UKRAINE - Ukraine has earned the nickname "breadbasket of Europe" for its rich dark soil, vast wheat fields, and other farm goods. The Russian invasion has cut off the world from cheap and abundant wheat supplies. Ukraine and Russia are vital to the global food supply, accounting for more than a quarter of global wheat trade, about a fifth of corn, and 12% of all calories traded globally, according to Bloomberg. Reuters reports Ukrainian ports will remain closed until the Russian invasion ends and maritime security is restored for commercial ships. This means all shipments of farm goods from Ukraine have ceased, and commodity traders will have to search elsewhere. "If the conflict is prolonged - three months, four months from now - I feel the consequences could be really serious," Andree Defois, president of consultant Strategie Grains, told Bloomberg. "Wheat will need to be rationed." The disruption comes as global food prices are already nearing record-highs and could soon be catapulted into unknown territory.

USA - Russian products are going, going, gone as stores and bars are being urged to rid themselves of anything to do with what to many Americans believe is the foul taste of the nation that invaded Ukraine. Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas called for both substantive and symbolic actions against Russia. “Joe Biden needs to reverse his energy policy and ban on drilling on federal lands and start certifying pipelines to get oil and gas flowing again in America. These are the steps we need to take that are full measures that recognize the full gravity of this moment, as opposed to the half measures that we’ve heard this week from President Biden and NATO,” Cotton said last week, according to Fox News.

GERMANY - Germany scrapped compulsory military service just over 10 years ago, but the conflict in Ukraine has reignited the debate around whether young men and women should be required to fight for their country. Conscription was introduced in Germany in 1956 with men over 18 expected to serve in the army for a year, though they could claim exemption due to moral objections. The practice was gradually wound down and finally scrapped in 2011 as part of moves to save money, and in line with Germany's traditionally cautious approach to defence as a result of its post-war guilt. But Russia's invasion of Ukraine last week has led to a wholesale shift in Germany's approach to its armed forces, known as the Bundeswehr, and led to renewed calls for some form of military service. Wolfgang Hellmich, a politician for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), called for an "urgent" debate on the issue in an interview with the Rheinische Post newspaper on Tuesday. Compulsory military service would help "promote public spirit", he said, also calling for careers in the Bundeswehr to be made more attractive to young people.

EUROPE - Just last week, many European countries were still so somnolent about the threat Russia posed to Ukraine that Germany’s spy chief was caught unawares in Kyiv when the Kremlin invasion started. He had to be extracted in a special operation. But over just a handful of days, Europe has been shocked out of a post-Cold War era — and state of mind — in which it left many of the democratic world’s most burning security problems to the United States. The continent has in some ways leapfrogged the United States, which — though many policymakers credit the Biden administration for helping to coordinate — wasn’t prepared for the speed of the European change. And it has been dizzying for some of the continent’s Russia hawks, especially those in Eastern Europe who campaigned for tougher measures against the Kremlin for years but were ignored by bigger countries including Germany, Italy and France.

GERMANY - Scholz’s move toward rearmament is a dramatic turnaround for Germany. As NATO members poured weapons into Ukraine in recent weeks, Berlin banned the sale of arms to Kiev, with its reluctance to intervene likely a result of its dependence on Russian gas imports. However, that ban was lifted on Saturday, as Germany also dropped its opposition to cutting some Russian banks off from the SWIFT banking network. Germany’s armed forces have long been in need of modernization. A 2019 report revealed that fewer than 20% of the country’s 68 Tiger combat helicopters and fewer than 30% of its 136 Eurofighter jets were operational in 2018. The report also found that ammunition stocks were low and soldiers were missing essential gear, including boots, clothing, and bedding. Compounding the dysfunction, the German military regularly has to purge itself of extremism within its ranks. In addition to sanctioning individual soldiers involved in extremism, the military in 2020 disbanded an entire wing of the special forces after an investigation found its members were stockpiling ammunition and performing Nazi salutes.

USA - The United States' updated nuclear attack guidelines were mocked for including social distancing and mask-wearing rules. One section on Ready.gov asks Americans to find the nearest building to avoid radiation. However, the government's guidelines were ragged by social media users for including Covid protocols. After seeking shelter in the nearest building, the next step tells Americans to "stay inside for 24 hours unless local authorities provide other instructions. Continue to practice social distancing by wearing a mask and by keeping a distance of at least six feet between yourself and people who are not part of your household," the website explains. Several Twitter users ripped the steps saying, "Covid will be the least of our worries."

EUROPE - It is too late to start building the European army. It will be too late five years from now, too, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not going to be Europe’s last security crisis. NATO has been a two-edged sword for Europe, both edges cutting the wrong way at times. American domination of NATO has provided a permission slip for European sloth and parsimony — if it’s Washington’s show, why not let Washington do the heavy lifting? — but that same American domination has in recent years been a source of deepening anxiety for Europeans who see the United States as an increasingly erratic and undependable security partner, one whose attention is focused on the Indo-Pacific rather than on the trans-Atlantic.

GERMANY - Just a few weeks ago, German media were openly asking "where is Scholz?", slamming the Social Democrat's perceived lack of leadership on pressing issues like the coronavirus pandemic and worsening Ukraine crisis. But Moscow's attack on Ukraine last week has jolted the chancellor into action, culminating in what commentators have called a "historic" speech on Sunday. Scholz, who has only been in office three months, spoke with uncharacteristic clarity when he unveiled a slew of defence and foreign policy shifts that promise to upend Germany's decades-long reluctance to raising its military profile. "The Ukraine crisis has changed the chancellor. And now he's changing our country," the top-selling Bild daily wrote.

EUROPE - NATO has come together behind stiff economic sanctions against Moscow. Finland and Sweden, after decades of neutrality, have signaled a new interest in joining the alliance while more autocratic members of the defense pact have excoriated Moscow. And in an effort to shore up Ukraine's defenses, the European Union for the first time will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday. In short order, Europe's leading powers have shifted into a position of heightened defensiveness toward Russia.

CHINA - Chinese President Xi Jinping said “friendship and cooperation” with Pyongyang would be strengthened. Chinese President Xi Jinping has underlined the importance of his country’s relationship with North Korea due to an unspecified “new situation,” Korean media reported on Saturday, citing Pyongyang’s state outlet KCNA. The publication shared a message from Xi to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stating that Beijing was prepared to “develop the China-DPRK relations of friendship and cooperation” under a “new situation.” The statement offered no details and it’s unclear whether Xi was referring to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The cryptic announcement comes on the same day Beijing hit out at Washington for sending a warship through the Taiwan Strait for the first time since November, a move the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command described as “provocative” – but which the US insisted was merely a “routine” journey through international waters. Some in the US have suggested Beijing may strike to take Taiwan, which it considers its own territory, while Washington is focused on Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine.

RUSSIA - The US and its Western allies announced on Saturday a new raft of crippling sanctions on Moscow, as they promised to ban key Russian banks from the international SWIFT banking network and impose restrictions on the Russian Central Bank. They will also set up a transatlantic taskforce to go after sanctioned oligarchs, 'their yachts, luxury apartments, their money and their ability to send their kids to fancy colleges in the West,' said a senior Biden administration official. US officials said the steps were designed to send the rouble into 'free fall' and trigger soaring inflation in the Russian economy. The moves will be welcomed in Ukraine, which saw isolating Russian banks as a key way to choke off financing and punish Moscow for its invasion. Officials said cutting Russian banks off the system will stop them from conducting most of their financial transactions worldwide and effectively block Russian exports and imports.

UKRAINE - Russia and Ukraine began talks Monday at the Belarus border as the conflict between the two neighbors enters its fifth day. Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters via text message the face-to-face exchanges had begun. The Ukrainian president’s office said earlier the talks’ aim was an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine, the Independent reports.

USA - The Biden administration may believe otherwise, but the truth is that the days when the United States could dictate how everyone else in the world is going to behave have come to an end. Russia is demonstrating how weak the US has become by moving troops into Donetsk and Luhansk. And China keeps talking about a “permanent solution” in Taiwan. Now that the western world is fixated on Ukraine, the Chinese may decide that this is a perfect time to make a move. On top of everything else, a major conflict between Israel and Iran could literally erupt at any time, and the Biden administration is not going to be able to prevent it from happening.

AUSTRALIA - Record-breaking flooding in New South Wales set to worsen as 300,000 residents evacuate. Substantial flash flooding is a concern and at least 300,000 residents in New South Wales are facing evacuation warnings and this number is thought to rise as the wild weather event takes hold and travels along the coastline. These severe weather warnings follow devastating floods that submerged much of Lismore in north-eastern New South Wales, leading to hundreds needing rescuing and thousands of residents being evacuated. Further south in New South Wales along the east coast there is a growing threat of the destructive weather system that destroyed northern parts of the region, with severe rainfall and wind gusts causing flooding, making its way towards Sydney.

GERMANY - Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced plans for a massive boost in defense spending in the latest historic policy shift in Germany triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Germany will channel 100 billion euros ($113 billion) this year into a fund to modernize the military, Scholz said Sunday in a speech to a special session of the lower house of parliament. By 2024, the government will spend at least 2% of gross domestic product each year on defense, he added, in line with a NATO target that Berlin has consistently failed to meet.