did not give Mr Clarke authority under the [Placer Mining Act] or any other Yukon legislation to construct a cabin at the Site for his permanent residence,” said the government’s court petition.
In an email to a territorial land manager, Clarke says the fight is about more than one log cabin.
“I do not look at myself as a trespasser but a guardian or steward of the land,” he wrote. Clarke did not respond to a request for comment.
While his videos stress Clarke’s isolation – the second season of his show is called Alone in the Yukon – his cabin is less than a kilometre from Simon Tourigny’s, as well as those of two other squatters.
Tourigny, who sees himself as someone learning the “old skills” of backcountry living, arrived in the region in 2016 and admits he has no valid permits to occupy the land. But like Clarke, he has no intention of leaving.
Rather than fussing over bylaws and building codes, Tourigny has employed a more abstract defence, arguing in an editorial last year that his values were under attack.
“Which part of what we are doing is ‘unauthorized’? Our cabins or our lifestyles? They won’t say, either because they don’t know or because the truth cannot be admitted,” Tourigny wrote in the Yukon News. “Are we not allowed to exist in the forest?”
Tourigny, who the Guardian was unable to reach, says he and others “simply took responsibility for our own lives” and are “literally living the dream of millions”.
The letter kicked off fierce debate in the Yukon, with a subsequent letter from a resident calling Tourigny’s claims “whining, snivelling, self-righteous”.
Both Tourigny and Clarke have built their cabins on the land of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation. While Tourigny has claimed “Every Indigenous person I’ve ever met seems to genuinely appreciate what I’m doing” the band has not made any public comment on their presence on the land.
Neither case has been heard in court yet, but the territorial government is requesting both Tourigny and Clarke be required to leave the land – and not be able to settle anywhere else in the territory without prior authority.
In his editorial, Tourigny suggests he is unwilling to back down.
“We are waiting to be arrested and forcibly taken to court to be put before a judge, the last person in a long line of people refusing to listen to us where fines or imprisonment await.”
India leans toward continued import of Russian coking coal -minister
Sun, March 27, 2022, By Neha Arora
NEW DELHI, March 27 (Reuters) - India is leaning toward continuing to import coking coal from Russia, the steel minister said on Sunday, seeming to buck a global trend to shun Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
"We are moving in the direction of importing coking coal from Russia," Ramchandra Prasad Singh told a conference in New Delhi.
India plans to double imports of Russian coking coal, a key ingredient in making steel, the minister said. He said the country had imported 4.5 million tonnes but did not indicate the period he was referring to.
Western countries and Japan have slapped unexpectedly heavy sanctions on the government of President Vladimir Putin and people associated with him. India, a major buyer of Russian goods from commodities to weapons, has abstained from several key United Nations votes condemning the Feb. 24 invasion.
"Smooth supplies" from Russia of coking coal have been affected, Singh said, in an apparent reference to the war. He did not elaborate.
Vessels carrying at least 1.06 million tonnes of coking coal, mainly used for steelmaking, and thermal coal used primarily for electricity generation, are set to deliver the fuel to Indian ports this month, the most since January 2020, data from consultancy Kpler showed.
Russia, typically India's sixth-largest supplier of coking and thermal coal, could start offering more competitive prices to Chinese and Indian buyers as European and other customers spurn Russia because of sanctions, traders say.
The trade could also be boosted by a rouble-rupee trading arrangement, they said. (Reporting by Neha Arora in New Delhi; Writing by Rupam Jain, William Mallard)
The Beginning Of The End Of Globalization
Editor OilPrice.com Sat, March 26, 2022
There is an eternal debate among various experts as to when globalization actually started; whether it was with the Silk Road, the Vikings, Columbus's voyage, or even before then, with the earliest human migratory routes.
Now, it’s no longer relevant when it started. Instead, the new question is whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will end it.
Russia’s war on Ukraine and the Western sanctions that necessarily followed, could have a lasting impact on globalization, a process that regardless of when the first seeds were planted, really became entrenched a few decades ago.
