Meta to lay off more than 11,000 employees: 'I got this wrong' says Zuckerberg

File - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaking at Georgetown University in Washington, Oct. 17, 2019. - Copyright AP Photo/Nick Wass, File

Since Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2004, the Silicon Valley company has steadily hired more employees. At the end of September it had amassed its largest-ever number of workers, totaling 87,314 people.

But on Wednesday, the company — now renamed Meta — began cutting jobs, and deeply.

Meta said it was laying off more than 11,000, or about 13 percent of its work force, in what amounted to the company’s most significant job cuts. The layoffs were made across departments, though some areas, like recruiting, were affected more than others.

“Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history,” Zuckerberg said in a letter to staff.

Zuckerberg said he too had anticipated rapid growth even after the pandemic ended. “Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected,” he said in his letter.

“Not only has online commerce returned to prior trends, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than I’d expected. I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that”.

“I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here,” Mr. Zuckerberg wrote in a letter to employees. “I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted.”

The scale of the cuts — nearly triple what Twitter announced last week — represent a stunning fall for a once high-flying company whose ambition and room for growth had seemed limitless. It grew rapidly and spent lavishly over the years, accumulating users, buying companies such as Instagram and WhatsApp, and showering its employees with envious perks. Not even scrutiny over its data privacy practices and the toxic content on its apps could dent its financial performance, as its stock continued climbing and its revenues soared. At one point last year, Meta was valued at $1 trillion.

But the company has struggled financially this year as it has tried to move into a new business — the immersive world of the so-called metaverse — while also grappling with a global economic slowdown and a decline in digital advertising, the main source of its revenue. New competitors like TikTok emerged to capture a younger audience while Meta’s services lost their sheen. Last month, Meta posted a 50 percent slide in quarterly profits and its second straight sales decline. Its stock has dropped roughly 70 percent this year.

Mr. Zuckerberg, 38, attributed the cuts to growing too quickly during the pandemic, when a surge in online commerce led to a big spike in revenue. Like changes at other businesses, he said he thought the shift would be permanent, leading him to significantly increase spending.

“Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected,” Mr. Zuckerberg said on Wednesday. “I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.”

The reduction in the size of Meta’s work force marks an attempt to rein in some of the exuberance that came to define an era of success in Silicon Valley. Mr. Zuckerberg said budgets would be reduced, including some employee perks, and the company would cut back on real estate. A hiring freeze was extended until March.

Mr. Zuckerberg said the company would focus on a smaller number of “high priority” areas, including artificial intelligence, advertising and the metaverse.

On Tuesday, Mr. Zuckerberg met with executives to discuss the layoffs, two people who took part in the meeting said. One person who was present said the chief executive took responsibility for the cuts, saying his company had scaled up too quickly. Meta had also canceled travel plans for employees to ensure they were available to meet with managers, should their team be affected by layoffs, three other people said. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported Mr. Zuckerberg’s meeting with executives on Tuesday.

For those who lose their job, Meta said it would pay severance of 16 weeks of an employee’s base pay, along with two additional weeks for every year a person worked at the company.

After the layoff announcement, Meta’s stock price rose nearly 4 percent in premarket trading.

Meta joins other tech companies, such as Snap, which have laid off employees as economic conditions have grown more challenging. While many of these companies boomed during the coronavirus pandemic, some of the largest ones have reported financial results in recent weeks that showed they are feeling the fallout of global economic jitters. Last week, Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, laid off roughly half of the company’s 7,500 employees, saying that the social media service was losing $4 million a day.

“These cycles of boom and bust are incredibly destructive within organizations because people employed there feel like they don’t know where they stand,” said Sandra J. Sucher, a management professor at Harvard. By rapidly hiring across all departments during the pandemic, Mr. Zuckerberg had set up his company to need reductions in staff, she said.

Mr. Zuckerberg has been telegraphing that Meta would have to clamp down on costs, starting with cutting back on many of the lavish perks that employees once enjoyed. In March, he announced the company was trimming or eliminating free services like laundry and dry cleaning. He also scaled back the company’s free dinner offerings, making it harder for employees to take home dinner for themselves and their families.

In July, Mr. Zuckerberg warned employees that the company was experiencing “one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history” and, in September announced a hiring freeze.

Last month, he warned that “teams will stay flat or shrink over the next year.” He added that the company would “end 2023 as either roughly the same size or even a slightly smaller organization than we are today.”

In its earnings report last month, Meta disclosed that Reality Labs, the part of the company working on the metaverse, had $3.67 billion in operating losses. Reality Labs also experienced its lowest revenue since the final quarter of 2020. The company expects the operating losses for Reality Labs to increase next year.

Medvedev skewers midterms, Ukraine’s ‘green’ leader: Global support for US course dying

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev © Yekaterina Shtukina/POOL/TASS

Global support for the United States’ policy course is on the decline, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday commenting on the results of the US midterm elections.

"The initial results of the elections in the United States and yesterday’s hysterical ‘ultimatum’ by Ukraine’s green leader in a green unwashed T-shirt is proof that the familiar world of grandpa Biden is slipping away, global support for US policy is on the decline, and betting on a ‘stoned hetman’ was a huge mistake," Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.

Voting at the US midterms has come to an end. Americans cast their ballots for all 435 members of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate.

In addition, governors of 36 states and three US overseas territories were elected. Local experts do not exclude the possibility that the ruling Democratic Party may lose control of the House and Senate after the elections, giving way to the opposition, the Republicans.

US Reportedly Prodded Ukraine’s Zelensky to Ditch Putin-Out-of-Power Condition For Russia Talks

Previously, US newspaper reports cited "Ukraine fatigue” increasingly becoming manifest in some countries, as they suggested that the administration of US President Joe Biden was privately encouraging Kiev to demonstrate readiness to negotiate with Moscow.

The Joe Biden administration prodded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to rethink his stance on talks with Russia, US media reported, citing White House insiders. Furthermore, the “nudging” was ostensibly done to appease both Democrats and Republicans, who have argued the need for a more “diplomatic” stance regarding the conflagration in Ukraine, particularly ahead of the November 8 midterm elections.

As Zelensky outlined five conditions for negotiations with Moscow on resolving the Ukraine conflict during a nightly televised address posted on YouTube on November 7, such as “restoring territorial integrity,” “respecting UN Statute,” “paying off all damages caused by war,” “punishing each war criminal,” and “guarantees this won't happen again,” the president of Ukraine conspicuously omitted any reference to Vladimir Putin. Previously, the Kiev regime rejected any negotiations specifically with Russia’s president, the American media outlet underscored.

©MANDEL NGAN

However, days of talks between Kiev and Washington that included an in-person visit to the Ukrainian capital by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan ostensibly brought a change.

The report rushes to rule out any speculation that US officials directly instructed Zelensky and his aides to alter their position. However, it does hint that Kiev was told to display readiness for talks in order to be seen as embracing the “moral high ground” in the eyes of the coalition of Western countries that have poured money and weapons into propping up the Ukraine regime.

“That doesn’t mean they need to go to the negotiating table right now. We don’t even think right now is the right time based on what Russia is doing. But they must show a willingness to resolve the conflict because no one wants this conflict to end more than Ukraine,” a WH official was cited as saying.

This comes as an earlier US report suggested that concerns were mounting in parts of Europe, Africa, and Latin America over the soaring food and fuel prices being driven, in part, by sanctions on Russia over its ongoing special operation in Ukraine. Accordingly, the disruptive effect the conflict and the so-called collective West's reaction to it has been wreaking has prompted increasing "Ukraine fatigue" among some US partners.

Volodymyr Zelensky’s refusal to negotiate with Vladimir Putin was also said to be generating concern in parts of Europe. As polls ahead of the November 8 midterms revealed eroding support among Republicans for continued assistance to Kiev’s military, Democrats and Republicans have ostensibly been pressuring the Joe Biden administration to push for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict.

In a U-turn that reflected growing concerns over the fallout from the Ukraine crisis, a group of 30 Democratic lawmakers from the US House of Representatives sent a letter to President Joe Biden in late October, urging him to fundamentally change the administration’s strategy with respect to Kiev.

"We urge you to pair the military and economic support the United States has provided Ukraine with a proactive diplomatic push, redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a ceasefire," the 30 Democrats, led by Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in the letter.

The authors of the letter warned that "the alternative to diplomacy is a protracted war, with both its attendant certainties and catastrophic and unknowable risks." Furthermore, there have been growing divisions among congressional Republicans on whether to proceed with military assistance to Ukraine, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy saying in October that a GOP-controlled House wouldn't write a "blank check" to Kiev.

Hints From 'Big Brother'

Some US allies in Europe are becoming increasingly concerned that a protracted conflict in Ukraine may entail a rising burden for some of them, Joseph Camilleri, emeritus professor at La Trobe University in Melbourne, told Sputnik.

Three aspects are worth noting, the professor underscored: the cost of providing economic and military aid to Ukraine; the eventual cost of reconstruction, which Europe may likely have to shoulder in part; and skyrocketing prices on energy and foodstuffs.

Bearing in mind that the Biden administration has been strongly committed to repairing the fractured US alliance system, a dragged-out conflict in Ukraine was fraught with more fissures, one of Australia's leading international relations scholars underscored.

Even if reports of the Biden team urging Kiev to reassess its stance on talks with Russia are true, the Ukrainian authorities are unlikely to actually take the hint and restart negotiations in the immediate future, Joseph Camilleri said.

“However, in due course, Ukraine will have no option but to pay close attention to US advice,” he added.

Speculating on whether the fact that Ukraine does not appear to be able to move towards resuming negotiations without hints from its "big brother" in Washington, Joseph Camilleri conceded that the US is obviously extremely influential in how Kiev handles the conflict.

However, he added that there are powerful political currents within Ukraine itself that Zelensky has to consider carefully before changing his current stance on Russia negotiations.

After the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, a spate of talks was conducted between Moscow and Kiev. After the last round of the negotiations concluded in Istanbul on March 29, the talks have since stalled. In late September, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow was still open to talks with Kiev and called on Ukraine to put an end to hostilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in turn, stated that Kiev was ready for dialogue with Moscow, but only if another president came to power in Russia. In response, the Kremlin said that Moscow would wait for a change in the stance of Ukraine's current president or his successor.

Parasut Gagal Mengembang, Prajurit TNI Langsung Hantam Daratan Usai Terjun dari Pesawat Hercules

Tangkapan layar Prajurit TNI mengalami insiden payung tak mengembang saat melaksanakan terjun statik di Lanud Sulaiman, Kabupaten Bandung pada hari Selasa, 08/11/2022. (Instagram @infokomando.official)

Seorang Prajurit TNI mengalami kecelakaan saat melakukan penerjunan statik dari pesawat TNI AU jenis C-130 Hercules. Insiden itu diketahui dari video yang diunggah akun Instagram @infokomando.official, hari Rabu, 09/11/2022.

Dari keterangan video, Prajurit TNI itu bernama Prada Salman Krisnes. Ia mengalami gagal mengembangkan parasut saat melaksanakan penerjunan statis di Landasan Lanud Sulaiman pada Selasa (8/11/2022).

Dari video terlihat parasut korban tak mengembang dengan sempurna saat ia keluar dari pintu pesawat Hercules.

Prada Salman kemudian terlihat berupaya untuk mendarat dengan kondisi parasut yang gagal mengembang itu.

"Sesampainya di darat Prada Salman kemudian terjatuh dengan pantat membentur tanah," tulis keterangan video.

Korban sempat dibawa ke tim kesehatan Wingdik 800/Pasgat untuk mendapatan pertolongan.

Ia kemudian dirujuk ke Rumah Sakit Salamun, Ciumbuleuit, Kota Bandung. Dari keterangan sementara, Prada Salman mengalami fraktur belakang pinggang sebelah kanan.

