Rusia

To Prevent a Global Food Crisis, Expand the Lend-Lease Program

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has already killed tens of thousands, displaced millions, and thrown global financial markets into chaos. But without serious international action, Moscow’s war will lead to another deepening crisis: worldwide hunger. Both Russia and Ukraine are major producers and exporters of grain and other agricultural goods. The conflict has thoroughly disrupted this trade, with potentially disastrous consequences.

Conflicts have a history of spinning out of control. Trotsky, the one-time close comrade of Lenin, reportedly said, “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you”. The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians were not interested in war until President Volodymyr Zelensky took his counterproductive stance on NATO membership and President Vladimir Putin subsequently launched his invasion and united most of Ukraine’s people against him.

Timofei Bordachev, the program director of the Valdai Discussion Club think tank, is confident that the West will soon be approaching Russia to seek a compromise on Ukraine that will be advantageous to Russia. He warns his countrymen, however, not to engage in self-congratulation, because the West is still intent on the extinction of Russian sovereignty. Moreover, in the current crisis Russia was lucky to face the West when the US and Europe were at their weakest and their leadership was comprised of “mindless chatterboxes or hustlers.” The West has shown its recuperative powers in the past and the next phase of the perpetual struggle will be tougher.

The war in Ukraine poses numerous questions: What will be the country’s fate?; what will happen to the Ukrainian people?; will Russia be held accountable?; and what is the U.S.’s role in the war? One question that often goes unasked is: what does the war say about the nature of the international world order?

Dépendant de Moscou et de Kiev pour les céréales, les dirigeants défendent leur neutralité.

C’est une allocution que l’Union africaine (UA) a repoussée le plus longtemps possible et qu’elle a tenu à garder discrète, presque secrète. Le président ukrainien, Volodymyr Zelensky, s’est adressé à huis clos, lundi 20 juin, aux membres de l’organisation continentale en visioconférence depuis Kiev. « Enfin », diront certains.

Two subjects will likely preoccupy the G7 heads of state when they meet starting 26 June: the war in Ukraine and the related spikes in commodity prices worldwide. The leaders need to show that they will address the economic woes as well as other crises.

As the war has dragged on, European unity has collapsed and efforts to transform the European Union into a European superstate — a United States of Europe — have been exposed for what they are: delusions of grandeur.

The Lessons of the Soviet Collapse

On May 9, 2022, a column of tanks and artillery thundered down Moscow’s Red Square. Over 10,000 soldiers marched through the city’s streets. It was Russia’s 27th annual Victory Day parade, in which the country commemorates the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany in World War II. Russian President Vladimir Putin, presiding over the ceremonies, gave a speech praising his country’s military and fortitude. “The defense of our motherland when its destiny was at stake has always been sacred,” he said. “We will never give up.” Putin was speaking about the past but also about the present, with a clear message to the rest of the world: Russia is determined to continue prosecuting its war against Ukraine.

The world isn’t flat, it’s all too round…. That’s why Islam is once again at war with Europe, Russia is invading Ukraine, China is relaunching its empire, and the ‘flatland’ is experiencing a dimensional shift.

Globalization advocates had just recreated Marxist central planning with a somewhat more flexible global model in which massive corporations bridged global barriers to create the most efficient possible means of moving goods and services around the planet. Borders would come down and cultural exchanges would make us all one ushering in the great union of humanity.