Flagship

Ukraine at center of NATO summit

U.S. President Joe Biden ruled out NATO membership for Ukraine before the end of Russia’s war. His remarks to CNN came in the run-up to the security alliance’s annual summit in Lithuania tomorrow, where NATO members including Eastern European states and the U.K. have been pressing for Kyiv to be given a definite path to join the bloc. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a separate interview on ABC, called for “clear security guarantees” and said he’d skip the meeting, which he is invited to, if such support was not on the table.

Though Washington, and other NATO members such as Berlin, have dismissed Kyiv’s hopes for full membership, major Western countries are still offering other forms of assistance. The U.S., U.K., Germany, and France are working on a so-called Israel-style model, whereby countries would offer Ukraine long-term weapons contracts, training, and assistance, Politico and the Financial Times reported. And Biden agreed to provide Kyiv with controversial cluster munitions, despite the objections of Western allies who argue such weapons endanger civilians.

BRICS summit to go ahead in person

Next month’s BRICS summit will be an in-person meeting, the host South Africa announced, despite an international arrest warrant on Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader is wanted by the International Criminal Court over allegations that Russia illegally deported Ukrainian children, and as an ICC member South Africa would be obligated to arrest Putin if he were to visit. Pretoria faces criticism over its ties to the Kremlin: The South African government has not condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, claiming neutrality, and the country’s president joined a delegation of African leaders to Kyiv and St. Petersburg last month in a failed attempt to broker peace.

Yellen touts improved China ties

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen argued that her recent visit to China had improved communications between the two powers, and put ties on a “surer footing.” A top Chinese official, meanwhile, acknowledged “unexpected incidents” had damaged relations. The slightly more positive rhetoric contrasts, however, with a litany of real-world issues that are putting the two at loggerheads, from Washington’s heavy restrictions on semiconductor sales to Beijing, to China’s alleged tolerance of the manufacturing of fentanyl ultimately bound for the United States. Further adding to tensions are potential moves by NATO to expand its presence in Asia: The bloc will reportedly soon announce 16 new areas of cooperation with Japan, an agreement seen as implicitly targeting China.

China inflation drops

China’s consumer inflation rate fell to zero last month, fueling growing concerns of a slowdown and possible deflation. Chinese authorities are reportedly nearing a significant economic stimulus package, worried by a raft of worse-than-expected economic indicators. Deflation is particularly troubling: Protracted falling prices can make consumers and businesses delay purchases and investments, leading to cascading decisions that batter economic growth. China is no stranger to instances of deflation, but as ANZ bank’s chief economist noted, prior occasions were accompanied by global central banks slashing interest rates, helping bolster Beijing’s own response. This time around, rates are set to rise further in the West, which combined with a heavy debt burden in China “suggests a very challenging economic situation.”

Supercomputer helps study geoengineering

Meteorologists in the U.S. started using a new supercomputer to study the likely impacts of solar geoengineering. The computer, known as Derecho, was switched on this month at the National Center for Atmospheric Research at Colorado State University, Scientific American reported. As the climate warms, a growing number of scientists advocate releasing particles into the atmosphere to reflect solar rays, reducing incoming energy and cooling the Earth. Derecho, 250% faster than its predecessor, will model the impacts of such interventions on rainfall patterns, among other things. The White House and EU both recently issued cautious support for research into solar geoengineering.

Uruguay’s capital running out of water

Montevideo will run out of drinking water in the next week, the Uruguayan government said. A years-long drought, the country’s worst in 74 years, has drained the capital’s reservoirs. The state water company is drilling wells in the city center to find water, and mixing fresh water with salt to stretch supplies, leading many citizens to turn to bottled water. Some locals blamed agribusiness, saying vast amounts of river water is diverted to irrigate farms. Uruguay is the only country in Latin America to have achieved near-universal access to safe drinking water, The Daily Telegraph reported, after enshrining such access as a constitutional right in 2005.

Talks on deep-sea mining open

Global talks on deep-sea mining begin in Jamaica today. The deep ocean floor contains many promising areas to mine for raw materials — notably copper, cobalt, and nickel — vital to many green technologies. But environmentalists are concerned that a “gold rush” for the minerals would damage delicate undersea ecosystems and say that more research should be done first. A growing number of countries have called for a pause on the practice in international waters, but others want to press ahead: Norway has already allowed mining companies to apply for licenses in its territorial waters, saying it needs minerals to “succeed with the green transition.”

