Best Of: How Russia loots grain from Ukraine

In 1720, the South Sea Company was one of the most valuable businesses in Britain until a spectacular collapse in its publicly traded shares triggered the country’s first major stock market crisis. At the centre of the story was John Blunt, a shoemaker’s son who rose through the ...  Show more

William E Simon was a bond trader-turned US cabinet secretary under President Richard Nixon. He was also abrasive, polarising and the “father of private equity”, according to Hettie O’Brien, author of The Asset Class: How Private Equity Turned Capitalism Against Itself. She tells ...  Show more

When Russia invaded Ukraine, it put the global food supply at risk — until the two countries struck an unusual deal to keep shipments flowing. 

Last week, that deal fell apart.

Marc Santora, who has been reporting from Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict, e ...

Will the collapse of the UN grain deal and attack on port cities in Ukraine affect food security?James Waterhouse joins us from a grain processing plant in Poltava and we also hear from Oksana Karabin, who works for Ukraine's biggest grain exporter Kernel. Their terminal was shel ...  Show more

Russia is weaponizing food by blockading Ukraine’s grain exports and withholding its own until other countries come to Putin to ask for it. This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Mounsey, and hosted b ...  Show more

The crisis in Eastern Europe has escalated to new levels, as Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized the deployment of troops to rebel-held areas of Ukraine. Prices for energy commodities, including crude oil and natural gas, spiked on the news. And wheat, a key export from t ...  Show more