Statista provided insights on the current global unemployment rate, especially for young people as we all try to adjust ourselves to this new world.
This statistical map of the world shows that Latin America & the Caribbean along with the Middle East & North Africa basically tops the world in global unemployment.
It wasn’t surprising for me as I understood the economical situation within the Latin America & Caribbean region.
The surprising thing was how closely related it was to North Africa & the Middle East where the situation in certain countries is unstable due to war, poverty, lack of education, and over the quality of life is intolerable.
Most countries from the Caribbean and Latin American region are integrated into this western ecosystem which promotes upward mobility but the numbers say otherwise.
Leaders in these regions have a lot to think about as we transition into a new age, we cannot be left behind the curve as my prediction is that if North Africa & Middle East can stay stable, we could see a resurgence in these economies.
As the global powers are shifting around as I am writing this article, we could see a completely different map in 100 years.
North America ranks fifth in the overall ranking, in Canada it is reported that 20 percent of young job seekers can’t find work. For comparison, that is similar to countries such as Nigeria, Puerto Rico, France, and others.
Overall, it was a good infographic to give us some insights into the overall global unemployment, even though it was a high-level view, we can still use Occam’s Razor and make assessments on the current situation and how to move forward.
Jamaican Central Bank is planning to airdrop $16 (25,000 JMD) to the first 100,000 citizens who set up a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) wallet after April 1st, 2022.
As other countries such as Cuba and El Salvador are adopting the use of Bitcoin for both economical and strategic interests, Jamaica is also joining the digital currency bandwagon.
A project which has been in the making for years now can finally see the light in the upcoming months and it is expected to be widely received by the populace.
Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr. Nigel Clarke stated at the opening presentation in the 2022/22 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives, the main objective is to push citizens to use CBDC as a means to handle transactions of all sorts.
Under the entire project which was recently dubbed Jamaica’s Digital Exchange (JAM-DEX), in February, with the tagline being “No Cash, No problem!”. After April 1st, anyone with an existing bank account can automatically be eligible for a JAM-DEX wallet.
Over the years we have seen a huge disruption in the financial sector with an array of new ideas and products being brought to the table. This is a good move for Jamaica’s economy which is looking to bring the country into the future.
It’s not a surprise given that digital adoption of digital currencies is much more aggressive among 3rd world countries that might be more open to new ideas.
Laws also play a major factor as these countries don’t have a lot of laws to block innovation. Hopefully, this is a stepping stone for Jamaica where its “leaders” are looking to revamp the economy.
Working from home is most average workers’ dream. You don’t have to bounce into other people you don’t like. Your boss doesn’t have to be yelling directly on your face.
Depending on your job, it can seem like it’s way better than having to report to someone every day and handling all the office politics. If you’re an entrepreneur who is mainly working remotely, this can also seem like a convenient solution.
Even though the overall vision of working from home can seem to be practical in theory, it can be way harder if you should actually do it. It took me years to truly understand myself and how to effectively albeit it’s always a work in progress.
I am sure there are others out there who might be experiencing struggles working from home given that this is now a priority in certain fields. I decided to give some tips on how to do just that.
Know Your Working Style
Everyone has different working styles and there are depths and breadth to it. If you don’t have a working style now and you are just winging it, it will be hard working from home.
Every day you are just constantly outing fires and there is no system and order to your life. This chaos will then seep into other areas of your life and that’s when things can spiral out of control.
We all have that one person who is “busy” but is not actually getting anything done. No objectives are being met; they think they are in control but they are actually not in control. In order to have some level of control in your life while working from home, you need to figure out a working style.
What time will you get up every morning? What’s your morning routine like to get you optimized for work? Do you exercise in the morning or evening, or do you do both? Do you work in long stretches of time or do you work in short 30 minutes bursts, rest for 10 minutes and get back on the grinding wheel again?
It’s all about experimentation in the beginning and you have to be self-aware of how you feel while trying out the different routines to see what works for you.
