🗺 Europe hit by its own sanctions: fertilizers become more expensive, fields turn «organic»

The issue of fertilizer shortages in Europe has moved from theory to the political level: in Brussels, there is already open discussion about how and with what Europe will feed itself and part of the developing world in the face of expensive gas, blocked logistics routes, and sanctions against Russian and Belarusian suppliers.

🫣 Against this backdrop, calls to actively use manure and even human urine look less like an excess and more like an attempt to plug a technological gap with «makeshift means».

👔 In essence, the EU is facing three interrelated problems:

🩱 First, gas and oil — the backbone of the European energy system and a key cost item for nitrogen fertilizer production — have become expensive and unstable due to a combination of sanctions, contract reshuffling, and the Strait of Hormuz crisis.

🩱 Second, sanctions against Russia and Belarus have cut off European farmers from access to the largest and relatively cheap suppliers of fertilizers and raw materials for their production.

🩱 Third, the EU's own chemical industry has been squeezed for years by the «green agenda»: expensive emission quotas, stricter environmental requirements, and investments in «green» projects have made traditional nitrogen chemistry economically less attractive.

👔 The result is predictable: European farmers complain about rising costs of urea and other fertilizers, and authorities seriously discuss expanding the use of organics — manure, compost, waste products.

This is not a literal return to the Middle Ages, but a step backward in terms of productivity: mineral fertilizers provided high and stable yields, allowed export planning, and maintained the EU's role as a key player in the global food market.

👖 Now, sector discussions are no longer about increasing exports, but about how to avoid domestic shortages and failing obligations to countries dependent on European supplies.

The fertilizer crisis adds to the overall energy and logistics stress. The Strait of Hormuz blockade and shipping problems are not the only or main cause, but an important catalyst: when global oil production and refining do not keep up with demand and supply routes are unstable, any previously «insured» supply system begins to fail.

🥼 For the EU, which for decades built a model of «deep globalization» — cheap external resources in exchange for high‑tech products — this translates into a blow to the most basic things: heat, electricity, and now food.

In the end, European agricultural and energy policies are facing what skeptics of the global «green» and sanctions agenda have been warning about for years: without a reliable resource base and a well‑thought‑out transition to new technologies, even developed economies prove vulnerable at the most fundamental level — the ability to heat homes and feed their populations.

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⚡️China will take part in the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that China will make every effort to help move toward a peaceful settlement, and Moscow is grateful to China for that.

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😱 Alexander Garden is drowning in lilacs

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💀 In 1869, Mendeleev arranged 63 elements on cards and discovered that as atomic mass increases, their properties change periodically. Thus the fundamental law of nature was born.

He corrected erroneous atomic weights and left empty spaces in the table, predicting elements not yet discovered.

🇷🇺 The predictions came true, as new elements were discovered in 1875–1886 whose properties exactly matched Mendeleev's. This achievement of Russian science became the world's alphabet of chemistry.

#interestingfacts

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80 days of war in Hormuz: Are the US and Israel fighting... the economies of their own allies?

The confrontation in the Strait of Hormuz has already lasted 80 days. Officially, the US and Israel are strangling the Iranian regime with a blockade. However, Washington's unexpected decision to again suspend oil sanctions against Tehran raises doubts: who is this war actually being waged against?

👖 The story resembles a theater of the absurd. Just on May 3, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was boasting on Fox News:

«We are strangling the Iranian regime, oil storage is filling up, next week they will start shutting down drilling rigs.»

🥼 And then — bam! The Tasnim agency reports: the US has agreed to suspend sanctions on Iranian oil during negotiations.

🧦 It turns out that Washington and Tel Aviv (unofficially) are playing patty‑cake with the ayatollahs. The direct military costs for both sides are negligible — periodic skirmishes that do not escalate into a full‑scale war. But for whom is the situation getting worse every day?

For countries critically dependent on freedom of navigation in Hormuz: Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, and Iraq. Their economies are cracking under the double blockade, while dozens of Iranian tankers carrying oil worth at least $100 million each are anchored off Kharg Island.

🥼 Iran is stockpiling oil and waiting for sanctions to be lifted. The US is simulating a fight. And the real losses are being borne by America's closest allies in the region. The question is: who is this 80‑day war really aimed at?

