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Reflections or ramblings mostly about economics, security policy and support for Ukraine against its fascist neighbour.

putin, and only putin is creating a famine

Jun 8, 2022

Spoiler: putin is creating a famine in the countries dependent on grain imports from Ukraine. He’s trying to blame sanctions on russia. That is a lie. There are no sanctions on russian exports of grain, other agricultural products or fertilizers.The food crisis is caused by putin, and only by putin. He blocks Ukrainain ports, he steals Ukrainian grain, he destroys Ukrainian agricultural equipment, and he bombs and mines Ukrainian agricultural fields. He bombs grain silos in Mykolaiv.

We all know that putin's war against Ukraina is causing a food crisis and making the world poorer as I wrote here.

Mats’s Substack

Putin makes the world poorer.

Spoiler: Putin’s war against Ukraine has led to decreased supplies of several goods which Ukraine and Russia exports. We have already seen price hikes of oil and gas followed by decreased supply and higher prices of wheat, sunflower oil, fertilizers, steel to mention some of the most important goods. The world will be poorer, and the poorest people wil…

2 years ago · Mats Marcusson

A more recent analysis made by the Atlantic Council is found here. And here is a recent article by the New York TImes about how the russian forces steal Ukrainian grain. The kremlin which is full of liars, not try to blame sanctions on russia for the crisis. But this a lie. Because

There are no sanctions on russian exports of grain or fertilizers.

When Joseph Borrell, President of the European Council, stated what we all know, that it is putin who is creating a food crisis in the United Nations Security Council, the russian representative left the room unable to face the truth. And the the truth is also that

There are no sanctions on russian exports of grain or fertilizers.

In fact, EU for example is explicitly excluding sanctions on russian exports of grain and fertilizers. But don't take my words for it. Look yourself. Here are the EU sanctions.

"Sanctions adopted following Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine". All six packages, there will be more after my writing of this post, are found on this page.

None, absolutely none, of the sanctions in these packages target russian exports of grain or fertilizers. Look for example here. When you search the document for "import" you find that on page 4 that "

the purchase, import or transport of pharmaceutical, medical, agricultural and food products, including wheat and fertilisers whose import, purchase and transport is allowed under this Regulation"

And you can also check the other countries sanctions. A good point of departure is to have a look at the timeline of sanctions. Here are one made by PIIE, and one by Reuters. And you may go to the official web sites of the sanctioning countries. USA sanctions are found here and elsewhere on the US government's and the White House's web sites. And as you can see,

There are no sanctions on russian exports of grain or fertilizers.

The UK sanctions are found here. And as you can see,

There are no sanctions on russian exports of grain or fertilizers.

The Australian sanctions are found here. And as you can see,

There are no sanctions on russian exports of grain or fertilizers.

New Zealand sanctions are found here. And as you can see,

There are no sanctions on russian exports of grain or fertilizers.

And please go to the websites for the governments of Iceland, Japan, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and other countries that have sanctioned russia. You will find that

There are no sanctions on russian exports of grain or fertilizers.

And there are no sanctions preventing russia to export its grain and fertilizers to third countries. No russian ports are blocked.This means that

putin, and only putin is creating a food crises.