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66 inisiatif Arab Saudi untuk mengatasi perubahan iklim pada COP27

Arab Saudi telah menyampaikan 66 inisiatif baru sebagai bagian dari rencana lingkungannya pada KTT perubahan iklim global PBB yang berlangsung di kota peristirahatan Sharm El-Sheikh di Mesir, kata para pejabat.

Kerajaan Arab Saudi telah mengembangkan inisiatif sesuai dengan empat pilar utama: ekonomi karbon sirkular; meningkatkan tutupan vegetasi dan mengurangi lahan terdegradasi, melindungi habitat satwa liar dan keanekaragaman hayati, dan mempromosikan keberlanjutan, Albaraa Aldhahri, manajer proyek di jalur lingkungan Saudi Green Initiative, mengatakan kepada Arab News.

SGI, yang diumumkan oleh Putra Mahkota Mohammed bin Salman tahun lalu, meluncurkan edisi kedua forum di COP27, dengan paviliun besar yang didedikasikan untuk upaya iklim perintis Kerajaan.

Beberapa entitas nasional terlibat dalam acara tersebut, termasuk Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup, Air dan Pertanian, Pusat Nasional untuk Pengembangan Tutupan Vegetasi dan Memerangi Penggurunan, Pusat Nasional untuk Satwa Liar, Saudi Aramco, dan SABIC, semuanya di bawah payung Kementerian Energi.

“Putra Mahkota Mohammed bin Salman (mengumumkan) SGI untuk menempatkan Arab Saudi di garda depan perang melawan perubahan iklim,” kata Aldhahri, menambahkan: “Inisiatif ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan kualitas hidup di Arab Saudi dan juga untuk melindungi generasi berikutnya.”

Dia mengatakan, langkah Kerajaan untuk mencapai tiga target SGI akan dimulai dengan mengurangi emisi sebesar 278 juta ton per tahun pada tahun 2030.

“Target kedua (adalah) menanam 10 miliar pohon dalam beberapa dekade mendatang, juga meningkatkan kawasan lindung di wilayah daratan dan pesisir lebih dari 30 persen dari total luas Arab Saudi,” tambah Aldhahri.

Pilar perlindungan satwa liar, habitat dan keanekaragaman hayati akan berkontribusi pada target peningkatan kawasan lindung lebih dari 50 persen pada tahun 2030, katanya, sedangkan pilar mempromosikan keberlanjutan terintegrasi dalam dua pilar lainnya untuk mencapai target SGI, di mana energi kementerian adalah peserta utama di KTT.

“Jika kita berbicara tentang jalur lingkungan dan inisiatif yang disetujui di bawah pilar ini, kita akan mengatakan bahwa kita memiliki 39 inisiatif yang disetujui untuk meningkatkan tutupan vegetasi dan mengurangi lahan terdegradasi, kita memiliki 18 inisiatif yang disetujui untuk melindungi habitat satwa liar dan keanekaragaman hayati. , dan sembilan inisiatif yang disetujui di bawah mempromosikan keberlanjutan,” kata Aldhahri.

Al-Hanouf Al-Abdulkarim, seorang insinyur dari ekosistem energi di Kerajaan, mengatakan salah satu tujuan utama adalah untuk mengurangi emisi melalui ekonomi karbon sirkular dengan berbagai inisiatif dan proyek untuk memenuhi target SGI yang ambisius.

“Hari ini kami dapat memamerkan banyak proyek ini dengan menangkap CO2, produksi hidrogen dan beberapa bahan berbasis polimer lainnya, dan banyak sumber energi terbarukan seperti panel berbasis polimer,” yang dipajang, katanya.

Al-Abdulkarim menambahkan bahwa tujuan utama mereka adalah untuk menunjukkan inisiatif dan ambisi Kerajaan, tetapi “sayangnya” hanya dapat menampilkan beberapa karena terlalu banyak.

