—Newly-installed Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, has announced a snap election at the end of this month, in an effort to cement his long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) hold on power. Kishida, 64, won his party’s leadership election (and the premiership) because of the behind-the-scenes support of former long-serving Prime Minister (and now power broker), the hawkish Shinzo Abe. The new prime minister pledged to focus on strengthening the health care system to withstand Covid, to more fairly distribute wealth throughout the country, and to build up Japan’s missile and naval defences in the face of increasing Chinese aggression. The LDP is the overwhelming favourite to return to power, following the October 31st vote.
—Global oil prices reached their highest level in three years, at more than $81 a barrel, after it was made clear that the OPEC+ oil consortium (dominated by Saudi Arabia and Russia) would stick to its previous plan to only gradually increase output, starting in November. Brent crude sat at $81.26 a barrel, global oil’s highest price since October 2018, amounting to a price increase in the year to date of a startling 57 percent. OPEC+ plans to stick to its already-agreed plan of increasing production (which leads to a downwards trend in the price) by only 400,000 barrels a day, and only starting in November of this year.
—German coalition talks between the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the Free Democrats (FDP) have hit an early snag over foreign policy. Outgoing German Finance Minister (and likely next Chancellor) Olaf Scholz of the SPD has been warned by his usually like-minded left-wing colleagues, the Greens, to toughen his stance on both China and Russia. Specifically, the SPD were champions in the outgoing Merkel government of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, linking the energy fortunes of Russia (as oil producer) and Germany (as oil consumer). Worried—along with the French, Eastern Europeans, and the US—that this far too closely linked the two countries together, the Greens’ foreign policy spokesman has called on Scholz to re-think his party’s accommodationist mercantilist, neutralist policies towards both Russia and China. Despite the flap, this three-way tie-up remains the most likely governing outcome for Germany.