This report is taken from Russia Today, dated 14th May. 

As as already been pointed out in a previous SOYMB post, Russia Today, is, ‘a Russian state-controlled international news television network funded by the Russian government.’ Wiki. Truth, as it has been said, is the first casualty of war. The reader must therefore judge the veracity of this report.

However, should there be any accuracy in the statement issued then the potential consequences have it has to be of grave concern to everyone who opposes armed conflict wherever it occurs in the world.

Luhansk Lugansk is a city in eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be 397,677 (2022 est.),making Luhansk the most populous city in the In 2001, nearly half of the population was ethnically Ukrainian, and 47% was ethnically Russian.

Luhansk serves as the administrative center of Luhansk Oblast, although the  Ukrainian administration was relocated to Sievierodonet when the war in Donbas broke out following-Russian unrest and the proclamation of the Luhansk People’s Republic. In 2022, Russia declared its annexation of the region. Wiki.

“Ukraine’s military used UK-supplied long-range missiles to target civilians in the Russian city of Lugansk, resulting in several children being injured, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defence and local authorities.

In a statement on Saturday, the ministry said that a Ukrainian air strike on the Poly-pack food processing factory and the Milam home goods store in central Lugansk a day earlier had used Storm Shadow missiles. The attack came despite London’s assurances that those weapons would not be used to target civilian facilities, it claimed.

Several houses were damaged and a number of people, including six children, were wounded, the ministry stated, adding that Russian aircraft shot down the Ukrainian Su-24 bomber that had conducted the strike on Lugansk, as well as an MiG-29 fighter accompanying the aircraft.

Initially, the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC), which tracks Kiev’s attacks on the Donbass, identified the projectiles that hit Lugansk, which had long been considered to be out of range of Ukrainian artillery, as Grom missiles.

Later, however, it clarified that the strike involved two Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles and a US-made ADM-160B decoy missile.

On Saturday, the JCCC claimed that Kiev fired another Storm Shadow at the village of Yubileiny, west of Lugansk. It added that the strike injured one elderly woman, damaged windows in seven houses while wrecking 25 garages, 15 cars, and a power line.”

The Lugansk People’s Republic, along with three other former Ukrainian territories, was incorporated into Russia last autumn following public referendums that saw the local population overwhelmingly support the move.

On Thursday, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed earlier media reports that the UK had provided Ukraine with low-observable Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of more than 250km (150 miles). The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced the move as an “extremely hostile step by London” that “clearly confirms the unprecedented level of British involvement” in the conflict.”

 It’s reported that inflation in France accelerated in April, driven by a surge in energy prices – data published by the national statistics bureau Insee.

‘Consumer prices rose by 5.9% last month on an annual basis, up from 5.7% in March. Energy price growth soared to 6.8% in April after a 4.9% increase in March, mainly due to rising fuel costs.   

Meanwhile, the increase in gas prices eased from the March reading of 35.6%, coming in at 22.9% higher year-on-year in April.   

Food prices climbed 15% year-on-year, slightly lower than the March reading of 15.9%. The downtick was attributable to a seasonal decline in the prices of fresh goods. However, despite the slower pace of price growth, Insee economists said that soaring food costs have had a more significant impact on overall inflation than rising energy costs.   

A recent survey by market research firm Elabe showed that 43% of French consumers have cut back on buying certain food items due to inflation. 

43% reported having cut down on meat, 34% were buying less fish, and 27% had given up cakes and biscuits. According to the survey, most French consumers have had to adjust their shopping habits, with 44% opting for cheaper food and 30% now buying smaller quantities.   

In March, the French authorities introduced a so-called “anti-inflation food basket,” comprising about 50 basic items and obliged large retailers not to hike prices on these staples until June.’

 Russia Today, is, ‘a Russian state-controlled international news television network funded by the Russian government.’ Wiki. Its reporting of statements emanating from the various arms of the Russian Government should therefore be read as being one hundred per cent from the horses, or bears, mouth. 

On May 12th, under the headline, Russia warns Britain over cruise missiles, the following report appeared:

“London’s decision to supply Kiev with long-range cruise missiles is another step towards a “serious escalation” of the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The ministry called the move “a very unfriendly step” on the UK’s part, which shows London’s “unprecedented level of involvement” in the conflict.

“Carried away with geopolitical games … the UK is apparently ready to cross any red lines and bring the conflict towards a totally new level when it comes to destruction and casualties,” the Foreign Ministry’s statement read.

Russia “reserves the right to take any measures deemed necessary to neutralise a threat that may arise from Ukraine’s use of the British cruise missiles,” the ministry said, adding that those behind this “reckless step” and London’s “destructive activities” in general would be to blame for the consequences.

On Thursday, the UK confirmed it was handing several of its Storm Shadow cruise missiles over to Ukraine. The weapons can hit targets over 250km (155 miles) away.’