“Kami memiliki beberapa bahan berbasis polimer yang digunakan dari hidrokarbon dan polimer, juga kami memiliki salah satu pabrik produksi hidrogen kami yang memecah amonia menjadi hidrogen, dan memiliki 'Archie', salah satu aplikasi kami yang dimulai dan diluncurkan di Kingdom dengan bantuan Aramco,” katanya.

'Archie' adalah alat interaktif yang melacak setiap tetes minyak yang diproduksi di seluruh dunia dari sumbernya ke pasar tujuan dan memperkirakan siklus hidup intensitas karbon di titik mana pun dalam rantai pasokan minyak. Ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan keterlacakan dan transparansi intensitas karbon ujung ke ujung dari setiap bagian dari rantai pasokan minyak, memungkinkan investor, pembuat kebijakan, perusahaan, dan konsumen untuk membuat keputusan yang lebih tepat.

Sementara itu, Ahmed Al-Nafie, dari Program Perpindahan Cairan Kementerian Energi, mengatakan inisiatif ekonomi karbon melingkar bertujuan untuk mencapai bauran energi yang optimal di Kerajaan, dengan 50 persen gas dan 50 persen energi terbarukan.

“Kerajaan meluncurkan program pemindahan cairan, yang bertujuan untuk memindahkan satu juta barel per hari di berbagai sektor — sektor utilitas, pembangkitan dan desalinasi, sektor industri dan sektor pertanian, dengan memanfaatkan sumber energi baru, perluasan sistem master gas, dan jaringan listrik.”

Dia mengatakan satu juta barel mewakili 95 persen dari cairan yang digunakan di Kerajaan, dan pada tahun 2030, negara itu akan memanfaatkan sumber baru dan akan menggantikan jumlah cairan ini.

"Tujuan utama dari inisiatif ini adalah untuk mengurangi emisi karbon, memanfaatkan sumber daya baru, dan meningkatkan ekonomi Kerajaan,” tambahnya.

Thomas Fazi - Poros Prancis-Jerman tidak pernah mempromosikan kepentingan Eropa

CCO//

Poros Prancis-Jerman tidak pernah mempromosikan kepentingan Eropa, sebaliknya berfokus pada penguatan tangan eksekutif UE dan memaksakan penghematan pada negara-negara anggota yang lebih lemah, Thomas Fazi, seorang penulis dan peneliti.

Prancis dan Jerman, dua negara Uni Eropa terkemuka, seharusnya mengadakan pertemuan kabinet bersama pada akhir Oktober tetapi akhirnya ditunda hingga Januari, dilaporkan karena perbedaan masalah energi dan pertahanan.

Sebaliknya, itu diganti dengan makan siang kerja di Paris antara Presiden Prancis Emmanuel Macron dan Kanselir Jerman Olaf Scholz. Semua ini menambah kekhawatiran yang sedang berlangsung mengenai hubungan antara Paris dan Berlin yang berada pada titik rendah dan terkikis.

"Pada saat-saat ketika entente (persetujuan dua negara) Prancis-Jerman berada pada kekuatannya yang terkuat ... kami tidak menyaksikan berkembangnya 'integrasi Eropa' melainkan pengetatan sistem aturan teknokratis anti-demokrasi Uni Eropa, dan kecenderungannya untuk memaksakan aturan anggaran dan reformasi struktural pada negara-negara anggota di luar prosedur demokrasi dan tanpa kontrol demokrasi. Jadi poros Prancis-Jerman tidak pernah menjadi kesepakatan yang baik bagi negara-negara Uni yang lebih lemah," katanya.

Fazi berpendapat bahwa runtuhnya aliansi Prancis-Jerman merupakan konsekuensi logis dari sifat hubungan kedua negara, yang ada selama kepentingan mereka saling kompatibel, yang tidak lagi terjadi. Alih-alih memiliki visi yang sama untuk Uni Eropa, dua anggota terkaya telah berbagi kekuasaan di bawah "kesepakatan tuan-tuan" yang telah memungkinkan Paris untuk membengkokkan aturan UE, termasuk dengan menjalankan defisit anggaran yang besar, dengan imbalan membayar mereka lip service di Brussel. .

