Ukraine the economic war
By Peter Polack
The war in Ukraine has moved from a territorial to an economic war with casualties being sidelined in favor of the financial derivatives of a conflict that now reveals itself more about resources than politics.
Ukraine strikes deep within Mother Russia have destroyed millions maybe billions of dollars worth of scarce war resources of the Putin regime with very little loss of civilian life.
Russian strikes have destroyed minimal military assets of Ukraine with comparatively few civilian casualties.
The Russian campaign has evolved into a very expensive terror campaign against the undaunted populace of the Ukraine which persists in the most immense and frequent surgical strikes against a huge opponent laid bare by Ukrainian military ingenuity.
This stalemate situation combined with the numbing effect of multiple sanctions has revealed a battlefield condition of creeping territorial loss in Ukraine versus a teetering Russian war economy balanced on the bald pate of Putin.
Frequent even seminal analysis of this conflict beguiles a simplistic repeating decimal of strikes then counter strikes accompanied by a cacophony of blame and counter blame.
So long as Putin keeps the ball in the air or the Ukraine conflict, he can maintain control.There is no incentive to seek real peace unless the Trump administration backs up the frequent bluster escaping from the White House.
In the interim the world continues to face more of the same with no silver bullet in the offing.
PETER POLACK
Peter Polack is the author of The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War: South Africa vs. Cuba in the Angolan Civil War (2013), Jamaica, The Land of Film (2017) and Guerrilla Warfare: Kings of Revolution (2018). He was a contributor to Encyclopedia of Warfare (2013) and worked as a part-time reporter for Reuters News Agency in the Cayman Islands 2014-19. His work has been published in multiple outlets including Small Wars Journal, Defence Procurement International, American Intelligence Journal, U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center magazine, Military Times, Foreign Policy News, EU Today, Miami Herald, Reuters, Toronto Star, The New York Times and iEyeNews Cayman. He has completed his latest book entitled Soviet Spies Worldwide: Country by Country, 1940–1988
Mentioning the elephant in the room—the White House’s role, and how policy bluster needs action—adds just the right amount of urgency and realism . Overall, it’s a compelling and thoughtful read. It reframes the stakes and puts global economic and political engines into focus—well done!