(‘The Storm Shadows intended targets are command, control and communications centres; airfields; ports and power stations; ammunition management and storage facilities; surface ships and submarines in port; bridges and other high value strategic targets.’ Wiki.)

 ‘Defence Secretary Ben Wallace called it a “calibrated and proportionate response” by London to the situation in Ukraine

Washington indicated on Friday that it is reluctant to follow London’s example. The US has long refused to provide Kiev with longer-range weapons such as ATACMS missiles. In March, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said it is not an option since the move would dwindle the Pentagon’s own stocks.

Western officials have reportedly said that giving Ukraine the option to attack targets inside Russian territory recognised by the US and its allies would be a major escalation of the conflict.

Kiev has long asked for longer-range weapons. President Vladimir Zelensky’s top adviser, Mikhail Podoliak, said this week that longer-range missiles could be used to strike Crimea, which Kiev considers an illegally occupied territory. The peninsula joined Russia in 2014 following a referendum.

Moscow has repeatedly warned Western nations that weapons deliveries to Ukraine make them de facto participants in the conflict – something many of them have vehemently denied.

On Thursday, the Kremlin vowed to have an “appropriate answer” to the deliveries of the British missiles.”

The US has provided Ukraine with around seventy five billion dollars worth of aid of one sort or another since the beginning of the conflict. (Kiel Institute for the World Economy).

The US has said however that it has no intention of supplying similar missiles to Ukraine.

From the Socialist Standard, June, 1985

‘I am only just recovering from the non-excitement of Norway winning the Eurovision Song Contest. Watching the show is like taking an overdose of valium – and then there was the frustration of going to the toilet and missing “our” song. All over Europe (and Israel – TV bosses aren’t too hot on geography) workers were sitting in front of their tellys and waiting for “our” song. What seems like bland light entertainment is doing its bit to encourage the sick sense of nationalism which the masters require of the wage slaves. It’s like watching international soccer – millions of workers are urged to think of “us” taking a penalty and “our” goal difference. All ideological preparation for “us” nuking Leningrad and “our” gains in central Russia. If you want to show us a football match or a boring song contest, let them tell us in advance that we’re in for a nationalist political broadcast. As for “our” song in the contest – fourth to Norway. Palmerston would never have stood for it. If I were Maggie I’d send a Task Force to Scandinavia.’

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2014/07/between-lines-praise-marx.html

 The Guardian has reported that, ‘Britain has supplied long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine, becoming the first major western country to supply arms that could strike targets deep into occupied Crimea in a counteroffensive from Kyiv. Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, told MPs for the first time that the expensive missiles – costing over £2m a time – were “now going in, or are in the country itself,” and added the gift of the missiles was supported by the US.

Wallace did not say how many Storm Shadow missiles had been given to Ukraine, although it has been estimated that the UK holds a stock of between 700 and 1,000. Working with four other countries, the UK also issued a tender to buy more long-range “missiles or rockets with a range of 100-300km” (62 to 186 miles).

The US has so far declined to supply Ukraine with its own long-range missiles, amid concerns that such a move could be considered escalatory and that Ukraine could use them to strike deep into Russia’s internationally recognised borders.

But Wallace said the US was “incredibly supportive” of the UK’s decision – and said that ATACMS missiles with a with a range of 100-300km” (62 to 186 miles). which is designed to be able to strike forces below ground defensive positions. Storm Shadow have a range of “in excess of 250km” according to its manufacturer, European arms group MBDA, although those supplied are likely to be at a reduced export range of about 186 miles (300km), so the UK can comply with existing international anti-proliferation commitments.’

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/may/11/uk-sending-long-range-storm-shadow-missiles-to-ukraine-says-defence-minister-ben-wallace

Oh, that’s alright then, so long as UK is complying with international anti-proliferation commitments!

‘Britain had received assurances from the Ukrainian government that these missiles would be used only within Ukrainian sovereign territory and not inside Russia.’

Oh, that’s alright then. It’s a well known fact that governments don’t lie.

This is a very dangerous game that is being played. How much longer is the majority, the global working class,going to allow an asset owning minority play Russian roulette with their lives?

‘Russia today threatened Britain with ‘an adequate response from our military’ after the UK agreed to supply Ukraine with Storm Shadow long-range missiles.

The missiles, which cost about £2.2million, will allow Ukraine to hit Russian troops and logistics hubs deep behind the front line in a major blow to Vladimir Putin. 

Britain had received assurances from the Ukrainian government that these missiles would be used only within Ukrainian sovereign territory and not inside Russia, multiple senior Western officials said.

Ukraine has been asking for months for long-range missiles, but support provided by Britain and other allies such as the United States has previously been limited to shorter range weapons.

But UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace today confirmed that Britain is sending the Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine, a decision that prompted a furious response from the Kremlin.’