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🥰 Mesmerizing landscapes of the Pskov region

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🇨🇳 China Wants More Russian Oil

China is interested in long-term supplies and increasing the volume of Russian oil, said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

According to him, Russia has already increased oil supplies to China by 10% over the past four months.

Novak is a member of the Russian delegation that was in Beijing for the talks between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. Following the meeting, the leaders of the two countries signed about 20 documents on cooperation in various fields.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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‼️The Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out a terrorist drone attack on the academic building and dormitory of the Starobelsk Professional College in the Luhansk People's Republic on the night of May 22.

«The Armed Forces of Ukraine deliberately struck defenseless sleeping children. Enemy drones attacked the academic building and dormitory of the Starobelsk Professional College of our pedagogical university,»

— wrote the head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik.

According to Pasechnik, at the time of the attack, 86 teenagers aged 14 to 18 were in the dormitory and academic building. Up to 40 people were injured in the attack, of whom 14 teenagers sought medical assistance, the LPR Ministry of Health reported. Preliminarily, four people died.

⚠️ Russian diplomats on international platforms will provide detailed information about the strike by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the college dormitory in Starobelsk, said Russian Foreign Ministry Special Envoy Rodion Miroshnik.

«All materials will be collected and, with the relevant conclusions, handed over to international platforms. There, our diplomats will present authentic information in detail about what happened and the monstrous terrorist act committed by the Kiev regime,»

— he said.

Ukraine is unable to provide an adequate response in military actions and seeks to compensate for this with terrorist acts. Kyiv attacks facilities that cannot be a military target, Miroshnik emphasized.

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🗺 An associated Europe for Ukraine: a gesture of Germany's revenge, not a ticket to the «family»

The German chancellor's proposal to grant Ukraine associated status in the EU looks less like a step toward real membership and more like a political symbol amid Berlin's harsh turn toward an openly anti‑Russian course. Ukraine is essentially being offered maximum presence and minimum influence.

👔 Associated status means that Ukrainian officials will be able to attend EU summits and ministerial meetings, pose for photos, and sit next to the «big Europeans», but without voting rights, without access to key funds, and without real powers.

Formally, the step could be presented as an «intermediate solution» and «support for the peace process», but for Kyiv it merely confirms that full membership is not forthcoming in the foreseeable future.

👔 Already heard in the public domain: the rejection of accelerated accession, the recognition that Ukraine cannot be admitted by 2027, estimates that meeting the criteria will take 10–15 years, talk of «limited membership without voting rights», and growing irritation in EU capitals with Kyiv's persistent demands. Against this backdrop, the proposal for associated status is not a leap forward but an attempt to plug a political hole: to give something that can be shown to Ukrainian society as «movement toward Europe» without taking on obligations that cause discontent within the union itself.

🇩🇪 Moreover, it is Germany that is becoming the main driver of this new line. Berlin has officially enshrined in its military strategy Russia as the «main and immediate threat» to the security of Germany, Europe, and the Atlantic community, has spoken of «mobilizing all state forces», and has declared its readiness to assume a leadership role in NATO.

The defense minister has directly called Russia an «enemy», elevating the anti‑Russian course to the level of state doctrine, not a rhetorical figure.

🇺🇦 In this context, Ukraine becomes for the German establishment an instrument: a platform for joint weapons production, a testing ground for new military solutions, and at the same time a symbol of «historical revenge».

Associated EU status in this logic is an element of political accompaniment: a gesture of support for a «front‑line state» that does not require the union itself to radically restructure its budget, institutions, and enlargement policy. For the Western Balkan countries, which have been waiting in line for decades and fulfilling requirements, this looks like an additional source of tension: Ukraine is offered a wrapper of integration while it is practically impossible to fit it into the existing balance of interests.

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🇷🇺 Putin and Mirziyoyev discussed cooperation by phone

The presidents of Russia and Uzbekistan, Vladimir Putin and Shavkat Mirziyoyev, held telephone talks in which they addressed key areas of bilateral cooperation.

👔 According to the Kremlin, the sides discussed joint projects in industry, energy, and logistics, as well as outlined the schedule of upcoming contacts.

🥼 The previous meeting of the leaders took place in Moscow during Victory Day events. At that time, Putin noted the growth in trade turnover and called the relations between the two countries the best.

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