Putin casts war as a battle for Russia's survival

Published

2 years ago

February 26, 2023

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MOSCOW President Vladimir Putin cast the confrontation with the West over the Ukraine war as an existential battle for the survival of Russia and the Russian people and said he was forced to take into account the North Atlantic Treaty Organisations (Nato) nuclear capabilities.

A year since ordering the invasion of Ukraine, Mr Putin is increasingly presenting the war as a make-or-break moment in Russian history, and saying that he believes the very future of Russia and its people are in peril.

They have one goal: to disband the former Soviet Union and its fundamental part the Russian Federation, Mr Putin told Rossiya 1 state television in an interview recorded last Wednesday but released on Sunday.

Nato and the West dismiss such a narrative, saying their objective is to help Ukraine defend itself against an unprovoked attack.

Mr Putin said the West wanted to divide up Russia and then control the worlds biggest producer of raw materials, a step, he said, that could well lead to the destruction of many of the people of Russia, including the ethnic Russian majority.

I do not even know if such an ethnic group as the Russian people will be able to survive in the form in which it exists today, Mr Putin said. He said the Wests plans had been put on paper, though he did not specify where.

The United States has denied that it wants to destroy Russia, while President Joe Biden has warned that a conflict between Russia and Nato could trigger World War III, though he has also said that Mr Putin should not remain in power.

Mr Putin said the tens of billions of dollars worth of US and European military assistance to Ukraine showed that Russia was now facing off with Nato itself the Cold War nightmare of both Soviet and Western leaders.

Ukraine says it will not rest until every last Russian soldier is ejected from Ukraine, including from Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.

Mr Putins existential framing of the war allows the 70-year-old Kremlin chief to gird the Russian people for a much deeper conflict and gives him much greater freedom in the types of weapons he could one day use.

Russias official nuclear doctrine allows for the use of nuclear weapons if they or other types of weapons of mass destruction are used against it, or if conventional weapons are used which endanger the very existence of the state.

Mr Putin has signalled he is ready to rip up the architecture of nuclear arms control including the big powers moratorium on nuclear testing unless the West backs off in Ukraine.

On Tuesday, he sought to underscore Russian resolve on Ukraine by suspending a landmark nuclear arms control treaty, announcing that new strategic systems had been put on combat duty and warning that Moscow could resume nuclear tests.

Mr Putin said Russia would resume discussions on the matter only when French and British nuclear weapons were also taken into account. More On This Topic 'People's court' calls for Putin to be charged, prosecuted Why Putin must not be allowed to succeed in his act of aggression Russia, which inherited the Soviet Unions nuclear weapons, has the worlds biggest store of nuclear warheads. It has more warheads than the US, France and Britain combined, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

In todays conditions, when all the leading Nato countries have declared their main goal as inflicting a strategic defeat on us, so that our people suffer as they say, how can we ignore their nuclear capabilities in these conditions? Mr Putin said.

He added that the biggest result of the past year was the unity of the Russian people. REUTERS

Business

Chancellor’s Mansion House speech vows to rip up red tape – saying post-financial crash rules went ‘too far’

Published

2 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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Chancellor's Mansion House speech vows to rip up red tape - saying post-financial crash rules went 'too far'

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has criticised post-financial crash regulation, saying it has “gone too far” – setting a course for cutting red tape in her first speech to Britain’s most important gathering of financiers and business leaders.

Increased rules on lenders that followed the 2008 crisis have had “unintended consequences”, Ms Reeves will say in her Mansion House address to industry and the City of London’s lord mayor.

“The UK has been regulating for risk, but not regulating for growth,” she will say.

It cannot be taken for granted that the UK will remain a global financial centre, she is expected to add.

Money blog: Britain’s most affordable town revealed

It’s anticipated Ms Reeves will on Thursday announce “growth-focused remits” for financial regulators and next year publish the first strategy for financial services growth and competitiveness.

Bank governor to point out ‘consequences’ of Brexit

Also at the Mansion House dinner the governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey will say the UK economy is bigger than we think because we’re not measuring it properly.

A new measure to be used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – which will include the value of data – will probably be “worth a per cent or two on GDP”. GDP is a key way of tracking economic growth and counts the value of everything produced.

Brexit has reduced the level of goods coming into the UK, Mr Bailey will also say, and the government must be alert to and welcome opportunities to rebuild relations.

Mr Bailey will caveat he takes no position on “Brexit per se” but does have to point out its consequences.

In what appears to be a reference to the debate around UK immigration policy, Mr Bailey will also say the UK’s ageing population means there are fewer workers, which should be included in the discussion.

The greying labour force “makes the productivity and investment issue all the more important”.

“I will also say this: when we think about broad policy on labour supply, the economic arguments must feature in the debate,” he’s due to add.

The exact numbers of people at work are unknown in part due to fewer people answering the phone when the ONS call.

Mr Bailey described this as “a substantial problem”.

He will say: “I do struggle to explain when my fellow [central bank] governors ask me why the British are particularly bad at this. The Bank, alongside other users, including the Treasury, continue to engage with the ONS on efforts to tackle these problems and improve the quality of UK labour market data.”

Politics

Chancellor’s Mansion House speech vows to rip up red tape – saying post-financial crash rules went ‘too far’

Published

2 hours ago

November 14, 2024

admin

Increased rules on lenders that followed the 2008 crisis have had “unintended consequences”, Ms Reeves will say in her Mansion House address to industry and the City of London’s lord mayor.

“The UK has been regulating for risk, but not regulating for growth,” she will say.

It cannot be taken for granted that the UK will remain a global financial centre, she is expected to add.

Money blog: Britain’s most affordable town revealed

It’s anticipated Ms Reeves will on Thursday announce “growth-focused remits” for financial regulators and next year publish the first strategy for financial services growth and competitiveness.

Bank governor to point out ‘consequences’ of Brexit

Also at the Mansion House dinner the governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey will say the UK economy is bigger than we think because we’re not measuring it properly.

Brexit has reduced the level of goods coming into the UK, Mr Bailey will also say, and the government must be alert to and welcome opportunities to rebuild relations.

Mr Bailey will caveat he takes no position on “Brexit per se” but does have to point out its consequences.

The greying labour force “makes the productivity and investment issue all the more important”.

“I will also say this: when we think about broad policy on labour supply, the economic arguments must feature in the debate,” he’s due to add.

The exact numbers of people at work are unknown in part due to fewer people answering the phone when the ONS call.

Mr Bailey described this as “a substantial problem”.

Environment

China powers up the world’s largest open-sea offshore solar farm

Published

3 hours ago

November 14, 2024

admin

China powers up the world's largest open-sea offshore solar farm

China offshore solar — Image: China Energy

China’s CHN Energy has connected the first solar units from its 1-gigawatt (GW) offshore solar farm – the world’s first and largest of its kind – to the grid.

The massive project is located off the coast of Dongying City in Shandong Province, eastern China.

Developed by CHN Energy’s Guohua Energy Investment Co., it aims to serve as a benchmark for future large-scale offshore solar farms.

The project sits 8 km (5 miles) off the coast and spans an impressive 1,223 hectares (3,023 acres). It uses 2,934 solar platforms that rest on large-scale offshore steel truss foundations, each platform measuring 60m (197 feet) by 35m (115 feet).

It’s the first time in China that a 66-kilovolt offshore cable paired with an onshore cable has been used for high-capacity, long-distance electricity transmission in the solar sector.

Once completed, this offshore solar farm is expected to generate 1.78 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually – enough to power around 2.67 million urban homes. It could also help save about 503,800 tons of standard coal and cut down carbon dioxide emissions by roughly 1.34 million tons annually.

The project also includes fish farming, making better use of the marine space by integrating renewable energy with aquaculture.

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