Keep Your Work Environment For Work
Often times we feel like we can trick our brains but we can’t, our subconscious mind already analyzed the environment in space and time before we are even conscious of it.
All the biological calculations are made based which includes external cues, bodily chemicals, etc, on how best to optimize the body based on the environment which includes mainly where we are. I wrote all of that to say this, keep your work environment for work if you want to be super productive.
If you are doing high-quality creative work such as working on a business, creative project, etc, this is crucial. Even if you are working for a company where quality is a must, you need to ensure that you are optimized and you start that off by maintaining a clean and professional environment.
I have to admit, sometimes I am guilty of breaking this rule. Oftentimes, I have all kinds of books on my desk, notes scattered, and a teacup, but I try to at least keep my work environment for work. If you clean out your home office every week or even every day this would ensure that at least you are coming into a clean office.
Lastly, keep your home office for work or the area where you work for work only. Have strict limits on what you can do during work time while working in that specific area. If you slack off and treat it like a place for leisure, your brain will begin to recognize that little area as just another leisure area and will not allocate the mental resources and energy to do serious work.
Reduce Multitasking
It’s easy to feel like we can multitask on social media and juggle work at the same time, but we are only damaging our attention spans when we do this. Multi-task is one of the most misconstrued topics on productivity, the message has also been outplayed on the internet.
It seems cool to have 100 tabs open, listening to podcasts, chatting on the phone, or messaging and juggling work but you are actually not getting much work done.
It might work if you are doing routine work, but if you want to be creative, productive, and effective, you need to focus on one thing at a time and that is the work at hand and nothing more.
It might seem boring in the short term especially if your brain is overstimulated but over time as the neurons in your brain are adjusting to the new environment, it will get easier.
If you need to have your phone on you for emergency purposes that’s okay. But really think deeply if it’s a nice to have or a must-have at all times.
Swallow The Frog
If you really want to start your days with a bang, do the hardest task on your task list first. Just swallow the frog and get over it. Might look ugly, slimy, and gross to do, but just do it and get it over with.
You are not going to die metaphorically if you swallow the frog, which in this case is the hardest work you have on your list. It will make you stronger and reduce the procrastination that we often have in doing certain tasks.
I battled with this for years but I slowly find a way how to do it effectively. As I jump out of bed, I just tackle it immediately and get it over with. I don’t think of anything else; I just get it done and over with. I will sort out everything else later.
Take Meaningful Breaks
Taking breaks from your desk or your work area is super important. This is probably my biggest weakness; I don’t take enough breaks at all. It can do wonders and allow you to decompress even for a few minutes.
Working for long hours at your desk without breaks might seem productive but your cognitive abilities and energy levels are diminishing after a certain point in time.
Go outside in the sun, ensure that you get at least 20 minutes of sunlight a day, it lightens up your mood and revitalizes your body. You might look insane by others who are wondering what the hell are you doing in the sun, but it’s your business, not them. Overall, just take meaningful breaks.
Develop A Wind Down Ritual
Developing a wind-down ritual is crucial, it brings a signal to your brain that you are now finished and it should shut off for the day. You don’t want to be thinking about working around the dinner table or even worse when you are going to bed.
You need some sort of trigger, probably even a mantra, “Okay that’s it for the day”. It could even be a song you play or some activity to just get you away from work until the next day.
What To Do Next
Everything is a work in progress and even though, don’t beat yourself up too much in the beginning. Things will get difficult before it gets easier as you are rewiring your brain and forming new synapses.
You will have a consistent routine and workflow if you stick to it long enough. Being productive is important in today’s world especially when everything and everyone is fighting for our attention.
As we are a quarter of the way through 2022, Covid is practically gone from the media, it’s safe to say that Russia has killed Covid-19. For specificity, Russia has taken over the media so much that Covid-19 and the perception of it is a thing of the past.
