As the World experiences rising food prices and growing food insecurity due to Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports, Putin’s regime is profiting to the tune of billions from its own exports of wheat, sunflower oil and other subsistence foods.
“Russia’s war against Ukraine, while deepening a global food crisis, has made the invader among the biggest winners of the mess it helped create.
The war has blocked Ukraine’s grain exports by sea, cutting off vital supplies for countries from Somalia to Egypt. The disruption, topped by hot weather and droughts that are hurting wheat crops in other parts of the world, has sent prices of the grain to near-record highs and is threatening hunger in parts of the Middle East and North Africa.”
And this is happening even as the Russian people are experiencing rising prices on foodstuffs, as is the rest of the world.
“While the Russian state’s coffers are swelling with commodity export revenues, its citizens are also suffering from rapid food-price rises. Russia may be self-sufficient in raw materials like grain and sugar, but it relies on imports for everything from packaging to processed food and essential flavorings and ingredients. Foreign companies from Nestle SA to Unilever Plc left or limited operations in Russia after the invasion. An initial wave of panic-buying after the war began may have subsided, but food inflation is at the highest since at least 2004.“
I do not believe it was Putin’s intention to create a global food storage, no, his plan was to win a quick war over Ukraine, as Russia had done in Georgia in 2008, and then exploit its resources to further enrich himself and his fellow kleptocrats.
But as his war bogs down in failure, Putin seems to have altered his objectives, instead seeking to foster his long-term goal of destabilizing democracies through higher food and energy prices prices while engaging in the wholesale destruction of cities in the country that defied him.
And his plan will probably work unless President Biden succeeds in framing Putin’s war for what it is: an all out assault on the free peoples of the world by an autocrat seeking to weaken his rivals by any means possible. Even if it means widespread famine and death.
For Russia even with its good harvest and the rest of the world, experiencing bad ones, cannot replace Ukraine’s food exports.
It’s an ugly concept to have to consider and even uglier to speak of openly but the fact is, like oil & gas FOOD is a strategic asset that can be used as a weapon. As you note, it’s not just the appalling aspect of starving (and killing) countless people in countries all over the world directly by denying them food, creating shortages affects global commodity prices and can destabilize the economies of even countries like our own which can grow all we need for domestic consumption. Higher commodity prices drives up the cost of food everywhere and even in a country like ours the increased prices cause hunger and starvation. Not that we don’t already have an appalling amount of that already due to greed and heartlessness but it will get worse and not just for those who already can least afford higher food prices.
THIS might force NATO and the free world’s hand in Ukraine. For all the OMFG – INFLATION! hyperventilating by the media (not just Fox) in this country over inflation (it’s a worldwide problem – NOT unique to the U.S. post pandemic) this can do great damage to the world’s economy. I’ve gone back and forth on the issue (my own military experience and training, combined with study of the history of military and international relations issues along with conversations with a cousin who’s retired from the State Dept. on diplomatic affairs) about direct NATO (and other countries) intervention to bring the war in Ukraine to a swift end. There might not be a choice. A tragic number of high level assholes on the world stage be they in government or corporations don’t give a rat’s ass about starving or even dying people even if the effects are felt by hundreds of millions. However they WILL care if their personal fortunes and prospects are threatened.
I’m quite sure many corporate types (for the moment I’m talking about here in the U.S.) and conservative politicians who benefit from their largesse are if only in private LOVING inflation in the short term. It increases their electoral chances in November which in turn would help them both maintain the status quo and longer-term help them continue stacking the deck in their favor. But another global economic meltdown is a different matter. The Wall Street and corporate types got off pretty much scot-free after 2008 but they created a lot of anger out there and some of them are literally fearful of what could happen to them and their families/fancy properties if such a thing were to happen again. So we might be at the tipping point where NATO forces have to go in with air and sea power to blast Russia out of that “land bridge to Crimea” and open the Black Sea to safe passage for every ship/boat except those of Russia.
Yes, that only leaves Russia with the option of nukes and bio warfare but I think before it came to that even the most “Putin-y” of suckups to Poots over in Russia would say it’s time to give up. And give Poots a 9mm heart attack or stroke. Then try to salvage something of what’s left of Russia.
CNN, this morning, was quoting sources as presuming that the grain being loaded onto Russian ships is stolen Ukranian grain.
Russia has a lot of its own but, as I wrote, not enough to satisfy demand so I am sure they are also stealing all they can,
Of course they are stealing from Ukraine. Well to them it’s the spoils go to the victor. Although here you have the loser grabbing whatever they can. It’s sad and it’s unfair. We should go after Putin himself. The asshole is a war criminal that should face prosecution. It’s time these morons get what’s coming to them instead of hiding like the little bitches they are.