Wednesday Night #2117

65 years ago today, Canadians learned Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson would receive the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions to global peace during the Suez Crisis.

In rebuke of Putin, rights defenders in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus awarded Nobel
The prize committee named Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), which is working to document alleged war crimes by the Russian invaders; the Russian human rights group Memorial; and imprisoned Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski as its annual Peace Prize winners, marking the second consecutive year Putin critics were among those designated for the award.

Banking crisis breakthroughs win Nobel economics prize for Bernanke, Diamond, Dybvig
Paul Krugman writes: it’s hard to deny the importance of the economics work the Swedes just honored. Obviously, Bernanke, Diamond and Dybvig weren’t the first economists to notice that bank runs happen. But Diamond and Dybvig provided the first really clear analysis of why they happen — and why, destructive as they are, they can represent rational behavior on the part of bank depositors. Their analysis was also full of implications for financial policy. At the same time, Bernanke provided evidence on why bank runs matter and, although he avoided saying so directly, why Milton Friedman was wrong about the causes of the Great Depression. (A Nobel Prize for the Economics of Panic)

Global economy
The 2022 IMF-World Bank Group Annual Meetings 10-16 October: Unity in a time of crises
Blogs and Comprehensive live streaming for all.
See also Lawrence H. Summers: A New Chance for the World Bank
Putin’s War
From the Eurasia Times: Putin-Biden Meet: Could Russia & US Talk Peace On Ukraine War Through A Modi-Erdogan Brokered Liaise? …a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G20 summit if such a proposal is made. Hard to imagine that U.S. would hold any talks without Ukraine -or that President Zelensky would stand idly by…
Following the successful attack on the Kerch Bridge -a devastating birthday present for Putin- it was obvious that Putin would retaliate. However, the missile attacks seem to have only strengthened the resolve of both NATO and Ukraine.
Desperation becomes escalation: But is Putin losing his public? Jeremy Kinsman does a solo turn on Tuesday’s “Diplomatic Community”. He is generally optimistic, citing the statement of the G7 leaders pledging to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes”, while reiterating that this is a long war, but should the Ukrainians take back Kherson, the game could change again.
Putin’s endgame? Kremlin infighting spills into the open
Insiders are publicly jockeying to take advantage of shifting Kremlin power dynamics as Putin’s war against Ukraine turns against him.
Hungary’s Orban says Trump is the ‘hope for peace’ in Ukraine while Turkey’s Erdoğan actively pursues the role of mediator at a meeting with Putin in Kazakhstan, where a Kremlin spokesman says potential talks between Russia and the West might be discussed.

We promised there would be more focus on the upcoming U.S. mid-term elections. The heading of Politico’s Tuesday Nightly newsletter, The quants versus the forecasters, is indicative of the difficulty in forecasting any outcomes. “Are the polls going to be wrong in the same direction, in the same places, as they were in 2020? It’s obviously too soon to say. But many qualitative forecasters are pricing in skepticism about the polls that’s missing in a model that relies solely or mostly on them. And that’s the big difference right now.” Pretty much everyone agrees that the key states to watch in the Senate races are Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania, adding Ohio and Wisconsin for good measure.
But there is a lot more than the Senate races, as The Atlantic‘s Russell Berman points out in The Next Presidential Election Is Happening Right Now in the States -State-legislature elections could decide the fate of democracy.