Russia is now the most sanctioned country in the world in less than a month. Not that sanction they never expected it prior to their invasion of Ukraine.
What might surprise them is the reaction and backlash they got from NATO, the United States of America, and a few other allies who hit out because they are reliant on the western financial and political ecosystem to survive. It’s a strange world we are witnessing another major shift in the worldwide framework.
As gas prices rise, the Biden administration has been trying to make amends with Venezuela and Iran. Two countries they’ve despised over the years and would like to get their hands on from a political perspective.
Times have changed so much that they are quickly correcting political mistakes made from the past by forming new bridges, which they hope will reduce the pressure countries are facing now due to their poor leadership and lack of reasoning which is apparent in more than 50% of the countries in our western democratic environment.
Now the world is an unpredictable place as Russia hits back. They are basically creating an iron curtain at the moment, blocking off the west and forming new relationships in the East which are on the rise. The USA can afford to print its way out of this situation for now.
Other countries that don’t have such luxuries at their disposal and the resources to do so are going to be at the mercy of what is to come.
Russia is now the most sanctioned country in the world due to its invasion of Ukraine, which is wrong and should’ve been avoided through diplomatic channels. America and the west are also sanctioning their own citizens through higher inflation and other unintended consequences.
We are only at the beginning; self-reliance is the key in this key, my friend.
Years ago, I read Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers”. It basically talked about the fact that you need at least 10,000 hours to become efficient at anything, the idea has been twisted around the internet in a various number of ways.
In his book, he gave examples of notable figures who might’ve employed the 10,000-hour rule: The Beatles, Bill Gates, Hockey Teams, etc.
It’s an interesting book but the title and the main thesis can be misleading. Yes, you can gain a variable amount of progress if you’ve reached 10,000 hours in anything but the situation is more nuanced than that.
A lot of other things do play a part such as focus, genetics, environment, health, etc. All of us have unique strengths, but these strengths are kept hidden or it has become futile over time due to us not nurturing them or growing them.
Current System Is Flawed
If you ask most kids what he or she would want to become, you would see their faces light up and filled with enthusiasm. Ask them at 18 and the response is a bit different especially if you pay attention to their tone.
Through years of repetitive conditioning by society and an old educational system have beaten everything out of them. All that drive, energy, enthusiasm is gone. Life itself has now become mundane, “just grinding it out”.
I fell victim to this, I never knew what I wanted to become early on, I never had a clue but I know one thing, it wasn’t to feed the capitalistic regime deflecting my pursuit.
Learning about various topics, cross-pollinating ideas, and creating something out of it, is where I find my strength. Having that level of diversity across fields can help me to stay on top of changes and adjust my skills and knowledge as time goes on.
That’s what works for me and it took me years to tame it and direct that energy into the right fields which I can contribute to and bring a certain level of value.
It took more years than I could even imagine, at one point I was wondering if I was stuck in some sort of cul-de-sac. Overall, that’s what worked for me, but I am assuming your strategy is a bit different.
Probably you’re a specialist who is super competent in one field and you love what you do. Everyone is different, especially given the fact that our genetic combination has never and probably will never exist again in this universe under our current physical laws.
It’s important to become aware of what you can do and what works for you.
We are in an age where we want to be everything, I see entrepreneurs on social media trying to do everything at the same time. They are running three blogs, active on 10 social media accounts, YouTube channels, etc.
It is overwhelming and I am not sure if it’s even the right strategy in the beginning unless those roles have been outsourced which takes money.
Look at the focus, determination, and obsessiveness popular Youtuber Mr. Beast had in the beginning to grow his channel. It’s very interesting how he paid attention to everything to make a video, with no stone left unturned.
Focus On One Thing Then Scale
In an age where information is abundant and we can learn to become practically anything, we can be tempted to try and learn everything at once. It would be better to get good at one core skill in the beginning.
It’s important to be patient as it might take years to get this skill right, or months depending on where you are and the different variables in your life.
