2022 Formula 1 World Championship Drivers' Standings
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FORMULA 1 CRYPTO.COM MIAMI GRAND PRIX 2022 Race Results
The European Union, this week, announced ambitious proposals to embargo the importation of Russian oil by the end of 2022. After teeth-pulling negotiations which have been met with strident objections from several member states, including Hungary and Slovakia, and public doubt over the impact of such measures, its Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyden declared that these measures would be gradually implemented throughout the course of the year. This didn’t reassure markets, with crude oil prices quickly rising above $114 per barrel as of Friday morning, and Moscow officials predicting that the bloc would still be buying Russian oil via third countries and intermediaries, a strategy that has allegedly been utilized by Iran under tough American sanctions. Despite marketing the measures as tough, for multiple reasons the EU is set to be the biggest loser of such an effort. The proposed embargo reveals a huge strategic vulnerability in its “energy security” – the ability of a state, or group of states, to secure access to energy resources when they are not capable of producing enough of their own. When you consider how many wars have been fought by the West purely over access to oil supplies, including two in Iraq, this is a big deal.
For the EU, cutting off oil dependency continues to be a difficult step which will exacerbate already surging energy costs and inflation across the continent. How will the bloc find new supplies? And if so, surely relying more on other partners will bring new dangers? In the year 2020, 29% of the EU’s imported crude oil came from Russia, 9% from the US, 8% from Norway, 7% each from Saudi Arabia and the UK, and 6% apiece from Kazakhstan and Nigeria. The removal of the largest market, Russia, means the bloc now has to increase its imports from the others. The natural candidates of course are the Persian Gulf states. This means the EU’s strategic dependency on continued access to oil resources in the Middle East is drastically increased, raising the bargaining power and political leverage of these countries. However, all evidence so far points to OPEC states benefitting from higher prices and refusing to cooperate with Western demands to increase production. Economics are about supply and demand. If supply decreases, but demand remains high (given you can’t go without oil) then prices rise, and why would any seller in the world put their prices down when the customer has no alternative to your essential product? The fact Russia is part of OPEC+ further complicates things. As a result, the EU is making a huge mistake in its foreign policy and has no contingency plan or strategy to address this emerging problem. Currently, the bloc is determined to utilize Ukraine to try and impose a military defeat on Russia. In the meanwhile, it has also appointed itself as an “Indo-Pacific” power, showing little initiative to avoid being sucked into Washington’s confrontation with China in a region of the world it isn’t based in. This leaves the EU with the option of partnering up with India, but the 1.3-billion-strong nation is a net energy consumer, not a supplier – which is, coincidentally, another reason why attempts to undermine New Delhi’s ties with Moscow are likely to fail. This all places a gaping hole in the EU’s foreign policy when it comes to strategic “energy security”. While endeavouring to reduce “strategic dependence” on Russia, they are merely creating a patched-up dependency on other regions instead, opening the doors to new risks. For example, how is the EU’s disorientated policy on Iran, which has involved a nominal opposition to America’s unilateral “maximum pressure” program over the Iranian nuclear program, going to survive this crisis? Can the EU avoid having to resort to Iranian oil? And how, regardless of that, would the EU respond to Iran becoming stronger because of surging oil prices, despite all the American sanctions? That is before we even consider what happens if another major crisis or conflict in the Middle East emerges and disrupts oil supplies. What does the EU do if Iraq returns to a state of insurgency and civil war? Russia is too big of a critical global energy resource to be ignored, which is why EU sanctions will not deliver a knockout blow to the Russian economy. If the proposed ban is phased, then Russia continues to make more in the short term with the raised prices anyway. This only goes to show the EU is drastically weakening itself to appease the interests of a United States that wields disproportionate power over its strategic and foreign policies. For sure, America benefits from energy sanctions on Russia, but this comes at an aggravated price for European consumers. In this case, these sanctions will do more harm to the EU itself than they will to Russia. This will be as economically painful as it will be strategically disastrous. The bloc doesn’t have a concrete alternative in place and what’s worse, it has barely even contemplated such an alternative. This will leave the continent weaker, poorer and more vulnerable, threatening a terrifying repeat of the 1970s energy crisis, which given inflation data, is already well underway.