"Ini sebagian besar merupakan kesepakatan pria di mana kedua negara sepakat untuk tidak mengganggu kepentingan nasional masing-masing - yang berarti Prancis menerima untuk mendukung agenda ekonomi Jerman untuk Eropa, sementara Jerman menerima bahwa Prancis akan diizinkan untuk melanggar aturan yang sama ... mengganggu kebijakan pascakolonial Prancis di luar negeri," kata Fazi.

"Jadi poros Prancis-Jerman tidak pernah mempromosikan 'kepentingan Eropa', melainkan kepentingan kedua negara melalui institusi UE," tambahnya.

Perpecahan Prancis-Jerman terjadi setelah Jerman dengan susah payah menyadari bahwa mereka sedang menerima perang ekonomi yang dilancarkan oleh Amerika Serikat. Fazi menyarankan bahwa AS mungkin juga berada di balik serangan bom September yang membuat sistem pipa Nord Stream, yang dibangun untuk mengangkut gas alam Rusia ke Jerman di bawah Laut Baltik, tidak dapat dioperasikan.

"Jerman menyadari dengan sangat baik (walaupun tidak bisa mengatakannya dengan lantang) bahwa itu adalah pihak yang menerima perang ekonomi yang dilancarkan oleh AS, dengan mendorong irisan antara Jerman dan Rusia dan mencegah munculnya sebuah blok ekonomi Eurasia. Memang, AS juga kemungkinan besar menjadi penyebab di balik serangan terhadap pipa Nord Stream," katanya.

“Dalam konteks ini, elit Jerman menyadari bahwa jika mereka ingin menghindari deindustrialisasi, mereka harus memutuskan strategi Jalan Dingin Baru AS – yang berusaha memaksa Eropa untuk memutuskan hubungan tidak hanya dengan Rusia tetapi juga dengan China… itu saja karena mereka menyadari bahwa sebagian besar negara Eropa sepenuhnya tunduk pada AS dan NATO," kata Fazi.

Adapun sekutu utama Jerman, Prancis telah berbagi beberapa kekhawatirannya tentang biaya LNG Amerika dan efek keseluruhan dari kebijakan Ukraina Amerika Serikat di Eropa - tetapi pada akhirnya terlalu tidak aman, kata Fazi, untuk mengikuti Jerman secara terbuka menantang KITA. "Solusi Eropa" yang terus dibicarakan Prancis hanyalah kedok untuk mengikuti status quo karena, dengan negara-negara seperti Polandia merasakan kesetiaan yang lebih dekat ke Washington daripada tetangganya, tidak ada jalan tengah Eropa yang sama yang dapat ditemukan di sana.

US Midterm Elections

Results are coming in for one of the most closely watched midterm elections in recent memory. Voting across the country largely went smoothly, with a few isolated technical and logistical hiccups.

History has shown that the President’s party usually takes a beating in the first midterm election, and polls predict the Democrats may lose control of the House, if not the Senate as well. As votes are tallied, Republicans are showing an edge in House races and the contest for control of the Senate is tight.

Republicans made big gains in Florida, with Gov. Ron DeSantis winning reelection by a huge margin, a sign that Florida’s electorate has swung to the GOP, with major potential ramifications for the electoral map in the 2024 presidential elections. Beyond that there are few signs of a massive blow out across the country by Republicans.

According to the Associated Press, Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger held her seat in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., a district that was widely seen as an early predictor of a Republican wave, a lot comes down to whether Democrats can hold the Senate, which would provide a bulwark to Republicans sending bills to President Joe Biden’s desk and blocking his judicial nominees. Many of the most closely-watched races have yet to be decided and will likely take hours, if not days to call.

A key race is in Georgia, where former football star Hershel Walker presents a major test of the power of former President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Walker, who’s been the subject of news stories that he paid for a woman’s abortion despite his strict anti-abortion stance, is facing incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock. In Pennsylvania’s Senate race, the Democrat lieutenant governor John Fetterman is up against Trump’s pick TV doctor Dr. Mehmet Oz. And in Ohio, Trump’s pick for senate, J.D. Vance, defeated his opponent, Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan.

