EsadeGeo Daily Digest, 07/12/2022

Financial Times – John Paul Rathbone and Roman Olearchyk / Military briefing: Ukraine drone strikes show Russia it has ‘no safe zones’

• Kyiv has for months urged its western allies to supply long-range missiles so it can hit Russian military bases far behind the front lines and puncture what Ukrainian military chief General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi has called the “sense of impunity that [Russia’s] physical remoteness provides”. 
• This week Kyiv showed it could conduct long-range strikes without western equipment after it launched locally made drones that hit three military bases deep inside Russia — one only 160km from Moscow. 
• Ukrainian defence officials and analysts said the attacks — which Russia said killed three people and “slightly damaged” two aircraft — are part of a new tactic that seeks to disrupt Russian military planning and rattle public opinion by showing that nowhere is safe. 
• “The attacks are repeatable. We have no limitation on distance and soon we will be able to reach all targets inside Russia — including in Siberia,” said a Ukrainian government defence adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity. “In Ukraine, we know how hard it is to defend against these kinds of air attacks. Soon Russia will also have no safe zones.”

South China Morning Post – Phoebe Zhang and Hayley Wong / China relaxes Covid-19 controls, allows home isolation for mild and asymptomatic cases

• China has moved one step closer to reopening by relaxing its Covid-19 control measures and allowing some who test positive to isolate at home.
• Although home isolation has already been quietly implemented for some in cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou, the official announcement by the State Council task force signals China’s determination to move away from its zero-Covid policy.
• “We will protect people’s safety and health to the greatest [extent] and keep the impact on social and economic development to a minimum,” the State Council Prevention and Control Mechanism said on Wednesday.
• Under the new nationwide instructions, people with mild or are asymptomatic infections may isolate at home for seven days, instead of being sent to a central facility. Their close contacts may also quarantine at home for five days, instead of the previous requirement to spend eight days in isolation, first at a facility and then at home.
• Foreign Policy – Howard W. French / China’s restive middle class will be Xi’s greatest test yet

The Washington Post – Sabrina Rodriguez, Dylan Wells, Matthew Brown and Hannah Knowles / Warnock beats Walker in Ga. Runoff, growing Democrats’ Senate majority

• Democrat Raphael G. Warnock on Tuesday was projected to win reelection to represent Georgia in the Senate, defeating Republican Herschel Walker in a tight runoff and expanding his party’s slim majority in the chamber.
• It was a hard-fought victory for Democrats in an increasingly purple state that was central to the party’s gains last election cycle and is expected to be a key battleground in 2024. Rural turnout for Walker, 60, a former Georgia football star, was not enough to offset a strong Atlanta-area performance by Warnock, 53, a pastor at a historic church in the city.
• Warnock’s win gave Democrats their 51st Senate seat — handing them more leverage in a chamber that for two years has been evenly split, with Vice President Harris empowered to break ties and two swing-vote Democrats able to make or break their party’s plans.
• The result also capped a disappointing midterm cycle for Republicans, who expected a red wave but fell short of retaking the Senate and reclaimed the House majority by a margin of just a few seats.

Financial Times – Camilla Hodgson / Solar power expected to surpass coal in 5 years, IEA says

• Solar power is undergoing a boom as the energy crisis drives a shift to renewable energy following the war in Ukraine and is expected to surpass coal power by 2027, the International Energy Agency has forecast.
• Renewable energy overall will become the largest source of global electricity generation by early 2025, the IEA said, and the world will add twice as much renewable capacity from 2022 to 2027 as in the previous five years. 
• Not only were countries driving “the expansion of new renewables” to achieve climate goals, but energy security and the need to “diversify” renewables supply chains away from China had become increasingly important, IEA executive director Fatih Birol said in an interview. 
• “There is a strong competition between the largest economies of the world to have a pole position when it comes to the next chapter of the industry sector,” he said, whether in solar, wind power, batteries or electric vehicles.

Today’s additional reads:

• Financial Times – Martin Wolf / It is the west’s duty to help Ukraine win this war
• Foreign Affairs / Taming China’s tech power: a conversation with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo