{"id":5934,"date":"2022-04-07T22:29:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-07T13:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/?p=5934"},"modified":"2023-12-28T22:38:46","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T13:38:46","slug":"putins-aggression-against-ukraine-has-changed-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/news\/putins-aggression-against-ukraine-has-changed-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin’s Aggression Against Ukraine Has Changed the World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article was issued by the <\/em>Wall Street International <\/em>and is being republished <\/em>with their permission<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viewpoint by Franz Baumann<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEW YORK (IDN) \u2014 Wars teach about geography. In mid-February, the autocorrect on my phone did not recognize, and few people in Western Europe or America could have located on a map Mariupol, Charkiv, Bucha, Kherson, Chernihiv or Irpin. Now we know, tutored by the shocking images of Putin\u2019s ‘spetz operatsiya\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putin\u2019s instruction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wars also teach about countries\u2019 strength and resilience; and they reveal weaknesses. Were it not for nuclear weapons\u2014Helmut Schmidt called Russia \u201ca gas station with rockets\u201d\u2014the country\u2019s main importance for the world would be its obstructing the mitigation of global heating<\/a> through sales and politics. Its exports<\/a> are primarily raw materials, with Russia\u2019s oil, gas and coal accounting for about 20 percent of the world\u2019s supplies and one half of its federal budget. The dependence<\/a> of some EU countries is particularly high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the two decades of Putin\u2019s rule, several trillion dollars earned from fossil fuel exports have paid for military hardware and created a class of rent-seeking oligarchs. Their phenomenal riches are invested in luxurious real estate<\/a> in the West where, until March 2022, their kids studied, their jets were based and their yachts anchored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The symbiotic, if corrupt, business model that evolved over the past two decades now lies in ruins: Europe bought Russian fossil fuels and recycled \u2014or rather, laundered\u2014a sizeable portion of the sales revenues stolen by oligarchs with the Kremlin\u2019s connivance. Thirty years ago, Russia\u2019s GDP<\/a> was similar to that of China; today it is barely a tenth\u2014about half that of France, a country with no natural resources and a population of only 67 million, far less than half of Russia\u2019s 144 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ramshackle nature of the vaunted Russian military was an unexpected revelation, and the hollowness of Putin\u2019s bragging a delicious one: taking Kyiv<\/a> in two weeks would have required a better army and a worse enemy. A lesson, once again painfully learned, is that appeasing a dictator does not avoid conflict. It makes it more likely and more ferocious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putin\u2019s destruction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine is horrifying in its wanton devastation and utter cruelty. Hospitals, theatres, apartment buildings, shopping centres, schools, churches, museums, post offices, sports facilities, retirement homes, bridges\u2014even nuclear power stations and holocaust memorials\u2014are being bombed, ostensibly to denazify the country, prevent genocide in Donbas and advance Russia\u2019s security interests that are jeopardized by the degenerate West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The International Court of Justice, accepting Ukraine\u2019s arguments, ordered Russia to halt its invasion<\/a>, noting that there was no evidence in support of Russia\u2019s justification for the aggression. Salving the wounded ego of a former KGB Lieutenant Colonel, who took offense to having his country called a regional power, is not a casus belli<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is unfathomable that a permanent member of the Security Council, charged with upholding peace, would so flagrantly trespass the principles of the United Nations Charter, i.e. to launch a war of aggression<\/a>, violate international borders, systematically target civilians (a war crime under international humanitarian law), and threaten the use of nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putin\u2019s casual disregard for human life is not confined to Ukrainians. In one month of his scorched-earth operation, well over 10,000 Russian soldiers have been killed compared with, in twenty years of war in Afghanistan, 2,218 U.S. soldiers. Some Russian invaders carried rations that had expired in 2002, others radioed for food, water and fuel. Putin\u2019s sheer criminality takes Russia hostage and turns the country and its people into international pariahs, which will take generations to undo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putin\u2019s disruption<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disruption can be positive or negative. On the plus side, Putin has united Ukraine, NATO as well as the European Union and achieved what the corona virus did not, namely to accelerate the decarbonization of the world economy and thus put the targets of the Paris Agreement back in play. Not a moment too soon, since the opportunity of a green recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic was wasted. In 2020 and 2021, the G20\u2014the world\u2019s largest economies\u2014spent some $14 trillion dollars in stimulus payments<\/a>, of which only 6 percent were allocated to areas that cut the emissions of greenhouse gases, while 3 percent went to activities that increase emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this was