The Guardian - Helena Smith / Greece faces general strike as workers protest cost of living squeeze

• A nationwide strike by public- and private-sector employees looks likely to paralyse Greece on Wednesday as the pro-business government of the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, comes under increased pressure to deal with a worsening cost of living crisis. 

• Union leaders have accused the centre-right administration of failing to address escalating inflation and argue that the rising cost of living has corroded living standards to the point where many are finding it hard to survive. 

• Mitsotakis recently pledged to increase the minimum wage to €950, but with housing costs also on the rise he has faced criticism that it is simply not enough in a society where the gap between rich and poor has grown in recent years. 

• In praise that would have seemed unimaginable at the height of the crisis, credit ratings agencies have applauded the Mitsotakis government for fiscal reforms that have not only seen targets met and the country return to investment-grade status, but resulted in Greece outpacing other EU member states in terms of economic growth.

    
CNN - Oren Liebermann / Biden administration approves sending anti-personnel mines to Ukraine in another major policy shift     

• The Biden administration has approved sending anti-personnel mines to Ukraine for the first time in another major policy shift, according to two US officials. The decision comes just days after the US gave Ukraine permission to fire long-range US missiles at targets in Russia, a shift that only occurred after months of lobbying from Kyiv.  

• The US intends for Kyiv to use the anti-personnel mines in the eastern part of the country, where Russian troops have made slow and steady progress against Ukrainian defensive lines. The grinding battle has cost Moscow tremendously, with Ukraine claiming Russia suffered its highest number of casualties this week. But Russia’s unrelenting pressure, coupled with shortages in Ukrainian manpower and ammunition, has allowed the Russian military to gradually seize more territory. 

• In June 2022 – four months after the start of the war in Ukraine – the Biden administration pledged to limit the use of anti-personnel mines. In announcing the decision, which was a reversal from the earlier Trump administration, the White House said there was a “need to curtail the use of (anti-personnel mines) worldwide.” The US said that it would no longer develop or export anti-personnel mines and would work to destroy all of its existing stockpiles. (The one exception to the policy was South Korea). 

• The type of mines the US provides to Ukraine will be “non-persistent,” according to the officials, meaning they have an internal mechanism to shorten the lifespan of the trigger. The mines are designed to become inert after a set period of time ranging from as little as four hours to two weeks, the officials said. The mines use an electrical fuse that requires a battery, and the mine becomes inert when the battery runs out. 
   

Bloomberg - Alberto Nardelli, Michael Nienaber, and Samy Adghirni / Rio Chaos Shows World Untethered Even Before Trump’s Return

• The sense of global disorder played out in Rio, most vividly when US President Joe Biden and two other Group of Seven leaders — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Italian premier Giorgia Meloni — missed the traditional “family photo” on the first day of the summit. The US said the picture was taken early, while organizers said Biden was late. 

• The leaders of emerging economies known as the Global South looked the most comfortable. India’s Narendra Modi and China’s Xi Jinping smiled and chatted with ease, holding center stage before and after the group photo shots. With Trump threatening tariffs on both of them, it felt a bit like the calm before the storm. 

• The old guard represented by the G-7 looked off their game. Biden kept a light schedule on what is essentially a farewell tour, while Trudeau and Germany’s Olaf Scholz are similarly looking like lame ducks. UK Premier Keir Starmer and Japan’s Shigeru Ishiba are only months into the job and still finding their way. 

• Yet if Rio showed anything, it’s that the West is no longer running the show. Every G-20 statement since Russia’s war against Ukraine has been weaker than the previous version. Fewer and fewer nations want to play by old rules, let alone defend them.              
   

Reuters - Guy Faulconbridge / Putin, ascendant in Ukraine, eyes contours of a Trump peace deal

• Vladimir Putin is open to discussing a Ukraine ceasefire deal with Donald Trump but rules out making any major territorial concessions and insists Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO, five sources with knowledge of Kremlin thinking told Reuters. 

• In the first detailed reporting of what President Putin would accept in any deal brokered by Trump, the five current and former Russian officials said the Kremlin could broadly agree to freeze the conflict along the front lines. 

• There may be room for negotiation over the precise carve-up of the four eastern regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, according to three of the people who all requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. 

• While Russia will not tolerate Ukraine joining NATO, or the presence of NATO troops on Ukrainian soil, it is open to discussing security guarantees for Kyiv, according to the five current and former officials.

   

Our opinion reads for today:

• Foreign Affairs - Maha Yahya / Lebanon’s Day After 
• Project Syndicate - Mariana Mazzucato and Jonathan Glennie / How Global Public Investment Should Work