• Does China have a say in Ukraine

    China has a role in the conflict in Ukraine, but surprisingly it is a role determined by the values that it shares with Russia. China is now Russia’s largest client for gas and oil production. The market is now valued at $250 billion, but when compared to the trade Russia had with Europe, it is…

  • The world is reeling

    While the world is still reeling from Putin’s so called special police operation in Ukraine a year ago, Diplomats were left clutching their sides in bellyaches of laughter, after the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of attacking Russia. This so called recalling of the special police operation into a farce that is reminiscent…

  • Snapshot of Russian oil

    Russia is the third largest oil producer in the world, accounting for 13 percent of world crude oil production (Breugel). The industry was privatised after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but has moved into government control over the past fifteen years. West Siberia and Volga-Ural oil and gas are the main geographical concentration where…

  • One in ten

    One thousand casualties per day, one in ten Russian’s know somebody who has been killed, but is the message getting through to the Russians that this an incredibly costly war for the Russian military. It was not evident to the world after Putin’s speech to the state, nor was it evident when he postured in…

  • What Ukraine wants

    What to make of Biden’s trip to Kiev and Putin’s speech, are just distractions from what Ukraine needs. The question has to be can Ukraine win with current losses, 100,000 either dead or injured. Russia itself is haemorrhaging manpower, 200,000 dead or wounded, a statistic of 2:1 in favour of the Ukrainians. But the argument…

  • Putin’s revisionist perspective

    On 24th February 2021, Putin ordered his army into Ukraine. An invasion of another sovereign nation had begun. The Russian army failed in its mission on this day, but what exactly is the argument that led to the attempted dismantling of a sovereign nation by Russia. The revanchalist reading of historical argument could be blamed on…