Mid-Week Updates No 24

Ukraine, Farmers, Food and Rory Gallagher

War Updates

Yes, the offensive is full speed ahead apparently and we are beginning to witness rapid retreats of Russian soldiers. A video was circulating on the internet this week which shows how such fleeing soldiers are shot at by their own troops, a practice used actively by Stalin during World War II. It is really the most motivating thing to know that your people are ready to shoot you once you start moving back, even if it is a tactical move. Now it is of course not clear if that is exactly what is happening on the video here, it may well be staged, but it is feeding into a narrative that Russia is habitually resorting to the worst forms of terror now that the tide is turning. In any case, Russian soldiers might as well abandon ship and be taken prisoner, this clip does feel like it is real.

An equally revealing piece of news came out of The Netherlands yesterday. Following the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines last year, multiple theories have been doing rounds. It was Biden, it was Putin, you know the drill. But Dutch military intelligence services apparently shared intelligence three months before the attack that a Ukrainian plan to blow up the pipelines was afoot. Once word had arrived in the US it was the CIA that warned Ukraine to not proceed with the project. It does not resolve the question as to who really did it in the end, nor does it confirm that Ukraine was behind it all along. But it does prove that multiple explanations are possible and that we need time to let all the facts flow and settle, the speculation right after the explosions was not all that helpful. It’s a murky war, despite its moral clarity.

The Farmers

Talking about things Dutch, the farmers - as discussed here a while ago - this week experienced the start of the buy-out procedures for those deemed to be exceeding nitrogen deposit standards. It is far from a done deal and no farmers are being forced to abandon their business as of yet, but it feels like the train has left the station and that a radical makeover of Dutch food production has started. This week the government also announced compensation packages for fishing communities who have been impacted as businesses closed down as a result of Dutch and EU regulations, rising energy costs and wind farm construction on the oceans. Entire communities and a way of life are disappearing as a result and the government is now writing cheques to soften the pain.

Note this is not only a Dutch phenomenon. The Irish government is apparently planning the cull of some 200,000 cows in order to meet ‘climate targets’. There are a few things that are deeply flawed in the European crackdown on food production, in particular considering the argument used that the excess agricultural production is for export anyway. If food exports drop, who will pick up the slack? In other words, if you stop selling to markets outside your own, those markets have to find other ways to source the food and thus engage in the production that you sought to prevent because of climate goals. Simply shifting the problem is no solution. On a continent with a war raging it seems even more counterproductive to start cutting food supplies while deploying vast amounts of capital at a time of budgetary constraints and inflation. It’s madness if you ask me.

Remember

So we brought up Ireland and what a fitting day to talk about the green island. No, he did not pass away this week, but he did on this very day exactly twenty-eight years ago at the age of forty-seven. Rory Gallagher, born in County Donegal, was probably one of the greatest guitarists to have walked on the face of this earth. Here’s a video with one of my all-time Gallagher favourites, I Could’ve Had Religion, a journey deep into Muddy Waters territory. You can find it on the epic ‘Live in Europe’ album: