Main Wine Exporters to Belarus, 2023. Overall, Belarus’s wine imports are modest. Total imports of 56.65 million liters for a population of 9.03 million translate into approximately 6.2 liters per capita. Moldova accounts for more than 60% of the total import volume.

Moscow court sentences Galina Timchenko, co-founder and CEO of independent #Russia outlet Meduza, to five years in prison in absentia on charges of leading an “undesirable” organization #Ukraine #UkraineWar

A reminder that Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra’s parents emigrated here during a period when Italians were considered to be a genetically inferior and criminal-minded underclass that Stephen Miller’s racist predecessors said should be excluded from America

Happy Greatest Geopolitical Catastrophe of the 20th Century Day to all who celebrate!

One of the Europeans who has been barred by Rubio’s State Department from entering the US for his work in combating online hate speech happens to be a permanent US resident with an American wife and child. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...

Helsinki

The government has broad authority to control admission but courts have held *repeatedly*, over more than half a century, that the First Amendment bars the government from denying visas to foreign citizens simply because it dislikes what they have to say. 1/ www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/b...

Solar power also continues to skyrocket in Texas, with solar generation up 25% compared to last year!

Here's each G7 country's cumulative increase in real GDP per capita, since just before the pandemic: 🇺🇸 +11.3% 🇮🇹 +7.7% 🇯🇵 +3.7% 🇫🇷 +3.2% 🇬🇧 +0.8% 🇨🇦 +0.5% 🇩🇪 -1.7%

With US GDP released today (4.3% annualized), we now have Q3 growth data for every G7 country Here's each country's cumulative increase in real GDP, since just before the pandemic: 🇺🇸 +15.3% 🇨🇦 +11.3% 🇮🇹 +6.3% 🇬🇧 +5.3% 🇫🇷 +5.2% 🇯🇵 +1.0% 🇩🇪 -0.2%

"Commodity purchases were negotiated bilaterally and driven by economics, including freight costs and margins, rather than political pledges" www.ft.com/content/c961... Shocked faces in the White House

Discount on #Russia Urals crude highest this year… www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

How Elon Musk's DOGE became a fiasco of deception and accounting gimmicks -- failing in its mission to slash government waste Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...

Discount on #Russia Urals crude highest this year… www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Euroclear has unfrozen more than $600 million belonging to the Eurasian Development Bank, previously blocked under EU sanctions. The reported terms: the funds must be used domestically inside Kazakhstan and will remain under Euroclear’s oversight. www.kommersant.ru/doc/8315248?...

Flag-hopping shadow fleet starts to settle in Russia ▶️Shadow fleet ships are ending flag hopping in favour of direct Russian registration ▶️Russia’s ship register has increased in size by 40% since the invasion of Ukraine www.lloydslist.com/articles/202...

The U.S. economy grew at a 4.3% annual rate in the third quarter, despite the uncertainty created by tariffs and widespread concerns about affordability among households.

It's time to leave your lucrative office job and go work at a factory, where the robots have taken all of the jobs

The Conference Board measure of consumer confidence shows December assessments of current conditions below the April dip--and the less cyclical expectations component seems to be trending lower after being resilient in the pandemic, it is now in the region of the slow grinding recovery from the GFC

Cheers! 🥂

President Macron: "In Nuuk, I reaffirmed France’s unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Denmark and Greenland. Greenland belongs to its people. Denmark stands as its guarantor. I join my voice to that of Europeans in expressing our full solidarity."

in new ad, Dr Oz hypes Trump's "bold action" of [checks notes] asking drug companies to lower their prices

A price of around $40 per barrel for Urals is barely enough to cover Russia's costs of extracting oil from wells and transporting it to port. Some fields, in remote regions with expensive oil production, could even become unprofitable❗️👇

"Copper Prices Hit $12,000 for First Time as Tariff Trade Upends Market" www.bloomberg.com/news/article... "The possibility that Trump will place tariffs on the metal has been a central factor driving prices higher"

Are independent central banks better at ensuring price stability? A study of 155 central banks over 50 years shows why independence matters. Central banks that are shielded from government control are more credible and better at keeping prices stable www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/d...

