The Earth’s battle with calamitous climate change: Weekend Reads

Extreme weather swept across the planet as millions of people felt the worsening consequences of climate change. Floods in Pakistan from the [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( Extreme weather swept across the planet as millions of people felt the worsening consequences of climate change. Floods in Pakistan from the highest rainfall in over three decades killed at least 1,200 people since June, caused more than $10 billion worth of damage and left the nation on the brink of a [food crisis](. President Joe Biden accused Donald Trump and his most ardent supporters of [endangering]( US democracy and urged Americans to reject any candidate backed by his predecessor in the congressional midterm elections in November. Ukrainian forces launched an offensive toward the captured southern city of Kherson, while international monitors visited a Russian-occupied atomic plant to evaluate the risks military attacks [pose]( to the facility. Moscow tightened its squeeze on energy exports to Europe. Delve into these and more of the week’s top political stories in this edition of Weekend Reads.  — [Karl Maier]( A man wades through flood water in Sindh province, Pakistan, on Thursday. Photographer: Asim Hafeez/Bloomberg Click [here]( for this week’s most compelling political images and share this newsletter with others. They can sign up [here](. Floods Raging Alongside Drought Cost Billions, Kill Thousands The world has been swept by a series of [deadly floods]( in recent weeks, destroying homes, inundating croplands, snarling mining operations and wreaking economic devastation. In a paradoxical turn, [Brian K Sullivan]( writes, the torrents have come at a time when the planet is also besieged by crippling drought and dwindling rivers. - Global warming is [accelerating]( the loss of Himalayan glaciers, destabilizing a fragile system that’s helped regulate the earth’s atmosphere and key water cycles for millennia. - Flooding in Pakistan, which follows some of the highest recorded temperatures across South Asia, is a “[climate catastrophe](,” said Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman. The Trinity River following floods caused from severe rainstorm in Dallas, Texas, on Aug. 23. Photographer: Shelby Tauber/Bloomberg Biden Banks on Democratic Outrage, Risking Deeper US Divisions Biden is seeking to stoke voters’ [anger]( over the extremism of Trump and his supporters before the November midterms. As [Jordan Fabian]( reports, the president used a prime-time address to the nation on Thursday from Philadelphia’s Independence Hall to sharpen his criticism of his predecessor, saying “extremist” Republicans threaten democracy. What the FBI Found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Estate, by the Numbers The “property inventory” unsealed by a federal judge of what FBI agents seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home shows they [retrieved]( 325 documents with classified markings in the year and a half since the former president left office. [Zoe Tillman]( lays out what has been found. - Trump accused the Justice Department of “[criminalizing](” his possession of personal documents by investigating the presence of hundreds of highly classified White House records at his estate. Gazprom Won’t Reopen Gas Pipeline in Energy Shock to Europe Europe moved a step closer to blackouts, energy rationing and a severe recession after Russia’s Gazprom said its key gas pipeline to the continent [won’t reopen]( as planned. With prices four times higher than a year ago, the crisis is already forcing shutdowns in European industry. - The Group of Seven nations said they plan to implement a [price cap]( for global purchases of Russian oil — a measure the US hopes will ease energy market pressures and slash Moscow’s overall revenues. Putin Brings China and India to Russia for War Games Defying US Russia held major military exercises involving China and India this week as President Vladimir Putin [pushes back]( against attempts by the US and its allies to isolate him over his invasion of Ukraine. - RT, the Kremlin’s 24-hour English-language news channel, may be banned in the US and Europe but it’s [winning friends]( in the developing world. Ukraine Counterattacks in South, Leaves World Guessing on Scale Ukrainian forces launched an [offensive]( toward the captured southern city of Kherson. But as [Marc Champion]( reports, whether it marks the start of a long-awaited attempt to retake large slices of territory lost at the start of Russia’s invasion remains unclear. - The European Union is preparing to release a new [funding package]( of $5 billion for Ukraine, while the White House is expected to ask Congress for almost $12 billion in additional aid. Municipal service workers stand around a crater following an overnight missile strike in Kharkiv on Aug. 27. Photographer: Sergey Bobok/AFP/Getty Images UN Report Accuses China of ‘Serious’ Rights Abuses in Xinjiang China committed “serious human rights abuses” — and potentially [crimes against humanity]( — in Xinjiang, a top United Nations official said, bolstering international efforts to pressure Beijing to change its policies toward the region’s Muslim