Pres. Zelensky on Macroeconomics

[WendyBG]

President Zelensky of Ukraine gave a scorching speech to the U.N. Security Council today.

Despite his agony over the tortures and murders inflicted on the people of Bucha, Ukraine by the Russian invaders, he took time to analyze the impact of the invasion on the Macro economy.

https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/vistup-prezidenta-ukray…

**[Russia] Provokes a global food crisis that could lead to famine in Africa and Asia, and will certainly end in large-scale political chaos in countries where food price stability is a key factor of domestic security.** [end quote]

This is a tremendous issue for Europe, since food price-related political chaos in several of these countries (notably, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon) have already led to mass migrations to Europe that have caused political backlash there.

President Zelensky has a law degree and is a much more intelligent man than the comedian he portrayed. He proposed several radical actions in his speech, including removing Russia from the U.N. Security Council and even shutting down the U.N. if they can’t do their primary job of keeping peace.

I recommend reading every word of the speech and also watching the video. It’s shocking and heartbreaking.

Wendy

[flyerboys]

Zelensky has sufficient talent both as a very bright political legal mind and a rapidly responding stage actor to bring about profound changes in the chatter of the chattering classes.

That makes Zelensky a sort of macroeconomic event all to himself.

We all grew up in a highly aspirational world system created from the wreckage of WWII: United Nations with its Security Council, Treaties on War Crimes and Genocide, peace through MADness, and construction of a world wide trading system built on a mixture of trust and aversion of eyeballs from dangerous fringe violations. We mostly all know this consciously or unconsciously, and know that credible belief in the writ and legitimacy of that world is now GONE.

Zelensky is forcing us to look at the realities most would rather ignore, to react with clarity, and so be forced to move on to a new order, and that is an extremely painful and risky prospect.

david fb

[sunrayman]

Zelensky is reminding the World of what the consequences are of “ignoring” invasions!

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/selassie.htm

[Notehound7]

I recommend reading every word of the speech and also watching the video. It’s shocking and heartbreaking.

Wendy,

I watched the speech in real time. It was featured on CNBC and presumably on some other networks. Unfortunately, at the end of the speech, the film that Zelenskyy referred to at the end of the speech did not play on CNBC when he announced it and the network returned to business news.

Here is a link to the heart-rending video, starting at the point where CNBC cut away:

https://youtu.be/nAmw_h5Kk8k?t=955

Thank goodness this video and others have preserved evidence of Putin’s and his army’s war crimes. I sincerely hope that each participant in these atrocities will be hunted down, tried, and punished.

The images from Russia’s war on Ukraine are reminders that atrocities are not a thing of the past. Russia certainly should be expelled from the UN Security Council, as Zelenskyy asks. The following Bloomberg essay explains how:

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-03-20/ukrain…

How the UN Can Expel Russia and Remain Relevant
Russia’s seat on the United Nations Security Council is a travesty. But that’s something freedom-loving nations can change if they are determined.

A single man - Vladimir Putin - has the power to stop this madness. There should be a $$$ billion dollar bounty on his head.

[steve203]

Here is a link to the heart-rending video, starting at the point where CNBC cut away:

For those who didn’t click on the link, pix of dead civilians in 5 cities, not just Bucha. Remember the “rape of Nanking”? Remember Lidice?

Lidice massacre

In reprisal for the assassination of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich in the late spring of 1942,[1] all 173 men from the village who were over 15 years of age were executed on 10 June 1942.[2] A further 11 men from the village who were not present at the time were later arrested and executed soon afterwards, along with several others who were already under arrest.[2] Out of a total 503 inhabitants, 307 women and children were sent to a makeshift detention center in a Kladno school. Of these, 184 women and 88 children were deported to concentration camps; 7 children who were considered racially suitable and thus eligible for Germanisation were handed over to SS families, and the rest were sent to the Chelmno extermination camp, where they were gassed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidice_massacre

Last night’s news again was reporting rumors of thousands of Ukrainians hauled off to Russia and put in “filtration” camps.

Mariupol Women Report Russians Taking Ukrainians To ‘Filtration Camps’

The woman said she had her photo and fingerprints taken, and was questioned about potential ties to the Ukrainian military and her opinion on the war before being sent to the Russian town of Rostov. Others have reported they had to hand in their phones and passwords, which officers then used to access their phone contacts and register them into a database, according to The Washington Post.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/filtration-camps-russia-ukrai…

Apparently, such “filtration camps”, screening by thought police, are Russian SOP. The article goes on to talk about how Stalin used them after WWII and they were used in Chechnya.

A few weeks ago, someone posted the lyrics of an old Al Stewart song “Road to Moscow”, about a Russian vet at the end of the war, snagged by the thought police.

