With the blockades in the Black Sea, Putin is preventing the export of Ukrainian grain and is using hunger as a weapon of war. But the American historian and Yale professor Timothy Snyder suspects a perfidious “hunger plan” with three perfidious strategies behind the tactics. First, the Ukrainian economy is to be destroyed. In addition, the EU is said to be destabilized by people from North Africa and the Middle East fleeing hunger. In addition, the Kremlin boss wants to use the mass deaths as a propaganda tool.
For months, Russian soldiers have been blockading the ports on the Black Sea in Ukraine — risking a global famine. Ukraine is one of the largest grain producers in the world. According to information from Kyiv, the country supplies around 400 million people with grain.
However, exports via the Ukrainian seaports have come to a standstill because of the Russian war of aggression. According to the federal government, Russia is blocking the export of 20 million tons of grain in Ukraine, mainly to North Africa and Asia, a large part of it in the port of Odessa. The 20 million tons of grain threaten to rot. Millions of people are at risk of starvation as a result.
Putin’s tactics are clear. The Kremlin boss wants to trigger hunger crises in Africa and the Middle East. Hunger as a weapon of war. In past wars, too, Hitler and Stalin tried to use Ukraine’s grain exports as a weapon of war. Putin is also currently using historic tactics, explains Snyder.
The professor explains on Twitter that Putin has a “hunger plan”: he wants to starve the majority of all developing countries in the next phase of the war. But behind Putin’s “hunger plan” Snyder suspects three levels.
The Yale professor’s harrowing balance sheet: “Russia plans to starve Asians and Africans to win its war in Europe. This is a new stage of colonialism and the latest chapter in hunger policy.”
Meanwhile, Western countries are trying to stop the hunger crisis and prevent the consequences of the Russian blockades in the Ukrainian seaports. Just a few days ago, French President Macron said France was ready to take part in a possible operation to end the blockade of the Ukrainian port of Odessa. The aim is to enable ships to pass through the Black Sea so that Ukraine can export the grain.
US President Biden also wants to secure Ukrainian exports with a grain plan. The US will build grain storage silos on Ukraine’s borders. At a trade union congress in Philadelphia, he declared that exports through the blocked ports were impossible. That’s why they rely on rail freight transport. To this end, the US wants to install “temporary silos” on Ukraine’s borders. The grain can then be temporarily stored in these during transport.
Meanwhile, the German government wants to hold an international conference to counteract the looming hunger crisis in the world as a result of Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian wheat. Ministers from the G7 countries, the most important donor states and those from the countries most affected should come together in order to be able to introduce help and concepts against the impending catastrophe in good time.
The US Department of Defense expects Vladimir Putin to conquer larger parts of Ukraine after all – possibly even the entire country. Meanwhile, Russia is planning an escape corridor for trapped civilians. But this only leads to occupied areas.
Longtime commander of US troops in Europe Ben Hodges believes Russia will mount a final major offensive in Ukraine later this summer. If the west of Ukraine supplies everything it can with arms, it can be victorious, said the ex-general.
In response to Russia’s war on Ukraine, fast-food giant McDonald’s withdrew from the world’s largest country. Now the first branches are to reopen under a Russian owner. The name is also new. But what changes and what stays the same?
