IN RUSSIA’S FROZEN north is a megaproject that has long been seen as an answer to President Vladimir Putin’s prayers. By the mid-2020s the Vostok oilfield is expected to supply about 15% of Russia’s crude exports. By that time Rosneft, the Russian oil giant leading the effort, plans to ship Vostok oil via the Northern…
The dividing line between firm and sect is often thin. How to tell them apartHERE ARE some common characteristics of cults. They have hierarchical structures. They prize charismatic leaders and expect loyalty. They see the world as a hostile place. They have their own jargon, rituals and beliefs. They have a sense of mission. They…
The defence industry looks set for bigger businessAS THE TRAGIC human consequences of Russia’s invasion unfold, there is little to celebrate beyond the stoic resistance of outgunned Ukrainian forces and Western unity in facing up to the unprovoked aggressor. One side-effect of the war is a sudden and profound shift in European attitudes to defence…
IT TOOK MORE than 30 years for BP, a British energy firm, to build its Russian business. It took less than four days to decide to dismantle it. As Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine early on February 24th, the logic of BP’s 20% stake in Rosneft, Russia’s state-owned oil giant, began to collapse. BP’s board…
AFTER RUSSIA’S annexation of Crimea in 2014 Europe feared that Vladimir Putin would cut supplies of piped gas passing through Ukraine to European customers. That worry led Poland’s then prime minister, Donald Tusk, to issue a stark warning: “Excessive dependence on Russian energy makes Europe weak.” As a full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Mr Putin’s…
A STRIKINGLY HARSH appraisal of China’s ongoing technological battle with America appeared on the website of a prestigious Beijing-based think-tank on January 30th. The paper, published by the Institute of International and Strategic Studies (IISS) at Peking University, found that China is likely to be the bigger loser from the technological and economic decoupling under…
THE BUSINESS pages of newspapers tend to deal with the cut and thrust of competition, rather than the cacophony of war. But when it comes to Vladimir Putin’s assault on the sovereignty of Ukraine, there is a company—the world’s largest gas producer—that is right in the thick of it. Gazprom, majority-owned by the Russian state,…
Attacking a country’s tech supply chains in this way is unprecedentedON FEBRUARY 24TH President Joe Biden announced a suite of sanctions against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. The focus was on the country’s biggest banks, cutting them off from the dollar and limiting their ability to raise money abroad. But the announcement…
Employees everywhere expect and deserve fairness, respect, and safety. Organizations that put diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at the center of their growth strategies are the organizations that lead. But good intentions aren’t enough. Even an organization that values inclusivity on paper may be unaware of how its culture and practices might cause painful experiences.…
Keith Ferrazzi, author of Competing in the New World of Work, kept hearing people ask back in 2020 when we’d all be going back to work. “And it kind of pissed me off. I didn’t want to ever go back to work, because I didn’t think work was serving us” in the way it should. “No, let’s…