My Take | The world has become collateral damage of Western sanctions

The horrors inflicted on local populations by US-led Western sanctions are well-documented. From Iraq under Saddam Hussein and Afghanistan under the Taliban to Venezuela and Iran, it’s always the most vulnerable who suffer the worst fate. But at least the fallout of such collective punishments is usually confined to the country targeted. With the West’s unprecedented economic war on Russia, the global economy itself has been weaponised. Consequently, the fallout is now devastating the most exposed economies, and the weakest and most disadvantaged populations around the world. That is the direct result of the West internationalising the conflict in Ukraine, which ought to have been contained locally, such as the wars in Yemen and Afghanistan.

Russia may have started a criminal war, but the West has globalised its devastations. Is it any wonder the global south has refused to join the ever-expanding Western sanctions? They have suffered enough and will face even more hardships. Let’s not ask them to commit suicide just on the righteous say-so of Washington and Brussels. The cruel irony is that the “rouble rubble” promised by the West with its extraordinary sanctions has not materialised, with the Russian currency now back to pre-war levels.

War, sanctions and the global food crisis

Stagflation – economic stagnation and inflation – had already reared its ugly head before the Russian invasion. The West’s economic war has only exacerbated it. Likewise, hunger and even famine are again threatening large swathes of the African continent.

“Food prices were already high before, and the war is driving food prices even higher,” a new World Bank brief finds.

“The impact of the war in Ukraine adds risk to global food security, with food prices likely to remain high for the foreseeable future and expected to push millions of additional people into acute food insecurity.”