| Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine is now in its second week. The rage that swept the Western world — particularly acute in Europe — has not abated, with all talk about how to punish Moscow more thoroughly. New sanctions are under discussion. Goals range from gutting Russia’s oligarchic class, to starving the Kremlin of income, to broadly shutting Russia out of the global economy completely. So far, the combination of government sanctions, public outrage, and corporate boycotts are putting us well along the path to that goal.
There are costs. Costs that the world is only now starting to consider. Russia is the world’s largest exporter of natural gas and nickel, the world’s second-largest exporter of oil and steel, and the third-largest exporter of coal and aluminum. We can live without these things, but make no mistake, it will hurt.
What we cannot live without food. Russia is the world’s largest exporter of wheat, and it has invaded Ukraine, the world’s fifth-largest exporter. Russia’s war strategy uses techniques pioneered in the flattening of Groznyy in the Second Chechen War, that were then honed during the destruction of Aleppo in the Syrian Civil War. Russia’s artillery is now obliterating Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure one city at a time. |
