Consequences

I know I have been writing a lot about the Russian war on Ukraine. I have been told that there are many people in the world who are actually not that interested. They have more immediate concerns than a war that exists far from their homes. I have also been told that many people are not that upset with the actions of Putin’s Russia. They like the guy. So I was thinking perhaps this would be a good conversation to have now.

Let’s look at those who support Putin. They seem to include Iran, India, China, Syria, North Korea and others who do so more subtly. I would suggest that all of the leaders of these countries have domestic reasons that encourage that support. That may be their similarity to Putin’s mentality or they are getting some really good deals on oil or weapons, naming just two.

Then we have the people in various countries who resent the West in general or the United States in particular. Why would they step up to support them when they deserve what they are getting? After all, didn’t the United States invade Afghanistan and Iraq? Didn’t we overturn their governments, who were doing such a good job? Yes, maybe they had a few little problems, like persecuting various members of their population or curtailing certain freedoms, but at least they picked up the trash and more importantly, were not foreigners. If you knew the red lines you could live just fine. There were many innocent people who suffered in those wars. Then, and for some this is even worse, the West and the United States are just too nosy. They have the nerve to take to task those countries who may engage in certain domestic practices that are detrimental to their citizens health and well being.

There is not much I can say that would change any of those people’s minds. They are either out to gain something or they are mired in, in some cases, a justifiable resentment. They have no incentive or desire to look a little deeper at the consequences of Putin’s actions. But they will be affected eventually, just like everyone else.

What about those, perhaps in my own country, or others who are living in areas not immediately adjacent to or allied with Ukraine? They have their own concerns, such as their economic issues. Why spend all of that money in Ukraine when we could be fixing roads, improving education, dealing with social issues etc.?

Why support Ukraine? Why join with the West in opposing Putin?

To those people I say there are things taking place now, because of this war, that will affect our lives in the future. First, look very closely at how Putin, and Russia, is treating not just the Ukrainians but their own citizens. Is that the kind of world you want to live in? This is not a trick question. There is a reason a lot of refugees choose to flee, for various reasons, to Europe or America. You do not see them fleeing to Russia. You do see a lot of people leaving Russia, however. There is a reason that Russia has kidnapped so many Ukrainian children.

Also, there is a finite amount of money that the West can give to other countries. If it is used in Ukraine it will not be available to other countries who may have enjoyed some of that in the past. Will that improve those people’s economic or health situations?  While the war goes on there will continue to be a strain on resources.  While Europe feels threatened both it and the United States will funnel resources to defend her.  

Second, and this is what will affect even those who support Putin. I know many out there still do not believe in climate change. Perhaps you will if you are one of the many who is, or will be, involved in an extreme drought or flood. Perhaps you will when it starts to affect the food supply chain. This war has really upended the traditional oil supply. You have Europe trying to wean itself off of Russian oil, mothballing pipelines. You now see more ships, some not exactly sea worthy, trekking around the oceans with Russian oil in their holds. Environmental disaster waiting to happen. You had President Biden holding talks with KSA and Venezuela in hopes of their upping their supply to stabilize world markets, despite the fact that both of those countries do not have warm relations with the Biden administration.

And now we have this:

The Willow Project

Yes, this was originally approved in the Trump administration and yes, the Biden administration says there are legal constraints to stopping it. Yes, Biden will break a campaign promise if Willow goes forward. This may or may not have happened anyway. However, this or something like it, will probably need to happen if we want to maintain some independence from foreign oil supplies until we can transition, hopefully, to alternatives to fossil fuels. I know I may sound like a Republican, but times they are a changing. The reason we need to remain independent of foreign oil supplies is that there are less friendly foreign suppliers out there. The reason we need to remain independent of foreign oil suppliers is that there are those who would use oil as a weapon, like Russia.

So we are caught between a rock and a hard place. Climate change will worsen. We are being set back in our chance to fight it because of Putin’s war on Ukraine. This will affect everyone.