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12072375/Russia-threatens-Britain-adequate-response-military-supply-missiles.html

What did TPTB think was going to be the response of the Russians?

‘The war in Ukraine has led to much sympathy and solidarity from people across Europe and beyond. And in a way, this is both understandable and heart-warming. Few want to see innocent people bombed out of their homes and turned into refugees, fleeing mass killing. The assistance people have been prepared to give Ukrainian refugees has been a testament to the basic solidarity and mutual support socialists have always said we are capable of as human beings. 

The media have largely portrayed this war as a battle of good against evil. Socialists know that wars in modern capitalist society are never quite that simple. Sometimes the motivations for war are transparently economic (eg the Gulf Wars), while at other times there is a complex geo-political element, with states manoeuvring for political advantage and seeking to extend or defend their spheres of influence (the Falklands War was closer to this). 

The Ukraine situation is complicated and most people (including us) did not expect armed conflict to actually break out. The ‘good versus evil’ scenario that is the dominant narrative doesn’t quite fit and as usual other factors are at play…’

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2022/05/ukraine-good-against-evil-or-more.html

‘It was fools like Nuland playing the great game that gave us World War I. World War III would be the last war. Washington’s drive to exploit every opportunity to establish its hegemony over the world is driving us all to nuclear war. Like Nuland, a significant percentage of the population of western Ukraine are Russophobes. I know the case for Ukrainian dislike of Russia, but Ukrainian emotions fueled with Washington’s money should not direct the course of history. No historians will be left to document how gullible and witless Ukrainians set the world up for destruction.’ SOYMB February 2014

https://soymb.com/2014/02/5-billion-from-us-to-give-ukraine.html

‘The Need For Work – And How To Avoid It’

Speaker Richard Field

 Despite current global warming doom impending upon us, we see companies such as ExxonMobil and Chevron report record-high earnings. Not only is this alarming in an ecological sense, but as workers and as people struggling in a time of inflation and poverty, we see $11.4 Billion made by Exxon alone.

They exploit their workers, particularly in the Global South, pay below minimum wage, place workers in unsafe conditions and deny them their basic labour rights. Yet they still continue despite activists campaigning for years. False promises and years of fake greenwashing are truly apparent now. You can plainly see that these companies have not been taxed more, stopped nor prevented from destroying the planet. You can practically hear how giddy they are that they’ve been pulling this off for so long.

In 2018, the UK seemingly forgot about the Paris Agreement when trying to extend Gatwick Airport. The sentiment is still the same. We haven’t seen any actual environmental change since their Climate Change Act of 2008 – which hasn’t been followed – and the Environmental Act of 2021 which ClientEarth has said will ‘not protect people’s health from particulate pollution’.

It’s painfully clear that the government is not taking these issues seriously. They are rather more worried about illegal immigration – ‘Why let refugees enter our country and cause what is obviously going to be havoc?’ – because that’s what’s the most pressing issue at the moment of course. I suppose if you compare them to the religious pilgrims who fled persecution in Britain to colonise the US, you would think they’re armed with guns and smallpox.

There’s ways we could try to make changes, we could make a petition, which will get taken to parliament and then immediately get shot down. We could protest, and slowly get arrested and silenced as our leaders pass a Public Order Act basically outlawing all effective means of protest that XR and Greenpeace love to use.

What can we do? It’s easy to feel hopeless in a time like this, when corrupt feeds corrupt and we are left to suffer at the bottom. Within this system, there’s not much we can do other than vote. But we still have the ability to make ourselves heard. As long as we continue support a capitalist system we continue to support the heartless and soulless greed of these companies. We have to continue to show our opposition. 

JAMES WITKOWSKI

Olive oil is a staple cooking ingredient for many around the world. The fall in production and the escalating prices, along with pricier and pricier global food commodities, are having an adverse affect on many millions.

Consumers will have seen the results in their local food outlets and supermarkets.

Perhaps a social system based upon production for use not profit would be more able to alleviate the effects upon many.

Time to revert to cooking breakfast bacon and eggs in lard?

‘Olive oil prices have surged to record levels due to a prolonged drought in Spain, the world’s largest producer and exporter of the product.

Prices have surged more than 60% since June.  Consumers will have to brace themselves for further increases. The severe drought that Spain has been experiencing since last summer is now threatening the global olive oil supply, causing prices to spike around the world.

Data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) showed that global olive oil prices have hit $5,989.8 per metric ton, marking a 26-year high.

The recent October-to-February olive harvest produced a yield 50% less than usual due to exceedingly poor weather conditions. According to Spain’s Ecology Ministry, the country has experienced 36 straight months of below-average rainfall. 

CNBC quoted a Mintec analyst who said, Spain produced an olive oil crop of around 630,000 metric tons, down from the usual 1.4 to 1.5 million metric tons harvest.’