After you have reached a certain level of competency which is going to take a while, you can then scale up that skill by going deeper or you can wider by dipping your toe into another skill.
If you want to learn a new skill, don’t let it stretch too far away from your current skill as context switching between skills can add up as you still need to work on your core skill to keep it sharp.
Once you master that one skill, it will be easier to learn other skills. If you happen to find a mentor all the better as you can leverage their experience from years in that field which can practically become gold if you know how to apply it.
Exponential Return and Patience
I want to get back to the point of the 10,000-hour rule, depending on your field of choice it can take upwards of 10,000 hours or more to learn a skill: software engineer, chess, marketing, art, etc.
After a certain point, all those years of grinding it out will make sense and you will see an explosion in creativity, success, and intuition that wasn’t so apparent. The mountain climb which you started years ago wasn’t so far after all.
You have climbed those peaks, trek those unknown paths and finally at a certain level where your 1000ft viewpoint can allow you to see the entire map, system, and how it all fits together.
A good example of exponential return is Warren Buffet’s wealth albeit you can find other examples if you dig around on the internet. From my understanding and a lot of others, Warren Buffet’s strategy is basically, “focus”.
Although that is a bit of a reductionist, it’s easier said than done though, especially in our hypermedia world that we are living in presently.
A chart showing Warren Buffet’s wealth per age
Compress Time
Although at least 10,000 hours can be enough to gain some level of competency but not all 10,000 hours are equal. This all comes down to your focus and attentiveness while studying and practicing.
For example, let’s say that you are studying 5 hours a day to learn something which would take some other person 1 hour a day to learn. Due to the fact that, while he was studying, he wasn’t checking social media, talking to anyone was practically alone, focused as a sun ray through a magnifying glass.
That person basically compressed your 10,000 hours to 2,000 hours. That’s the power of compressing, you are reducing the time it took to learn something by actually learning something.
By actually practicing, deliberately, slowly chipping away at the waste and leaving nothing to chance. Another thing that you can do to compress time is following the 80/20 principle, depending on the field, you can learn 20% of the materials in the beginning to get 80% of the impact.
As you progress through your journey, you can then fill in the blanks as you go along. Lastly, you could even practice going deep by focusing on one area across a wide industry. When you are laser-focused on that one area, you will be the one someone needs, because you have separated yourself from the pack.
You also don’t need to stretch yourself; you can slowly chip away at your core skill, learning ever more stuff to become that would take experts in your industry years because you are super-specialized.
Getting A Mentor
Throughout history, persons tend to focus on the master and not the teacher who once taught that master. Behind every master is a teacher. Even though the master is more known, if you dig deep into the correlation of style between master and teacher, you can see that the master learned a lot from his teacher.
Mike Tyson had Cus” D’Amato, Leonardo Da Vinci had Verrocchio, Warren Buffett had Benjamin Graham who taught at Colombia Business School and had written the famous book, “Security Analysis: Principles and Techniques”.
If you read Warren Buffets’ biography, you can see that his ideas helped shape his investing hypothesis which he tested and brought good rewards. If you look at physicists, they had that one teacher in College or University who they learned a lot from and many others.
Thankfully today, due to access to information, emails, social media we can learn from our mentors, ask them questions and even model their ideas even if we had never met them.
Let Go Of Your Ego
When you are new in a field or learning something, you have to be humble and let go of your ego. I sometimes still have trouble with this issue, I might think I learn a topic after I thought I have learned it already. Yet still, I always miss certain points, we all do, but I always catch myself in the moment to be humble and realize that I still have a long way to go.
Let go of your ego in the beginning even while you are an expert, there is no limit to what you can learn. Open up your mind and absorb as much of the information as possible. If you have an ego, it will close often certain learning centers which can affect information retention and understanding.
