Daily News Brief

August 1, 2022

Top of the Agenda

A shipment of grain left the Ukrainian port of Odesa for the first time since Russia’s February invasion. Carrying twenty-six thousand tons of grain, the ship is meant to be the first of many to sail under an agreement (The Guardian) between Russia and Ukraine that was brokered by Turkey and the United Nations. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called the shipments a “relief for the world,” as the halting of grain exports has contributed to a global food crisis. However, it will take months to clear the backlog of an estimated eighteen million tons (WSJ) still trapped inside Ukraine, and the future of the deal remains uncertain after Russian forces targeted Odesa last week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered civilians to evacuate (CNN) from the eastern Donetsk region amid increased Russian shelling. Meanwhile, an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive has raised worries (NYT) over potential damage to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which is currently occupied by Russian forces.

Analysis

“Even if the war ended tomorrow, Ukraine’s agricultural and port infrastructure need to be rebuilt and the waters off its coastline demined. The country’s farmers may not be able or willing to come back to work on their land. Many western government officials and analysts expect the current food crisis to last years, with the war coming on top of climate change, the pandemic and other conflicts around the world,” the Financial Times’ Chelsea Bruce-Lockhart and Emiko Terazono write.

 
“Russia, the largest producer of fertilizer in the world, has steadily restricted the flow of natural gas to Europe, not only driving fuel prices higher but also nudging up the cost of nitrogen-based fertilizers. As fertilizer prices have risen, so have wheat prices,” the New York Times’ Joe Rennison writes.

Pacific Rim

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) seeks to affirm Washington’s commitment to the region as she leads a congressional delegation (Nikkei) to Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan. China warned the delegation against visiting Taiwan, saying it will not “sit idly by” if a potential visit goes ahead.

 

New Zealand: The country’s borders fully reopened (Axios) for the first time since March 2020 after Wellington lifted its last remaining pandemic-related travel restrictions.

South and Central Asia

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, head of Myanmar’s military government, said the junta will continue to govern (BBC) under emergency powers for at least six more months.

 

This Backgrounder traces Myanmar’s long history of conflict.

 

Pakistan: Monsoon floods have killed (Al Jazeera) at least 437 people since June and forced thousands across the country to evacuate, officials said.   

Middle East and North Africa

Hundreds of supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr began occupying Iraq’s legislature (Al Jazeera) on Saturday to oppose a pro-Iran rival bloc’s choice for prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. Their opposition prolongs a stalemate that has left Iraq without a government since elections in October.

 

Iran: The country’s top atomic energy official, Mohammad Eslami, said Iran possesses the technical capability (The National) to make a nuclear weapon, but that it has no intentions of doing so.

 

This Backgrounder explains how Iran’s nuclear advances threaten prospects for reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.

Sub-Saharan Africa

UN peacekeepers opened fire (AP) at a border post between Uganda and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), killing at least two people and wounding fifteen others. UN officials said it was not immediately clear what sparked the incident.

 

Nigeria: The University of Oxford said it is supporting a request (PA Media) from the Nigerian government to return nearly one hundred artifacts looted by British forces in 1897 and currently on display in several Oxford museums. The British government’s Charity Commission is expected to decide whether to return the items in the coming months.

Europe

The implementation of a requirement for Serbs to use license plates (Reuters) and other official documents issued by the government of Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, was put on hold for one month after opponents blocked roads and fired shots at police at several border crossings. 

Americas

Officials said they detained journalist José Rubén Zamora (WaPo) in relation to charges of money laundering. Zamora and his supporters said the move was in response to his reporting on corruption and called it a sign of a growing crackdown on dissent. 

Canada: Pope Francis said actions by Canada’s church-run residential schools, including the forced assimilation of Indigenous peoples, constituted genocide (CBC). 

United States

Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in northern California as the wildfire, the state’s largest this year, quickly expanded (CNN) to cover more than fifty-two thousand acres. Forest service officials said the state’s extreme drought conditions are fueling the blaze.

 

CFR President Richard Haass argues that the battle against climate change is being lost.

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