A so-called red wave of Republican seats could bolster Trump’s case that he’s the party’s best chance to reclaim the White House in 2024. At a rally in Ohio on Monday night, he teased a “very big announcement” at his private club in Florida on Nov. 15.

Each election helps maintain the clockwork of a democracy, but this one, at this moment in the country, carries a lot of freight. At stake is not just the balance of power in Congress and in state capitols—nor only the consequences for the economy, the climate, women’s health, the wealth gap, and what we as a country think is important. Also on the line is the mechanics of elections themselves, and the basic mathematics of how the people communicate their will.

There are a lot of ways it can be gummed up.

One test is whether Republican candidates who have denied Trump’s loss to Biden in 2020 will accept the results in 2022 if they are defeated, or only if they win. Two years of Trump’s unfounded denials of the 2020 results have opened the door to a raft of candidates who have shown an unwillingness to accept vetted vote tallies. Another question is whether the public is prepared to potentially wait days for final outcomes, as tens of millions of mail-in and absentee ballots are counted. In some states with closely watched races like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, Republicans are expected to have higher tallies early in the count, with Democratic votes coming in later as mail-in ballots and absentee ballots are counted.

A Republican surge in Congress will mean more investigations of Biden’s Administration and his family, and also force Democrats to confront Biden’s reelection chances and whether he’s the party’s best hope to beat a potential Trump candidacy for a second time.

Brian Kemp defeats Stacey Abrams for Georgia governor

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has defeated former state house majority leader Stacey Abrams in the Georgia governor’s race. Abrams acknowledged the defeat in an appearance in Atlanta Tuesday night, saying she offered “congratulations” to Kemp.It was the second match-up between Kemp and Abrams and the second time Georgia did not elect what would have been the first Black woman governor in U.S. history; Kemp defeated Abrams for the governorship in 2018 as well.

Kemp shot to national prominence when he refused to help former President Donald Trump overturn the results of the 2020 election. His re-election this year makes him one of the only Republicans to cross Trump and keep his job.

J.D. Vance wins Ohio Senate seat

The tight race for an open Senate seat in Ohio ground to a narrow end, with Democratic nominee Tim Ryan coming up short against first-time candidate J.D. Vance, a Republican who captured the GOP nomination powered by an endorsement of ex-President Donald Trump. The Associated Press called the race, and a Democratic official tells TIME that Ryan has called Vance to concede.

Ryan, a 10-term member of the House who sought to defeat Nancy Pelosi as the Democratic leader and tried for his party’s presidential nomination in 2020, had counted on his blue-collar appeal to break a conservative slide in a state that twice voted for Trump. Ryan hails from the northeast corner of the state where the manufacturing core has been hollowed out over the last few decades. He campaigned as an everyman who drank Miller Lite, wore hoodie sweatshirts on the trail, and blasted Trump and his allies like Vance as extremism.

Vance, meanwhile, matured as a candidate as the campaign pivoted from a competitive primary to a general election with national implications. Vance, the author of Hillbilly Elegy and a venture capitalist, similarly tried to appeal to the working-class base of the Ohio electorate. Vance benefited from a raft of cash from billionaire Peter Thiel, and he certainly was not hurt by incumbent Gov. Mike DeWine’s easy victory for a second term.

The seat is currently held by Republican Sen. Rob Portman, meaning Vance’s win does little to advance the GOP’s effort to win the majority.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis coasts to re-election

Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis easily won re-election on Tuesday night, according to the Associated Press, positioning him for potential national ambitions or a future bid for the presidency.

DeSantis faced Democrat Charlie Crist, who himself served as a Republican Governor of Florida from 2007 until 2011. (He became a Democrat in 2012.) With 80% of votes counted, De Santis had 58% of the vote to Crist’s 41%.