I’m coming home, I’m coming home, now you can taste it in the wind, the war is over
And I listen to the clicking of the train-wheels as we roll across the border
And now they ask me of the time that I was caught behind their lines and taken prisoner
"They only held me for a day, a lucky break, " I say they turn and listen closer
I’ll never know, I’ll never know why I was taken from the line and all the others
To board a special train and journey deep into the heart of holy Russia
And it’s cold and damp in the transit camp, and the air is still and sullen
And the pale sun of October whispers the snow will soon be coming
And I wonder when I’ll be home again and the morning answers “Never”
And the evening sighs, and the steely Russian skies go on forever

https://www.google.com/search?q=al+stewart+song+road+to+mosc…

Steve

[FlyingCircus]

even shutting down the U.N. if they can’t do their primary job of keeping peace.
And THAT is my question - where the h@ll is the UN in this? Nowhere! They’re either really speaking softly or they are just not involved. And for the amount of money we (and everyone else) pays into that corrupted organization, it’s another outrage.

[Tamhas]

where the h@ll is the UN in this?

With Russia having a veto on the Security Council (and chairing it at the moment), there is not a lot they can do, unless they can figure out how to get rid of that veto.

[Leap1]

One moment the UN is an outrage if it does anything. The next moment the UN is an outrage if it does nothing.

Seems like diplomacy to me.

Meanwhile the Putin does not do diplomacy. He now also does not have an economy. There is a reason for diplomacy.

[intercst]

FlyingCircus asks,

even shutting down the U.N. if they can’t do their primary job of keeping peace.
And THAT is my question - where the h@ll is the UN in this? Nowhere! They’re either really speaking softly or they are just not involved. And for the amount of money we (and everyone else) pays into that corrupted organization, it’s another outrage.

The UN is hampered by the Security Council veto power.

The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (i.e., China, France, Russia, UK and US) have the right to veto or say no to any substantive resolution. It’s also worth noting that a member’s abstention vote has no bearing on whether or not the resolution is accepted.

Same thing with “war crimes”. Bush and Cheney were indicted for war crimes for their behavior during Iraq War and have been fugitives from justice ever since. The only penalty is that they have a possibility of arrest if they travel internationally. Both the US and Russia don’t recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Putin is “too big to jail”. Just like Bush & Cheney.

intercst

[steve203]

And THAT is my question - where the h@ll is the UN in this?

The only tool the UN has is words. If two parties want to settle a dispute peacefully, the UN can provide a venue for discussions. It can only work if everyone obeys the rules. If a bad actor ignores the words, the UN does not have any teeth.

I remember, years ago, the UN passed a couple resolutions regarding Palestinian rights and Israeli occupation of Pal land. One of the resolutions was 242. I forget right now what the other one was.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 (S/RES/242) was adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council on November 22, 1967, in the aftermath of the Six-Day War. It was adopted under Chapter VI of the UN Charter.[1] The resolution was sponsored by British ambassador Lord Caradon and was one of five drafts under consideration.[2]

The preamble refers to the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war and the need to work for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East in which every State in the area can live in security”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Counci…

The Israelis were shelling Pal land somewhere, and timed the shelling at 2:42 in the afternoon, and whatever time corresponded to the number of the other resolution, showing their contempt for UN resolutions.

Remember how much this statement by the head of the UN impressed #42?

Iraq war was illegal and breached UN charter, says Annan

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/16/iraq.iraq

Remember how DC was cowed by this pronouncement by the UN?

UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ The General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly condemned the U.S. invasion of Panama as a ?flagrant violation? of international law and called for the swift withdrawal of U.S. troops.

The vote was 75 to 20, with 40 abstentions.

https://apnews.com/article/f968dc18cc41ccc76a33b43baf4018b4

Whenever the UN, or anyone else, made the slightest objection to anything the US did, the POTUS would rage “We don’t need a permission slip!”

The League of Nations couldn’t do anything about the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, in spite of pleas by Haile Selassie.

Steve

[Leap1]

Putin is “too big to jail”. Just like Bush & Cheney.

So far Bush did far more killing in Iraq.

The Russian war in Ukraine is far greater global impact. The worst part if Putin does not end here he carries on much further warring again and again. If you look at Chechnya and Syria now Ukraine Putin is far worse.

[steve203]

The Russian war in Ukraine is far greater global impact.

Rant #1 held that the invasion of Iraq was intended to take Iraqi oil production off line, tightening supplies and driving up prices.

In true KGB disinformation style, prior to the invasion, I saw talking heads on bubblevision opining that the US oil companies would move into Iraq after the invasion, develop the daylights out of the Iraqi resources, flood the market, and drive the price of oil down to $10/bbl.

What happened?

This chart shows the inflation adjusted price of WTI in the fall of 2002, when the US was banging it’s war drum, at about $47-$48/bbl. By June of 2008, oil shortage hysteria drove the price to $181, inflation adjusted.

Crude Oil Prices - 70 Year Historical Chart

https://www.macrotrends.net/1369/crude-oil-price-history-cha…

Steve

[captainccs]

And THAT is my question - where the h@ll is the UN in this?

The UN’s job is to send politicians from 3rd world countries to NYC to enjoy fine dinning and cathouses at taxpayers expense.

The Captain

[tim443]

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/10/02/trump-stealthily-seeks-…