Rusia

Why the Conflict in Ukraine Is a Disaster for the Poor of This Planet

In 1919, the renowned British economist John Maynard Keynes wrote The Economic Consequences of the Peace, a book that would prove controversial indeed. In it, he warned that the draconian terms imposed on defeated Germany after what was then known as the Great War — which we now call World War I — would have ruinous consequences not just for that country but all of Europe. Today, I’ve adapted his title to explore the economic consequences of the (less than great) war now underway — the one in Ukraine, of course — not just for those directly involved but for the rest of the world.

SOFREP’s Guy McCardle had recently reported on evacuations being underway at Mariupol’s Azovstal Steel Plant complex after months of heavy bombing from the Russian forces. Today, over 150 women and children who hid in underground bunkers have successfully reached safety in Zaporizhzhia as per the ICRC. According to reports, it was the first time the civilians saw the light in 2 months.

A peculiar Ukrainian military buggy has been spotted being used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to fight off Russian tanks. How do we know that these all-terrain vehicles are blowing up tanks? Well, it has a Stugna-P anti-tank guided missile mounted on top of it. The resourceful Ukrainians are at it again with their unique weapons, with this Stugna-P mounted on a buggy.

The European Commission has announced its plan to eliminate regional imports of Russian oil gradually. The ban is part of the sixth proposed European Union sanction package imposed on Russia for its aggression against Ukraine.

If there is indeed a shift in strategy to another level of confrontation with Russia, we need to know what we’re getting into.

To judge by its latest statements, the Biden administration is increasingly committed to using the conflict in Ukraine to wage a proxy war against Russia, with as its goal the weakening or even destruction of the Russian state.

As calls grow for a ‘victory’ over Russia, we should examine whether such a win-lose outcome is even possible.

Tell me how this ends. General David Petraeus famously posed this question at the outset of the Iraq War in 2003.

Declaring someone irrational leads to a place in which no one wants to negotiate, because, no one wants to talk to crazy people.

A number of things about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine are not in doubt: that it was a deeply criminal act; that it has been accompanied by great brutality on the ground; that it was based on extremely faulty intelligence; and that in consequence it involved extremely serious political and strategic miscalculations.

On April 27, 2022, the Director of Russian Foreign Intelligence Service [SVR], Sergey Naryshkin, (whom Vladimir Putin publicly humiliated on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) claimed that the Polish authorities are planning to take control of Ukraine. Russia has made these charges before[1] but Naryshkin now claimed that the assessments were backed by trustworthy sources.