China's imports from Russia Volume of crude oil import 1-11/25 vs 1-11/24 -7.6% Discount Russia has to offer Chinese customers wrt to all other Chinese oil imports was 7.2% in November. It's been growing since June. Measures taken by the EU&UK, US sanctions, threat of secondary sanctions etc.

As Finland, we are more than happy to be in NATO, together with our other Nordic friends, contributing to the security of the entire alliance - also in the Arctic. Self-evidently, it is for Denmark and Greenland to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland. 4/4

🇩🇪 Germany’s far-right AfD accused of gathering information for the Kremlin Far-right German politician Ringo Mühlmann has taken a noteworthy interest in exposing information his political opponents say could be of great interest to Russian intelligence. www.politico.eu/article/germ... #russia

'Russia launches massive attacks on energy infrastructure, triggering emergency power cuts in several regions' www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/4...

Venäjän mediapeli on likaista. Koska moni täällä ei kenties muista aikoja, kun jouduin Venäjän median ja putinistien vainoamaksi, tässä lyhyt muisteluketju vuodesta 2012. areena.yle.fi/1-1647657?ut... 1/x

The New York Times investigated 346 people who donated at least $250,000 to Trump and found that more than half of them (197) have received pardons, jobs, government contracts, special treatment, or favors.

Lots of trade policy/international economics. Like 8/10. Not surprising…

Over a dozen Heritage Foundation employees recently walked away from their jobs. Heritage has been wrapped in controversy after its president defended Tucker Carlson’s interview of Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist who routinely espouses antisemitic views.

Japan is joining Horizon Europe, the EU’s flagship research and innovation programme. Openness and international cooperation can shape a bright future for science and technology. Through science, we can build bridges, strengthen competitiveness, and accelerate the green and digital transitions.

US President Donald Trump named Louisiana governor Jeff Landry as his special envoy for Greenland, underscoring his determination to take control of the vast Arctic island from Denmark. ft.trib.al/4ioDzx3

HASSETT: If the Supreme Court doesn't find with us, refunds would go to whoever cut the check for the tariff BRENNAN: Doesn't the administration claim it was the country that paid that? HASSETT: Uhh --

Russian weapon transport ADLER has been detained by Swedish Customs. She is not allowed to leave as long as investigation regarding sanction breaches and other crimes is ongoing. www.sydsvenskan.se/skane/nyfike...

Just incredible how underwater Trump is on tariffs.

South Korea has doubled its productivity since 2000, overtaking Japan— The economist Paul Krugman once said, “Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run, it’s almost everything”.

”Russian production now follows two distinct paths: industries linked to the war effort have continued to experience rapid output growth in recent months, while other industries have either stagnated or contracted.”🇷🇺

Happy #WinterSolstice !

Professor Kazuto Suzuki @kazutosuzuki.bsky.social joins us on our podcast to unpack what's next for globalisation. Listen in: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/m...

Preferred Alcoholic Beverages for Christmas 2024 in the U.S.

Bank of #Russia lowered its key rate 50 bps to 16.0%. Inflation expectations remain elevated despite the non-existent growth.🇷🇺 cbr.ru

The WEF constructed a social mobility index in 2020. The US was at 27.

Putin spends hours and hours lecturing foreign visitors in public (Carlson) and private (Macron, Scholz, Witkoff) about his imperial views about Ukraine, and writes a 5,000-word article the summer before the invasion laying out these views, but surely he can't be serious and it's really about NATO.

CATO INSTITUTE: Despite DOGE slashing jobs, government spending in every month of 2025 “was greater than in every other year .. An observer who did not know when DOGE started could not identify it” on a chart. 🤡 www.cato.org/blog/doge-pr...

”Meloni explained that she is not against the agreement, she is simply experiencing some political embarrassment because of the Italian farmers, but that she is certain she is capable of convincing them to accept the agreement,” Lula said.” Mmokay. 🇪🇺 giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

"The recent news that British students will be allowed to participate in the EU-wide scheme (Erasmus) without incurring the burden of tuition fees is welcome and a good step forward to undo the terrible mistake of Brexit." #Erasmus #Brexit #Education #EU🇪🇺 #Scotland🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