US EV sales accelerate

Total U.S. electric vehicle sales topped 4 million at the end of June. Reaching the first million took eight years: The fourth million took 10 months. EV sales were already accelerating, but the pace has picked up recently, driven by government tax credits, tightened emission standards, and price cuts from Ford and Tesla, the two main EV manufacturers in the United States. EVs remain a minority of all cars sold, at less than 10% of the market, but an analyst told the Financial Times that more and more people will know someone who drives one, and that as “more vehicles hit the road … people will feel more comfortable with them.”

Falcon 9 breaks launch record

A SpaceX Falcon 9 booster rocket completed its 16th mission, a record. The first-stage rocket, which had its inaugural launch in May 2020, landed successfully on a drone ship after helping carry a payload of Starlink satellites into space on Sunday night. Falcon 9s were originally intended to be used 10 times each before decommissioning, but SpaceX’s vice president said the vehicles were “still looking really good” so they tried getting them ready for 15. Now, one has pushed past even that. Reusable launchers have slashed the cost of space flight: Carrying a kilogram to low-earth orbit with some Falcon rockets is about 40 times cheaper than using the now retired Space Shuttle.

Rapinoe to retire from USWNT

Megan Rapinoe, the U.S. women’s national soccer team’s striker, said she will retire after this year’s World Cup. The forward, 10th on the USWNT’s all-time goal-scoring list, was the top scorer and most valuable player of the 2019 tournament. Rapinoe, now 38, is politically forthright: She led the women’s team’s campaign for equal pay with the men, repeatedly spoke out over LGBTQ+ issues, and refused to visit Donald Trump’s White House after winning the World Cup. Ahead of a friendly game against Wales last night, which the U.S. won 2-0 with two goals from Trinity Rodman, Rapinoe — who did not play — said representing her country has “truly been the greatest thing I’ve ever done.”

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O say can you see

Apparently the U.S. had a big holiday last week. We didn’t know anything about it here in the London news mines, but Flagship hopes American readers had a nice time. Over on The Free Press, Martin Gurri, a Cuban immigrant, marked the holiday with an essay defending the idea of American exceptionalism.

It really is remarkable, Gurri writes, that a country could be born in war, appoint its victorious general as leader, and then have that leader stand down and become a farmer, rather than declaring himself emperor. It is a country founded on an ideal to which it lives up imperfectly. America is not without sin — it fought a bloody civil war to expunge some of that sin — but it is also great, he says, and, yes, exceptional.

Oh, Maximum Canada

Canada is very, very big: Larger than either the U.S. or China. It is also largely empty — its population is smaller than that of Ukraine or Iraq. In 2017, a man called Doug Saunders wrote a book, Maximum Canada, advocating using all that space and bringing tens of millions more people to the north of North America.

Amazingly, it’s happening, says the econ writer Noah Smith. Canada has grown by 5 million — 14% — since Maximum Canada came out, driven by record high immigration. Ottawa keeps adding new immigration programs: It now plans to offer anyone in the U.S. on an H-1B visa permanent residency in Canada. A Canada of 100 million people could happen — if the country can get over its NIMBY problem and build enough houses.

Driving the point home

Should we build more roads? In a world that is rightly worried about reaching net zero, the answer seems to be obviously not. Certainly that’s the conclusion of many campaigners and indeed many governments, which limit road-building on the basis that they increase carbon emissions.

But, says the economist Sam Dumitriu, it’s not as simple as that. New roads do not significantly increase carbon emissions: They do, however, improve connectivity. And as transport electrifies, the carbon impact of new roads grows ever less. Blocking new roads, he says, limits economic growth while having little effect on emissions. The policy lever to pull is to encourage better, cleaner, cheaper electric vehicles.

A political strategy board game where players fight as revolutionaries to free their nation from imperial rule was nominated for an award. SHASN: AZADI spans the globe, exploring movements through the ages in the U.S., Russia, South Asia, and Egypt. The semi-cooperative game, created by Indian designers to engage young people with politics, is in the running for the inaugural Best Board or Tabletop Game for Impact prize at the upcoming Games for Change festival in New York City. “Democracy only works when the stakeholders involved actively participate in it,” one of the game makers told Rolling Stone India.

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