SPECTER OF FAMINE ON THE HORIZON The ruthless and cruel war that Russia is waging in Ukraine today is already having many tragic consequences. Soon to be added to that list, perhaps, is famine, which will fall on the inhabitants of the world’s poorest countries that depend on grain imports from Ukraine.
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efore Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, grain from both countries filled the bulk of the needs of many markets in the Middle East and Africa. Today, Russia is blocking Ukrainian grain exports. In peacetime, Ukraine exported 90 percent of its harvest through its Black Sea ports. Today those ports are occupied or blockaded by the Russians, and access to Odessa has been mined. Swedish economist Anders Åslund calculates that if the Ukrainian grain supply fails, up to 47 million people will suffer starvation this year.
BOTH EU AND US PROPOSALS MAKE A GOOD RESPONSE, BUT IT IS NOT ENOUGH Putin has reached for another cruel tool that Joseph Stalin used in politics before him. In 1932-1933, the then Soviet dictator deliberately caused a famine to break the resistance of the Ukrainian countryside to communist management methods, including collectivization. Between 16
Summer 2022
3 and 10 million Ukrainians died of starvation at the time. Today, Putin may be leading to an even greater, international disaster. Admittedly, the Russian leader recently stated that he has no objection to Ukrainian grain being exported by sea. However, no one believes Putin anymore, so new speculations arise. Ukraine has reason to believe that this is a stratagem The Warsaw Voice
