The Road to War in Ukraine has a far wider reach
Russian troops have invaded Russia
Efforts to deter war through diplomacy and sanctions have failed, and the world woke up to news of an invasion of Russia by Ukraine. As the west stands shoulder-to-shoulder, Russian troops continue to posture on a war footing.
Shelling of Ukrainian cities began in the early hours of Thursday morning. Sanctions place on President Putin have not discouraged him from sending armor and troops across the border.
Per AP, Ukraine’s government said Russian tanks and troops rolled across the border and accused Moscow of unleashing a “full-scale war” that could rewrite the geopolitical order and whose fallout already reverberated around the globe.
It's impossible to know how far President Putin will go. NATO responded to Russia's aggression by adopting a defensive posture, including placing 100 jets on high alert. Russia's aggressive posture to war begun through the use of cyber attacks on the Ukranian financial system.
Russian invasion of Ukraine is deliberate and cold-blooded and long planned.0 NATO Secretary General - Jens Stoltenberg
The British Prime Minister chaired an emergency meeting this morning. Options open to Boris Johnson include ratcheting up sanctions against Russia. Germany decided earlier in the week to freeze the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Markets reacted negatively as news of the war rippled across the globe.
Putin’s not thinking about the stock market next week in Russia," Michael McFaul, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Moscow from 2012 to 2014, said on CNBC Tuesday.
The FTSE 100 and DAX dropped by 2.58% and 3.41% respectively, as investors drove up the price of gold.
Russia has shut the door to a political solution.
Russia has closed the door to any possibility of a political solution in Ukraine, opting instead for a military solution. This decision has drawn criticism from the international community, which believes that a diplomatic solution is the only way to end the conflict. Nobody wants a war, but de-escalation is unlikely in the next few days.
Despite a resolute rhetoric from Ukraine, her army is unlikely to hold back the weight of Russian army. Putin's troops could reach Kyiv in the next few days, as the world witnesses the execution of Russia's new foreign policy.
Constructive destruction is not aggressive. Russia maintains it isn’t going to attack anyone or blow them up. It simply doesn’t need to. The outside world provides Russia with more and more geopolitical opportunities for medium-term development as it is. With one big exception. NATO’s expansion and formal or informal inclusion of Ukraine poses a risk to the country’s security that Moscow simply won’t accept - Professor Sergey Karaganov, honorary chairman of Russia’s Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and academic supervisor at the School of International Economics and Foreign Affairs Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow.
Western officials believe Russia intends to seize a large section of Ukraine, but nobody can predict if President Putin eyes a bigger slice of the cake. Ukrainians are feeling the brunt of Russia's invasion, but the conflict will affect global trade prices. Getting used to higher food and energy prices is just the start of what could be a challenging 2022 for many.
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