Good evening.

Tonight I speak with Moscow at Caterina Zolotova of geopolitical futures, reporting on how

well the Russian economy did in the first year of the war in Ukraine, 2022, surprising all

expectations.

Severe sanctions on energy rushes chief export, and yet managing to switch its customer

base from Western Europe to India and China and Southeast Asia, and also to manage the

economy, an economy that had lost access to its great bounty of money in the West being

held in central banks.

But still compensating with very careful management of the Russian central bank and the hard work

of the Russian people, unemployment is almost unheard of, is demand for labor in all industries

that Caterina tells me, at the same time housing prices and rents continue to go up.

Just back from holiday, many of the Russians are enjoying the bounty of these war years,

and yet there are storm clouds around now.

The numbers show that the rubble has gone through a hundred per dollar.

The central bank has raised interest rates sharply.

The concern about inflation is well taken.

Russia has been spending the central government's been spending money on mortgages and subsidizing

the demands of people's lives that is going to lead to explosive inflation is the theory.

You shall see, in an event, it's not an economy that sounds at war, except for the defense

industry doing very well, working seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

Also a conversation about the Middle East with Jonathan Schanzer of the foundation for

the defensive democracies.

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