FORMULA 1 CRYPTO.COM MIAMI GRAND PRIX 2022 Qualifying Results
“Why did I shed a tear? Because I feel what they all feel,” Mourinho said of the Roma faithful, around 64,000 of whom were packed into the Stadio Olimpico.
“It’s a giant club without a trophy room for the social importance of this club. “I know what it means to these people and my emotion was for them. I’ve been lucky enough to be in more prestigious finals but this made me feel very special,” added Mourinho, who is in his first season as manager at the club. “We have a sense of family. With age you become less selfish and more of a father or even a grandfather to some of them, I’m very happy for all of them. “Rome is a red and yellow city, we’ll see the joy over the coming days. I’ve made a small contribution to that.” Germany’s Uniper is continuing talks with Russian Gazprom and the German government on paying in rubles for deliveries of Russian gas, according to a Q1 financial report, out today. The news comes as the European Commission urges member-state governments to shun Russian gas amid preparations for an embargo on Russian crude oil imports. Uniper, which is one of Germany’s top gas buyers from Russia, said last week it was going to accept Gazprom’s new terms for gas payments.
“The plan is to make our payments in euros to an account in Russia,” a company spokesperson told German media, as cited by Reuters last Thursday. Since then, however, the EC has stepped up pressure on European gas importers. Yesterday, the Commission reiterated its warning that paying for Russian gas in rubles would constitute a breach of EU sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. Per the new Russian terms for payments, any buyer of Russian gas from any unfriendly country needs to open two accounts in Gazprombank: one in the foreign currency it wants to pay in and one in rubles. When a gas payment is due, the buyer deposits the necessary sum in dollars or euros in its first Gazprombank account. The bank then converts the sum into rubles under Russian central bank exchange rates and deposits it in the second account, from which the actual payment is made. “Paying roubles through the conversion mechanism managed by the Russian public authorities and a second dedicated account in Gazprombank is a violation of the sanctions and cannot be accepted,” said Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson on Monday. The European Union received some 40% of its imported natural gas from Russia along with 26% of its imported crude oil. The bloc has substantially stepped up its efforts to find replacement supplies in the last few weeks. The football shirt worn by Diego Maradona when scoring his iconic 'Hand of God' goal against England at the 1986 World Cup has been sold for £7.14 million ($8.9 million) at auction, smashing an all-time the record for sports memorabilia.
A group of Argentines had reportedly arrived in London looking to prevent the sale by Sotheby's, with the item previously owned by ex-Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Steve Hodge. Hodge played in his country's 2-1 quarter-final defeat to the eventual winners of the Mexico-held tournament, Argentina, and then swapped shirts with Maradona, who passed away in late 2020. In four inspired minutes at the start of the second half with the match still scoreless, Maradona first rose above Peter Shilton to punch the ball past the imposing 'keeper before later famously claiming it was the 'Hand of God' that put Argentina 1-0 up. For his second effort, Maradona embarked on a genius slalom run past a number of hapless Three Lions stars from his own half to slide the ball past Shilton and complete what was later voted the 'Goal of the Century'. Managing to exchange tops with Maradona at full time after England could not capitalize on an 81st-minute Gary Lineker consolation, Hodge had previously loaned the garment to the National Football Museum in Manchester for 20 years. China's "zero coronavirus" policy is facing a serious dilemma. The authorities there have imposed extremely severe movement restrictions to try and stamp out all traces of the virus, and this has got some results. But the long lockdown in Shanghai, the country's largest hub of international commerce, is inevitably starting to put a drag on the economy.
