🧵How a carton of eggs helps explain Russia's war-ped economy 1/
wsj.com/world/russia/p… Eggs have been in short supply and prices have shot up in recent months - up 60% yoy in December - prompting Russians from Belgorod to Siberia to form lines reminiscent of Soviet times. Putin apologized publicly as authorities scrambled to respond 2/7

Thread: Europe is unprepared if Russia's gas taps are turned off, threatening to leave consumers cold and factories idle by next winter
wsj.com/articles/europ… Even as West batters Moscow with sanctions, Europe is paying as much as 660 million euros *a day* for Russian gas (Bruegel)

So ok, oil prices are plunging but the actual price of U.S. crude oil is around $22 a barrel (the June contract). The the May contract - the one trading around $1 - expires Tuesday and isn't actively traded. Yes, the May contract drop is indicative of the lack of demand and storage constraints but it's not an accurate reflection of price action.

THREAD: We spent days in Kyiv reporting on how the Ukrainian president and his team struggled to respond to growing pressure from the White House, getting a crash course in U.S. politics along the way.
Here's what we found: wsj.com/articles/in-mo… 2/ A former TV comic, Zelensky’s difficulties were magnified by his lack of familiarity with U.S. politics. After becoming a front-runner, Zelensky had to be tutored on the function of institutions like the World Bank and the IMF, one of the country’s biggest backers.