minority. - China sent [warplanes]( across the Taiwan Strait’s so-called median line almost daily since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit last month, shrinking a buffer zone that has helped keep the peace for decades. Iran Nuclear Talks Stall Again After Latest Response from Tehran The US and Iran are no closer to wrapping up negotiations on re-entering a 2015 nuclear accord with Iran after a week of [trading responses]( to a EU proposal, a source says. As [Courtney McBride]( reports, the two sides may not reach a deal until after the US midterm elections. Even Liz Truss Supporters Worry She Could Wreak Havoc for the UK As she spent the past week preparing to become the UK’s new prime minister, Liz Truss has been [firming up]( plans to help households and businesses hit by soaring energy costs and finalizing her cabinet. Yet as [Alex Wickham]( writes, some of her closest supporters are worried that those first moves in office may prove to be big mistakes. - Britain has [dropped]( behind India to become the world’s sixth-largest economy. Water Crisis in Mississippi Previews a Wetter, Hotter US Future The water crisis unfolding in Jackson, Mississippi, was decades in the making: the culmination of crumbling infrastructure, systemic racism and extreme weather. It’s also a [stark warning]( of trouble to come as climate change piles new stress onto the essential services Americans rely on every day. European officials say this year is on track to be drier than any time in the past [five centuries,]( with almost two-thirds of the region under a drought warning or alert. That’s wreaking havoc on broad sectors of the economy, from agriculture to energy to transportation. Best of Bloomberg Opinion This Week - [Liz Truss Threatens to Ignite Brexit Dynamite: Therese Raphael]( - [Putin Is Now Russia’s Deluder-in-Chief: Leonid Bershidsky]( - [Sadr’s Failures May Topple Iraq’s Democracy: Hussein Ibish]( - [The Race for Missiles in Asia’s Danger Zone: Gearoid Reidy]( - [Republican Paranoia Could Cost the Party: Jonathan Bernstein]( Inflation and War Are Stoking Civil Unrest Across Globe, Research Shows The risk of civil unrest is rising as nations [grapple]( with spiraling inflation and upheaval exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, [Patrick Donahue]( reports. Of 198 countries tracked in the Civil Unrest Index, 101 showed mounting risk in the third quarter of 2022, intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft said. That’s the biggest increase since the ranking was developed in 2016. Shell's $1 Billion Oil Cleanup Makes Pollution Hot Spot Worse A $1 billion Shell-backed cleanup of oil [contamination]( in the southern Nigerian region of Ogoniland was called the most ambitious initiative of its kind. But as [Neil Munshi]( and [William Clowes]( report exclusively, United Nations Environmental Programme documents indicate the project is making one of the Earth’s most polluted regions even dirtier. A film of oil floats by a fisherman in Ogoniland in 2020. Photographer: George Osodi/Bloomberg Japan’s Drying Rice Paddies Are Now a National Security Threat Amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and rising tensions over Taiwan, Japan is facing another [security threat](: shriveling rice paddies. [Isabel Reynolds]( and [Grace Huang]( report that for decades, Japanese have been eating less rice and fish in favor of more bread, meat and edible oil, leading the country’s food self-sufficiency ratio to slump to the lowest among major economies. Explainers of the Week - [A ‘Price Cap’ on Russian Oil — Can That Work?]( - [Why Ukraine’s Big Nuclear Plant Raises Worries Again]( - [Trump’s Clumsy Record-Keeping Fueled Worry of Missing Documents]( - [The Misery Behind Ethiopia’s Simmering Civil War]( - [World’s Biggest Cocaine Producer Rethinks the War on Drugs]( Argentina Murder Threat Spooks Brazilian Presidential Candidates An attempted attack on Argentina’s vice president sent [shock waves]( through the campaigns of presidential front-runners in neighboring Brazil just weeks before October’s election. [Simone Iglesias]( reports on how both campaigns are tightening their security protocols. Demonstrators gather yesterday to support Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in Buenos Aires. Photographer: Anita Pouchard Serra/Bloomberg Boric Faces Ultimate Leadership Test in Chile Constitution Vote A planned new constitution for Chile to deliver a more progressive and inclusive legal framework is [facing defeat]( in a referendum this weekend. [Matthew Malinowski]( writes that it poses the biggest challenge yet to the leadership of the nation’s progressive president, Gabriel Boric. - Many in Chile, a country that’s prided itself on having Latin America’s most stable economy, are shocked by the [sudden turn]( toward stagflation. And finally … Mikhail Gorbachev, whose attempts to [shake up]( the Soviet Union’s political and economic system unleashed a political avalanche that brought down the Berlin Wall in 1989 and ended the Cold War, died at the age of 91. Putin offered only [muted praise]( for the leader who oversaw the Communist state’s demise. Ronald Reagan with Gorbachev in Reykjavík in 1986. 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