Nb. Twelve months ago price was $4398.57

 The United Nations body, The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has reported that that global food prices grew in April for the first time in a year.

The price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 127.2 points last month, compared to 126.5 for March.

“The slight rebound in the FFPI (FAO Food Price Index) in April was led by a steep increase in the sugar price index, along with an upturn in the meat price index, while the cereals, dairy and vegetable oil price indices continued to drop,” the FAO said.

 The sugar price index soared 17.6% from March, hitting its highest level since October 2011. The rise was reportedly linked to concerns over tighter supplies following downward revisions to production forecasts for India and China, along with lower-than-expected output in Thailand and the European Union.

The meat price index was up 1.3% from March, while dairy prices fell 1.7%. Vegetable oil prices were also down 1.3%, marking the fifth consecutive monthly decline.

The cereal price index dropped 1.7%, with a decline in world prices of all major grains outweighing an increase in rice prices.

“The increase in rice prices is extremely worrisome and it is essential that the Black Sea initiative is renewed to avoid any other spikes in wheat and maize,” said FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero.

The FAO  indicated that international wheat prices declined by 2.3% in April to their lowest level since July 2021, principally driven by large exportable availabilities in Russia and Australia.

The UN said favourable crop conditions in Europe, along with an agreement at the end of April allowing Ukrainian grains to transit through European Union countries that had imposed import restrictions earlier in the month, also contributed to the “overall softer tone in markets.”

Meanwhile, Torero projected that as global economies “recover from significant slowdowns, demand will increase, exerting upward pressure on food prices.”

An earlier CNBC report, quoting Fitch Solutions, highlighted the global  shortage of rice in two decades,  According to the agency’s estimates, the 2022-23 crop year will see an 8.7-million-ton shortage in the global supply, the largest shortfall since 2003-04, when it was 18.6 million tons.

Data from Statista.com shows that global rice production last year was 502.9 million tons, making it the third-most produced grain after corn and wheat. However, production has been dropping in recent months as a result of bad weather in rice-producing countries like China and Pakistan. 

Severe weather conditions affected China, largest global producer, which supplied over 148 million metric tons of milled rice to the market in 2021-22, s Currently, the country is “experiencing the highest level of drought in its rice growing regions in over two decades.” Both situations could be dire for the vulnerable crop, analysts say.

As  a result of severe flooding Pakistan, with nearly 8% of global rice trade, also saw its annual production drop 31%.

It is claimed that India, the world’s second-largest rice producer, may suffer from intense heat in the second and third quarters of 2023, which could also endanger its crop yield. European rice-growing countries such as France, Germany, and the UK have also been suffering from the highest level of drought in 20 years, which may further endanger this year’s supply.

Due to the shortages,  rice prices are expected to remain around their current highs – from $16-18 per cwt (50.8kg), which is more than double that of 2020 – for the remainder of the year. Apart from supply constraints, rice prices are also affected by Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. The conflict has jeopardized both Ukrainian and Russian grain supplies to the global market, driving up wheat prices, which has made rice an increasingly attractive alternative and boosted demand.

“Given that rice is the staple food commodity across multiple markets,” its price is expected to drive up global food price inflation.

https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/the-measure-of-world-food-prices-rose-in-april-for-first-time-in-a-year/en/

 Almost half of the 4,800 banks in the US are nearly insolvent, as they have burned through their capital buffers, The Telegraph reported earlier this week, citing a group of banking experts.

According to Professor Amit Seru, a banking expert at Stanford University, around half of US lenders are underwater.

“Let’s not pretend that this is just about Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic,” he said. “A lot of the US banking system is potentially insolvent.”

Last week, First Republic was seized by US financial regulators and acquired by JPMorgan, the country’s biggest bank. The San Francisco-based lender had previously received a $30-billion rescue shot from a group of Wall Street banks in the form of deposits. The sale of First Republic Bank followed massive deposit runs in March, which caused two regional lenders, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, to fail within days.

On Thursday, shares of Los Angeles-based PacWest and Arizona’s Western Alliance were suspended after their prices fell dramatically. Earlier in the week, shares of several regional US lenders plunged by at least 15%, triggering investor concerns about the financial health of other mid-sized banks.

Around 2,315 banks across the US are currently sitting on assets worth less than their liabilities, according to a Hoover Institution report by Professor Seru and a group of banking experts, as cited by the media.

The market value of the loan portfolios of these lenders is reportedly $2 trillion lower than the stated book value.

Professor Seru raised questions over the steps taken by US financial watchdogs to tackle the problems faced by crisis-hit mid-sized lenders. The regulators can contain the immediate liquidity crisis by guaranteeing all deposits temporarily, according to Seru, who said, however, that this would not address the greater solvency crisis.

RT 6/5/23