The Sunday Feed

The Joke is on us

It’s been more than 3 weeks and the Russian aggression does not seem to halt. More than 5 million people have already been displaced and the number is bound to double very soon if the war continues unabated.

It is believed that the war is costing Russia more than $20 billion per day if we were to overlook the casualties on both fronts. No one disagrees that Putin heavily miscalculated the outcome and now seems more confused than convinced of what he is doing.

The rest of the world have decided to not jump in directly but replenish the weapons and let Ukraine fight its own war. A war it never asked for. Zelensky has come to terms that NATO is in no hurry to take Ukraine under its wings and it might have to give up all hopes for now.

As Europe and the US try to wage a dummy war on Putin by imposing heavy sanctions, the reality is difficult to fathom. While Russia definitely seems to be headed towards a recession it might take a decade to recover, the world is not insulated from the effects of ostracising Russia.

Petrol prices all over the world are bound to shoot up. But the problem with that is that fuel is a catalyst that keeps the world churning. Any change in that is bound to affect everything around it.

I live in Australia and it seems that after the hike in petrol prices, all commodities are bound to cost dearer by about 30% or even more in just a few weeks. From veggies to coffee, they are all upward bound. Thank you Mr. Putin. We thought we made you a pariah but it seems the joke is on us.

Here are the top 5 changes that might influence the way we live from now on.

1. Climate Change: All the cursory efforts to save the planet seems a big farce when you look at the countries having nuclear weapons because the damage caused by a few of them exploding is going to neutralise all the hard work some dedicated people have been putting to save the planet for years. It is believed that Russia is developing a torpedo that can cause tsunami on exploding. Talk about the façade we all put up with in the name of world peace.
2. Economic Crisis: According to IEA — International Energy Agency, Russia is the biggest exporter of oil to global markets and second largest exporter of crude oil exporting about 2.85 million barrels per day. Now the changing equation will not affect the rich countries because they will have excellent credit rating to borrow from the international market either directly or by floating bonds. The countries that will be really impacted are the smaller ones who will have to adjust to the new metamorphosis. By the time the dust of this war settles, a lot of them will be on the brink of a civil war as they might go bankrupt. Make no mistake, the virus is still making the rounds and raises its head every now and then.
3. Class Divide: This world was never meant to be fair. Equality is a philosophy that seems good in the books that talk about the values we should follow to be human. In real life there is none. No one has any idea as to how much poor the average person across the world will become because the true effects of the sanctions. A lot of people are bound to lose their jobs because businesses will not be sustainable due to the increased costs. A country like Australia can always pump in more money in the economy and bail out its people like it always does in times of crisis. But how many countries can do it. Not more than a handful. Every event like this gives a golden opportunity to big conglomerates to go on a shopping spree and buy out good businesses owned by families.
4. Unnecessary antagonism: We live in a global world where a lot of people born in a particular country migrate to other countries for better prospects. Before invading another country, any government or dictator should think about what happens to its people living in other countries. After this unnecessary, unprovoked aggression, the world will develop huge bitterness towards Russians for no fault of theirs. Everyone knows that this is Putin’s war and an average Russian has nothing to do with it. In fact the protest in Russia showed that they were risking their lives to put an end to this madness. But an average person is not so evolved to think like you and me and a 3-week blitzkrieg is enough to form an opinion.
5. Mental health: 2 years or relentless lockdown has had a huge impact on the mental health of people. No one thought that the pandemic would culminate in a war where so many innocent people would lose their lives. Can you imagine how hard it must be for someone having a relating in Ukraine to have even a minute of peace? Especially when the people defending their countries were not trained to be soldiers. Thanks to the mad man, the average corner store guy in Ukraine had to exchange arms for his eftpos machine.

All of us who are far from the epicentre laughed when Putin was imposed with heavy sanctions but now it seems the joke is on us. Hard times are coming fast and furious. It is easy to speculate but wisdom dictates that we should watch our movements carefully and cut down on all unwanted spending.

John Khalkho

CEO: Dolores Education

Photo: Sima G