China's harsh lockdown measures are premised on successes in tamping down the outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei province, where the virus was first reported. The measures got infections under control far more quickly than in Europe or the United States, and boosted Chinese President Xi Jinping's power at home. Then came the highly infectious omicron variant. Omicron spread, and the prevention methods focused on containment that were effective in Wuhan have had far less impact. In Shanghai, residents are barred from going outside, and even getting food is becoming more difficult. There have been cases reported of people with chronic health conditions dying because they could not access proper treatment. And some analysis suggests that these severe movement limitations have been expanded to cover dozens of cities. The resulting blow to the Chinese economy has been significant. The supply chain has been badly disrupted by production halts and clogged logistics channels. Economic growth for the January to March quarter was sluggish, falling far below the annualized target of "about 5.5%." Many observers both at home and abroad are sounding the alarm, but President Xi has insisted that "victory is a matter of sticking to" the lockdown measures. His stance is a marked contrast to the shift in other countries toward "living with the coronavirus." Each country is faced with deciding how to prevent the virus's spread. China, as the most populous nation on Earth, has not been able to build a healthcare system capable of covering all its many citizens. We understand that the prospect of an infection wave would be highly disconcerting to Chinese authorities. However, international cooperation is indispensable for any effort to confront a global pandemic. And China, as the world's second-largest economy in an era when countries are ever more dependent on one another, has a major role to play. One major worry is that continuing the "zero coronavirus" policy will become an end in itself for the Chinese government. We wonder if so much stock has been put into this policy as proof of the Chinese Communist Party's fitness to rule, that it has become difficult for the government to respond flexibly to changes in the situation. One senior Chinese government official stated emphatically that "it is a mistaken idea to try to live with the virus." However, the coronavirus crisis is likely to be with us for the long haul, and we are at a point where a flexible approach taking both the virus and the functioning of society is called into account. Obsessing over past success could very well damage the "stability" so prized by the Xi government. The European Union came into being to maintain the neoliberal project. It hoped to create a neutral politics in Europe – a politics beyond left and right, beyond socialism and conservatism – that would allow the states to function no matter what. The EU wants the continent to be governed by parties firmly in the political centre, or by big coalitions. But many Europeans, even progressive people like myself, are a little bit tired of this constant search for “the big centre”. Moderate governments, parties and coalitions in the centre are not taking into consideration the real needs of the people while forming their policies. Most European citizens want clear, direct policies that can solve their economic problems. All this is creating an opportunity for the rise of extremists who can communicate a very clear political message. At the moment, the far right is taking advantage of this, but the far left is not. It's too important that Europe should confront the growing far right movement with left wing populism.
Tipping the right wing over The emergence of another far-right candidate on France’s political scene – Eric Zemmour, with his provocative and disruptive campaign – has boosted Le Pen’s new standing as a “practical” politician. Convicted of hate speech and known for his vitriol against immigrants and Islam, Zemmour leads a party – Reconquete or “Reconquest” – that is named after the historic period known as “Reconquista” when Christian forces drove Muslim rulers out from the Iberian peninsula. Zemmour has succeeded in not only winning some of Le Pen’s voter base over to his own party. He has also taken supporters from the mainstream centre-right that had traditionally been with the party Les Republicains. Thanks to Zemmour, Le Pen appears to be much more moderate. People now equate far right with just Zemmour, which is a big mistake as Le Pen is without a doubt still from the far right. For Jean-Yves Camus, a journalist and political analyst, the merging of the right wing into the far right is one of the biggest developments of the election. Zemmour hosting a rally last month at the Trocadero square – a symbolic place for Les Republicains – was no coincidence, Camus explained. His call to important figures from Les Republicains such as Eric Ciotti, Nadine Morano, and François Xavier Bellamy is a discreet invitation to join his campaign. If Zemmour continues to poll higher than Les Republicains candidate Valerie Pecresse, he will be in a position of strength to negotiate his main goal – the reconfiguration of France’s right-wing parties, More common ground than divisions Le Pen and Zemmour’s combined poll ratings – 24 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively – amount to an unprecedented more than 30 percent for the far right in France. The main elements behind the far-right surge to “pessimistic” and “declinist” attitudes in France. French people feel like their country has changed and lost its power. Moreover the November 2015 attacks on French soil by the ISIL (ISIS) group had played a large part in such feelings. Part of the population believe in the war against Islam, and view the Muslim community here as the enemy from within. Zemmour has capitalised on such sentiments, and he shares the view that Muslims in France are not able to culturally assimilate. The RN party – known up until 2018 as the National Front (FN) – has been around for some 40 years, and its views have spread from a fringe movement to mainstream French society. The far right are also more united than the various left parties. |
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