Summary
In sum, even though the 10,000-hour rule seems plausible, the entire idea is more nuanced than that and I hope that I have addressed some of them. Don’t limit yourself either, even if you think you don’t have a degree, there are too many case studies out there.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation received documents from Ukrainian biological laboratories confirming that components of biological weapons were being developed in Ukraine, near Russian borders.
Major General Igor Konashenkov
Major General Igor Konashenkov who is leading the “military operation” in Ukraine broke the news to journalists. An operation they deemed to be funded by the United States Department of Defense made the situation even more suspicious.
“We have received documentation from employees of Ukrainian biological laboratories on the emergency destruction of especially dangerous pathogens on February 24 — the causative agents of plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera, and other deadly diseases,” Konashenkov said.
The documents are currently being analyzed by an array of Russian Specialists from the troops of radiation, chemical, and biological protection. Given we are at the backdrop of the pandemic, there is a plausible fear for Biolabs, as there have been heated discussions as to whether Covid-19 was created in a lab somewhere in the world.
Having Biolabs near Russian borders is a definite no for Vladimir Putin and his administration. To dabble into conspiracy theory for a moment, probably the fact that the United States had biological weapons near Russia’s borders piqued his interest to intervene and see what can be discovered.
It’s apparent that Russia wasn’t having any foreign agents conducting any scientific experiments near its borders which can pose a risk to their society. It was made even more apparent when they destroyed several of those Biolabs in the first couple of days of the “military operation”.
China also came out questioning the motives of the United States 336 labs in 30 countries, including 26 in Ukraine. Look down the line for more interesting news to develop from these Biolabs.
As the world is getting back to some level of normalcy, countries are starting to reopen, tourists are travelling and economies are looking to rebound, it’s obvious that things have changed.
Depending on where you live, life will never be the same and although this might be subjective for everyone, the main consensus stands, “we are living in a new era”.
As someone who was born close to the cusp of the new millennium, I had the privilege to experience technological changes that my ancestors couldn’t even dream about.
The internet for example was never a main staple among movies that would depict a futuristic society. Flying cars, robots and other technological ideas was the main staple among mass media.
It’s hard to look back and not be amazed at how fast things have changed. We are probably only in the beginning unless our species don’t create a self-inflicted mass extinction event – which is looking probable each day.
Unless you have been living under a rock or in some remote area detached from modern civilization, you are probably aware of the pandemic.
It is safe to say that it has changed a lot of things in our society: socializing, career, life, worldview, etc. It is just one of those events that shake things up every century and we have to just live with the repercussions of it.
As the dust is slowly settling from the hysteria if you take a 3000ft view of certain parts of the system of the world: economic, social, political, technological, etc. You can see those little hidden structures slowly moving around.
New World
Another recent event that is causing a lot of change as we speak and which tipped the cup for me to write this post is the Russia-Ukraine situation. That is happening in Europe and the problems it will probably cause for the short term and probably even long term if our leaders don’t think fast. Certain keywords stood out to me when I made that thought: “leaders”, “economy”, “change”.
I am starting to believe that we should even be so reliant on them anymore. Especially given the fact that technologies are being built and have been built that can allow us to not be affected by any stupid decision they might make on a rainy day if we take the time to look into the different changes that are happening.
For example, the “great resign” is happening within America where employees are either leaving their job to make a career change or pursuing different opportunities such as painting, woodwork, etc.
Another shift that is happening within the financial space, we are seeing a different way on how to view money and utilities that are attached to it.
Cryptocurrencies and decentralization are changing all of that and we are just at the beginning of what we are capable of achieving.
Persons are now living longer thanks to innovation in medicine and biotechnology, now we have seniors who are in their 70s and is still in the workforce.
Companies are realizing that they never need so many employees in the first place and jobs are being wiped out as I am writing this. Furthermore, artificial intelligence technologies are automating jobs within the workforce and will continue to do so.
New Tools
In a world like this, we are going to need new tools in order to not just survive and thrive. Some of these tools are going to be tangible and others will be intangible such as thinking tools in how to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges.