before Putin got involved. Now there is an all-out effort globally, firstly to move away from fossil fuels and, secondly, to get serious about efficiency. This means reducing fossil fuel subsidies and investing in green energy as well as in energy saving technologies. Electric vehicles and public transport must be incentivized and buildings retrofitted with insulation and heat pumps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving towards a climate neutral world economy is, importantly, a matter of public policy. However, it also requires the availability of so-called energy transition metals, such as copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, aluminium and lithium that are used in the manufacture of green technologies\u2014solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles\u2014many of which are held by Russia and Ukraine. Obtaining inputs for renewable energy systems is a matter of research, public policy incentives and cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, another disruptor of Russia\u2019s aggression against Ukraine is food insecurity<\/a>, particularly in the Global South. Higher prices for food and energy are heavy additional burdens, since they exacerbate poverty and food insecurity in many developing countries that are still struggling to contain the covid-19 pandemic. Just as with energy transition metals, Ukraine and Russia, as major global wheat and sunflower producers, heavily influence much downstream production. Since Ukrainian farmers are being prevented from harvesting this year\u2019s spring crop, the price of wheat futures has risen sharply and reached unprecedented levels. Inflationary pressures threaten political stability in many countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over six million people have been displaced within Ukraine; nearly five million have sought refuge abroad. Although the vertiginous numbers are straining the capacities of receiving countries in Western Europe, so far they have led to a massive outpouring of goodwill. Happily, too, public systems are much better calibrated to the challenge than they were in 2015, when the influx of Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees overwhelmed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The international system is coping less well. One would have thought that Putin\u2019s brazen lying, appalling brutality and flagrant violation of international covenants\u2014aimed at reinstating the law of the jungle and denying a sovereign country the right to determine its own future\u2014would have resulted in a worldwide outcry. Yet it is not seen this way everywhere. Instead of rebuking Russia, many countries\u2014Brazil, China, India, Israel, Pakistan, South Africa, Turkey, UAE and others\u2014are sitting on the fence. This strikes at the core principles of the United Nations, namely the peaceful settlement of disputes, rule-bound behaviour and cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global problems, particularly the climate emergency and the loss of biodiversity, can only be solved multilaterally, which means within a framework of self-imposed limitations that applies most particularly to powerful states. This sentiment was foundational for the United Nations after two catastrophic wars within a generation. It was expressed forcefully<\/a> by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who asserted that the creation of the United Nations \u201cought to spell the end of the system of unilateral action, the exclusive alliances, the spheres of influence, the balances of power, and all the other expedients that have been tried for centuries\u2014and have always failed.\u201d Likewise his successor, Harry S. Truman, stated<\/a> \u201cthe responsibility of the great states is to serve, and not dominate the peoples of the world.” But dominate they do: a small minority of the world\u2019s population\u2014the rich everywhere and developed countries as a group\u2014consumes a vast majority of the planet\u2019s resources. If this consumption were universalized, several planets would be needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putin\u2019s unprovoked attack on Ukraine has changed the world. It shamefully distracts from the urgent project to save human civilization \u2013 or perhaps it catalyses a synergistic response to several acute crises: reducing dependence on fossil fuels will save the climate, improve public health, deprive petro-states of their income and create well-paying jobs in scaled-up renewables industries. Conceivably and with a neat twist of dialectics, Putin\u2019s destructiveness might just energize humanity to save itself. [IDN-InDepthNews \u2013 07 April 2022]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr <\/em>Franz Baumann<\/em><\/a> is a former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Visiting Research Professor at New York University. His most recent assignment was as Special Adviser on Environment and Peace Operations with the rank of Assistant Secretary-General.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo source: Wall Street International<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Original link: <\/em>https:\/\/wsimag.com\/economy-and-politics\/69137-putins-instruction-destruction-and-disruption<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was issued by the Wall Street International and is being republished with their permission. Viewpoint by Franz Baumann NEW YORK (IDN) \u2014 Wars teach about geography. In mid-February, the autocorrect on my phone did not recognize, and few people in Western Europe or America could have located on a map Mariupol, Charkiv, Bucha, Kherson, Chernihiv or Irpin. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,29],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-viewpoints"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5936,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5934\/revisions\/5936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}