Ukrainian here. You have a good point about natural resources. However, you’re not completely right about them. For example, it’s Russia AND Ukraine that supply grains to other countries. Primarily Ukraine. Now, since a good part of the country is bombed and people can’t really grow crops during war as much, surely Ukraine’s wheat supply will go down. However, there are other countries that can replace them and meet the demand.

Russia is facing an oil embargo. There are A TON of countries that can replace Russia. USA and Canada have oil, not to mention there’s Venezuela, and even some small European countries that would be happy to make a buck. At this point, even Saudi Arabia can be a potential supplier of oil. An other countries would happily replace Russia with their exports, as it means more money for them.


Also, you need to keep in mind WHAT Russia gets thanks to its “endless” natural resources. It gets jack sh*t, pardon my French. Most of Russians living outside of mega-cities live in poverty. Most of that oil money and other natural resources money is getting stolen by politicians and oligarchs. Look at the army they sent to Ukraine: most of it is from 1945s and 1970s. Apart from modern helicopters, their army is poor AF. The dry food soldiers carry expired in 2015.

So, what did Russia get thanks to its resources? Nothing. Because the corruption is mind boggling. And lost of that stolen money and assets is getting arrested by foreign governments now. Surely, Putin hid his trillions well after robbing Russian people of their livelihoods. But the rest of Russians aren’t getting anything. And now, Russia’s trade will be in the dumpster because of all the sanctions.

You wrote an excellent piece that makes people think, and the title is brilliant. I hope you earn good money off of it.