What a world!

Thursday 1st September, 2022

There is absolutely no need for aliens to take the trouble of undertaking intergalactic missions to destroy this planet. The so-called big powers vying for global dominance are already at it, and the signs are that they will succeed in their endeavour. The entire world is reeling from the war in Ukraine.

Russia is reportedly destroying many tons of natural gas daily, having cut supplies thereof to Europe, which is struggling to fulfil its energy needs. It is burning an estimated USD 10 million worth of gas a day, according to international media reports. Energy prices in Europe have gone through the roof, causing inflation to soar due to the current gas shortage. There have been massive increases in electricity tariffs as well in that part of the world. Pressure is reportedly mounting on the EU to decouple gas and electricity prices as a desperate measure.

The world knows how dangerous the dogs of war are, but unfortunately the big powers do not care to avert conflagrations which cause immense suffering to humans and could even lead to nuclear strikes. The war in Ukraine, which has had a crippling effect on the global economy, could have been averted if the parties thereto, namely, the US, its NATO allies, and Russia, had acted with restraint. What possessed the western powers to try to expand NATO right up to the Russian borders via Ukraine? Moscow also stands accused of having overreacted.

The West claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin made some military miscalculations about the invasion of Ukraine, which is offering stiff resistance and inflicting considerable damage on the Russian forces. Putin may have thought of making short work of the Ukrainian military, installing a puppet government in Kyiv, and withdrawing his army. Things have obviously not gone according to his plan. The US and Europe have also made some miscalculations. When they threw their weight behind Ukraine, provoking Russian into retaliating militarily, they may not have anticipated the economic fallout of a protracted conflict—an unprecedented energy crisis dealing a severe blow to the western economies. Now, the entire world is suffering, and the developing nations are the worst affected in that they are without robust social safety nets. The European nations are doling out funds to vulnerable sections of their societies to cushion the blow from the energy crisis and increasing prices, but people in other parts of the world have had to skip meals. Sri Lanka is a case in point.

Ukraine should have known better than to allow itself to be used by the US and its NATO allies as a cat’s paw to further their geostrategic interests. It may receive military aid from its western allies for its fight against the Russians, but the question is whether it will be able to rebuild its war-ravaged economy in the foreseeable future. Most of all, it is the Ukrainian soldiers who perish in the ongoing ground war.

Perhaps, the US and its allies expected Russia to abandon its military campaign due to fierce resistance from Ukraine so that NATO could declare victory long before the adverse economic impact of the war kicked in. Perhaps, Putin worked according to a plan to make the western economies scream. He knows how dependent Europe on Russian oil and gas is.

By curtailing energy supplies, Putin has hit the US and Europe where it hurts them most. Power and energy crises, especially during winter, and soaring inflation mean political trouble for the western governments, and the US and Europe may even be compelled to rethink their Ukraine strategy, given the global ramifications of the Russian energy supply cuts, as some economic analysts have argued.

What is this world coming to when thousands of tons of natural gas are destroyed by way of flaring while many countries are experiencing a severe gas shortage? Similarly, shiploads of wheat are reportedly destroyed annually to keep grain prices high while millions of people are struggling to dull the pangs of hunger, the world over. If Russia puts an end to excessive flaring and makes its gas available to the developing countries at reasonable prices, it will be possible to sort out most of their economic problems. It is time the US and its belligerent allies wised up and rethought their Ukraine strategy without behaving like a bunch of overgrown school bullies, who think everything that happens to be in their path deserves a kick.