You may have noticed the colors of the Ukranian flag.
The blue signifies the sky, the yellow signifies a field of golden wheat.
Something like 70% of Ukraine is farmland. The country's been known as "the breadbasket of Europe" for generations.
As it stands now, grain is not being shipped from the grain elevators located at Ukranian ports in the Black Sea. The futures markets are starting to go nuts.
Farmers don't do much farming when there is a war raging around them. They need stability, access to diesel fuel for their machinery, f their harveertilizer supplies and reliable transportation to move their harvests. What will be interesting to see is how much spring planting is done next month.
Grains, like oil, are global commodities. A shortage in production from one country will drive up prices for everyone. If bread and cereals cost more this fall, you can thank this guy:
Beyond that, what the Russians are ending up doing is training the next few generations of Ukranians to hate them (if they don't already) and teaching the rest of Europe that the Russians are not to be trusted. They are proving, once again, that the old aphorism is true: Scratch a Russian and you'll find a Tartar.
Putin could have handled this much differently. War should always be a last resort. But you can't say we weren't warned.
ReplyDeleteMost fascinating thing about the Ukraine war is the sheer number of top strategic thinkers who warned for years that it was coming if we continued down the same path.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1498491107902062592.html
On the other hand, reports are that almost all of Putin’s advisors didn’t think that he’d go to war.
ReplyDeleteFinland, if not Sweden, will be in NATO before the summer ends.