Free Republic

Russia’s economy contracted for the second quarter in a row as the western response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine helped plunge the economy into recession.

The British newspaper Financial Times called Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Person of the Year, in an article published on Dec. 5.FT reasoning for the choice was that "the president of Ukraine embodies the resilience of his people and has become a standard bearer for liberal democracy."

Russia is no longer requesting Ukraine be “denazified” and is prepared to let Kyiv join the EU if it remains military non-aligned as part of ongoing ceasefire negotiations, according to four people briefed on the discussions. Moscow and Kyiv are discussing a pause in hostilities as part of a possible deal that would involve Ukraine abandoning its drive for Nato membership in exchange for security guarantees and the prospect to join the EU, the people said under the condition of anonymity because the matter is not yet finalised. The draft ceasefire document does not contain any discussion of three of...

The editor of the socialist policy-loving Financial Times Roula Khalaf thinks that capitalism needs to change. British Vogue did a puffy interview headlined “‘Capitalism Needs A Reset’: The First Female Editor Of The Financial Times Is A Level-Headed Radical.” Author Zoe Williams fawned over how Khalaf was now “at the helm of capitalism’s biggest cheerleader. Though that isn’t how she would necessarily describe the Financial Times.” No kidding.

The Economist tweeted out a story headlined “Big tech’s covid-19 opportunity” with the caption: “Big tech firms are now vital utilities. Once this crisis ends, governments could push for state control of them as they have over energy firms.” The Financial Times’s Editorial Board’s editorial, headlined “Virus lays bare the frailty of the social contract,” pivoted off the pandemic to argue that “to demand collective sacrifice you must offer a social contract that benefits everyone.”

Ronan Farrow says twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton iced him out upon learning of his investigation into the accusations of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein, noting how people will turn “if you threaten the centers of power or the sources of funding around them.” The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow told the Financial Times that Clinton slowly iced him out upon learning of his investigation into Weinstein, a Clinton ally and major Clinton Foundation donor. Weinstein also donated to groups that supported Clinton’s failed presidential bid

“How to stop a civil war” says the cover of the latest Atlantic magazine. I can suggest a fix: the international community should intervene in the US. Of course Americans have a right to self-determination but the priority now is saving democracy.

Former British spy Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson claimed to have concerns about the safety and security of one of the sources for the dossier, but outed him anyway by talking to journalists. Steele told a State Department official in October 2016 that “source protection” was a focus in his investigation of President Donald Trump, according to notes from the meeting released earlier this month. That purported concern was also shared by Simpson, who hired Steele on behalf of the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. He told Justice Department official Bruce Ohr on Jan. 20,...

Fast developing story out of Rome. No details yet, but you can check it out on the Drudge Report.

George Soros, the billionaire Democratic donor who has become a lightning rod for criticism from conservatives, including President Trump, was named “Person of the Year” by the Financial Times on Wednesday.

Journalist arrogance is the staple of British publications such as the Financial Times and Economist.  They are experts at putting Trump down and feeding us heavy globalist and EU bias with $10 words no Deplorable ever used in conversation. Our local library gets the Economist, a weekly magazine written in London.  If you scan the past two years of editorials and news, you'll read weekly diatribes against Trump.  According to them, Trump has been a complete and utter failure. So I was curious what kind of coverage they would give the Yellow Jackets protests in France, given that Macron is...

John Kasich apparently doesn’t like being asked why he's only won a single state in the Republican presidential primary. On Saturday, the Ohio governor — whose lone victory was in his home state — was talking up his chances when Demetri Sevastopulo, a reporter for the Financial Times, interrupted him. . . . "I'm answering the question the way I want to answer it," Kasich said. "You want to answer it?" Kasich then snatched Sevastopulo's voice recorder out of his hand and turned it toward him: "What do you think?"

The fall in traffic could signal a permanent shift in the fundamentals driving globalisation. The Port of Charleston spent most of the early 2000s enjoying double-digit growth as an accelerating wave of globalisation — fuelled by a rising China and a US consumer boom — brought robust volumes of cargo into the seaport. But those days are long gone. Jim Newsome, chief executive of the South Carolina Ports Authority, says he would be happy with 3 per cent growth in Charleston this year, a goal he concedes may be too ambitious. In January, container traffic at the port fell 5.1...

Warren Buffett has dismissed the possibility that climate change could prove a big risk to Berkshire Hathaway’s insurance business, in a combative annual letter to shareholders. In the letter, released on Saturday, Mr Buffett took on a dissident shareholder who plans to raise global warming at Berkshire’s annual meeting next month, as well as critics of the company’s Clayton Homes mobile homes subsidiary and politicians who paint a gloomy picture of the US economy.

Penning an article for the Financial Times, historian Simon Schama, a liberal belonging to the establishment, writes that “the problem of the left with the Jews has a long and unfortunate history” and that “criticism of Israeli government policies became a rejection of Israel’s right to exist”. Schama then asks: “Why is it so much easier to hate the Jews?” This is an article that should be sent to all those intellectuals, journalists, writers, academics who for years, every day, in Italy and the West, demonized the Jewish State. The good people on the left who feel that it is...

Saudi Arabia has ruled out a deal by major producers to cut oil output and warned high-cost operators such as US shale drillers to trim costs or go bust in a stark message that triggered fresh pressure on crude prices. Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi said a lack of trust between the world's biggest producers meant a cut in production "is not going to happen". He said the kingdom would instead push for a co-ordinated production freeze to help balance a market swamped with an excess of crude which has taken oil prices to their lowest level in more than...

Those who support him now will support him next November, writes Frank Luntz Outraged by what Donald Trump says? You are not alone. No high-polling presidential candidate in the modern era has so intrepidly drawn the ire of so many within the American electorate. And there remains no end in sight. Yet in rendering one voting bloc utterly apoplectic, he has appealed viscerally to another. The balance of middle ground politics is not, shall we say, Mr Trump's bailiwick. But America is no longer a middle ground country. We are already scared by our division -- and it is getting...

"Charlie Hebdo has a long record of mocking, baiting and needling French Muslims," Barber writes, pointing a finger at the paper for inciting the violence. "France is the land of Voltaire, but too often editorial foolishness has prevailed at Charlie Hebdo." He continued: This is not in the slightest to condone the murderers, who must be caught and punished, or to suggest that freedom of expression should not extend to satirical portrayals of religion. It is merely to say that some common sense would be useful at publications such as Charlie Hebdo, and Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten, which purport to strike a...

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5e923e3a-51d3-11e3-8c42-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2m9yJLw8r The most interesting message in this year’s World Energy Outlook from the International Energy Agency is also its most disturbing. Over the past decade, the oil and gas industry’s upstream investments have registered an astronomical increase, but these ever higher levels of capital expenditure have yielded ever smaller increases in the global oil supply. Even these have only been made possible...

As Michael Bloomberg begins the last year of his third and final term as New York City mayor, the 70-year-old shows no sign of slowing down. Bloomberg, who founded Bloomberg L.P. in the early 1980s, is considering another big splash in the media business by acquiring The Financial Times, according to the New York Times. Meanwhile, USA Today reports that the New York Times itself is a Bloomberg acquisition target, but the New York paper has refrained from reporting that. …