Globalization was under attack on some level prior to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Most significantly, the global pandemic let us all see very clearly the vulnerabilities, especially with supply chains and our dependence on their global nature.
Now, everyone is desperately calling for “independence”, whether it is of energy or other resources.
In Q2 2020, at the dramatic start of the pandemic, global trade was down 18.5%, compared to the same period the previous year.
Since then, the global economy has started to recover, only to be hit again by a war on the European continent–a war that could shake the balance of power.
Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, thinks we are now seeing the beginning of the end of globalization.
In a letter to shareholders, Fink wrote that Russia's "decoupling from the global economy" following its assault on Ukraine has caused governments and companies to examine their reliance on other nations.
"The Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades," Fink wrote.
For its part, BlackRock, which oversees more than $10 trillion, has already suspended the purchase of any Russian securities in its active or index portfolios.
Oaktree Capital Management founder Howard Marks shares Fink’s opinion, even if his take is less dramatic. He is warning investors that countries are going to start a major push to return to localized sourcing.
“Rather than the cheapest, easiest and greenest sources, there’ll probably be more of a premium on the safest and surest,” Marks said.
St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard seems something similar. The direct macroeconomic effects on the US economy from Russia's invasion are not that large, Bullard says, but “Russia's war will mean less globalization, more fragmentation around the world.”
Aside from oil and gas, Russia is one of the world's largest suppliers of metals. Currently, governments and large corporations that imposed sanctions on Russia are now scrambling to obtain alternative supplies. Supplies in turn are tightening, resulting in dramatic upward price swings and costs that are passed on to consumers.
The pandemic, along with geopolitical tensions with China and a US-China trade battle, had already driven many businesses to explore bringing their operations and relevant input materials closer to home, including some attempts to reverse the outsourcing of manufacturing.
Inter-dependence, however, is so great and so entrenched, that it will take just as long to undo globalization as it took to build it in the first place–unless it’s simply forced apart by war.
Semiconductors, which are undergoing a supply squeeze amid soaring demand, are a case in point. For two years the American auto industry has been suffering from this shortage and dependence on Asia hasn’t been sufficiently addressed, with efforts just now getting underway to secure domestic supply.
Now, Intel, the largest chipmaker in the United States, has announced (only recently) that it will spend $20 billion to build two semiconductor factories at home, but they won’t begin production until 2025.
Several automakers and battery manufacturers are also planning to make dozens of new electric vehicle battery factories in the United States within the next five years.
Similar announcements have been made recently in the solar and biotech industries.
Three decades ago, the US produced about 37% of the world's semiconductors, compared to 12 percent nowadays. Profit got in the way of strategic planning here. Cheap costs were chosen over independence, and that is the sacrifice of globalization.
HEAD HUNTING Exclusive-Sierra Space taps Boeing veteran as CFO after hefty capital raise -sources
Artist's rendering of Sierra Space's Dream Chaser space plane
Fri, March 25, 2022, 1:01 PM·2 min read By Eric M. Johnson
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Months after receiving a major infusion of capital, Sierra Nevada Corp's space unit, Sierra Space, has tapped a veteran Boeing Co executive to helm its finances as it races to develop its flagship space plane and studies a public offering, two people familiar with the matter said.
Outgoing Sierra Space CFO Robert Rodgers pitched investors and led due diligence efforts for around a year leading up to the landmark $1.4 billion capital round it announced in November, according to his LinkedIn profile. Sierra said it was the second-largest private capital infusion ever in the aerospace and defense sector and boosted Sierra's value to $4.5 billion.
Replacing Rodgers will be 10-year Boeing Co veteran Troy Lahr, who departed as CFO of the aerospace company's defense, space and security unit in recent weeks.
A Boeing spokesperson confirmed Lahr had left the company in recent weeks but declined further comment.
A Sierra Space spokesperson confirmed in a statement that Lahr would join the company soon.
"Sierra Space is assembling a world class management team, including Troy, that sees many lucrative opportunities in the marketplace for investors, while at the same time driving innovation and fueling our mission to explore space and benefit life on Earth," the Sierra Space spokesperson said.