It’s hard to predict where society might go as the dust hasn’t settled yet. I am assuming things might get tougher before it gets better due to changes taking place on a geopolitical level and world powers assessing the world and their fate within it.
The acute geopolitical situation in Russia for example will definitely have a large impact on western civilization as leaders assess the repercussions of sanctions against the former soviet state.
Eastern economies are currently on the rise and new alliances will need to be formed elsewhere. New business opportunities will also need to be looked into from a strategic point of view which will allow us to ascend in our careers.
Despite the problems, it will trigger new opportunities for entrepreneurs to innovate and build tools that can make our life easier. Human beings are pretty resilient we will pull through whatever problems may lie ahead.
The year has started off on quite a strange note, especially from a geopolitical perspective. If you are in the western world and you are in a somewhat functioning society you are probably already informed on the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
There’s even a strong chance of you opposing Russia’s stance on the overall matter which is a fair assessment. From an objective point of view, invading any country is wrong and that is exactly what is happening now if you look at it.
On the flip side, invading is wrong but every activity was not created in a vacuum, there are externalities always at play, especially in this geopolitical turmoil. Currently, it is mainly Russia vs the West and Russia is currently rolling with the punches.
Before I go any further within this article, I want to make it clear that war is wrong and the current crisis is horrible. You have civilians who are displaced from their homes, innocent civilians dying, destruction of buildings and communities, it is absolutely bad.
I do not condone or promote war, but at the same time it is necessary as a rational person to put emotions aside, all the media hysteria, and look at this situation from an objective point of view.
At the moment the so-called, “world leaders” are not showing any semblance of stoic within their demeanor in this situation which shouldn’t have been started in the first place.
Now that the war is here which the west has been heckling about for months is here, it is necessary to understand the economic implications of it as it could prove to be devastating if our leaders don’t hard and fast.
When I talk about “the west” in this article, I am referring to North America, Europe, and some of its eastern allies. I am also referring to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), which was developed to help smaller countries defend themselves from imperialist threats.
Current Sanctions and Hypocrisy
Over the last week since the war started, we have seen a significant portion of the western leaders imposing sanctions on Russia which was long talked about.
I am Vladimir Putin who is the current president of Russia and his leadership across all sectors have done their analysis and understood the risk and rewards of their gamble on Ukraine.
Their move to invade Ukraine even though from their point of view poses an existential threat to Russia with Ukraine’s backing from NATO, could prove to be catastrophic for the economy if plans prior to plans weren’t in place to curtail the predictable and harsh retaliation from the west.
We have seen several Russian banks being removed from SWIFT which is a big deal. We have seen sanctions on Russian businesses worldwide, sanctions on Russian Oligarchs such as seizing offshore assets.
Multiple foreign companies have pulled have out of the country folding under the pressure from the west.
Russia is akin to a radioactive item right now, no one wants to touch it. It’s definitely tribalistic and scary when we look at the lengths the west goes to banning a country.
It’s even a poor use of power depending on how you look at it and a misjudgment for those who control the game so to speak. At the moment Russia is taking a beat and some of these sanctions are necessary but here’s the hypocrisy in all of this. Where was the media when America and several NATO members invaded Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc?
I guess they are all not civilized nations so they could all careless, it’s blatant double standards if you ask anyone that’s neutral on the overall matter or have a distaste for the western democratic hypocrisy which is clearly evident at this time of writing.
To turn it up a notch, where are the outcry over Yemen and the Palestinian people who are being oppressed. No one bats an eye on the matter as thousands continue to die worldwide through war.
I am assuming Ukraine is more civilized than the other countries which makes it necessary for attention. It shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone though who is on top of what is going on in the world.
It shouldn’t even be surprising to anyone who doesn’t have their heads bombarded with western propaganda on 95% of the articles, videos, and analysis being posted.