Biodiversity COP15 in Montreal
7-19 December
UNAC president Jaime Webbe advises that Volunteers are needed
Bringing the world together for the sake of nature, Canada will welcome the world to Montréal December 2022 for the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. This global convening is expected to result in the adoption of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, the ‘Paris agreement for Nature’.
To support COP15, hundreds of volunteers are needed in Montreal to support delegates with everything from registration to media support. The United Nations Association in Canada is pleased to be working with Environment and Climate Change Canada to open the application process for interested volunteers aged sixteen or older.
INTERESTED? APPLY AT: https://www.unac.org/cop15

Varia
Bloomberg CityLab 2022
Mayors from Kyiv, Bogota, Washington and some 40 other cities joined urban innovators and experts for day one of the CityLab summit in Amsterdam on Monday — the first in-person meeting of the conference since 2019. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was high on the agenda, with city leaders from Lithuania, Poland and Latvia discussing the challenges they face, including accommodating an influx of newcomers fleeing war. In Gdańsk, Poland, Ukrainian refugees comprise almost 10% of children enrolled in the city’s schools. Elsewhere, Riga, Latvia, took in about 16,000 refugees in the early days of the war.
Scientists Can No Longer Ignore Ancient Flooding Tales
Indigenous stories from the end of the last Ice Age could be more than myth.
…geographer Patrick Nunn and the historian Margaret Cook at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia … describe colorful legends from northern Europe and Australia that depict rising waters, peninsulas becoming islands, and receding coastlines during that period of deglaciation thousands of years ago. Some of these stories, the researchers say, capture historical sea-level rise that actually happened—often several thousand years ago. For scholars of oral history, that makes them geomyths.
Louise Penny has posted a link giving a first look at the Three Pines TV series.

We are feeling exceptionally grumpy about the Federal government this week. For starters:
Andrew Caddell devotes his column to Bill C-13 [which] will be passed, the consequences be damned
The bill’s asymmetrical focus favouring the concerns of the francophone minorities in other provinces over those of Quebec’s anglophone minority will create a backlash.
Paying with a credit card will soon cost more as some businesses add transaction fees – this seems a really poor solution for consumers and small business alike.
What you need to know about the new credit card surcharge – what about online payments?
Canada’s permanent resident application backlog is forcing thousands of skilled workers to quit and return home
Many of them are former international students who landed jobs in Canada mid-pandemic, during a critical labour shortage. Now they find themselves in limbo, waiting for opportunities to apply for permanent resident status – opportunities that may never arrive.
Armed Forces admit there’s no one left to use its rusted out gear
The current personnel crisis is the end result of decades of neglect and priorities that have little to do with military readiness
Finally, but not the faute du fédéral, the new Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who seems to be constantly walking back bad ideas and statements.
Most bizarre story of the week
Russian businessman seriously injured in apparently targeted shooting in Estérel
Valeriy Tarasenko has ties to Inna Yashchyshyn, a woman who gained access to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club, where she met the former U.S. president.

Recommended Books
Byron Haskins: Christina Sharpe’s, In the Wake: On Blackness and Being is one I would highly recommend because of her unique metaphorical methodology. The author is a friend of my daughter, Anna. Her writing reminds me of Norman O. Brown, whose Love’s Body influenced my writing style when I was at Wesleyan University. Sharpe takes us on an exploration of a Jungian-like appreciation of the collective African-American conscious and how it is a reflection of a broader and little explored American psyche.
Judy Roberts: The Thursday Murder Club about a group of seniors who become an informal detective agency so to speak. Author is Richard Osman.
Second and third books in the series are The Man Who Died Twice and The Bullet that Missed.
Osman is a Brit and series reflects that dry, quirky British sensibility.
Diana recommends The Spy and the Traitor, by Ben MacIntyre the true story of Oleg Gordievsky; it reads like the best of John le Carré.

Long Reads
Experts react: How the OPEC+ oil-production cuts will shake up geopolitics and energy security
also from the Atlantic Council
Is Russia preparing to target vital Norwegian energy exports to Europe?
By Thomas S. Warrick
How to Recycle a 14-Story Office Tower
Buildings are responsible for nearly 40 percent of the world’s carbon emissions. In Amsterdam, they are trying to create a blueprint to do something about it.
Warning: do not read this if you want to sleep peacefully
What Will Happen to America if Trump Wins Again? Experts Helped Us Game It Out.
The scenarios are … grim.