The spokesperson declined further comment.
The reason for Rodgers' departure was not immediately clear. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Industry sources say Sierra is exploring a potential public offering among other options in the next two to three years but say that no decision has been made.
The financial leadership change comes as the Louisville, Colorado-based company races to develop a reusable space plane dubbed Dream Chaser to handle cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) starting in early 2023.
Sierra Space says Dream Chaser's ability to land on a traditional runway gives it an edge over rival solutions for delicate scientific research cargo. Rivals including Elon Musk's SpaceX are already carrying people and cargo to the ISS.
Sierra envisions a future where a fleet of its space planes - similar to the Space Shuttle, but much smaller - ferry humans and cargo from space ports across the world to a bustling new space economy.
"We are building the next generation of space transportation systems and in-space infrastructures and destinations that will enable humanity to build and sustain thriving civilizations beyond Earth," Sierra Space Chief Executive Officer Tom Vice said last year.
Sierra Space has also forged a partnership with billionaire entrepreneur Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to develop and operate a commercial space station in low earth orbit. Backers for the so-called orbital reef project include Boeing and Redwire Space.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
US plan to provide 15bn cubic meters of natural gas to EU alarms climate groups
Oliver Milman Fri, March 25, 2022 Photograph: Rob Carr/AP
A major deal that will see the US ramp up its supply of gas to Europe in an attempt to shift away from Russian fossil fuel imports risks “disaster” for the climate crisis, environmental groups have warned.
The increased gas exports from the US will escalate further, with the EU aiming to get 50bn cubic meters of gas a year from America and other countries in order to reduce its reliance upon Russia after its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Joe Biden, who announced the deal during a trip to Brussels, said the increased supply will ensure “families in Europe can get through this winter” while also hampering Vladimir Putin, who has used gas income to “drive his war machine”.
But environmental groups have reacted to the agreement with alarm, arguing that it will help embed years of future gas use at a time when scientists say the world must rapidly phase out the use of fossil fuels to avoid catastrophic climate change.
“We should be rapidly transitioning to affordable clean energy, not doubling down on fossil fuels,” said Kelly Sheehan, senior director of energy campaigns at the Sierra Club. “Reducing reliance on fossil fuels is the only way to stop being vulnerable to the whims of greedy industries and geopolitics.”
The US has in recent years become a net exporter of energy, with fracking technology helping draw upon its huge reserves of gas. When frozen into LNG, this gas can be loaded on to ships and exported around the world. The US is already running at near capacity for the amount it is able to ship out.
However, there are 16 proposed LNG terminals dotted along the US’s Gulf of Mexico coast that have already been awarded the necessary federal permits to proceed with construction. The deal with the EU could make these projects, which would take several years to build and operate, possibly for decades to come, appear more viable than previously.
“Allowing for the expansion of new and expanded gas export facilities would lock in decades of reliance on risky, volatile fossil fuels and spell disaster for our climate and already overburdened Gulf coast communities,” said Sheehan.
Biden has insisted the plan will not compromise his climate goals, claiming that the war in Ukraine will act as a “catalyst” for the deployment of renewable energy.
The US and EU have pledged to work together to push forward approvals for solar and wind projects, plug leaks from gas pipelines that spew methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere and work on energy efficiency measures that will reduce demand for fossil fuels.
But climate activists warn time is running out to avoid disastrous global heating. The International Energy Agency has said that no new fossil fuel infrastructure can be built worldwide if the planet is to avoid 1.5C of heating above the pre-industrial era, a point beyond which scientists say will dramatically increase dangerous heatwaves, flooding, droughts, wildfires and displacement of people.
“Pushing new toxic export facilities and decades more methane gas is a death sentence for those on the frontlines of the climate emergency, and it won’t solve Europe’s current crisis,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute.
“Approving more export terminals, pipelines and fossil fuel production only throws fuel on the fire of our burning world.”
Musk Has a New Message for Ukrainians Fighting Russian Invasion
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has become one of Ukraine's
biggest supporters since the unprovoked Russian invasion.
