Good morning,
Russia Votes
Russians were invited, some ordered by the State companies where they work, to go to the polls over three days of Parliamentary elections this past weekend. And of course the internet is awash with videos showing ballot box stuffing by pro Kremlin supports, pushing the largely unpopular, Putin backed party United Russia, to another win.
One of the videos shows a woman physically blocking a camera view of a ballot box, while a hand appears from behind a Russian flag with stacks of voting forms, stuffing a ballot box. The hand could have come from directly from the Kremlin, and the flag a great symbol of State cheating to keep power ‘by any and all means’.
‘Any and all means’ includes trying to poison opposition leader Alexei Navalny, jailing others, closing down free media outlets, and the latest and greatest act of Kremlin control was to force Apple, and Google and then Youtube to remove lists of so called ‘smart voter’ candidates, or those American companies would find themselves fined and criminally prosecuted. AFP reports local Google and Facebook staff were threatened with jail terms unless the tech giants caved to demands to pull the voters app.
How is it a crime to be a free media platform where opposition leaders in Russia vote alternative candidates? How can Google and Apple and Youtube cave in to State censorship pressure and be platforms anyone would trust the next day?
Navalny ally Leonid Volkov, who is leading the Smart Voting initiative from exile, blasted the decision. “I am terribly angry at Google and Apple. They fell for cheap blackmail.” He added that the U.S. tech giants had stood firm in the face of other Russian legal requests, such as to store personal user data on Russian servers. “To bend now, for the 101st time is stupid. They’ve opened Pandora’s box. This will end badly” Volkov wrote on Telegram, a platform which he also criticized for deleting a Navalny Smart Voting app late Friday evening.
Don’t be fooled into thinking cheating is such a common trait in Russian pretend elections it only deserves another shrug from outsiders. The lengths the Kremlin has gone to control this election shows deep desperation, reflecting huge voter dissatisfaction with President Putin and is inner circle of thieves.
The European International Observer team didn’t go to Russia for the first time in 30 years, because the Kremlin would only allow 30 observers not the needed 500 to monitor voting across 11 time zones. To go would have been to participate in a blindfolded mission, and lend legitimacy to an illegitimate election.
Canada Election Day
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called an election in August hoping a new vote would cure his problems of trying to rule with a minority Government, meaning his Liberal Party doesn’t have a majority in Parliament.
The election campaign was plagued by scandals and challenges, and in the end today, election day in Canada, Trudeau is likely to find himself exactly where he started in August, with a minority Government that will return him to Ottawa as Prime Minister but no further ahead.
The main issues in this election in Canada are Covid economic recovery and environmental concerns.
Gas Prices
I am not a commodities expert, but the price of gas around the World is causing emergencies for Governments which must step in to stop their local gas supply companies from collapsing, and effecting everything from shortages in fertilizer to Christmas turkeys!
The lack of supply and soaring prices is caused say experts, by Asian economies rebounding from Covid, and food firms are warning a shortage of CO2 is threatening produce supplies.
Carbon dioxide is used to stun animals prior to slaughter and in dry ice form to keep food fresh for storage and transport. It is a by-product of fertilizer manufacturing.
Gas prices have jumper 250% since January, and in the UK where 70 companies are in the business of gas supply as many as 50 of those may collapse, as the companies shoulder the heavy costs of higher market prices before the cap on standard energy tariffs lifts from October.
Gas prices have a huge cascade effect on the economy, effecting everything from meat production and pricing to electricity costs.
It should be quite a Christmas in Britain where gas pricing, plus a shortage in trucking firms, and border problems caused by Brexit (Britains exit from the European Union) are creating all sorts of shortages of goods, and increased prices for food to children’s toys and clothing.
Other News…
-U.S. President Biden is requesting a telephone call with French President Macron to smooth over a major NATO rift caused by a nuclear submarine deal by the U.S. and Britain with Australia, which pushed France out of a 90 billion $ contract
-Average daily Covid deaths in the U.S. has surpassed 2000 a day. Florida and Texas lead the way with 30% of deaths and vaccination rates near 50%.
-In the UK they will begin vaccinating 12 to 15yr olds beginning today with one dose of Pfizer
-New data indicates that the level of protection against Covid-19 hospitalizations provided by the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine dropped significantly in the 4 months after receiving the shot. Over 65 yr olds are at risk of severe covid 6 months after being vaccinated according to the data, thus the booster shot program.
That’s a busy Monday morning start! Have a good day and please subscribe to this news letter so your receive it daily.
Dana
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/09/19/pro-kremlin-party-on-track-for-majority-after-crackdown-a75081
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58615784
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/election-2021/leaders-make-their-ultimate-plea-to-voters-and-trade-final-barbs-on-last-day-of-the-campaign
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/09/19/world/covid-delta-variant-vaccine