It cannot be proved that the wildfires now devastating western Russia are evidence of global warming. Once-in-a-century extreme weather events happen, on average, once a century. But the Russian response is precisely what you would expect when global warming really starts to bite: Moscow has just banned all grain exports for the rest of this year.

At least 20 percent of Russia’s wheat crop has already been destroyed by the drought, the extreme heat-circa 40 º C for several weeks now-and the wildfires. The export ban is needed, explained Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, because ‘we shouldn’t allow domestic prices in Russia to rise, we need to preserve our cattle and build up supplies for next year