Since the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24, Elon Musk has established himself as an important supporter of Ukraine.
He has publicly expressed this support, a rare thing for a CEO of multinationals like Tesla (TSLA) - Get Tesla Inc Report and SpaceX. In doing so, he enabled other CEOs to do the same.
Besides words, the billionaire has also taken various actions to help Ukraine and Ukrainians even though he is aware that he does not hold the key to ending this war. Musk sent multiple shipments of Starlink terminals -- the satellite internet service offered by his space company SpaceX -- to Ukraine.
These terminals allow remote areas, towns, and villages destroyed by Russian bombing and Ukrainians in general to stay connected to the world. They essentially allow the country whose communications infrastructure was destroyed by the Russian army to continue to have access to a fast, secure and independent internet.
This is very important because in an armed conflict each side tries to make its own propaganda to gain the sympathy of the world. Everything must therefore be done to prevent one side from winning the communication war. By sending Starlink terminals to Ukraine, Musk allows ordinary Ukrainians to continue to tell the inside story of their daily lives and avoid Moscow dictating and shaping the narrative
VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images
Russia Uses Massive Cyberattacks in Ukraine
The billionaire also quietly sent some Tesla Powerwalls, an integrated battery system that stores solar energy, to Ukraine to help the war-torn country.
But in addition to the war on the ground, Russia has engaged in another confrontation and this one concerns cyberattacks, in particular against communication infrastructures.
U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded that Russian military spy hackers were behind a cyberattack on a satellite broadband service that disrupted Ukraine’s military communications at the start of the war last month, according to The Washington Post.
Last month, before the invasion, Russian government hackers had probably broadly penetrated Ukrainian military, energy and other critical computer networks to collect intelligence and position themselves to potentially disrupt the systems.
The recent outages, which began Feb. 24 — the day Russia invaded Ukraine — resulted from the hack of satellite modems belonging to tens of thousands of people in Ukraine and other countries in Europe, an official with the U.S. firm Viasat, headquartered in Carlsbad, Calif, told The Post. Agencies affected included civilians as well as Ukraine’s military and other government agencies, Ukrainian officials told the newspaper.
The Viasat official told the Post that distributors would be shipped new modems to be provided to those affected by the cyberattack.
These cyberattacks raise questions about the vulnerability of other broadband services with poorly-maintained firmware on their customer network infrastructure.
Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty
Starlink Terminals Not Hacked by Russians Yet
But despite their power, these Russian cyberattacks have yet to affect Starlink internet stations which help Ukrainians stay in touch with the world, Musk just said.
"Starlink, at least so far, has resisted all hacking & jamming attempts," Musk stated on Twitter on March 25.
This statement by Musk is something of a relief for Ukraine and Ukrainians as it suggests that Russia does not control all communications to and from Ukraine. This is an important point because this conflict which has already caused hundreds of deaths and the displacement of millions of others is here to stay. No doubt the communication war will also intensify.
Starlink technology is being used by civilians in areas under attack that have lost Internet service, and by government officials.
"A new batch of Starlink stations!" Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov posted on Twitter on March 18, with a photo showing the hardware. "While Russia is blocking access to the Internet, Ukraine is becoming more open to the entire world. Ukraine is the truth. The truth always wins. Thank you, @elonmusk, the Government of Poland, and Orlen."
American President Joe Biden said this week that the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the resulting sanctions on aggressor Russia, may lead to a rash of cybersecurity breaches unleashed by the Kremlin and other quasi-official sources in Russia.
Biden said that his administration has "evolving intelligence" that cyber warfare will be part of Russia's striking back against American sanctions.
"It’s part of Russia’s playbook. Today, my Administration is reiterating those warnings based on evolving intelligence that the Russian Government is exploring options for potential cyberattack," Biden said.
Russian forces are kidnapping Ukrainian journalists, holding them hostage, and torturing them in captivity, nonprofit says
Joshua Zitser Sat, March 26, 2022
Russian forces are kidnapping journalists and holding them hostage, according to Reporters Without Borders.
