Putin has won in Ukraine – but the West can still salvage the long game September 1, 2014 There’s only one way to make a fortune, and that’s to down the fellow who’s up against you." W Somerset Maugham, on poker ONE OF the many wonderful traditions at St Andrews University is that, if a student did well, they did not have to sit final exams until their last year. As a result, [...]
How to stop climate change: Drop the hamburger September 1, 2014 Bad news, hamburger fans. New research shows that if we are going to have any chance of slowing down climate change, we must eat less meat. We tend to concentrate on practices such as fracking and emissions from coal-based power stations when we consider the prevention of climate change, but a paper published today [...]
Nato members account for over half the fastest falling defence budgets – as Russia’s spending soars September 1, 2014 Nato members comprised over half of the world's 20 fastest shrinking defence budgets between 2012 and 2014, according to research from IHS. Out of the 20 nations exercising the most spending restraint when it came to defence, 13 were Nato members, with the Alliances' spending dropping by $93bn (£56bn) over the past two years. In [...]
John McCain calls for US to arm Ukraine against “Russian invasion” September 1, 2014 Senior US senators are calling for America to provide arms and equipment to the Ukrainian government to aid in its fight against "a Russian invasion". Republican senator and former presidential candidate John McCain told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday: "Give them the weapons they need, give them the wherewithal they need, give them the ability [...]
UK manufacturing PMI: Russia tensions push growth to its lowest in 14 months September 1, 2014 It turns out even the UK manufacturing sector, which over recent months has staged a glorious recovery, is vulnerable to the whims of Vladimir Putin. The Purchasing Manager's Index, published this morning, fell to 52.5 in August, its lowest reading since June 2013 and well below economists' expectations of 55. The index, published by Markit [...]
EU warns Russia to withdraw from Ukraine as Putin steps up rhetoric August 31, 2014 EUROPEAN leaders, backed by America, have warned Russia’s President Putin that he has a week to withdraw from Ukraine and calm the crisis between the two countries, or face tough new economic sanctions. The warning comes as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said his country is at breaking point. “We are very close to the point [...]
New York Report: US coal to rise on Russia bid August 31, 2014 BEATEN-DOWN US coal company stocks may receive a lift in coming weeks if deteriorating relations between Russia and the West push President Vladimir Putin to shut off Europe’s natural gas supply. The crisis in eastern Ukraine has emboldened Europe and the United States to impose broad sanctions on Russia. But Europe finds itself in a [...]
Putin wants to negotiate “statehood” of southeast Ukraine August 31, 2014 As Europe gets ready to place more sanctions on Russia, Vladimir Putin has called for the “statehood” of southeast Ukraine to be negotiated. In a TV interview, the Russian President said: “We must immediately begin substantive, meaningful negotiations, not on technical questions but on questions of the political structure of society and of the [...]
EU vows to hit Russia with fresh sanctions ‘within a week’ August 31, 2014 The European Union has threatened Russia with a new round of sanctions if it fails to reverse its latest intervention in Ukraine. Tensions in the region have dramatically escalated in the last week, with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko saying his country was "close to a point of no return – full scale-war" with Russia. Poroshenko [...]
Putin compares Kiev to the Nazis, Ukraine seeks Nato membership August 30, 2014 Ukraine has pleaded for full membership in Nato, signalling a desire for increased Western military protection from Russian aggression. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk told government yesterday that his cabinet would "bring before parliament a law to scrap the non-aligned status of the Ukrainian state and establish a course towards membership of Nato." Nato membership would [...]