Ukraine

• Ukrainian officials warned that Russia is planning a new round of infrastructure strikes - perhaps from a navy vessel in the Black Sea.
• There were also rumors that Russia was considering giving up the Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex - which it captured in February (although Ukrainian operators still run the plant) - however, Russia dismissed them and said it has no intent to walk away from Zaporizhzhia.

• EU negotiators tried - and failed - again to agree on the level of a price cap for Russian oil. They must set a level by Dec. 5, but hawks and doves disagree on where it should be set.
• Reuters reported that the U.S. and Russia have used their "deconfliction" comms line only once since the start of the Ukraine war - and it wasn't when that missile landed in Poland (NATO has said that was a Ukrainian air defense missile, but placed ultimate blame for it on Russia for starting the war in the first place).

• Worries about anti-lockdown protests in China - and how Beijing will react to them - led global stock markets lower yesterday.
• Authorities began to react to protests, deploying large security contingents to likely protest venues to prevent demonstrators from gathering there.
• Chinese state media is apparently censoring its coverage of World Cup games to remove images of maskless fans celebrating together - something Chinese viewers aren't allowed to do under COVID restrictions.
• While the Biden administration has been eagerly calling the Iranian regime out for brutally repressing protests, it's remained comparably quiet about protests in China. When asked about China, a White House spokesman merely commented: "We’ve long said everyone has the right to peacefully protest, in the U.S. and around the world."

• An Iranian general acknowledged that over 300 people have died during this round of protests. That's the first time in months that an Iranian official has commented on protest casualties.
• His guess is about 40% too low: activists say 451 protesters and 60 members of the security services have died...and over 18,000 people have been detained.

• The Pakistani Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban, TTP) dissolved its June truce with the government and ordered its fighters to carry out attacks "everywhere you can in the entire country" of Pakistan.
• I believe the event that sparked this was a gun battle in northwest Pakistan yesterday, in which security forces killed 11 TTP - including a senior commander - as they reentered the country from Afghanistan.