At least two journalists were tortured while in captivity, RSF said.
An editor says her 75-year-old father is a hostage as punishment for her criticism of Putin's invasion.
Russian forces are kidnapping Ukrainian journalists, holding them hostage, and torturing them, the nonprofit Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Friday, per NPR.
"By taking hostages, after bombing TV towers and shooting at cars marked 'Press,' the Russian authorities are demonstrating their determination to censor all reporting that contradicts their military propaganda," said Jeanne Cavelier, head of RSF's Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk.
"We strongly condemn these acts of intimidation and call on the Russian authorities to stop targeting journalists. They will have to answer for their actions before international courts," Cavelier continued.
At least 36 cases of civilian detentions in Ukraine have been verified by the UN, a spokesperson for the UN's Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (UNOHR) told BBC News.
The targeted people are "mostly" journalists and those who have been "vocal about their pro-Ukrainian positions," the spokesperson said on Friday.
In the occupied city of Melitopol, where the mayor was kidnapped and then released, four journalists were detained and later released, according to Ukraine's National Union of Journalists, per BBC News.
In Melitopol, a journalist says her father is being held hostage to intimidate her into submission.
Svetlana Zalizetskaya, the editor of newspaper Golovna Gazeta Melitopola and the RIA-Melitopol news website, has accused Russian troops of abducting her 75-year-old father as punishment for her criticism of the Russian invasion.
Zalizetskaya was told that her dad would only be released if she turned herself in, she wrote on Facebook.
Another journalist, war photographer and documentarian Maks Levin, has been missing since March 13, The Daily Beast reported.
Levin's colleague Markiian Lyseiko wrote on Facebook that "it is assumed that he may have been injured or captured by Russian troops."
"We are deeply concerned about the disappearance of Ukrainian journalist Maks Levin, and call on anyone with information on his whereabouts to come forward immediately," said CPJ's Europe and Central Asia program coordinator Gulnoza Said.
"Far too many journalists have gone missing while covering Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and all parties to the conflict should ensure that the press can work safely and without fear of abduction," Said continued.
Journalist Victoria Roschyna was detained for 10 days and then released after she posted a video saying the Russians "saved her life," Insider previously reported. Her publisher claimed the video was a condition of her release.
In the Kherson region, RSF said that journalist Oleg Baturin was held and tortured for eight days and then released. An unnamed Radio France fixer was held for nine days, according to RSF, and was beaten with an iron bar and tortured with electricity.
Ukrainians protest as Russians move into city north of Kyiv
Sat, March 26, 2022, A sign the color of the Ukrainian flag with a peace symbol
Ukrainians in a city north of Kyiv took to the streets to protest as Russians began to take over the area.
Videos and pictures captured by CNN showed a crowd of around several hundred people headed to the main square in the city of Slavutych on Saturday.
Mayor Yuri Fomichev called on residents to show up to the square with Ukrainian symbols and speak out against Russia's invasion.
Protesters brought a flag to the main square and chanted "Slavutych is Ukraine" and "Glory to Ukraine," according to CNN.
Fomichev posted on Facebook Friday that "Our defenders defended bravely and selflessly! But we do not have equal strength! Unfortunately, we have our dead."
After the city was taken over, Oleksandr Pavliuk, head of the Kyiv regional administration, said the mayor was kidnapped by the Russian forces.
CNN reported amid that the demonstrations, gunfire could be heard and the square was hit by three stun grenades.
The news comes a day after U.S. officials reported that Russian forces are no longer in full control of Kherson, the first Ukrainian city captured by Kremlin troops at the start of the war.
"We've seen reports of resistance there in areas that were previously reported to be in Russian control," a senior Defense official told reporters on Friday. "We can't corroborate exactly who is in control of Kherson, but the point is it doesn't appear to be as solidly in Russian control as it was before ... we would argue that Kherson is actually contested territory again."
The Ukrainian military has fought hard to defend its country, fending off Russian forces from the capital city of Kyiv and keeping the Kremlin from making large military gains.
