How Much is Putin’s War Costing the Globe?

I have been writing about the cost of Putin’s war on Ukraine quite a bit, as my lovely readers know. But I haven’t been analyzing the global cost of the conflict nearly enough.

“Ukraine war” has been one of the most googled words this year (I believe it was #3). The biggest reason for that is because of the sheer loss of life and suffering Putin caused to Ukrainians.

But the war has also caused inflation, debt, and supply shortages across the Globe.

Indeed, according to some estimates 2022 has been the second worst year ever for poverty alleviation, after 2020. And Putin is behind it all.

Photo by Ahmed Zalabany on Unsplash

There are a number of immediate factors we should consider when we talk about the global toll of Putin’s war:

1. Supply shortages
2. The financial crisis.
3. The energy crisis.

I’ll discuss each in succession.

1. Supply Shortages

We have all been hearing about food shortages since the outbreak of the war. Ukraine has long been called the “breadbasket” of Europe — and the world.

Both Hitler and Stalin realized this, leading to both of them fighting over the cities of then-Soviet Ukraine, from Odesa and Kyiv to Kharkiv and Donetsk.