No collapswashing

Et si, plutôt qu’une corne d’abondance, le numérique était un espace de choix pour expérimenter autour de la notion de limites ? La communauté du « permacomputing » fait le pari de réensauvager Internet grâce aux principes de la permaculture.

Energy prices are rocketing, inflation is soaring and millions are being starved of grain. Surely Johnson knew this would happen?

He has weaponised food, energy and refugees, spreading economic and political pain across the continent. Sanctions don’t work, a land for peace deal would be a disaster. Only the military route remains

President Zelenskiy and Ukraine want it finished by winter, but Russia still holds the balance of power

Only the boldest leadership can unite the EU against the delusional tyrant in Moscow. The German chancellor has the chance to provide it

Strong measures by Europe could quickly deprive Russia of oil and gas income worth billions, experts say

It is vital Moscow understands that escalation will not be risk-free, and expects a proportionate response

Researchers have been able to cut their carbon footprint by jetting off to fewer international conferences, but physicists working on large-scale experiments may also have to consider the significant environmental impact of the computer power they require. Michael Allen investigates

Russia’s growing isolation has strengthened the ‘siloviki’ who surround the president

As head of state-owned oil firm Rosneft, oligarch commands central place in the economy

With signs that Moscow’s initial invasion strategy has not gone according to plan, the crisis in Ukraine has reached a critical moment.

On Sunday, Vladimir Putin ordered his nuclear deterrent forces to be placed on a “special regime of combat duty”. The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has now clarified what this meant: the increased manpower devoted to Russia’s strategic nuclear triad: land-based strategic nuclear rocket forces, sea-based nuclear deterrents in the northern and Pacific fleets and its fleet of long-range strategic bomber aircraft that can carry nuclear weapons.

The inventor of the Brics acronym says sanctions against Russia have exposed nations’ dependence on the western economic system

Less than a week into the war, it seems increasingly likely that Vladimir Putin is heading towards a historic defeat. He may win all the battles but still lose the war. Putin’s dream of rebuilding the Russian empire has always rested on the lie that Ukraine isn’t a real nation, that Ukrainians aren’t a real people, and that the inhabitants of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv yearn for Moscow’s rule. That’s a complete lie – Ukraine is a nation with more than a thousand years of history, and Kyiv was already a major metropolis when Moscow was not even a village. But the Russian despot has told his lie so many times that he apparently believes it himself.

Western leaders have spent the past 20 years trying to guess what Vladimir Putin “really wants”. Very often, it’s enough just to read his words, very carefully. Because usually he means exactly what he says. And in the case of his early morning television address announcing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, his words and hints about his intentions were truly terrifying.

We must do what we can to contain Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. But we also need to be clear-eyed about it, and face the costs. Economics can’t be separated from politics, and neither can be separated from history. Here are eight sobering realities: