TALKING POINT every week have been suspended . These would have delivered thousands of Ukrainian Tourists to Mombasa by mid-year . This has also caused uncertainty in the whole of Eastern Europe including Russia which is also a source of tourists for the Kenyan Coast . Apparently , Mombasa has a twin cities initiative with Odessa city in Ukraine , the many benefits of such a partnership will be lost because of the war . Destruction of critical infrastructure such as airports in the war also complicates the flying situation to and to and from Ukraine .
Global Celebrities Get Involved with Elon Musk Challenging Putin to a Fist Fight
Global celebrities have entered the fight for Ukraine with the most hilarious being Elon Musk the richest man in the world in 2021 . He offered to fight for Ukraine by challenging President Putin to a one on one fist fight . He doubled the deal by saying he will only use his left hand noting that he is not even left handed while mentioning that he thinks that Putin is richer than him . David Beckam a UNICEF ambassador for over 10 years has made passionate appeals for donations to help Ukrainians affected by war with food , clean water and maternity equipment among other necessities .
Russia Hit with Unprecedented Sanctions Termed as The New Economic Warfare
President Putin seems surprised by the scale of sanctions by UK , US and EU targeting the Russian economy . They range from locking out Russian major banks from the SWIFT transfer system making payments from Russia to international markets a headache . The Central banks assets have also been frozen . Banning Russian airlines from their air spaces , US banned import of Russian oil and gas while opening their strategic reserves for use and EU targets two thirds reduction and eventual phaseout in the year . Germany also suspended a gas pipeline project .
There are also personal sanctions to Putin , his foreign minister and several other dignitaries . As result of the sanctions the Russian Ruble fell 30 % to the dollar which could trigger inflation . The Russian Central Bank raised interest rates
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The scale of the sanctions is unprecedented which shows the importance with which the West are taking the matter and indicating a likely cold war that is emerging to stop Putin ’ s aggressive behaviors and empire building . This is being termed as “ the new economic warfare .” The inflation will also put a strain on Russians by making life expensive and assets to be worthless . This will cause anger which can even trigger a revolution even if all protestors are usually arrested .
Banning Russian Oil and Gas Triggers Emergency in Green Energy Development
Banning of Russian oil and gas has triggered an emergency in execution of green energy projects . This will involve wind including off-shore and solar projects . Nuclear is also considered green and many countries might scale up their investments in this as well . Electric vehicles may also gain from the shift to green energy .
The determination to stop and weaken Putin is so deep rooted he will have to change his expansionist strategy . Russia is also getting clever by switching off the oil tankers geographical trackers which is thought to help them export oil without being trackable .
The ban also affects the price of petroleum globally as a result of the lower supplies , this has a cross cutting effect globally which also affect commodity pricing . This will affect you and me which is the reason why we should be interested in geo politics .
Russian Forces Unable to Capture Main City due to Strong Resistance by Ukraine
Ukranian forces put up heavy resistance around the main city Kyiv resulting to a retreat by the Russians . This means that the war has changed with a scaled down ambition targeting South and East Ukraine . Analysts seem to observe that something about the Russian strategy didn ’ t work as planned . They also say that China military strategy has some Russian content meaning that as they watch what is going on in Ukraine they may want to take note and consider postponing their ambition of taking Taiwan into their territory even for years .
The war also has another effect of general increase in defense budgets across the world with China leading the way as countries realize the need to defend their sovereignty . This will be a major boost for the American well-developed arm manufacturers who are already salivating at the market potential .
Russia has More Women than Men , could that be the Cause of The War ?
Russian population has been brought to focus the fact that they have 86.8 men for every 100 women compared to the UN 2015 global rate of 101.8 men per 100 women . The pattern is replicated in the whole former USSR region including Ukraine making the whole region a big men “ import ’ market
The big question is , could Putin be looking to import men by default to balance the equation ? The imbalance has been there since World War II where many men died in battle or left the country to fight . My neighbor who fought in the war used to tell me of the challenges of getting back home , from Ethiopia he went all the way to Nigeria to get his bearing to Kenya .
Even if Putin Pulls Out of Ukraine , Sanctions may not be lifted Soon
Analysts observe that even if Putin pulls out of Ukraine the sanctions may not be lifted . US , UK and EU will most likely take advantage of his misdemeanor and even dishonor previous agreements . It ’ s a perfect case of damned if you do , damned if you don ’ t . ■
Boniface Ngahu is a seasoned marketing research expert and runs the Talking Point column in Marketing Africa magazine . He is the Marketing Director of SBO Research . Talk with him via email at :
BNgahu @ sboresearch . co . ke or follow him on Twitter
@ bngahu
MAL 47 / 22 ISSUE 39