A rising star in the GOP, DeSantis defined his first term as governor with resistance to pandemic-era restrictions and brash right-wing stances on America’s culture wars. His funding vastly outpaced Crist’s, and he focused his campaign on criticizing Democrats for what he described as the “woke agenda.” Widely considered to be a future Republican presidential contender, the conservative firebrand made headlines this year for his stances on LGBTQ issues, handling of immigration policy, and investigations into alleged voter fraud. He repeatedly drew liberal ire and swallowed media cycle after media cycle, leaving Crist and his moderate approach largely ignored.

While he’s been re-elected to another four years in office, it remains unclear if he’ll serve all of them—in a recent debate DeSantis, 44, did not answer when Crist pressed him to commit to a full-four year term rather than run for President in 2024. Former President Donald Trump, a registered Florida voter who is also mulling a presidential bid, told reporters on Tuesday that he had voted for DeSantis’ re-election, although he had mocked the governor at a rally just days before, potentially teeing up the primary dynamics for next cycle.

Diplomat points out no constructive talks between Russia, Ukraine since April

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
©Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP

Russia and Ukraine have not held any constructive talks since April after Kiev had failed to respond to Moscow’s proposals, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during an online meeting with Kazan Federal University students and teaching staff Tuesday.

"There is indeed a lot of talk about negotiations but they are in a different context. There are no constructive talks, they ended this April when in response to Ukraine’s proposal we yet again sent our suggestions and following this, everything was blocked," she said.

According to the diplomat, the West, which supplies weapons to Ukraine, directly influences Kiev’s readiness for negotiations. "Now there are no questions as to who is behind them (official Kiev - TASS) - those who supply them with arms and provide them with huge sums of money, at times forbidding to even think about negotiations, and at times peddling a story that everything should be decided on the battlefield, yet later on (the West) once again returns to the issue of talks but in the context of accusing our country that we are not conducting them," she pointed out.

Situation around talks

On Monday, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin was unaware of how reliable reports were that the White House asked Kiev to demonstrate its openness to negotiations with Moscow. On Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said that Moscow and Washington were not conducting any talks on the subject of Ukraine.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Russian leadership remained ready to continue negotiations on Ukraine. He noted that Russia was ready to hear out its Western colleagues if they put forward a proposal to organize a dialogue on reducing tensions taking into account Moscow’s interests. Peskov also suggested that talks on Ukraine should be conducted above all with Washington since Kiev is acting "on external orders.".

Moscow Says Not Holding Negotiations With United States on Ukraine

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko

Moscow is not negotiating with the United States on Ukraine, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said on Tuesday. "No, we are not negotiating with them," Rudenko said.

The Wall Street Journal melaporkan Penasihat Keamanan Nasional AS Jake Sullivan telah melakukan pembicaraan rahasia dalam beberapa bulan terakhir dengan ajudan Kremlin Yury Ushakov dan Sekretaris Dewan Keamanan Rusia Nikolai Patrushev. Kremlin dan Gedung Putih menolak untuk mengkonfirmasi bahwa pembicaraan semacam itu terjadi

Moscow has no "preconditions” on peace talks with Kyiv towards ending the ongoing conflict, besides good will from Ukraine to start them, a top Russian diplomat said on Tuesday.

"There are no preconditions on our part, except for the main condition – that Ukraine show good will," said Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, commenting on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy setting out "respect to the UN Charter, compensation for losses" as conditions for talks with Russia.

Russia has always demonstrated a willingness to hold peace talks, said Rudenko.

"Ukraine passed a law that prohibits conducting peace talks with Russia. It's their choice. (But) we have always declared our readiness for such negotiations," he said, adding that the talks were interrupted by Ukraine.

Asked if Russia is in talks with the US about Ukraine, Rudenko said: "No, we are not holding (such talks)."

Rudenko added that Moscow is examining proposals by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for creating a safe zone around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine.

He also said that "the Russian part" of the Black Sea grain deal is not being implemented and that Russia will weigh all factors before making a decision on extending the deal past Nov. 19, when it is due to expire.

This July, Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which were paused after the Russia-Ukraine war began in February.

A Joint Coordination Center with officials from the three countries and the UN was set up in Istanbul to oversee the shipments.