Russia’s Energy Reserves
Russia has retaliated mildly to the sanctions, I am assuming they are looking to see the western leaders exert all their options before they decide to strike heavily on Oil, natural gas, wheat, minerals, and other exports which are important to the world.
My question is why did the west never sought to resolve this conflict diplomatically, which political scientists have been talking about for years before we even reached this point.
If there was some sort of a diplomatic solution to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, this issue could’ve been done with and other problems could have come to the forefront. I guess that other plans were in mind as Ukraine seems to be a strategic initiative of the west to have under their control.
The Russians never quite liked that proposition at all, they reacted to those developments aggressively which led partially to this situation. One of the main facing the world and especially the west is energy.
As covid is declining quickly around the world and civilians forgive governments for their draconian lockdown, energy is needed to push power industries and keep the world spinning.
Russia has lots of it, the west is heavily dependent on Russia’s energy resources most notably Europe. Russia accounts for more than 40% of Europe’s natural gas which was used to reduce the production of other environmentally unfriendly energy resources such as crude oil.
Europe’s dependence on Russia’s gas is well known and if Russia decides to turn off the valve, the repercussions could spread far and beyond European soil.
Globalization For All It’s Worth
Being engulfed in a global society, particularly in the western hemisphere has its perks and issues. One of the main advantages is being able to trade with each other in goods and services.
I can go to the supermarket and buy a shoe that was developed in Italy at an affordable price due to the efficiency of the supply chain that got it here. I can engage with customers who are within this system in some form of commerce and become the beneficiary.
One of the downsides of engaging in a global market is that countries are no longer self-sufficient, especially if that particular doesn’t have any natural resources to fall back on, things can get difficult and that economy can burn through money pretty fast.
If the supply chain in the global market experiences a certain degree of inefficiency which we have seen over the last year. The cost of goods can rise as the demand exceeds the supply which is being delayed somewhere within the global supply chain.
Due to the fact that a particular market is being exposed to buyers from around the world, bidding can drive up the price as well. Countries that don’t have the means to pay for the higher prices will now be affected.
The Coming Food Problem
Wheat is an important part of our everyday staple and it’s everywhere. Russia and Ukraine account for approximately 30% of the global wheat supply. If it’s completely cut off from the global market due to the war it can send wheat prices through the roof.
I already created an article on the matter showing charts of the effects it is already causing worldwide.
If the effects are anything close to what analysts predicted, it would lead to food inflation we have never experienced for decades. Countries that are dependent on Russia’s wheat such as Hungary and Turkey are already trying to cope with such issues. As the war rages on, it might not even be enough for the long term.
Here’s a chart showing countries that are heavily reliant on Ukraine’s wheat.
Fertilizer is another issue that needs to be taken into consideration, Russia and Belarus are the world’s leading fertilizer producers. Belarus which is closely engulfed in Russia’s ecosystem is also currently under sanctions.
It is not the extent of Russia, but the west carefully tightening the noose which is tied to the involvement of the current conflict in Ukraine. Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade recommended temporarily suspending the export of fertilizers from Russia.
If tensions further escalate look see more of those retaliatory moves from Russia which will likely have an effect on global markets.
China in the Shadows
President Vladimir Putin on the left and President Xi Jinping on the right in China, February 2022.
The imposing sanctions against Russia will only allow it to align itself with China’s economy and other large players as well such as India. Both China and India decided to take a neutral stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
They both know behind closed doors that it was the west’s provocation that caused that. There have been rumors that China and India are working on a system to make trade feasible with Russia who they are both dependent on for certain resources.
It would be irrational to follow the west’s child-like perspective on the matter by throwing useless tantrums and making a huge fuss out of something they already know was bound to happen.
All these sanctions only make Russia’s alliance with eastern countries stronger. This mainly includes China who historically they have had a hot and cold relationship with.
China will overtake the US economy within the next decade or two and aligning itself with Russia that has the potential to become a global superpower seems like a proper geopolitical move.
