Ukraine needs the three big black sea ports that are affected now by this new embargo to be able to ship grain out cheaply in large quantities. And I think one definition of victory for Ukraine is to emerge as a thriving western orientated democracy. Well that gets a lot harder if one of its main export industries is crippled. The effects reach far beyond Ukraine of course because this is grain for the world we've talked on the show before about just how much of it goes to Africa. It seems a strange thing that just before this Russia-Africa summit he would hit at such a stable place, says Andrew Hammond.
Russia’s axeing of the Black Sea grain deal reveals a war machine running out of options. We explore how to get the deal back on track. A month-long mystery surrounding China’s absent foreign minister has grown deeper: now his memory is being scrubbed from official websites (10:15). And literary criticism has lost its claws—gaining a newfound civility that is bad for readers (16:37).
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