Part of the reason is that Lithuania has blocked Belarus from exporting potash (an important component for fertilizers) through her port of Klaipeda/Memel, and USA is sanctioning Belarus, trying to get others to stop using Belarusian potash. reuters.com/world/belarus-…
Canadians can expand production, but won't dramatically increase their supply if the sanctions against Belarus are going to be short lasting. reuters.com/article/nutrie…
India wants to buy Belarusian potash, and is considering ways to get around USA and EU sanctions. agweb.com/markets/pro-fa…
USA imports 90% of its potash. 85% of potash in USA is used in fertilizers. Over a third of the world's potash comes from Russia or Belarus. USA gets 83% of its potash from Canada. pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mc…
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Thread with excerpts from “A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples” by Paul Magocsi
Ukraine is a very flat country, with few natural defenses. Most rivers in Ukraine empty into the Black Sea, but in the west the Bug & San River flow into the Vistula & eventually the Baltic. This put western Ukraine in a different trade network.
Ukraine is a very fertile land due her black earth (chernozem). She dominated the agricultural exports of the late Russian Empire for this reason.
Yams were domesticated in forest-savanna border ecology in Niger River Basin in northern Benin. Yam populations started falling 15k yam generations ago (from climate change?). Cultivated yams reached their lowest population size 2.5k generations ago, increasing afterwards.
Paper could be used to argue for yam cultivation as early as 13,000 BC. Would be around time that Late Stone Age cultures spread into west Africa. science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
Volga Bulgaria had its capital about 30 km south of the confluence of the Kama and the Volga, while Kazan (currently capital of Tatarstan) is about 40 km north of the confluence.
Volga Bulgaria was devastated by the Mongols. Modern Volga Tatars do not descend from the Volga Bulgars, but in part from eastern migrants in the 13th and 14th centuries who arrived under the Golden Horde. Chuvash probably have some Bulgar ancestors. journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/a…
Suspect that significant amount of ancestry of modern Volga peoples was there 4000 years ago. R1a-Z92 (sister to famous Indo-Iranian R1a-Z93) still found there, along with a lot of Corded Ware-like ancestry, in spite of Iranian, Finno-Ugrian, Turkic, and Mongol conquests.
Sikhs in the late 17th century eastern Punjab were riven by internal conflicts. The Sikh guru declares himself the last guru, & that Sikhs would be governed by a council after his death. The goal of this was to unite the Sikhs & defend against Rajputs.
Mughals killed two sons of last Sikh guru after promising safe passage in 1704. Aurangzeb agreed to meet the guru, but died before meeting him. Guru met Aurangzeb’s successor, but died himself in 1708, leaving Sikhs to be led by the council, the Khalsa.
Banda Bahadur led the Sikhs in a 6-year long anti-Mughal rebellion during the chaotic years following Aurangzeb’s death. His backing was mostly from Khalsa supporters, lower nobility, & Jats from E Punjab. Khalsa gave all men who joined the prestigious name “Singh”.
It was a cold, overcast, and wintry day. Someone decided to scrawl "Happy Birthday ❤️ Sun" on the sidewalk in front of a bleak apartment complex.
The local mosque
Administration of the Udmurt Republic building - with the Udmurt flag flying at the same height as the Russian flag. The sheen on the ground is ice - you had to walk carefully to avoid falling.
Why has Russia dominated the Caspian for so long? In the Age of Sail, Iran had plenty of wood for shipbuilding on the coast. Is the wood not good enough for shipbuilding?en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_H…
A political issue maybe? States based on the Iranian Plateau didn't support shipbuilding in the cities of the coastal plains of Mazandaran, Gilan, and Golestan?