One of the world’s foremost prognosticators (the one who predicted all the chaos of 2020) has made another rather ballsy claim: it’s the US, not Russia, that is closer to breakdown. In an interview with the FT, economic historian Peter Turchin argued that war with Ukraine (“external pressures”) had actually “unified” Russia, leaving the US in a more perilous position. In addition, because the ratio of workers to vacancies in Russia has improved since the war, the chances of a macro-violent outbreak (civil war, revolution, political fragmentation etc) have been reduced.

Turchin goes on to say that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed uprising was “a good stress test — everybody was against him.” Therefore, “without doubt, the United States is in a much more perilous state right now.” Fingers crossed that the US has a “good” stress test on 5 November…

It’s one piece of bad news after the next for the EU. The bloc might like to think of itself as a green paradise, but a damning new report has warned that the continent is the fastest-warming continent in the world. Was all that Net Zero pain worth it? Just ask Europe’s farmers, who have been protesting for months over the bloc’s punitive green measures.

While they have scored some victories, the farmers aren’t giving up. New protests are targeting ports in Belgium and the Netherlands to draw attention to the nitrogen agreement. “The nitrogen decree continues to exist even though the Council of State has issued negative advice twice,” claim the protesters. With no sign of letting up, these protests could result in a heavy backlash at the polls this year…