On the same day of the Winter Olympics, China’s leader Xi Jinping met Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to discuss a lot of matters regarding politics, finance, etc.
Rumors are swirling around that they even discussed the matter in Ukraine as it was the talking point at the time and still is within the western media. They also signed a deal branding it, “the no-limits agreement”, I would leave this up to the reader’s imagination to think of what this could mean for these future geopolitical countries.
One important thing that went unnoticed among western journalists is the fact that Russia and China have been reducing their dependence on the US dollar.
This move might seem subtle but it’s effective. They are slowly reducing their dependence on a currency that has been at the cornerstone of the world economy. It has also been weaponized and politicized to a great effect against countries that are deemed to be out of line with US objectives.
Russia is possibly teaming up with China even more than ever and will also bring other countries such as Iran into the mix along with India, Pakistan, and other nations so that they can create reduce their reliance on western rules and methodologies which has wreaked havoc on the global economy for decades and is now being used as a weapon as the once vibrant empire is on its death bed.
What Lies Ahead
At the moment the west might be winning against Russia, the party might stop soon as the repercussions are there for anyone to see with even an ounce of cognitive ability between their eyes.
Even though Russia has been sanctioned from many different facets by the west, their export of energy is not. It’s mainly due to the fact that if they should block Russia’s energy from the world, Europe would be in deep trouble.
Poorer nations from around the world would also feel the effect of these actions which should be blamed on our leaders and policymakers who brought us close to this precipice. Russia’s economy will take a hit, the extent is not yet known but they have the resources to be self-sufficient.
The western economy could be in for a rude awakening if their sanctions are not lifted and Russia strikes back with equal force.
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 11: Facebook co-founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill April 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. This is the second day of testimony before Congress by Zuckerberg, 33, after it was reported that 87 million Facebook users had their personal information harvested by Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm linked to the Trump campaign. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Russia’s media regulatory issues out a statement on Friday stating that they will block access to Facebook in the country. They also stated that Facebook violated federal law by restricting access to accounts of several state-affiliated media outlets.
This was a move was already in the making, as last week Russia decided to limit access to certain social media platforms and Facebook was included on that list.
As the information war continues adjacent to the real war that is taking place in Ukraine and as the Russian forces invade the territory, there has been a lot of hysteria on social media. Russia’s main media outlet has been basically blocked and banned from the western airwaves as of this writing.
It’s mainly due to the ongoing war that is taking place and accusations are that Russian media is being biased.
This kind of move in a “democratic” environment has been strange but laws are being rewritten as we all journey down this slippery slope of new media. There have been reports that Twitter is also be restricted in certain areas within Russia and quiet possibly be blocked in the coming days if things don’t change.
Currently, the media war between Russia and the west has been abysmal to put it frankly. Utterly one-sided and lacks understanding of the entire situation. Russia’s move as of this moment might be retaliatory given how the west has tainted the views about Russian people.
There’s problem more to come as the war continues and companies continue to “virtue signal” by either banning or stopping operations in the country.
Twitch is updating its misinformation policies to pressure those who are deemed to have been spreading misinformation on its platform. They stated on their blog post,
“Every day, people come together on Twitch to build communities that celebrate a variety of interests, passions, and talents. We’re proud that Twitch can bring people together – but we do not believe that individuals who use online services to spread false, harmful information, have a place in our community. While these individuals are not prevalent on Twitch, they could cause significant harm if allowed on our service.”
This change will affect fewer than 100 channels in the beginning they said, but look to see this number grow as they further tighten the restrictions. The current information war that is taking place due to the war that is happening between Russia and Ukraine can be added to the mix as to why they hastily update their policies.
Democracy is now being tested as well due to the one-sided reporting the media does on the crisis that is taking place in Ukraine. Various Russian media outlets have been banned from Europe; pages have been de-platformed. It’s an absolute disaster and gross misconduct.
The timing of this policy is not coincidental given what is going on. Hopefully, they are setting an example and not following the herd.
